Taken by Storm (9 page)

If there was a baseball Hell, this was it.

He hit the last couple balls and took off his helmet.

“Hey! Coach MJ,” one of the boys said.

MJ dropped his bat and turned around. How could he not have recognized these kids? He helped coach their team the past couple years. Two years ago, Maddie had too.

“Hey fellas, what’s up?”

“Where’ve you been all summer?” the pudgy one asked. MJ forgot their names—had always relied on them being
printed on the back of their shirts—but he knew this one. This one had a single dad who hit on Maddie every chance he got two summers ago.

“I’ve been around. Playing ball?”

The four boys had their fingers thread through the chain-link fence and were all staring at him. “We’re playing,” Pudgy said. “Coach could use some help if you ask me.”

MJ gathered his bats and zipped them in his bat bag. “Coach doesn’t need help. He always did fine on his own.”

“He’s getting old,” the tall kid with glasses said. “We did better last year with you helping.”

“Well, I don’t have time to hang out at Little League games.”

“Too busy getting in fights at Coach’s bar? That’s what my dad says.” Pudgy was really starting to piss MJ off, just like his big-mouth dad had. He’d like to shut Pudgy’s dad’s mouth for him.

“Is that what he says?” MJ pushed through the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. The boys gathered around him like he was their fucking queen bee or something.

“Yeah,” Pudgy said. “Heard you got kicked off the GSU team, too.”

Was it legal to kick a little kid’s ass if he goaded you into it? “Are we done here?” MJ took a few steps down the sidewalk.

The tall kid stepped up beside him. “We suck. Our next practice is tomorrow, three o’clock at Butler Field. Come if you want to help us.” He threw MJ a pleading glance.

“I’ll think about it,” MJ muttered.

He walked to his car feeling like an asshole. How did he not even think to offer to help Coach this summer? Sure, if he hadn’t been kicked off the GSU team, he’d be too busy. But, that wasn’t the case any longer.

God, he was so self-absorbed, he never even thought about Coach needing his help. Coach who was always bailing his ass out every time he turned around.

MJ tossed his bat bag into his trunk. Resigned, he knew where he’d be tomorrow afternoon. Driving home, he thought back two seasons ago. The last season Maddie helped out with Coach’s team, the last game of their summer together.

Maddie had her ponytail pulled through the back of her baseball cap. They wore powder blue and white hats and jerseys that matched the team. Coach’s said COACH on the back. MJ and Maddie’s said ASST COACH. The third base lounge logo of a baseball diamond with a foamy cartoon mug sitting on third base was embroidered on the front pocket.

They were nicer jerseys than the printed T-shirts Coach used to spring for when he and Maddie were on Coach’s team.

Maddie stood behind the fence cheering on their team’s batters, reminding each one what they’d worked on at practice the past week while MJ warmed up their pitcher for the next inning. Coach liked to stay out by first base. The three
of them made one hell of a team. They were undefeated and this was the last game of the season, top of the ninth. They were up by one. If they could score a few more runs and hold the other team off when they were up-to-bat, they’d finish the season 12-0.

They’d won, took the kids for ice cream and then gathered at Coach’s bar. Maddie sat next to him in a corner booth. Her hand was on his thigh. He couldn’t wait to get her home. She leaned in and whispered in his ear, “I found us an apartment near GSU. I put down a deposit. We can move in next week.”

He couldn’t believe it was actually happening. She was moving back from Michigan. She wanted to be with him. She’d just graduated college and said she could find a job anywhere, and wanted it to be where he was.

She snuggled in to his side. “I love you, MJ.”

He held her close and kissed her. For the first time in his life, he was exactly where he belonged.

She was standing in the driveway under the garage light again.

“Waiting on me?” he asked.

She wasn’t smoking this time. He was glad. He hated it when she smoked.

“Yeah,” she said. “I want to talk to you.”

She wanted to talk to him? The time to talk was that summer before she took off. “I’m helping Coach with his
Little League team tomorrow afternoon. You can come and talk to me then if you want.”

First, she looked confused, then she got a little excited. “The same kids?”

“Yep.” He lugged his bat bag out of his trunk. “Even the smart-mouth pudgy kid.”

“Charlie,” she said. “His name’s Charlie.”

“Whatever.” MJ walked by her with his bag. “Be standing in that spot at 2:45 tomorrow if you’re coming with me.”

He made the mistake of glancing back at her. He wanted to kiss her so badly, his entire body ached. His tongue prickled with the need to taste her again.

He could resist.

Had to.

Instead, MJ turned and ordered his feet to keep walking away, just like she’d done to him.

A
fter being awake half the night tossing and turning and wishing she could somehow go back a couple years and figure out a way around the Old Man, Maddie rolled out of bed a little after noon.

It had been a long time since she’d let herself sleep that late, but that’s what this trip was about. Figuring herself out. Staying up into the early hours of the morning letting her mind wander qualified.

Maddie stumbled out into the living room, stretching and noticed the light on her phone lying on the kitchen counter was lit, indicating she had a text message. She picked it up and unplugged it from the charger. The text was from Talan.

Just wanted to say hello. Hope everything’s good at home.

The ring hanging around her neck felt so heavy, it could pull her to the floor.

Or maybe that was her heart.

