Taken by Storm (Give & Take) - By Kelli Maine Page 0,28
stepped between her legs. “I’ll make this easy for you.” He let the ring slip between his fingers, holding tight to the end of the chain. The diamond swung back and forth in front of her face, flashing in the overhead light.
He took her chin and held her still, his dark eyes fixed on hers. “When you can look me in the eye and tell me you want to marry him, I’ll give it back.”
He wasn’t playing fair. He knew she could never do that. She would never say those words to him.
Maddie reached for the ring, but he pulled it away. “This isn’t about you,” she said.
He smirked and shook his head, knowing as well as she did what an enormous lie she’d just uttered.
It was always about him.
Ten
When the hell would he get a goddamn break? It wasn’t bad enough that he had the shitty end of every fucking stick when it came to family, now the universe had to take a dump on him in the form of a big shiny diamond around Maddie’s neck.
And here he was being the good guy and helping out Coach with his team. Was there no such thing as a good deed being rewarded in this world?
“Thought you said Peach was coming too,” Coach said, standing beside MJ on the third baseline watching the boys practice batting.
“Something came up.”
Yeah it did. Something came up hard and fast, and he’d almost shoved it home. Then he saw the ring, and it went right back down and hid deep inside his boxer briefs. Nothing like another guy’s engagement ring to make the mood wither and die.
The bat cracked into the ball, sending it out in left field. “Good hit!” Coach yelled.
“Get under it!” MJ shouted to the left fielder who caught it. “Nice!”
Coach spit tobacco juice on the ground. “Everything good between you two?”
“What do you think?” MJ eyed the small kid in the batter’s box. He remembered him from last year. He couldn’t hit far, but the boy could run. “Move in!” he yelled to the infield. “He’s going to bunt.”
“He’s actually been hitting some decent grounders,” Coach said. “Boy’s fast.”
MJ tugged on the bill of his cap. Maddie’s ring sat like a lead rock in his pocket. Knowing her, she’d sneak in the big house and snoop through his bedroom while he was gone, which was why he’d keep it in his pocket until she asked for it back.
Which she wouldn’t.
Maddie was always trying to make up rules as she went along, but she never realized they just delayed the real outcome. You win a game, or you lose. There’s no almost. You get engaged, or you don’t. There was no taking a break to think about it.
If she didn’t say yes, then the answer was no.
What kind of loser agrees to a break? Why would anyone want to marry someone who has to run away and tear you apart in her mind, weighing each piece to see if it’s worth enough to be tied down to you for the rest of her life?
MJ hooked his thumbs in his pockets and scuffed his foot along the base line.
She’d run away from him, too. Guess that made him a pathetic loser who hoped she’d come back for over a year.
What had he done wrong? Yeah, he lost his head sometimes and his temper all the time. But it wasn’t like that was a surprise to her. She’d known him forever.
Maybe it was like she’d said, only kids play to her.
“All right!” Coach yelled. “Give me five laps around the diamond and you’re free to go. I want you all here fifteen minutes before the game starts on Saturday. Don’t be late!”
MJ realized he’d spent the whole practice lost inside his head over Maddie. “I wasn’t much help,” he said. “Team looks good this season.”
“We’re not winning many games, but they’re fighters. You and Peach whipped them into shape their first year. You two make a good team. Always have though.”
He could feel Coach eyeing him, but kept his gaze on the team running laps. “She was wearing an engagement ring around her neck.”
Coach shuffled from foot to foot and tucked his hands in his pockets. “Not on her finger?”
MJ let out a sharp chuckle. “She and the guy are taking a break until she figures out if she’s going to tell him yes or no.” He turned his head to Coach. “I took it from her. The ring.”