Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Stupid Florida.
Stupid Frank.
And damn, I needed to shake this mood.
I walked to the window and looked out at the night sky. At least I could see the stars. The beach was dark, but—no wait.
It wasn’t dark. There was a bright spot a little way off to the right. It took me a moment to understand what I was seeing.
A bonfire.
Almost without conscious thought, I changed into jeans and located my sneakers. I threw on an oversized sweatshirt, and then donned some bug spray after all. At least the expensive stuff they had here didn’t stink.
Five minutes later, I was padding along the packed sand, heading toward the bright flames.
And when I neared, several voices greeted me.
My mood lifted before I even sat down on the beach towel Justin spread out for me.
“Oh my god, there’s no way you could’ve done that,” I said, laughing so hard that the beer sloshed out of the top of my bottle.
“We did,” Justin insisted, laughing too.
“So the bear mascot had to wear the head of the robin’s costume, and the robin mascot had the head of a bear?”
“Yep,” Dominic said. “We took lots of pictures.”
“Okay, I can sort of see Justin and Dominic doing that, but not you, Tye.”
He was on the other side of the bonfire, but I could see him shake his head. “No, I went to a different university.”
“He went to a school for smart kids,” Dominic said.
“That’s definitely not us,” Justin said, raising a beer in Dominic’s direction.
I took a long swig of my drink, a fancy imported beer. “So where did you three meet?”
“High school,” Dominic said.
“And then you went to different universities and ended up on the same major league team?” I hugged my knees to my chest. The night air wasn’t exactly cold, but it was a lot cooler than it had been earlier today. Plus, there were some pretty strong winds coming off the water.
For a moment, no one answered. They were all so prickly when it came to talking about their baseball careers. Finally, Justin’s voice cut through the night. “We did, eventually. It took some doing, though.”
I nodded, staring into the fire. Maybe they’d be okay talking about baseball if it was something that happened in the past, like Justin and Dominic’s story about messing with rival teams’ mascot costumes.
“What was the best part about playing baseball?”
“Homeruns,” Justin said.
“Fuck that,” Tye said. “Grand slams.”
“That’s when you clear the bases, right?”
“Right,” Tye confirmed.
I got another beer and then returned to my spot by Dominic. “Is that what you like best, too?”
“Don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never hit a grand slam.”
Oops. Ouch. “I’m s—”
“It’s fine,” he interrupted curtly.
In a transparent effort to change the subject, Justin said heads up and tossed me a marshmallow. He’d been browning them in the fire, but I kept eating them as is. “You’ve never said, Naomi. Are you a baseball fan?”
Before I could answer, Tye chimed in. “Yeah, that’s right. There are two pro teams in Chicago. Which one do you follow?”
Truthfully, neither. I didn’t have time for that. I did have a preference, though, or at least my family had always been in one camp. “Are you going to like whichever answer I give?”
Tye chuckled. “Probably not.” His voice was low and sexy tonight, or maybe that was the beer talking.
“Then I’m not answering.”
“We could make you, you know,” Justin said, trying to sound evil but only managing to sound like his charming, easygoing self.
“How? By making me wear a mismatched mascot costume?” I smiled at Dominic, trying to coax him back into the conversation.
“Something like that,” Dominic said. “But we’re too tired tonight to torment the answer out of you. Or at least I am.” I hoped he wasn’t still upset that I’d asked him about grand slams.
“It was all that goofing around in the pool that did it,” Tye said.
“Yep,” Dominic confirmed. “I’m getting old.”
“We’re barely in our thirties,” Justin scoffed. “I’m not tired from the pool—it’s my brain that’s tired. Too much studying.”
I wanted to ask if they thought they were ready for the LSAT, but it seemed like too personal of a question. Likewise, I wouldn’t appreciate anyone asking about my plans for my future when they were so up in the air. I picked a different question instead. “Okay, what was the worst part of being a pro athlete. Entitled fans? Cranky coaches?” I laughed. “Female fans throwing themselves at you?”
“Definitely not the last one,” Justin said.
I frowned. “Wait, they really did that?”
He shrugged. “Face it, we’re good looking.”
Like I didn’t already know that. “Aren’t a lot of baseball players? I mean, it’s part of your job to keep your bodies in amazing shape.”
“Yeah, but have you seen some of the players out there? The ones with the neckbeards or hair like straw that sticks up in all directions? We’re a catch compared to them,” Tye said.