Felix (The Ninth Inning #1) (21 page)

HAVING ABIGAIL AT the game didn’t seem to matter. We lost. Horribly. It was an excruciating, crippling kind of loss. At least, it felt that way yesterday. Today, I’m in the middle of my long run as part of my post-lost-game routine when the music stops playing in my ears. I glance down to my armband where my phone is and see an incoming call from Hector. After pulling out my earbuds and removing the phone from the case, I answer right before it goes to voicemail.

“Hello?”

“Hey, I need your help with something.”

“I kind of have a routine I follow on days like this.” Why does he need my help specifically?

“I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t important. It’s Blake.”

“What are you talking about?” I finally stop running, so I can pay attention.

“Just meet me at his house. I’ll text you the address.”

Something tells me this isn’t good. Hector sounds way too serious and the simple fact that it’s Blake makes me think it’s bad. I run the rest of the way to the complex. After running up to my apartment to grab a shirt, I get in my car. Hector’s text said to be quick, so hopefully, it won’t matter that I could use a shower and a change of clothes.

Turns out Blake lives fifteen minutes from where I live. I’m surprised when I pull up to a nice house instead of an apartment. Hector is banging on the door, pacing, by the time I get out of my car and walk up to him.

“What the hell is going on, Hector?”

“We need to get inside to check on him and the door is locked. Dumb ass remembered to lock the door.” He shakes his head, but I’m still confused. “Explaining can come later. Help me get into the house.”

“Does he have an alarm system that might go off? We could check the windows to see if any are unlocked.”

“No alarms. Let’s do that. You take the left side, I’ll take the right.”

We go our separate ways and I keep looking over my shoulder, waiting for someone to see us in broad daylight trying to break into someone’s house. Upon the third window I try, it moves some.

“Hector!” I call out. “Got one.” He jogs around. “I think it’s jammed though.” It’s higher up, so if we do get it opened, I might have to help him climb inside. We each take a side and push and jiggle the window until it creaks loudly as we push it upward until it opens. Hector glances at me and I wordlessly hook my hands together for him to use to help lift him up.

“Fuck!” he mutters. The window fell down onto his back. Luckily, it wasn’t but a few inches higher anyway. “I’m going to kill him.” Hector climbs the rest of the way in and tells me he’ll let me in the front.

I go around, nervous about what we’ll find inside. Hector is silent as he leads me into Blake’s house. He stops outside of a door before turning to face me. Before he can speak, my phone rings with a call from Abigail.

“Hold on a sec,” I tell him. “Hey, beautiful. Whatcha need?”

“I know you’re busy with your whole game after thing, but I wanted to tell you I’ve decided to try again with the driving.”

“That’s great,” I tell her, feeling as if the longer we stand here with Hector looking annoying with me is going to make whatever is on the other side that much worse. “Wait, what?” I ask because I stopped paying attention for a second and have no clue what she said.

“I said that you absolutely must not forget this. My therapist is going to be there with me, so maybe things will go better, but I want you there, too. I mean, if you’ll meet us.” She sounds unsure and nervous, probably over driving again.

“Of course I will. Look, I’m in the middle of something and really need to go, but you have my word, Abigail, and I’m really proud of you.”

“Thanks, Felix.”

We say goodbye and Hector grabs the doorknob, finally speaking as he turns it.

“I can go ahead and tell you that whatever is on the other side of this door is not a regular occurrence for Blake, so don’t start judging him.”

That doesn’t sound too good. Regardless, I nod, and he pushes the door open. We’re hit with the stench of alcohol, which is never something you want to smell coming from an athlete, especially when we’re in the middle of a season. Blake is passed out on his bed, lying on his back, shirtless. There are what appear to be new bruises on each side of his ribcage and his lip looks as if it was busted again. He’s suffered through one hell of a beating, that’s for sure.

“Damn,” Hector breathes. He steps closer to Blake and shakes his head. “Help me carry him into the bathroom. There’s only one way he’ll wake up and we need to go ahead and get him up.”

“You’ve done this before?” I ask as we each grab an arm to carry him.

“No, but I know it’s happened once before.” Hector pushes the shower curtain out of the way and we gently sit him down in the tub. “Heads up, he’s going to be more pissed than usual.” With that, he turns the shower on with cold water coming out.

The water soaks Blake quickly, but it takes about a minute before he startles awake. He curses under his breath as he shuts off the shower, glancing at us looking as pissed as Hector said he would be.

“Why are you here?” he asks me.

“Because you locked the door and I needed his help. I couldn’t get ahold of Sofia, so it was Felix instead. Deal with it.”

Blake’s eyes narrow at the mention of Sofia. “You shouldn’t have tried calling her to start with.”

“Well, I did. You need to get yourself ready for practice and thanks to us, you have plenty of time.” Hector’s phone rings. He checks it and glances at Blake. “Do you want me to answer or ignore her?”

“Ignore her. I’ll smooth things over with her later.” He sighs at the thought. He looks us each in the eyes before forcing out a mumbling, “Thanks.” Blake stands a little straighter, wincing a bit, but he adds, “Y’all can go now.”

