Playing Hard (32 page)

“Are you asking me if I think he has a drinking problem?”

“Yes,” Alex said bluntly.

She sighed. “He’s never been one to turn down a party. But he’s also never let it interfere with his game. He’s not eighteen anymore. I don’t see how he could drink enough for it to be a habit and still play well.”

“You might be surprised,” Lucas muttered.

Amelia nodded. “He drinks, yes. I don’t know how much or how regularly. I don’t think more than I’ve known him to in the past but it’s not like we live in each other’s pockets.” She hesitated. “Are you going to release him?”

Lucas shrugged. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. How best to solve this problem. Because there’s obviously something going on with him.”

“What about the other players who were in the fight?”

“None of them has gotten into this sort of trouble before,” Mal said. “But that’s not the case with Finn. We knew that when we took him on from the Cubs. Even there he hadn’t screwed up this badly.”

“If someone put something in his drink—” she started.

Alex held up a hand. “We’re taking that into account. That possibility. But that doesn’t change the fact that Finn doesn’t appear to be handling major-league baseball well. So the question becomes whether he can change that or not. Whether he wants to.”

“He’s wanted to play baseball his whole life,” she said. “He loves the game. It’s like the thing he’s meant to do. I know that much.”

Alex nodded. “Yes. Well. Sometimes dreams have to change.” He looked at her a moment. “Now I think we’ve taken up enough of your time.” He stood. Smiled. Which was dazzling. When Alex Winters focused on you and smiled, it was easy to see why Maggie had snapped the man up. “I know quite a few people in Hong Kong. Yell if you ever need anything.”

Well, that answered the question of whether they knew about her and Oliver breaking up. He’d obviously told them that she was leaving. “Thank you,” she said. “Finn’s a good guy,” she added. “Underneath it all. He’s always been a good guy. So if you think you can give him a chance, I don’t think he’ll let you down again.”

*   *   *

Maggie showed her out and they started back toward the elevator. “So, Hong Kong,” Maggie said. “Are you excited?”

“Yes,” Amelia said. “Excited and terrified.”

“I get that,” Maggie said. Then she stopped walking. Bit her lip. “Okay, I’m just going to say this. Tell me to go soak my head if you want but Oliver is kind of my Finn, so I have to ask. Are you sure you’re doing the right thing here? He’s crazy about you. I know that. He’s been like a bear with a sore head for the last two weeks.”

“I’m sorry,” Amelia said. “I’m sorry I hurt him. But I have to do this. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”

“No way for you guys to work it out?”

“I raised the possibility of long distance,” Amelia said. “It seems dumb. We only dated a few weeks. But Oliver said no.”

Maggie frowned. “Men are stupid sometimes. Give him another chance.”

“He’s made his feeling pretty clear,” Amelia said, shaking her head. “And as much as I lo—I mean, care about him,” she amended. God, how had she let that slip out? She didn’t love him. Couldn’t love him. “I can’t give this up for him. It’s kind of like, well, to use a baseball analogy, it’s like my shot at the big leagues. So I can either step up to the plate or stay on the sidelines. And even if the sidelines means I get to keep Oliver, I think that in order to be able to live with myself, I need to step up to the plate. I’d rather have the regrets that come with a swing and a miss than the regrets from never getting into the game. Does that make sense?”

The brunette smiled at her, something sad in the expression. “Yes. It does. And I understand. I just wish you could have both.”

“Well, if you figure out how to have your cake and eat it, too, let me know,” Amelia said. “Now I need a taxi. I have to finish packing. I’m leaving on Wednesday.”

“So soon?”

“Yeah. Big rush.”

“I’ve never been to Hong Kong,” Maggie said. “Maybe I can convince Alex we need a trip now that it’s the off-season. We can come look you up.”

“I’d like that,” Amelia said, meaning it. “I wanted to say thank you. You’ve been so nice to me.”

“You’re easy to be nice to,” Maggie said. Behind her, the elevator dinged and her eyes went wide. “Crap.” She grabbed Amelia’s arm. “Okay, I’m sorry for what’s about to happen. I thought I had the timing right.”

“What?” Amelia said, confused. Then Oliver stepped out of the elevator and she froze.

He looked good. No stick. And no splint on his hand. Just a bandage. That had to be a good thing. He wore dark jeans and a dark-green shirt and she’d never wanted so badly to be able to touch someone in her life.

