Behind the Plate (The Boys of Baseball #2) - J. Sterling Page 0,80

mom was encouraging, and it made me feel marginally better.

“You don’t think she’ll hate me forever?” I asked her since she spoke girl and my dad and I obviously did not.

“She doesn’t hate you now. Like I said, she’s embarrassed. And disappointed that you didn’t say anything to her. She doesn’t understand why.”

“Your mom’s probably right,” my dad added.

“Probably?” My mom shot him a look.

“Fine.” He reached for her and pulled her hard against him. “She’s always right. Listen to the woman.”

“Thanks, you guys. I’ll call you later,” I said as I took off jogging toward The Beast, a few thoughts in my head.

Danika was single. She had come back early from New York. And I’d almost blown it between us.

I refused to let that happen.

Cheated in Silence

Danika

Tears spilled down my face as I hopped into the car I’d called to pick me up. Anger, frustration, and embarrassment fueled my silence on the ride back to my apartment. The news of Jared being with someone else already stung, but that was pretty hypocritical of me, considering the fact that I’d wanted to be with Chance already too. What hurt the most was Chance thinking that Jared had cheated and keeping it from me. For whatever reason, that felt like more of a betrayal.

I pulled out my keys and went to put them in the lock, but the doorknob turned. I knew I’d locked it before I left for the game.

Opening the door slowly, I yelled out, “Sunny?”

“I’m here!” she shouted before running out of her room. “We celebrated early, and my parents told me they couldn’t take any more of my moping. They forced me to leave. I just got back ten minutes ago.”

I managed a slight laugh, imagining her family asking her to go.

“Wait. Have you been crying? What happened at the game?”

“Um, Jared hooked up with some other girl over break.”

Sunny didn’t look that surprised. “So? You two were already broken up by then.”

“But Chance didn’t know that. And he saw Jared.”

She moved to the couch and practically fell onto it. “What? How do you know that?”

I sat down on top of the coffee table across from her. “Chance thought that was why we broke up. Because Jared had cheated on me and I’d found out.”

“Okay. Let me get this straight.” She held a hand in the air. “Chance thought Jared had cheated on you, but he didn’t tell you?”

“No! I mean, yes, he thought that. And, no, he didn’t tell me.”

“And you’re mad because …” She dragged out the word, and I couldn’t believe I had to explain this to my best friend.

“I’m mad because how can I trust him to have my best interests at heart? How can I trust him to protect me and look out for me? And why wouldn’t he have told me something as important as that?”

She nodded as she processed my words. “I get what you’re saying. I mean, it’s not like Chance is bound to any kind of guy code to Jared. He’s not one of his teammates or anything.”

I hadn’t even considered the guy code. I knew that most guys stayed quiet when it came to this kind of thing. At least, most guys in New York did. They never ratted on each other, no matter how much dirt they had. But I’d figured that Chance was different. Or maybe I’d figured that how he felt about me made things different.

“I thought he liked me. If he knew something that would end my relationship, why wouldn’t he be dying to tell me?”

Sunny’s face lit up like a realization had struck her on the top of the head. “Maybe he did.”

“What do you mean?”

“When he came over that night I called you, he was flustered. Desperate to see you. And crazy upset when I told him you’d already left for home.”

I remembered then what Chance had said back at the field. I had been too upset at the time to process all of his words. “Oh my gosh. He did say he came over to the apartment. He must have wanted to tell me then.”

She leaned back and grabbed a pillow. “It does sort of make sense though. That he wouldn’t want to be the one to tell you that kind of thing.”

“Why does that make sense? How does that make sense?”

We girls told each other things. Especially hard things. If we found out that someone’s man was cheating, we’d let our girlfriend know. Even if she didn’t believe us.