“Don’t you Nana me, young man. Your grandfather is probably rolling over in his grave right now.”
Grandpa is probably dreaming of rolling around with a porn star in his grave right now is more like it.
“You are bound and determined to smear your family’s good name,” she continued without taking a breath. “First, you put aside your duties to play baseball.” She practically spat the last word out of her mouth as if it tasted dirty. “When your father dies, who will be at the helm of the company your grandfather and great-grandfather slaved over all these years?”
Oh, shit. Here comes the guilt.
“Nana, I’m sorry. I didn’t know she was in the business. She’s a very nice—”
“Harlot?”
I nearly laughed out loud.
“Woman, Nana. She seemed like a very nice woman.”
“Hmph.”
That was Nana’s go-to sound of disgust. She didn’t use it often because it wasn’t very ladylike, but she was using it now with what sounded like a megaphone blaring through my phone’s speakers.
“Do you plan on seeing this nice woman again, Kane Bartholomew?”
I cringed. I was still in a deep well of trouble.
“No, Nana. It was one…” night of pure unadulterated gymnastic-style sex with an apparent pro, “…meeting.”
She hmphs again. “That is excellent news and somewhat puts my mind at ease, but let me explain one thing to you, young man. I will not condone you continuing to flit your life away like this. You are better than this. You deserve better than this. So do the people who love you. Please, Kane, come home and take your rightful place in the family.”
I rolled my eyes. You’d think I was ascending a throne or something.
“I will, Nana. I promised you, Mom, and Dad that I’d give the majors five years then come back to California and get to work. This is my first year, so cut me some slack.”
She sighed dramatically. “Well, if you hadn’t languished for so long in the minors, this would have been the third year, and we’d have you back soon.”
Now, I was getting pissed. I’d worked my ass off in the minors, trying to prove my worth. So, I hadn’t been one of the lucky shits to go straight to the bigs right out of college, but I’d fought my way up in the ranks and earned the contract I received. And I didn’t use my family money either. Even now, most of the guys had no idea that my family was worth billions.
If I can keep my damn name out of the damn tabloids, that would help keep my wealth on the down low.
“Nana, let’s not go over this again. This is my dream. I’m living it. Loving it. When I turn thirty, I’ll come home and live yours.”
The silence stretched between us. “Very well. Just please find a good girl and stop embarrassing your family with your wild ways. Is that too much to ask?”
I blew out a breath. “I’ll do my best to not cause you any additional suffering.” I even managed to keep the sarcasm out of the words.
“That, young man, would be greatly appreciated. Now to change the subject from that unpalatable business… are you sure you won’t escort me to the children’s hospital gala next Saturday? I’m sure there will be many promising candidates there.”
I bit back a groan. I’d already checked the dates, and we didn’t have a game that night, but I absolutely did not want to put on a monkey suit and sip champagne with a bunch of geezers who covertly boasted about their portfolio. “Sorry, Nana. But I do want to see you, Mom, and Dad while you’re in town. Want to come to a game?”
She sniffed. “Maybe brunch before we fly out Sunday afternoon?”
“It’s a date. I’ll make reservations and connect with Saundra to confirm time and place.”
I couldn’t help but grin each time I thought about my grandmother’s seventy-six-year-old personal assistant. What eighty-three-year-old needed a PA anyway?
“That sounds lovely, my dear.”
Whew. I’m forgiven.
“Bye, Nana. Love you.”
She sighed. “I love you too.”
I went to tap the red button but paused when I heard her mutter on the still open line. “Men. They’d have better luck thinking with their assholes than their dicks.”
Nana!
It was the first time I’d ever heard my grandmother curse. Before I could call her on it, the line went dead, and I could imagine her scowling at the antique gold-plated baroque-style telephone she always used, her manicured fingertips tapping the original Louis XV table it graced in the parlor of the Steele family mansion.
I was still smiling when my phone vibrated in my hand. The smile faded when a text message appeared from Rhett Hamilton.
Rhett: A porn star? You have a meeting with Katrina at 2 to discuss PR control.
Great. Now I’d get to discuss my sex life with the Beasts’ public relations director. At least it was Katrina Delaney now and not that bitch Lana from earlier this year. Katrina, I could handle. She had already dealt with her own personal scandal, so she probably wouldn’t judge me too harshly for mine.
Me: I’ll be there. And sorry for the bad PR. I didn’t know who she was until I just read about it.
Rhett: Do you need to make an appointment with team physician? STD panel?
Holy fucking shit.
Me: No. Not stupid. Strapped up tight.
Rhett: That’s what Ace thought before Little Ace came along.
I pressed my knuckle into my eyeball. This was fucking embarrassing, but he’d brought up a good point. An STD panel might not be a bad thing. There was the woman from last night, and God knows how many men she’d been with before. Then the groupie two nights ago. Then…
Dammit. I was turning into Ace Newman, man-whore extraordinaire. Well, the Ace Newman before settling down with Holly and having a baby. The badass shortstop was an ooey gooey lump of family man now.
Me: I’ll take care of it.
Rhett: Good. Not to sound like a daddy, but I dropped sixteen million on your ass. Don’t need syphilis rattling your brain.
I was so glad we weren’t having this conversation face-to-face.
Me: Copy that and agreed.
Rhett: Focus on breaking this losing streak instead of pussy.
Dammit. Nothing mattered more to me than winning and taking advantage of the five years of freedom I’d been granted, and it pissed me off that my boss thought differently.
Me: Absolutely. We’ll get back on track.
I stared at my screen, waiting for his reply. When nothing came, I shoved my phone deep in my pocket, daring the damn thing to vibrate again. I started jogging, which was why I was out on the sidewalk to begin with, needing to loosen up my muscles after last night’s sex-a-thon. “See, Rhett,” I mumbled to myself as I picked up speed, “I’m focused.”
So far this season, we’d played one hundred and forty games. Up until two weeks ago, we’d won a shit ton of them. Then we hit a slump, and dammit, we were still slumped. Bad. We’d lost eleven straight games. If we didn’t pull our shit together, we wouldn’t even make it as a wildcard, let alone a contender to the playoffs.