Gavin hadn’t felt that way before.
So why did he suddenly feel like it was? A game between Gavin and his brother, and Elizabeth was right in the middle of it.
EIGHT
“YOU’RE OUTTA THERE!”
Gavin tossed the bat in the dirt and headed for the dugout, mentally cussing out the umpire who’d called him out on strikes.
That last ball was low and inside and out of the strike zone.
“That last ball was right in your hitting zone, Riley.”
Gavin lifted his gaze to the Rivers coach, white-haired, heavyset Manny Magee.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll get ’em next time, Manny.” Gavin flopped onto the bench.
“Your first game you were hitting them like there was an eight-year-old pitching tennis balls to ya. The past five games you haven’t hit shit. What the hell, Riley?”
Elizabeth had been gone for five days. The last five games he’d totally sucked.
Not that the two were related. At all. Gavin didn’t believe in women and their mojo on players, good or bad.
“I’ll work on my hitting, Manny.”
“You’re damn straight you’re going to work on your hitting. I need to see some lightning out of you, Riley, and soon. Because you suck.”
Great. He needed a hitting nosedive while in the preseason. Not.
“Where’s your good-luck charm?”
“Huh?” Gavin turned to Dedrick. “What good-luck charm?”
“Elizabeth. When she was here, you played good. Shawnelle said she hasn’t been to the past few games, and you’ve sucked. Which makes her your good-luck charm.”
“Oh. She had to head out of town for a few days on business. And she’s not my good-luck charm. I’ve been playing baseball for five years without her help, Deed.”
Dedrick spit sunflower-seed shells onto the ground. “Yuh-huh. That was before you started sleepin’ with her. Now she’s your good-luck charm.”
Gavin rolled his eyes, glad the game was in the ninth inning so he could get away from Dedrick’s knowing looks. He showered, did his media bit, and got the hell out of there, craving the quiet of his house.
There was no correlation between Elizabeth being gone and his shitty hitting streak. He’d just been a little preoccupied since she’d left the other morning, because he figured it was his fault she was gone. And she wasn’t coming back. He knew he shouldn’t have pushed her about Arkansas. The very next morning she’d packed up her things and said she had a client who was going to be drafted into the NFL next month and there was a snag she had to deal with. She said she’d be back as soon as she took care of it.
He knew it was more than that.
Even worse, he missed her, which made him feel all kinds of stupid, because he wasn’t supposed to miss her. They’d only been together a few days. No big deal, right?
So why did he miss her? He had games almost every day, followed by meetings and practice and media bullshit to keep him busy.
But the nights he spent on the deck looking out over the ocean were lonely. Like tonight. He leaned against the railing and listened to the give and take of the sea in the darkness. It used to fill him with peace.
Now it was a lonely sound.
And goddamn it, it had never been lonely before. In a couple days he’d gotten used to having Elizabeth around.
Time to get over that. What he needed to do was find a woman, go have a few drinks and some fun. He’d forget about her as soon as he slid his dick into some willing female. And his batting would likely improve, too.
He went inside, laid his drink on the counter and picked up his phone, stared at it for a few minutes, then put it back on the counter.
Shit. He didn’t want to go out with some boring chick who didn’t challenge him.
Elizabeth was a pain in the ass. Mouthy. Opinionated. Obstinate.
But she challenged him.
His phone rang and he swept it up off the counter.
Elizabeth.
“Hey,” he said as soon as he pressed the button.
“Hey, yourself. You home?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. I’ll be pulling into your driveway in about ten minutes.”
He hung up and ignored the rush. So, she was back. She was coming back to him, to his house, just like she said she would.
Dude, you gotta be careful. Wasn’t this his game to play? Because it sure seemed as if she’d played him. Had she run off because he’d gotten too close, because he wanted too much information?
He fixed himself another drink and picked up the place since he’d been mainly tossing clothes all over for the past five days. By the time Elizabeth came to the door, the house looked sort of presentable again. He went out and grabbed her suitcase from the trunk of her car. She smiled at him.
“I could have dragged that in.”
He rolled it and talked to her as they walked to the front door. “Then what good would I be?”
She grinned at him. “I can think of ways you can be useful.”