“That’s it?” I finally speak up. “Thanks and a get out. No one is going to explain this?” I glance between Hector and Blake.

“No,” Blake answers, his tone curt. “I don’t have to explain a damn thing. Hector dragged you here, not me. Now, if you don’t mind, get the fuck out of my house.”

“C’mon, let’s go,” Hector says.

Shaking my head at both of them, I start walking out of the room. Once we’re back outside, Hector thanks me for coming to help him.

“Blake doesn’t like people knowing his personal shit. He tolerates that I know, which he didn’t choose to happen. I told you he had his demons and now you’ve gotten a glimpse of them. Cut him some slack.”

Like that explains much of anything. “Fine. If you happen to need my help again, just call.”

“HE’S GOING TO be there?” LA gasps and sets her fork down.

“Yes. He told me that he’ll be there.” I cut into my chicken.

“And you’re not going to remind him?” Annie asks confused, sipping her water.

“Nope.” I shake my head. “He really cares for me and he’s not going to forget. This is a big deal. He’ll be there.” I nod at them both.

Tomorrow is going to be huge for me. When I tell my sisters today at our lunch, they are very supportive, but upset they won’t be there.

“It’s not that I don’t want you two there, but Felix seems to help me a lot. Not that you two don’t, but I think I’ll be nervous if you were there.” I push my plate away.

“We understand.” Surprisingly, I hear LA’s voice first. “You will be great.”

“Yes, you will.” Annie pats my hand.

I relax against my chair. I didn’t realize how nervous I had been telling my sisters, but they love me and I love them.

“YOU KNOW WE could have studied at your apartment,” Warren says sitting across from me at the coffee house.

“We could, but I’d prefer this.” Plus, Felix wouldn’t like that, I think. I saw the jealousy in Felix’s eyes during our conversation. He trusts me, but there’s no reason to rock the boat by having Warren at my place.

“Is it because of the baseball guy?”

“Warren,” I firmly say his name. “Felix is my boyfriend. Now, we have a project to do. I think we should focus and get it done.”

He sighs. “Sure.”

I can clearly see he isn’t happy, but I push it out of my head and turn back to the books and papers sitting out in front of me. Thankfully, Warren does the same thing and we begin to work easily together.

After an hour and half of British Literature, I’m done. I know I need to get this done, but tomorrow is heavy on my mind and I want to get home and watch the game. Felix isn’t pitching, but I still watch. I think it’s in my lucky charm job description.

“I think we’re done. We made some good progress today.” I close up my books and laptop.

“Yeah, I think you’re right.” He follows my lead and we leave the coffee house.

“You don’t have to walk me to the bus stop.” Warren is keeping stride with me.

“I can take you home,” he suggests.

“I’m fine.” I sit on the bench. “You can leave.”

“I’ll wait with you. I’m not a dick, Abby.”

“I know you’re not.”

Warren sits next to me, but remains quiet. For it to be a Sunday, the traffic is heavier around campus than usual. “Am I a bad guy?”

“What?” I turn to him.

“Am I a bad guy?” he repeats.

“Why would you ask that?”

“I,” he stops for a second and collects his thoughts. “I thought you and I really liked each other,” he mumbles.

“Warren,” I softly say his name, suddenly feeling bad. “I like you, but we weren’t compatible.”

“And you and Mr. Baseball are?”

“Yes, we are. Warren, I care for you as a friend, but nothing else.” I softly pat his hand. “I’m sorry.”

He looks down as my hand is still covering his. “Will you promise me something?”

“Sure.”

“When Mr. Baseball breaks your heart, will you give me a second chance?”

I give him a small smile. “I promise.”

He nods and the bus pulls up. I quickly get on the bus. I know I told him ‘I promise’, but I regret it. I shouldn’t give him hope like that. Felix and I are strong together. Tomorrow is going to prove it. He won’t forget. He’s going to be there for me, just as I’m there for him.

When the bus stops in front of my complex, I head straight to my place to get out of the heat. I drop everything to the floor and lie on the couch taking in the cool air. I’m trying to calm down as thoughts about tomorrow begin to wash over me. Being behind the wheel of car is scarier than anything that I’ve ever done.

I reach for my phone and call Felix.

“What are you doing right now?”

“Nothing in particular. You?”

“I had lunch with my sisters today and then a study session with Warren. What time are you landing tomorrow?”

“Noon, maybe? I think that’s right.”

“Perfect. I can’t wait to see you. I’ve missed you.”

“I think I’ve missed you more. Traveling with a bunch of guys isn’t always fun.”

“Oh, I’m sure we will have some fun tomorrow,” I flirt with him.

“I promise you we will.”

TAMARA, MY THERAPIST, and I are still standing in the empty parking lot.

“Abigail, he knew the time, right?”

I nod. I’m hurt, mad, and embarrassed. Felix still hasn’t shown up. I didn’t remind him because he promised he would be here.

“Let’s reschedule for another time. He must have gotten caught up at the stadium.”