The Ninth Inning (The Boys of Baseball #1) - J. Sterling Page 0,92
from me, his eyes back on the sky as he tossed his baseball hat off.
I wanted to run my fingers through his dark hair. I wanted to touch him again.
“I didn’t sleep with Logan. He lied,” I blurted out and waited for him to focus his attention back onto me, but he didn’t budge. “He lied about everything, Cole.”
I watched him slowly nod.
“How do you know?”
“There was this girl. Um, her name is Cory. Anyway, she came up to me today and told me she was glad she ran into me. She was asking if I was okay.” I launched into what had happened earlier that afternoon as Cole finally turned to watch me with piqued curiosity. “She was asking me because she drove me home that night from The Bar. Not Logan.”
“What else did she say?” He sat up straighter, and I knew I had his full attention.
I filled him in, not sparing a single detail.
When I finished, he asked, “And you believe her?”
“Absolutely.”
Cole let out a small laugh, and it practically melted my heart on the spot. “You spit on Logan’s shoes?”
“Apparently,” I offered with a halfhearted shrug.
“You still don’t remember anything?”
“No. I wish hearing the truth had made it all come rushing back, but it didn’t.”
After talking to Cory, I had hoped to remember something from that part of the night, but it was like it never existed in my head in the first place. It was like trying to grab pieces that weren’t there.
“So, Logan lied. About everything,” he said in a very matter-of-fact tone that turned downright murderous.
“Yeah.”
Cole stayed deathly quiet. He didn’t move a muscle. I wasn’t sure what I had expected, but a part of me had definitely hoped for a movie-like reaction from him. One where he swept me into his arms and swung me around before kissing me senseless and telling me that we could be together forever now. But none of those things were happening.
Why aren’t any of them happening?
“Do you believe me?” I asked, wondering if maybe he didn’t think I was telling the truth. I had believed Cory’s version of events, but that didn’t mean that Cole did.
“I do.”
“Then, why aren’t you acting like it?”
“I’m sorry.” He looked at me, his head shaking. “I do believe you. But it’s all so overwhelming, you know?” His eyes pulled together, and he looked so genuinely conflicted. “All of this information at once, totally contradicting what I’d believed for weeks. Aren’t you overwhelmed by it all?”
“Sure. I guess. But, Cole, I still love you. This is nuts. I didn’t break us. I didn’t do anything.” I started getting angry. Why did I have to convince him to want me back or give me another chance? “Don’t you love me?”
“Of course I still love you,” he said in barely a whisper, but I heard it, and the words filled my heart with hope.
“Then, we can fix this, right? Or is it too late?” I asked the question and instantly dreaded his response.
Please don’t say it’s too late.
The Past Is a Mothereffer
Cole
What the hell is wrong with me? The only girl I’d ever loved was standing next to my truck, telling me that everything that had broken us up in the first place was all a lie. A fucking made-up story by a guy who was clearly more psychotic than I’d thought. So, why wasn’t I taking her into my arms and getting back together with her on the spot?
I knew why. I knew exactly why, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to admit it to anyone outside of myself. Honestly, it had been a hell of a realization all on its own when it hit me out of nowhere one night. I felt conflicted after hearing the truth. I’d been through an emotional wringer the past few weeks, and learning that it had all been for nothing … well, I wasn’t flooded with relief like I would have expected. Instead, I was exhausted. A bone-deep tired that came from holding all your emotions inside for way too long. And I was angry. So fucking angry. But not at her.
“Cole?” Her voice sounded sad and deflated.
She must have figured that the truth would instantly fix things between us, and I couldn’t blame her for that. Maybe for someone else, it might have. Maybe another guy would have only needed that information to hop right back into the relationship, no questions asked, but I couldn’t do it.