The Ninth Inning (The Boys of Baseball #1) - J. Sterling Page 0,83
taking three steps toward me.
He wanted me to hit him. He was basically fucking daring me to.
All my previous coolness flew out the proverbial window. What Logan had done was beyond just breaking guy code. There needed to be repercussions for his actions.
“If I find out that you drugged her drink, they’ll have to pull me off your corpse.”
His expression twisted like I’d already struck him. “Drugged her?” he asked with a sick laugh. “Is that what she told you? I didn’t have to drug your girlfriend to get her to fuck me, Cole. All I had to do was ask.”
I’d had enough of Logan taunting me, fucking with me, and trying to ruin my damn life in order to get my spot on the team. It was ridiculous, and I was tired of letting him get away with it because I was too worried about getting in trouble with Coach. If Logan wanted to push me past my breaking point, we were quickly heading there at breakneck speed, and I didn’t care who saw.
“Bullshit.” I dropped my bag to the ground at my feet and closed the space between us even further.
“Come to think of it.” He looked toward the sky before looking back at me. “She was pretty drunk. But she still liked it. Told me at least a hundred times while my cock was in her pretty little mouth.”
Fuck the consequences. This asshole deserved to get hit.
I pulled my right hand back and let it fly. When my knuckles connected with Logan’s jaw, everything moved in slow motion—his head swiveling hard to the right as spit flew from his mouth and my arm fully extended so I couldn’t reach him anymore. His eyes rolled back as he stumbled on his feet. I knew that if I gave him even the slightest push, he’d fall to the ground on his ass.
It felt so fucking good to hit him. I’d been holding it inside for so long when he never deserved my self-control.
“Should have done that a long time ago,” I said as I braced myself for him to retaliate.
“Don’t know what took you so long,” Logan said as he spat at my feet.
I stepped back just in time as the blood narrowly missed hitting my shoes.
Logan looked around, and I did the same, realizing for the first time that we had an audience. Our teammates were all pulling up, some of them already out of their cars, watching us, and I noticed Mac and Chance in the distance, sprinting over.
“Hit me back,” I growled because I wasn’t done. I didn’t want this fight to be over until Logan was a bloody fucking heap on the ground, pleading for me to stop. All of my anger and hurt and pain clawed at me from the inside, begging to be let out.
“I can’t.” He threw his hands in the air, high enough that everyone would see him surrendering. “Don’t want to lose my new position since you sure as shit won’t be playing it.”
As he said the words, I realized that I didn’t care that I’d hit him. I didn’t care that I’d be getting in trouble and most likely suspended from some games. I only cared that I’d finally given Logan exactly what he always wanted—my spot on the roster and a chance at the draft.
He walked away, dramatically rubbing his jaw as blood spilled over his cut bottom lip, and I watched him go before I looked down at my hand. It throbbed with each beat of my heart, and I realized two things in that moment. The first was that I still had a heart. I hadn’t been sure anymore. The second was that I thought I’d broken my knuckles.
“What the hell, man?” Mac said as he ran up to me, followed closely by Chance.
“You just couldn’t not hit him, huh?” Chance asked.
“You didn’t hear the things he said.” I shook my hand out, noticing the pretty purple and blue colors it was already turning.
“You need ice,” Mac groaned.
“You need an X-ray. Idiot,” Chance chastised.
I glared at them both. “No one asked you two to stick around. Per fucking usual,” I ground out, but my hand was throbbing.
“Just go.” Chance shoved at my back.
I started walking, thankful that neither of them had brought up Christina or the situation. But I knew that they knew. I could tell by the way they looked at me. Did people realize how much they gave away with their eyes?