Sweet Spot: Homeruns #4 (20 page)

N
ick said
he wasn’t pissed about being at the cookout, but I could tell he was. He was sitting off to the side trying to avoid everyone, even though the only people there were guys he knew and hung out with in Arizona. The rest of the players weren’t coming over until later.

I hated lying to Nick, but I had no choice. It wasn’t my place to tell him the real reason we couldn’t go to Door County. And I couldn’t have told him we weren’t going at all without him losing his shit. I was disappointed and ticked that I’d forfeit the deposit for the cabin, but hopefully it’d prove to be worth it.

“You didn’t tell him anything, right?” Sean asked as he dropped into the seat next to me. I shook my head. “Good. I know I put you in a tough spot, but I need to figure out the best way to keep him here without getting his hopes up.”

“Sean, I swear, if you made me cancel our vacation and nothing comes from it, you’re gonna owe me,” I warned him. Sean had made it sound like this was a done deal. Now, he was hedging like a politician.

“If I wasn’t at least fairly certain, I wouldn’t have said anything,” he assured me. “I know how upset he’s been about not getting called up sooner, so I’m sure as hell not going to lead him on. Remember, I’ve been where he’s at. It feels like forever ago, but I’ve been there. I know how pissed I’d be at myself if I missed a call, and I don’t want his anger to ruin the memories of a good weekend for the two of you.”

“Okay, I can accept that,” I told him. “When are you going to talk to him?

“Soon, I promise.” Sean pulled out his phone and replied to a text message. “He’ll be fine by the time everyone gets here later.”

“I hope you’re right.” I sighed. “You guys all harp on him about his attitude because he’s unhappy. While I can understand that since he’s somewhat of a role model to the guys who haven’t been around as long, I can see how hard it is for him. Hell, I know how frustrating it is for me, and I don’t have my career on the line. Just…be straight with him, okay?”

“I have been this whole time,” Sean reminded me. He patted me on the knee as he stood. “Now, why don’t you get over there and pull him away.”

When Nick and Jason had gotten into a conversation, I’d let them be. They were talking about the relationship between pitchers and catchers, and I hadn’t wanted to appear clingy by hanging all over him.

I drained the last of my beer and tossed the empty bottle into the recycling bin at the edge of the patio. Before I could make my way over to Nick and Jason, I felt a hand slide around my waist. “Hey, love dove.”

Fuck. I should’ve known Kevin wasn’t going to cut me any slack today. Ever since my major gaff, he’d thought it was hilarious to flirt with me every chance he got. If I’d told Nick about it, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but as soon as I caught him glaring at Kevin, I knew he misunderstood what he was seeing. His gaze darkened and he balled his fists at his sides, looking ready to tear Kevin’s hand away from my body. “Not right now, Kevin.”

“Aww, is that any way to treat your boo?” he teased. Kevin was a good guy, but he was the epitome of the dumb jock. He lacked any sort of social graces and didn’t take subtle hints well.

“Kevin, I promise, if you drop your hand right now, I won’t say a fucking word when you tease me for the rest of the season,” I offered through gritted teeth. “It was a stupid mistake. I understand I have to pay the price for my stupidity, but this is so not the time.”

Kevin must’ve believed me because his hand immediately dropped. I glanced over and saw that Nick was there. “Shit. I’m sorry, bro. I didn’t mean to cause problems.”

“You haven’t,” I assured him.

Kevin told me he’d catch up with me later and gave me a one-arm hug. That was all Nick needed to abruptly walk away from Jason. He stalked toward us like a lion on the hunt. “What in the hell’s going on over here?”

“Um, funny story about that,” I said. Heat crept up my neck and over my face. “Do you remember the night in St. Louis when I’d left you a crappy voice mail?”

“Yeah,” Nick responded, dragging out the word. “What does that have to do with Kevin having his hands all over you?”

“Okay, do you remember how I told you it’d been a really shitty night for me?” I continued, hoping to put off my total embarrassment as long as possible. “And being upset because the fact we hadn’t talked in a while was making me crazy?”

Nick started to walk away, but Drew stopped him. In fact, it appeared everyone was now captivated by my story. A few of them bit back laughter, knowing what was coming. I glared at them and shook my head. For just a split second, I missed the time before these guys had welcomed me into their lives, back when I didn’t have to worry about anyone getting a cheap thrill out of my stupidity.

