Behind the Plate (The Boys of Baseball #2) - J. Sterling Page 0,67
stands full. If Chance goes around, breaking everyone’s heart all the time, no one will show up. I consider it my civic duty to make sure the girls know we want them around,” Mac said with the biggest grin I’d ever seen as the three of us busted up laughing.
“Speaking of girls,” Colin said, and a mixture of dread and hope crept up my spine.
I figured he was about to point out Danika somewhere in the distance, no doubt wrapped in Jared’s arms, but he pointed at a group of three skinny guys I didn’t know heading our way. I almost laughed with relief.
“Baseballers,” one of the guys said as he reached us. “Welcome.” He opened his arms and waved them around like we were some sort of guests to his esteemed kingdom. “Keg’s right over there, and hard alcohol’s in the house. We always get a good card game going later if you want in. Cash only. Just let us know before eleven.”
The four of us looked at each other, silent words passing between us before I spoke up, “Thanks for the welcome and the offer, but we’re not allowed to gamble. Even for fun.”
We all signed waivers and forms each season, acknowledging that we wouldn’t, under any circumstances, participate in gambling of any kind. Getting caught meant that you not only got kicked off the team, but you were also banned from the league itself, which meant no transferring to a school of equal caliber.
“We wouldn’t rat you out,” the same guy said with a grin.
“Yeah, I don’t think you would,” I offered cordially, not wanting to start a fight. “But if anyone saw us or took pictures or anything, we’d get kicked off the team.”
“It’s not worth the risk,” Mac added, and the three frat guys all nodded.
“All right. Well, have fun. Let me know if you need anything. Name’s Jaden. These are my bros, Butch and Grady.”
“Nice to meet you. Thanks again,” I said before shaking Jaden’s hand and watching them strut away, shouting some sort of theme song.
“Frat guys.” Dayton made a face, and we all mumbled in agreement.
“I see someone over there I want to talk to,” Colin said, looking at a group of girls surrounding a makeshift ping-pong table.
“I’ll come with,” Dayton said, and they took off, leaving Mac and me behind.
“They didn’t even ask if we wanted to go with them,” Mac whined, and I huffed.
“They knew I’d say no. And they knew you wouldn’t leave my side,” I teased even though it was one hundred percent the truth.
“Let’s go inside. I’m in the mood for shots.”
Grabbing Mac’s bicep, I stopped his forward momentum. “I will leave your ass here if you disappear on me,” I warned.
Mac had a tendency to vanish when it came to parties, shots, and females. One second, he was standing right there, and the next, he’d be gone. I’d spent hours looking for him one night last year, only to have him call me from home, asking where the hell I was.
“I won’t disappear. Promise.”
He held out his pinkie to me like we were in fifth grade, expecting me to take it with my own. I smacked it away instead.
“Let’s go,” I said, walking back inside the hellhole with Mac right on my heels.
The wave of heat smacked me in the face once more, and I stopped short, causing Mac to run straight into my back.
“What the …” he started before looking in the direction of my stare. “Is that …”
“Yeah, it is,” I said before he even finished asking the question.
Jared was sitting on a chair in the kitchen with some girl who was not Danika on his lap, sticking her tongue down his throat. His hand was up her shirt for all to see.
“Shit, Chance. Don’t.” Mac tried to keep me from going over to him, but he knew it was no use.
No one could have stopped me from confronting this asshole. Stalking in Jared’s direction, all I felt was the rage surging through me.
“What is this?” I shoved at him, breaking the sloppy kiss that had been happening moments before I arrived.
“What the hell?” Jared growled before throwing the girl off his lap and standing upright, causing red plastic cups to scatter to the floor. He looked around, his eyes searching wildly for whoever had just interrupted his public display of tongue-tangling. His face dawned with recognition the second that his eyes hit mine, and he realized it was me. “You’re fucking joking.”