Caught (Men of the Show Book 3) (3 page)

A petite woman with long blond hair—and boobs so big he wondered how she could remain upright—strutted by with a tray of shots, and Matt reached out to grab one. She stopped short when she spotted him and her mouth dropped open.

“Omigod!
 
Are you—?”

He interrupted her before she could finish. “No, I’m not.”

She flipped her hair, giving him a slow, promising smile as her tongue darted out to wet her pouty red gloss-drenched lips. “You could totally be him. He’s so
fucking
hot as Captain America,” she purred as she sidled closer to him.
 

“Thanks, I think.”
 
Matt slammed the shot before turning his back to her. He hadn’t missed her invitation; he simply wasn’t interested. He grew weary of the girls who offered themselves up because he played ball or because he supposedly resembled some actor.
 

His blue eyes watered and he cringed at the burn of Jäger racing down his throat, but he smiled when Jerry let out a hoot from across the room where he stood joking around with a group of guys. Jerry Smutton was getting married. Matt couldn’t believe it. Jerry was the last person Matt would have believed to be hitched before him, but here they were. A few days before the wedding and it was really happening.

He was happy for his friend—really happy. He liked Karen. She was perfect for Jerry, but it still amazed him that all his buddies were settling down before him—the one who actually
wanted
to be married. Even though everyone always teased him for being the romantic of the group, Matt couldn’t seem to shake off his single status.

He wasn’t going to deny it. Right behind baseball as the absolute love of his life, was love and he loved being in love. He wanted what his parents had—a loving relationship, a wonderful marriage and a perfect-sized family. Whenever the “she” part of the equation decided to show up, he was more than ready.

And sometimes because he wanted to settle down, he progressed relationships quicker than he should, but he couldn’t fault himself for trying. How did he know for sure if he didn’t try?
 
But the situation with Natalie had rocked him and now his interest in meeting anyone had waned.

He sighed, eyeing the empty shot glass in his hand before tossing it onto the table and dropping his big frame down in a chair. Things with her had exploded from being mildly uncomfortable to right out bat-shit crazy, and he still didn’t know what to do, resulting in his downer attitude despite the occasion. The night was Jerry’s, however, and being one of his best friends, Matt wouldn’t be anywhere else.

The chair next to him pulled out and Chase Patton, one of the pitchers on the team, sat next to him.

“You’re quiet over here tonight, Bucky. You not liking the scenery?” he asked, his dark eyes sparkling in amusement.

“Yeah,” Matt said with a shrug. “Just not feeling it I guess.”

Chase’s expression turned serious. “Everything all right?”

Matt caught the glint of a spotlight bouncing off the platinum wedding band on Chase’s left ring finger and tried not to let the reminder of his own unmarried status bother him along with everything else. “Yeah, no, everything’s fine. Just tired or something.”

“What the fuck are you two boring asses doing sitting down over here?”
 
Jerry lumbered toward them, the numerous shots that he’d taken obviously already taking effect. “Get up and enjoy the party, man! I’m not going to be single for much longer!”

Matt laughed as Jerry hooked his arms under his armpits, attempting to haul him up. Jerry wasn’t small himself, but Matt had some pounds on him and, adding alcohol to the mix, it was proving difficult for Jerry.

“Stand up, you fat ass,” Jerry grimaced.

“And do what?” Matt asked calmly, ignoring Jerry’s huffing and puffing. “You’re going to end up hurting your arm and Coach will kill me.”

“My arm is fine, don’t you worry about that. Get up so you don’t look like a boring old man, even though you are.”

“Fine.”
 
Matt stood right as Jerry tried another mighty heave, which sent Jerry sprawling back, landing on his ass in the middle of the group. He glared up at Matt for a second before they all started roaring with laughter. Matt leaned down and grabbed Jerry’s shoulders, hauling him back up.

“Get off the floor, you idiot.”

A big, goofy smile spread on Jerry’s face as he threw his arm around his catcher. “I’m so glad you’re here, man.”

“I know you are.”

“No, really. You’re more to me than just my catcher. I mean that,” he said as his words started to slur, but his grin never fell.

Matt chuckled as he listened to his drunken friend ramble. “You’re drunk and you’re an asshole.”

Jerry just laughed. “Yes, I am.”
 
He straightened up suddenly, looking over Matt’s shoulder. “Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Who ordered a private dance? I can’t have any of that, boys. My baby will kill me if there’s any touching or sitting on Mr. Happy…”

Matt turned to see what had caught Jerry’s attention and his heart thudded with dread.

No, no, no!
 
Not now
. He shot away from Jerry and rushed to her side, pulling her out the door she’d just come through.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he hissed with his teeth clenched together.

“Ow! You’re hurting me,” Natalie whined as she tried to tug free from his grasp, but he wouldn’t loosen his grip.

Ignoring her protests, Matt dragged her out of the private room and across the club until they emerged outside, where he let go with a little shove. So much anger pulsed through him that he didn’t even notice the cold as the snow fell around them. He spotted her car in the parking lot, not far from the door, and stalked over to the small compact, waiting for her to follow. When her soft footsteps fell in behind him, he spun around.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he repeated.

She let out a huff, which showed as a puff of white in the air. “I had to talk to you, Matt.”

He rolled his eyes. He’d heard it all before. “There is nothing to talk about. We’re done. We’re over. Please get that through your thick skull.”

Natalie shook her head, her dark wavy hair bouncing around her face as her eyes quickly filled. “Please, no. Don’t say that. We can fix this.”

