The Ninth Inning (The Boys of Baseball #1) - J. Sterling Page 0,89

but she couldn’t have been more wrong.

We hadn’t known each other, yet she’d made sure that I was okay that night. A complete stranger taking care of another for no other reason than she believed it was the right thing to do.

“It is though. It’s such an extremely big deal. Anything could have happened to me that night. And this whole time, I thought something had.”

“You thought something happened to you?” Her eyes grew big.

I nodded. “I did. Hey, this is random, and I’m sure you don’t know, but any idea how I got so drunk in the first place? That’s one thing that doesn’t make any sense to me. I can usually handle my beer, and I would never get that out of control while I was alone.”

“The bartender kept sending you those sake drinks all night. He definitely knew Logan, too, because I saw them talking a lot.”

I shook my head, looked up at the sky, and then met her crystal-green eyes. “Every time I got a beer, there was sake in it?”

“Oh, yeah. You didn’t know that?”

“No,” I said as things finally started to add up. “I thought I was just drinking beer. I had no idea why I was so drunk.”

“I know how strong those sake bombs are. People are always like, Oh, it’s just a rice wine; it’s no big deal. And then you’re hammered.”

I laughed like we were two old friends because she had just given me the keys to my emotional freedom. She’d cut off the chains I’d bound myself with and set me loose.

“I know you already told me, but I have to ask you again, so I can hear you say it one more time.” I let out a crazy-sounding laugh. “Logan did not drive me home?”

She smiled as she reached for her backpack and slung it back over her shoulder. “Logan did not drive you home. I left to go to the restroom, and when I came back, he was dangling his keys in front of you. He got you as far as the parking lot before I took you from him.”

“You took me from him?”

She nodded. “He had his arm around you and was telling you something about Cole by the time I got outside. I’m not sure what he said, but I definitely heard Cole’s name. And then you got the biggest smile on your face, and he took a picture. The second he lowered his phone, you turned your head, almost like you were realizing he was there for the first time, and you told him to get away from you.”

“Wow,” I said through my total shock. “That picture looked really bad.”

“I bet.”

“Then, what happened?” I was enthralled, basically on the edge of my seat, hearing about all the things that had gone on that night that I still had absolutely no memory of.

“I told him that you called me to come get you. He didn’t like that very much. Tried to insist that he’d be the one to take you home. He said it was his job to take care of his teammates’ girls while they were away, but I think you spit on his shoes. Or at least, you tried.”

A loud laugh escaped me. “Go, drunk me.” For the first time, I felt almost proud of how I had acted that night.

“You also said that you hated him and that Cole was going to eat him for breakfast when he came home.” She started laughing. “He did not like any of that.”

“Oh my God.” I covered my mouth with my hand. “I can imagine that setting him off.”

“He was pretty enraged, but he disappeared as soon as you were in my car and he realized he wasn’t going to win.”

“I can’t believe you drove me home. Did you bring me inside?” I grew nervous that maybe, after that, Logan had still shown up at my place in some sort of fit, and I’d let him in or something.

“I did actually. You weren’t the best at walking. I made sure you got inside your apartment, and you told me to be careful of your roommate.” She tossed her red hair. “You said she bites.”

“I did?” It was so weird, hearing things about myself that I had no memory of. I kept questioning everything—not because I didn’t believe her, but because I was learning about it for the first time.

“Yeah. You told me to answer all of her questions and make sure to tell her that I