Behind the Plate (The Boys of Baseball #2) - J. Sterling Page 0,74

people who refused to leave, but my dad had managed to snag one on the fourteenth floor when the previous owner lost everything in a stock market crash. He’d wanted to buy multiple units, but apparently, my mom told him that was “obnoxious,” and he’d listened.

We had too many extra bedrooms as it was—for all the siblings I was supposed to have but never did. After having me, my mom’s body couldn’t hold on to any more babies, and eventually, they’d stopped trying. I knew they’d considered adoption at one point, but then my mom had gotten sick, and getting her better had become our sole focus.

The doorbell rang, and I walked slowly toward the front door, figuring that it was one of my dad’s employees or associates.

When I pulled the door open, I almost dropped my sandwich. “Jared? What are you doing here?”

It wasn’t the first time I’d heard from him during the break, but it was the first time he’d shown up at the house. He’d texted a few times since he’d gotten back to the city, and my responses had seemed to keep him at bay, so I’d figured I was in the clear.

He stepped over the threshold, inviting himself in. “Has it been long enough?” he asked.

I refused to move anywhere, except the foyer. “Long enough for what?”

“For you to see how stupid this is.” He sounded bored before noticing my suitcases. He studied them before giving me an inquisitive glare.

“What are you talking about? How stupid what is?”

“Us breaking up. Us being apart. That’s not what we do. We go together, Danika. I thought being home would at least remind you of that.”

I was caught off guard even though I probably shouldn’t have been. It was just that Jared had taken my breaking up with him without so much as a fight. He’d practically sprinted out of my apartment, angry but agreeable, and I’d assumed he’d been as relieved as I had even though he never said so.

He took a step toward me, and I moved away in response.

“I’ve left you alone. I’ve given you time. I’ve given you space. Figured you’d come to your senses by now.”

“I don’t need time. Jared, nothing’s changed,” I said because we’d already gone over all of this back in California—how things had gotten so sideways between us, how we weren’t the same couple we’d once been, and how neither one of us was truly happy.

But now, I was thinking that he hadn’t listened to a single thing I said because he assumed I’d change my mind eventually or that I hadn’t meant any of it in the first place.

“This is because of that baseball player, isn’t it? Did he call you and tell you?” Jared’s mouth twisted into a snarl.

I knew he hated Chance. He’d always felt threatened by him, and looking back, he had good reason to.

“Call and tell me what?”

“Nothing. Never mind.” He tried to cover.

I wasn’t buying it, but I also didn’t care what he was referring to. I didn’t want to talk to Jared about Chance.

“Fine, don’t tell me. Is there anything else?” I asked, surprising myself at how badly I wanted him gone.

Jared and I had been friends for so long that I’d just expected we’d go back to that. I could see how naive that was now. You couldn’t cross and uncross those kinds of lines that easily.

“You’re making a mistake, Danika. You’d better really think this through,” he warned, and I wanted to scream out in frustration.

“I have.”

God, I’d thought this to death before I actually pulled the trigger and ended things. It had been a long time coming, and we both knew it. The fact that I’d felt nothing but relief after he left that night told me everything I needed to know. I’d made the right decision, and I’d done the right thing.

“When that baseball chump uses you up and tosses you aside like yesterday’s garbage, I won’t be there, waiting to pick up the pieces. I hope you know that. You can’t come back from this.”

“You need to leave,” I said, pointing at the door.

We were done here.

He stepped toward the front door before stopping and turning around to face me. “He’s getting drafted this year, and then what, Danika? He’ll leave. And what are you going to do, follow him?” he asked with a sick laugh. “Yeah, right. Your whole life’s already planned out, and it brings you right back here,” he emphasized the last three words