Matt hated to be so mean and cold to her, but she’d pushed him to this. He’d tried to be patient and understanding, and even talk to her when she’d asked, but everything had gone on for too long and he was done. “There is nothing to fix, Natalie. I don’t love you. I don’t want to be with you. That’s it.”

“No, don’t say that,” she pleaded.

“You need to move on.”

“I don’t understand what happened, what changed.”
 
Big, fat tears fell down her cheeks.

“Nothing happened, nothing changed. We just grew apart. That’s it. End of story. There is no more
us
. You seriously need to get past this.”

“There’s someone else, isn’t there?” she hissed as her tears quickly dried and a hard edge replaced them. “There’s some other slut.”

Matt rubbed a hand over his hair in frustration, tired of going through the same thing over and over again. “No, there is no one else.”
 

“One of the girls in there.”
 
Natalie jerked her head in the direction of the club.

“Jesus Christ.”
 
He closed his eyes. “You need to go, okay?
 
I have a party I need to be at and you just need to go.”

“You can’t make me go!
 
This is a public place.”

“Natalie, please. You’re making this worse than it needs to be. Please go before you cause a bigger scene than you already have.”

Her small rosebud mouth pursed as she glared at him. “Fine,” she sniffed as she moved over to her car door. Before climbing in, she rested a mitten on the top of the frame and a beautiful smile broke out on her face. “I’ll see you later and we’ll talk, okay?
 
Miss you and love you. Bye!”

Matt stared in disbelief as she climbed in and drove out, and he remained frozen in place even after she’d driven down the street. The girl was insane. No other explanation worked. He put his head back toward the dark winter sky, took in a deep breath and let it out, watching the white cloud of air dissipate. He let the soft snowfall lightly kiss his skin, making no move to wipe the moisture off.

He had to do something. He couldn’t keep going on like this, looking over his shoulder all the time, wondering when she would show up with her crazy. He didn’t want to have to take drastic legal measures, but if he wanted her to stop, it had to be done.

His phone rang in his pocket and his blood froze, thinking it was her calling him, even though she shouldn’t have the new number—at least he hoped. He pulled his phone out, trepidation coursing through him, but let out a sigh in relief that it was his best bud, Jason.

“Hey, man. What’s up?” Matt said as he answered.

“You hear the news?” Jason said without preamble. “You’re talking to your newest shortstop.”

“No, shit. That’s fucking awesome!”

It was no secret the Rockets were in talks with Jason and his agent since his contract with the Seattle Sea Dogs ended, but Matt had no idea things had progressed that far so quickly. One of the best shortstops in the league, Jason Kirby played the position better than anyone Matt had ever seen, and he was Matt’s longest and oldest childhood friend. He couldn’t believe they’d be playing on the same team again as they hadn’t played together since college.

“Yep. We’re finally back on the same team.”

“I can’t wait to tell everyone.”

“When are you coming to Arizona?” Jason asked. “I thought you’d be home by now.”

“Smutton’s getting married, so I’m stuck here in cold-ass Michigan until the wedding is over. I need to see the sun, though. It seems like I haven’t seen it since the beginning of October. Does it still exist?”

Jason chuckled. “Get your ass home and you’d see it. Where are you?
 
You sound like you’re near a freeway or something.”

“Yeah, I’m outside this strip joint right by the freeway.”

“Why the hell are you outside?
 
Last time I checked, all the action is inside.”

“I know, I know. I had to take care of something, that’s all.”

Jason sighed loudly. “She showed up there, didn’t she?”

“Yep, she sure did. Just walked right into the private room. Jerry thought she was there to give him a lap dance or something.”

“What are you going to do about it?
 
You can’t keep going on like this. You need to file a restraining order.”

“That seems so…I don’t know, extreme.”
 
He kicked at the snow by his boot. “There’s got to be some other way to handle this without involving the law.”

“Bucky, what she’s doing is breaking the law. She’s fucking stalking you, not to mention she essentially broke into your house.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. I know I have to go that route, but I don’t want to.”

“You’ve got to before she goes even further,” Jason said. “Stop being so goddamn nice to her since she doesn’t deserve it. She’s obviously sick and maybe this will get her the help she needs.”

Matt glanced at the neon pink lips above the door. He needed to get back inside before Jerry came out looking for him, even though he wanted nothing more than to go home since Natalie had killed whatever buzz he’d been working up. But the guys would be pissed if he left, especially Jerry—if he was still conscious.

He turned and trudged toward the entrance to the club. “Look, man. I have to go back in there. I’m going to take care of it.”

“Matt,” Jason warned. “You’ve got to do this. Don’t make me involve your dad.”

“I know and I will, I promise. Don’t go there with Dad, all right?
 
I’ll kick your ass if you do. I’ll talk you later.”

Matt hung up, ignoring Jason’s grumbling, and stretched his neck, trying to work out the tension taking up residence in his shoulders, as he walked back into the dark club and headed toward the private room. He knew what he had to do, he just didn’t want to because doing so would be admitting he’d lost control. It
was
out of control, however, and Jason was right. But he didn’t want to drag his father into this mess, so he’d hire someone else to file the restraining order. Because, as much as he hated to admit it, he had no idea what she was going to do next.

Chapter 4

When the pounding started on the bathroom door, Shannon cursed. Her reflection told the entire story—her long blond hair hung flat and lifeless around her face, and her makeup did nothing to help her blue eyes pop or remove the paleness from her skin—but, she’d pushed the limits of time and Karen was done waiting.

“What in the hell are you doing in there?” her sister asked. “You never take this long.”

Rolling her eyes, Shannon threw down the blush and opened the door. “I look blah and I’m trying to improve things.”
 
She studied herself in the mirror and frowned. “It isn’t working though.”