Well, thank you for taking care of me.” He sounded so disappointed and sad. “I won’t get that hammered again.”
“You will,” both Colin and I said at the same time as Matt walked to the cabinet and pulled out something for his headache.
“But Matt’s not wrong. Where did you go? One second, you were there, and then I saw Hayley at your door, looking around, but no you,” Colin added with a smirk, and I struggled to remember exactly how I’d left things when I went and chased after Sunny. All I could think about was getting to her.
“Please tell me Hayley was not in my room.”
“She was,” Colin said, his smirk turning into a frown. “But I made the bitch leave. Hope that was the right call.”
Colin had been on the team when Hayley dumped me in front of everyone, so he knew our history and hated her for what she’d done.
“Thank you. Definitely the right call.”
“She was pissed.” He gave me a salty smirk. “I kinda enjoyed making her feel like shit.”
Matt raised his hand in the air like he was in class and wanted to be called on. “Hayley’s that super–smoking hot chick, right? Why do we like embarrassing her? What am I missing?”
“That’s a story for another time. Here,” I said, tossing a drink filled with electrolytes at him. “Drink that, and let’s get to work.”
“Does this have anything to do with Operation SunnyMac?” he said, and I pounded my chest with my fist as I coughed, remembering that he had said that last night as well.
“Operation what?” I asked, my eyes wide, no idea what the heck Matt was talking about.
“Operation SunnyMac?” he said the words again, only slower this time and more like a question. “Maybe I’m making it up. I don’t know what I’m saying.”
Matt waved me off, Colin looked at me and shrugged, and I let it go.
*
After two hours outside, my stomach was grumbling, and my body was sore. I was starved and dripping with sweat. It was well before noon, but it was already hot as hell outside. Welcome to fall in Southern California. It wasn’t quite as hot as it was in Arizona, but the air was wetter here, and it felt heavier somehow.
“I’m so hungry,” Matt said.
I nodded as we headed back inside toward the locker room. “Me too. Do we have any food at the house?” I asked.
Colin laughed. “After last night? I highly doubt it.”
“Let’s go to the store then. I’ll buy,” I said, patting my pocket like it was filled with cash when it was actually empty.
Dick Davies never gave me cash, only a credit card that I was to charge everything on—from groceries to baseball equipment and even my bar tabs. Something about write-offs and expenses that I only partially understood, mostly because I didn’t care.
“You know, you never answered about where you ran off to.” Colin nudged against my shoulder, acting like he knew something even though he wasn’t coming out and saying it.
“Oh yeah. Did you hook up with Sunny or what?” Matt asked, and I felt my blood pressure rise. “I think I remember seeing her there last night. It’s all kind of a blur. But does she have”—he stopped, holding his head between his hands—“silver hair now?”
“It doesn’t matter what she has,” I snapped. “She’s off-limits.” I practically bit his head off without meaning to.
“You already told me that,” Matt said, sounding annoyed as we walked into the locker room and toward our stuff.
“Just making sure you remember.”
Matt held up one finger. “Stay away from Sunny, the silver-haired goddess,” he said before adding another finger. “Being mean to Hayley the smoke show is okay.”
I laughed slightly before punching his shoulder. “You’re an idiot.”
“Why?” he whined. “That’s what I’ve learned so far.”
“Did you leave with her?” Colin asked again, a little too excited and clearly pushing me for info.
“Why do you care so much?” I pinned him with a glare, wondering why he was so concerned about Sunny and what I had—or hadn’t—done with her. I didn’t like it, but before I could say anything else, Coach walked in.
“Hey, guys.” Coach Carter came into view with our other roommate Dayton trailing behind him, his eyes tired.
I hadn’t even realized that Dayton was out here, throwing, but it made sense. He was as serious about baseball as I was.
“How long have you guys been here?” I asked.
“About forty minutes,” Dayton answered as he took his hat off and wiped at his forehead.