Page 17 of Stalked By the Third Baseman

“Adam—“

“Don’t go on that date with Trevor.” I blinked.

“What?” I blinked again.

“Don’t go with him,” he repeated.

“Why?” I asked, looking up at him. It felt like a cold bucket of ice water had just been tossed over my head.

“Ladybug—“ he started to say, but all the sweet, good feelings that had started to stir deflated.

“You haven’t talked to me in a year,” I said quietly, “and suddenly, you have a hard-on for me?” My words were crude but honest.

“Babe—“

“And you’re telling me not to go on a date with a nice guy?”

“Babe—“

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” I stepped away from him. “For me to hang out with different people and experience life… without you?”

“I didn’t…” He sighed, and I swallowed hard.

I wanted to believe what he was saying more than I needed to breathe. I could literally feel the effect I had on him, but that was sexual. He wanted me. But for whatever reason, he had pushed me away this last year.

“I didn’t ignore you for a year,” he said through gritted teeth. “You ran away anytime we were in the same building.” His Adam’s apple bobbed.

“Maybe.” I knew I wasn’t innocent in this. “But I’ve done that before. Remember senior year? When I was too anxious and stuck in my head about college acceptance letters? You pushed through and made me talk to you. You didn’t do that this time.” A muscle ticked below his eye.

“Callie,” he groaned, “I didn’t want to be like my dad.”

“You’re nothing like him. I don’t understand what he has to do with this!”

“For me, it’s always been you.” He said the words I’d been waiting forever to hear. But when something sounded too good to be true, it usually was.

“Or maybe you didn’t want it to be me,” I whispered, my insecurities getting the better of me.

“What?”

“I get it.” When I pushed completely away, he looked almost stunned. “You didn’t want to want the big girl. Worried about what people would say. Being a⁠—“

“A what, Cal?” he growled. His intense gaze locked on mine as my face heated up with embarrassment. “You’re beautiful.”

You’re fine the way you are, a little voice in the back of my head reminded me. But it was hard not to let the reality of the world and what people said get into my head.

“A chubby chaser,” I stubbornly added, lifting my chin with attitude, challenging him to say I was wrong. Was that why he’d never said a thing?

“What the fuck?” he said under his breath.

“I said what I said.” I stood ten toes down and then, because I really couldn’t help myself when I got upset, I kept talking and probably made everything worse. “But Trevor’s not worried about what people might say. He left a Lamda party to come here because he knew I was working.”

“That right?”

“Yeah! And what? Did that freak you out? You saw someone wanted to pick up and play with a toy you’d tossed aside and suddenly, I’m interesting enough to—“ Adam’s hand rose and wrapped around my throat.

Not hard.

Not in a way that even made my breath hitch.