head, his gaze shifting to the ground beside him. I curled my finger under his chin, forcing him to look at me. “Talk to me. I want to help you, but I don’t know what you expect from me.”
“You’ve already done more than I thought anyone would do,” PJ admitted. That was sad. He was a great guy, from what I’d learned about him through my online stalking, I assumed he had a circle of friends willing to help him out.
“Then what’s up with you going stiff as a board when I mentioned a hotel room?” I asked, praying he wasn’t about to say it was a bad idea.
It probably was, especially while we were still in Florida with all the media down here for spring training. All it would take was one person to tweet that they’d seen him and everyone would descend, wanting to get the scoop on what really happened in the clubhouse.
He was officially MIA from spring training, and his absence had been noticed. So far, it seemed no one wanted to spill the gory details and the PR team for Miami was sticking to the story that PJ had some personal matters he needed to attend to, but that they were hopeful he’d be joining them in a few days. God only knew if there was any truth to the latter part of that statement, but I hoped for PJ’s sake it was enough to keep anyone from pushing the issue.
“It’s nothing,” PJ said dismissively. “I warned you I can be a bit unstable when I’m stressed out. I don’t always do or say the right thing, I react poorly when people are trying to be nice. It’s a huge flaw and I know it, but I can’t seem to change it.”
I cupped my hand against his cheek, smiling when he leaned into the touch.
“You don’t have to apologize to me,” I assured him. “If it’d make you more comfortable, Zach and I will split one room and you can stay on your own tonight. But either way, we need to get you out of here and it’s too late to think about going anywhere other than a hotel.”
“Yeah, I know.” PJ shoved a hand in the back pocket of my jeans, holding me against his body. He was rock hard and I wished we were anywhere other than here so I could take care of him. I groaned as I imagined what it’d be like to spend the entire night with him, curl against him like this without all the clothes between us. He ground against me, obviously on the same page. “If it’s all the same to you, I don’t think I want to be alone tonight.”
“Me neither,” I admitted. “Why don’t I ride with you and we’ll follow Zach?”
PJ’s eyes darted around the parking lot as though he were looking for someone. “Um, yeah…that’s a great idea, but you’re going to have to drive.”
My eyes grew wide as I looked past him to the truck he’d climbed out of. I wasn’t even sure how to get into the monstrosity with as high as it was lifted, and he wanted me to drive his truck.
Men who owned trucks like that didn’t let just anyone drive. No, they tended to treat their vehicles better than their loved ones. He didn’t want me to drive. “You haven’t had anything else to drink, have you?”
“Not since the first time I talked to you,” he admitted. The corner of his mouth turned up slightly and my insides went all gooey. He’d done as I’d asked, and I could tell he was as confused by it as I was. “But you see, someone called the cops because I was sitting out in my truck. Apparently, people in this town have nothing better to do than be nosey pricks.”
Well shit, that wasn’t good. Hopefully, the cop was cool. Since PJ hadn’t seemed too bothered by the incident, I had to assume he hadn’t gotten in any trouble. Which was good, seeing as he hadn’t broken any laws. “And let me guess, you promised the cop you wouldn’t drive, so now I have to try to maneuver this beast into Jacksonville?”
“You got it,” PJ confirmed. “And believe me, I’m not any happier about having to let you drive than you are. You do have a license, right?”
“Well yeah,” I scoffed. What twenty-three-year-old didn’t have a driver’s license? Hell, I put more miles on Zach’s car than he had since he