“I’m going to ask you one more time. What is going on?” Nick was seething. That took a bit of the hilarity out of the moment. I couldn’t prolong his suffering, even if it would lead to me hoping a sinkhole would open up beneath my feet. I was never going to live this one down.

“Okay, so right after I left you that message, I went to dinner with the guys,” I told him, speaking as quickly as I could. “Drew threatened to send Kevin up to collect me, forcibly if necessary, if I didn’t get my ass to the lobby quick enough.”

Nick turned to Drew. “What the fuck, man? Why would you do that?”

“Because I was tired of him moping around all the damn time missing you, you tool,” Drew shot back. “It was for his own good, really.”

“Whatever,” Nick hissed and then turned back to me, motioning for me to continue. “So you were saying…”

“When I got off the elevator, Kevin was getting ready to come up,” I told him, the words coming so fast now I worried no one would understand. “He tried to cheer me up and gave me a hug. Then he said some shit in the cab on the way to the restaurant and I might’ve gotten the wrong impression.”

“Like what?” Nick asked, still upset but no longer angry. That was a good start. Unfortunately, I saw that Kevin had come back to watch our spat. I prayed he’d know to keep his mouth shut.

“Like he thought I wanted to snuggle up next to him and hold him while he cried for you all night,” Kevin interjected, leaving my prayers unanswered. “Don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice kid, but not quite my type. I like my bedmates bumpy on the top, not below the waist.”

Everyone started laughing. Leave it to Kevin to be the master wordsmith of the group. Who even comes up with that shit?

Nick looked from me to Kevin and back again. “Wait, you seriously thought Kevin was gay? How does that even happen? Everyone knows Amber.”

“I know, right?” Kevin interrupted again. He’d obviously relaxed and felt like he needed to help me tell this story since Nick wasn’t getting ready to murder him and dump his body in the lake.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Amber said, sliding her hand down my arm playfully. “I might make an exception to not being willing to share the bed if he brought home another guy, especially one as cute as Cody. It’d be fucking hot to watch the two of you go at it.”

“Amber, you’re not helping here,” I warned her. I really didn’t need her to tell us all the things she could imagine Kevin and I doing to one another.

“Aww, come on,” Mason complained. “I kinda want to hear about this fantasy.”

“Dude, that’s gross. I’m like your little brother or some shit,” I complained, suddenly wishing we had gone up to the cabin. Nick might miss his phone call, but now everyone was joining in on the fun.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Mason turned to Amber. “Come on. Let’s go pick out a different fantasy man to fuck Kevin into the mattress.”

“Oh hell no!” Kevin hollered. “If anyone’s getting fucked into the mattress, it’d be the other dude. I ain’t taking no dick up the poop shoot.”

“Oh honey, we all know you’d be a big, bad top,” Amber teased. She patted him on the arm as the rest of the guys tried to catch their breath from laughing so hard. Nick was among those dying of laughter, and everyone had forgotten that this had started with them picking on me. Problems solved.

I pulled Nick away from the crowd and led him down to my bedroom. It wasn’t the secluded cabin in the woods we’d been hoping for, but with everyone partying outside, we’d at least have some privacy.

“You’re not really mad, are you?” I asked when Nick flopped onto the sofa. There was no reason for him to be, but now that he wasn’t in hysterics about Kevin’s outburst he seemed reserved again.

“I just keep waiting for things to go my way,” he admitted. “I know the guys asked you to make sure we came here instead of going straight up to the cabin, but it’s not what I’d planned on.”

“But are you having fun?” I asked.

Nick shrugged. “Yeah, the guys are cool. And I know my teammates would be jealous as hell to know I’m here and they’re not. But I don’t care about any of that shit. They’re just normal guys to me, not awe-inspiring baseball players up on pedestals.”

“Hey now…” I sprang away from Nick at the sound of Sean’s voice as if we’d been caught doing something we weren’t supposed to. Nick reached out and drew me back to his side. “You’re going to hurt their feelings if they hear you say shit like that. We all work hard to build up pedestals capable of supporting our huge egos.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Nick backtracked. His cheeks flushed and he stammered to find his words, but with his hand at the small of my back, I knew it was because Sean still had the ability to fluster him. “It’s just…well, when you’re raised around the game it loses a bit of its shine. Hell, it wasn’t unusual for some of the biggest names in the game to stop by just to hang out on a Sunday afternoon in the off-season.”