“You’re early,” Maggie said, breaking the silence. Oliver kept looking at Amelia. Her face started to heat. And her heart started to break all over again.

“I have to go,” she said. “It was nice to see you,” she blurted at him and then rushed past him and into the elevator, hitting the
CLOSE
button and letting it carry her down to safety before she lost it completely.

*   *   *

“You’re early,” Maggie repeated, sounding exasperated. Oliver shook himself.
Amelia
. Had been here. And he’d said nothing. Fuck. She’d been standing right there, gorgeous in jeans and boots and a sludgy green sweater, red blond hair falling around her face. And he’d said nothing.

He turned his attention to Maggie. “Early? You mean you didn’t plan that?”

Maggie shook her head. “I’m not a sadist, Ollie. I think you’re being a big fat idiot if you let that woman walk away, but I’m not a sadist.”

“I’m not letting her walk away. She’s choosing to walk away.”

“You’re choosing not to run after her.”

“What’s the point if she’s leaving?”

“Good grief, she’s not leaving forever. What the hell do you have going on right now that means you couldn’t go with her if you wanted?”

Go with her? He blinked. Then held up his hand. “Well, there’s this.”

“Call me crazy, but I’m guessing there are hand therapists in Hong Kong.”

“My surgeon is here.”

“That’s only an issue if you need more surgery. Plus, they have these things called planes. Granted it’s a long flight to Hong Kong, but you can afford to fly up at the pointy end. It’s not exactly a hardship.”

“There’s also the small matter of her not asking me.”

“Maybe it never crossed her mind that you would go.” Maggie said. “I don’t know Amelia all that well, but I get the feeling she’s very good at putting other people first. She was just in there trying to help Finn despite everything. So no, maybe she didn’t think about it. Or dismissed the idea for all the same stupid reasons that you just did. God. People in love are stupid sometimes.”

She might as well have hit him in the gut. Was he doing what everyone else did to her? Expecting her to shape her life around his? Then the last part of Maggie’s sentence registered in his brain. “In love?” he said. “Who said anything about—Did Amelia say that?” He sounded appallingly eager.

Maggie laughed. “No, you don’t care at all, obviously. So think about it, okay?”

“Dan Ellis asked me whether I wanted to help out during the off-season. Get a feel for whether the coaching side of things is something I might want to do.”

Maggie arched an eyebrow. “You thinking about retiring?”

He lifted his hand. “This is still going slowly. I have to figure out what I want to do when I grow up eventually, even if my hand does come good.”

She grinned. “Well, well, well. Oliver Shields being sensible and finally planning for his future. Tell me again how you’re not in love?”

He scowled and she laughed. “Ollie, there will be other off-seasons. You know the Saints will help you do whatever you want to do when you retire. You’re family here. But I think you have a chance at a different kind of family. A chance you’re currently screwing up.”

“We’ve only known each other a few weeks. It’s crazy.”

She patted his shoulder. “That’s exactly what she said. And you know, if there’s one thing Alex has taught me it’s that sometimes, when it feels like that, you just have to let the hell go and trust the crazy. Now come on, the guys are waiting for you.”

*   *   *

He followed her down to Alex’s office, mind whirling. Go to Hong Kong with Amelia. It did sound crazy. His life had been the Saints and Staten Island forever. The thought of leaving was hard to grasp. Even if he would be coming back.

“Oliver,” Lucas said as they came into the room. “How’s the hand?”

“Given I’m sure George is sending you copies of all my reports, I’m sure you know the answer to that,” Oliver said. He said hello to Alex and Mal and Dan. Truth was, as he’d said to Maggie, regaining his hand function was painfully slow. Every freaking fraction of an inch of movement was hard-won. “But you didn’t ask me here to talk about my hand. So let’s talk about Finn instead.”

“Okay,” Alex said. “What do you think of Castro?”

“I think he’s a cocky little prick who’s currently got his head up his ass,” Oliver said. Then he held up his hand before they could start arguing with him. Amelia cared about Finn. So he would be honest. For her. “But I also think that if he can get his head out of his ass, then he’s got a chance to be a pretty damned good first base man. He played brilliantly in a couple of those games. Reminded me of me when I was younger.”

“Yes, he did,” Dan agreed.