Why couldn’t she just tell him yes and be happy like any normal woman would be? Talan had a great job as a design engineer at Chrysler, he was sweet and funny, and he’d be a patient and loving husband and father—no question about it.

What was this mental block in her way?

As if she needed an answer to that question. MJ was
always in her way. Him and his intensity, his inability to tell her how he felt. He’d never once told her he loved her.

Talan told her every day since the first time he’d said it.

What was she doing?

Maddie slumped down into one of the chairs at the tiny kitchen table. She had to get over MJ. Past their past. On to her future. Just because he knew her inside and out didn’t mean they were meant to be together.

They fought too much to be together anyway.

She got up and grabbed a paper towel and some cleaning spray to wipe up the coffee ring her dad left on the table. Her mind drifted to a fight she and MJ had over the summer when they were together. He’d been jealous of one of the single Little League dads who had stopped her to talk after practice one day. Charlie Singleton’s dad.

“You’re a pretty good fielder,” Mr. Singleton said, helping her collect baseballs scattered behind the backstop. “Got an arm on you for a girl,” he said, laughing. He winked and let his eyes roam up and down her body. “For a woman I should say.”

He was good looking for a guy probably ten years older than her, but she only had interest in one man. “Thanks,” she said, stuffing balls into the big, canvas ball bag.

“Charlie really likes you. Talks about you all the time. I think he might have a little crush.” He came close, his arms loaded with balls. She held the bag open for him. “Not that I blame him.” He dumped the balls in and ducked his head so his mouth was close to her ear. “I think I have a little crush too.”

Flattered and embarrassed, Maddie stepped back, letting go of the bag. Baseballs rolled in every direction. “Oh,” she said, watching the balls leave trails behind in the soft, dusty dirt.

One of the balls flew past her and hit Mr. Singleton on the leg. Maddie’s eyes shot up to find MJ stalking toward them.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, his eyes hard, brow lowered and creased in anger. “I meant to toss that into the bag. Guess she dropped it for some reason.”

“Yeah,” Mr. Singleton said, brushing dirt off his jeans where the ball hit. “Good aim.” He smiled, like he was joking, trying to lighten the mood, but MJ wasn’t lightening up.

MJ stood beside her, feet planted apart, arms folded across his chest, glaring at Mr. Singleton.

“Don’t,” Maddie whispered. “Please. For Coach.”

“Good practice today,” Mr. Singleton said. “I was just telling Maddie how much Charlie talks about you guys. You’ve taught him a lot this year.”

“Great,” MJ said, the word sharp and pointed.

Mr. Singleton watched MJ for a moment before turning and waving them off. “See you at the game Saturday.”

“Bye!” Maddie called, hoping Coach hadn’t just lost his team’s catcher. She pivoted on her heel to face MJ, her hands coming up to rest in fists on her hips. “What the hell was that about? You totally threw that at him intentionally.”

MJ stepped toward her and leaned in, his nose almost touching hers. “You’re damn right I threw it at him intentionally. One of us had to stop him before he tossed you on the ground and screwed you right here.”

“Are you insane? It was no big deal. I’m not going to run off with every guy who hits on me.”

He cocked his head, his own hands on his hips. “Guys hit on you all the time then, huh? That’s just fucking fantastic, Maddie.”

She threw her hands in the air. “Why are you mad at me? I don’t ask them to!”

MJ gestured to Mr. Singleton’s retreating form. “You don’t stop them either!”

“Enough!” Coach stood beside them. They hadn’t noticed him walk up. “You two are being stupid.” He grabbed MJ’s shoulder. “Especially you. Peach is a beautiful girl. Of course men are going to notice. Don’t make your insecurity her problem. That’s not fair to her.”

MJ smirked and shook his head. “I’m not insecure.”

Coach quirked an eyebrow. “You sure about that?” He patted him on the back and left them standing in the pile of spilled baseballs.

Maddie knelt and began collecting the balls. “Why are you like this?”

MJ crouched and held the bag open. “I’m not supposed to be mad when another guy hits on you in front of me?”

She sighed and pushed her hair off of her sweaty forehead. “Don’t you trust me?”

He didn’t stop tossing balls in the bag and didn’t look at her. “Of course I trust you,” he muttered.

“It doesn’t seem like it.”

MJ blew out a deep breath and sat back on the dirt.
“You could have anyone.” He nodded toward the now empty parking lot. “Mr. Singleton is set. He’s got a good job, a house, money in the bank.”

Maddie eased down on her knees beside him. “You’re right. I should go for it. I mean, isn’t every twenty-two-year-old woman’s dream to hook up with a divorced, single dad? Instant family. Good thing he’s ‘set’ so I can go shopping whenever my step-kid starts driving me crazy. You know how I am with the retail therapy.”

She hated shopping and he knew it. He licked his lips and fought back a smile. “It’s not a joke.”

“It is a joke if you think I want to be with anyone else.” Maddie got up and brushed the dust off her butt. Everyone was gone. It was just the two of them at the very back field in the complex.

MJ stood and wrapped his arms around her from behind, burying his nose in her neck. “I didn’t do it to piss you off. I can’t stand it when men look at you like that. I wanted to tear his head off.” He gently bit the curve between her neck and shoulder. “You bring out urges in me I can’t control, Mads.”

A shiver ran down her back, followed by the heat of his breath against her skin. She let herself relax against him. “You have a terrible temper.”