“Relax,” Sean urged him. “I knew what you meant. And to be honest, how unaffected you are is going to help you in the long run. Sometimes, guys get called up and they’re so overwhelmed by standing next to the guys they’ve idolized they forget how to play the game. You won’t have that problem.”

“Yeah, but I have to get there first,” Nick reminded him.

“You will,” Sean said with certainty. “Look, maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I’m going to. Partly because I know how you’ve been twisted around yourself all season, but partly because I don’t want you to be pissed off at Cody.”

He looked over to me and I flashed him a nervous smile. Before I could even lift my hand to my mouth to start gnawing on my fingernails, Nick smacked my hand down. “What’s going on? Why do I feel like I’m on the outside of everything?”

“Probably because you are,” Sean deadpanned. “But only because you’ve been stuck in Pennsylvania, as you put it.”

“Then maybe someone would like to start explaining shit to me?” Nick suggested. His patience was wearing thin.

Sean sat in the chair next to the couch and leaned forward to prop his elbows on his knees. He was stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place because he technically wasn’t supposed to be talking about this to anyone.

“What I’m about to stay has to stay here,” Sean warned Nick before he began. “I mean it, Nick. I could get in trouble if anyone knows I’m talking to you about this.”

“I don’t want any special treatment,” Nick insisted. It was the same tired line that used to spew from his mouth constantly.

“And I’m not trying to treat you as different from anyone else,” Sean assured him. “So, it’s like this…did you hear about Alvarado?”

Nick shook his head. “No, what’s going on with him? He’s been having a good year.”

“Well, he was,” Sean said somberly. “He had a lot of pain during yesterday’s game. They checked him out after they pulled him and he’s done for the year. He’s going in for Tommy John surgery later in the week and they’re hopeful he’ll recover before spring training.”

“Oh shit, that sucks.” Nick started rubbing his elbow. Sean noticed and cocked his head to the side. Nick quickly dropped his hand to his lap.

“Tell me that was just some sort of nervous twitch,” Sean pleaded.

“Yeah, why?”

“Because they asked me who I thought should take his slot on the forty man, and I recommended you,” Sean informed him. I had to hold Nick back because he looked ready to leap off the couch and hug Sean. It was too soon to celebrate. “I don’t know if they’ll do it, but I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more. Your numbers are better than any of the guys I have in the pen right now. You have more experience and I think you’ve earned it.”

“I won’t let you down,” Nick promised him. I snorted because no one doubted whether Nick was capable of performing at the level he’d be required. He’d been dropped down to Double-A because there were pitchers the Mavericks wanted to keep on the forty-man roster, not because he lacked skill. The details about how that all worked confused me, but I knew enough to understand this was a very good thing.

Nick turned to me, his mouth gaping open like a fish. “Wait, you knew about this?”

“Well, sort of,” I responded meekly. “I mean, I didn’t know all the details, but when Sean heard where we were going, he asked me to not take you up there.”

“Why?”

“Because the cell service is shit,” Sean said bluntly. “And from what I know about you, you’d have freaked the hell out if you missed the call.”

“So, it’s definitely coming?” Nick asked, trying to hold back his excitement.

“Definitely?” Sean shook his head. Nick’s smile faded and he slumped back in his seat. “Look, Nick…I’m not going to blow smoke up your ass. There’s still a chance they’ll go a different route. But either way, someone’s gotta move up to Milwaukee, which means I have a hole in Dubuque. I’ve made it clear who I want to fill that gap. The rest is up to Stu and his guys.”

“Okay, I can deal with that,” Nick conceded. “Now, since you’ve totally blown my vacation to hell, would you mind getting out of here?”

“Nick, don’t be rude,” I chastised him. This was no time for a tantrum.

“I’m not being rude,” Nick informed me. “Rude would be stripping you naked in front of him. I don’t think my possible future coach needs to see that.”

Sean laughed and pushed himself out of the chair. “Okay, point taken.” He turned his attention to me. “You do realize you’re screwed, right?”