“Doesn’t change the fact Ollie’s right,” Mal said. “The kid hasn’t got his head on straight right now.”

“Well, he’s out of the hospital,” Lucas said. “And his last checkup cleared him for light activity. The doctor said nothing strenuous for a few more weeks. So if we wanted to try and stick him in rehab or some sort of counseling place for a few weeks, this might be a good time.”

“You think he needs rehab?” Alex asked Lucas.

Lucas shrugged. “I don’t know. There’s nothing in his blood work that suggests really heavy drinking. But I can’t help thinking some time out might help him. If he wants to be helped.”

“That’s what it boils down to, isn’t it?” Mal said. “The only one who can help him is him in the end.”

“Yes, but we can support him. Regardless of whether we keep him or not,” Maggie said. “We can still help. Amelia says he’s a good guy.”

“Even good guys can fuck things up,” Lucas said, eyes fixed on Oliver.

“We’re talking about Finn,” Oliver growled. Fuck. Were they all going to read him the riot act about Amelia? And if all of them thought that way, did that mean he really was fucking up royally if he let her go?

“Who says I wasn’t?” Lucas said with a grin.

“For me, I think some sort of rehab or counseling program is a given,” Alex said. “If he won’t do that, then I’m done with him. He’s just going to keep fucking up. He’s already put himself in the hospital, and Oliver. Not to mention Paul’s hand and Sam’s ribs. He’s lucky those Yankees fans didn’t press charges and land him in a lot worse trouble.”

“Agreed,” Mal said. “But if he agrees, then what do we do when he’s out?”

“Send him to the Preachers,” Oliver said. “Less pressure in AAA. Give him a chance to figure out if he really wants this enough to win his way back to the Saints. See how he does. You can always bring him back partway through the season if he turns things around and gets his act together. Some breathing room and a change of scenery might just be what the doctor ordered.” Suddenly he didn’t think he was just talking about Finn anymore. But before he could figure out his own life, if he was going to go after Amelia, he needed to make sure Finn understood a few things. Which meant he needed to get out of here.

“The Preachers? You think that’s a good idea?” Dan said.

Oliver shrugged. “That’s for all of you to decide. So I’m just going to leave you to it.”

*   *   *

“What the hell are you doing here?” Finn said gruffly.

Oliver smiled a smile that felt more like baring his teeth at the guy. “Castro. Good to see you, too. Let me in.” He put his hand on the door and, to his surprise, Finn fell back. Maybe the guy was still feeling like crap. Whatever. He walked into the apartment, shut the door behind him.

Finn stood in the small entry hall, hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans, scowling. Which made the pink scar that sliced across his forehead on an angle that just cut the tip of his right eyebrow wrinkle. “Okay. You’re in. What do you want? If Dan Ellis sent you to give me another little pep talk, I’m not interested.”

Oliver shook his head. “Kid, I’m not interested in saving your career. You’ve dug your own hole and you’re going to have to pull yourself out of it. But you and I are going to have a little chat.”

“About what?”

“About Amelia. And the way you’re going to behave around her in the future.”

Finn’s scowl vanished, morphing for an instant into something Oliver would have called guilt on another guy’s face, before the expression turned unreadable. “What do you care about Amelia? Em said you broke up.”

Oliver just shrugged. “Whether I am or am not involved with Amelia isn’t your problem. The fact that I’ll take it badly if you ever talk to her again like you did at the party is.”

Finn looked down at his shoes. “I’m going to apologize.”

“You should have already apologized,” Oliver said. “You should have groveled. You made her feel like crap. She’s spent her whole life trying to please people and I’m guessing she’s done nothing but support you over the years, even when you no doubt deserved a kick up the ass. And you tell her she’s not part of your family because you’re having a crappy week. Low blow. Don’t you know how she feels about you all?”

Finn’s head shot up, scowl firmly in place again. “I don’t need you telling me I screwed up.”

“Don’t you? Because screwed up is hardly what I’d call it. More like comprehensively fucked things up. You do get that, right?”

“Yes,” Finn gritted out.

“Good. Maybe there’s hope for you yet,” Oliver said. If the kid could accept that he’d been a dick and wanted to try a different approach, then maybe there was a chance he could make things right. “But regardless, you will treat Amelia the way she deserves to be treated or I will make you sorry. Understand me?”