you doing?” I asked, my anger propelling me beyond all reason. Any and all rational thoughts flew out the proverbial window.
“What I’m doing is none of your business, Baseball Boy.”
I wanted to break his jaw. “Does she know?”
“Does who know?” He sounded uninterested.
The girl he had just been kissing stood at his side, looking confused.
“Danika!” I screamed, creating even more of a scene. “Does Danika know?”
“Who’s Danika?” the girl asked, but he ignored her and focused only on me.
“Like I said, it’s none of your business.” His tone was far more controlled than mine was, and it only made me angrier.
How was he so calm and composed when I felt like I was losing my damn mind?
“It is my business,” I shouted like a crazed maniac, taking a menacing step toward him.
I expected him to step back in response, but he didn’t. He stood firm, and everything about his posture, his demeanor, his attitude baited me.
“How so? How is anything about Danika your business? Explain that one to me.” He folded his arms across his chest and waited for my response.
I didn’t have one. What was I supposed to say?
“What’s going on here is none of your damn business, but you think it is. Because you care about Danika. Because you want her. You always have. And you hate the fact that she’ll never be yours. Or that I can have her anytime I want.”
I pulled my arm back, prepared to knock his fucking lights out, when Mac pounced. He steadied my arm, stopping me from moving as he created a blockade between myself and Jared.
“Stop, Chance. Chance!” Mac tried to get me to focus on him, but Jared’s words kept replaying in my mind.
“Yeah, Chance, stop. Wouldn’t want to hurt your arm and lose your season,” Jared taunted, and Mac snapped to face him.
“Stop egging him on, or I’ll let him go,” Mac threatened, and Jared only blanched for a second before regaining his composure.
“You’re telling her,” I yelled over Mac’s shoulder toward a retreating Jared.
He turned around, his eyes slamming into mine. “Or what?”
“Or I will,” I deadpanned.
“No, you won’t.” He closed the distance between us enough so that he no longer needed to shout. “You didn’t tell her anything I’ve ever said to you before. And you won’t tell her about this either.”
He laughed as he walked away, but I didn’t find a damn thing funny. I needed to get the hell out of this frat house before I did something Coach couldn’t get me out of.
What Do I Do
Chance
Pulling my keys from my front pocket, I stormed toward the front door, everyone making a path for me as I moved through them.
“Wait up,” Mac shouted from somewhere behind me.
Only once I got outside of the house did I stop.
“Should we get Dayton and Colin?”
“Send them a text that I’m leaving. I’ll pick them up later if they want, or they can come now,” I directed with one destination in mind.
Mac typed on his phone and waited before it lit up the dark. “They’re staying. Said they’ll get home on their own.”
“Good. You coming with?”
“Where we headed?”
“I need to see Danika.”
“Chance”—Mac sounded dismayed, his voice filled with disapproval—“stay out of it.”
I jerked my head toward him as I kept moving. “I can’t.” I sighed. “I can’t, okay?”
I clicked the remote, and my truck unlocked with an audible pop. Hopping in, I jammed the key into the ignition and revved the engine to life as Mac buckled his seat belt and rolled down his window.
“It isn’t your place, man,” he said, and I knew he was right.
I had a hard rule after this past summer to stay out of other people’s relationships, but this felt too personal. How am I supposed to ignore what I just saw? How can I justify Danika being cheated on and my knowing about it and saying nothing?
“She doesn’t deserve to be cheated on.”
“No one ‘deserves’ to be cheated on.” Mac air-quoted the word, and I cracked my neck as my anger lowered to a simmer.
“You know what I mean. She deserves better. Someone who can keep it in his fucking pants and not blatantly cheat where anyone could see him doing it.”
“Maybe he wanted to get caught?” Mac suggested, and I practically laughed.
“Well, I caught him!”
“Okay, listen.” Mac used his reasonable tone, and I knew he was about to suggest something I was either going to agree with or want to throttle him for saying. “Think about this for a second, okay?”
“I’ve