I was fuming as I stepped off the field. Who did this asshole think he was? I was one of the better catchers in the league, maybe even the best. But, without the cooperation of my pitcher, I might as well be playing college ball.
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on with you two, but you need to work it out, now!” Coach screamed loud enough to create an echo down the long corridor outside his office.
“Nothing to work out, Coach.” Calvin’s stance was cocky as he spoke.
I glared at him with narrowed eyes, wondering if he was thinking about me fucking Whitney. I knew that’s what I was thinking. He had no right to hold onto that grudge. He was a playboy, a cheat, and he was damn lucky she gave him another chance. He didn’t deserve it. I was the better man, but Whitney’s heart was too consumed with her high school sweetheart to see that. Na?ve.
“I want you two communicating. In fact, the only one you’re allowed to talk to is each other, got it?” Coach’s voice calmed, but his eyes grew wild.
“Got it,” I replied without hesitation. That’s all I wanted in the first place… communication.
“Yes, Coach.” Calvin stood tall and straight like he was a cadet in military school and the coach was the drill sergeant. I wanted to laugh, but that’d only get me another screeching from the coach.
“Look, whether we like each other or not, we have to communicate,” I said, walking alongside Calvin down the long corridor back to the indoor field.
“Yeah,” he replied without enthusiasm. This was gonna be tougher than I thought.
Back on the field, I decided to be the bigger man. “How do you want your signals delivered?” I asked.
“Where I can fuckin’ see them,” he snarled.
I bit my tongue. You can do this, Todd.
“Look, I want you to see them, but not anyone else.” Was I seriously explaining myself to Golden Arm Malone?
“Open your legs a little wider, guard with your glove if you have to, but make the signals clear to me, and we’ll do just fine.”
I took a deep breath. “Fine. You got it.”
After an hour on the field without a batter, Calvin and I seemed to work out most of our kinks. There were two kinds of pitchers, those you had to pat on the back, and those you needed to kick in the ass. Calvin thought he was the first, but he was the latter. I’d work him into shape soon enough.
“You girls ready for some real action?” Ace Newman stepped onto the field. He rested the bat on his shoulder, strutted to home plate, turned and winked at me before turning to Calvin.
“I mean, I don’t want to interrupt your tea party,” he snorted.
Calvin nodded in my direction, smirked, and then waited for me to signal the pitch. I’d been watching Newman for years. He was a switch-hitter, a power-hitter, virtually unstoppable. He and Calvin had been pretty tight, so he could handle any of the Golden Arm’s pitches.
I spread my legs, nodded toward Ace’s left side to direct how I’d be moving against a left-hander. Calvin watched my single finger slide to the inside of my right thigh, then two to direct him to a fastball inside Newman’s weak zone. I held my glove up, displaying the direct target as he nodded. He wound up the pitch. I kept my glove steady as the ball blasted into the thick leather. It nearly knocked me off my feet. I loved the rush of the wind off the bat, and that sweet swoosh sound it made so close to my face as the ball slammed into my glove. That was the sensation I lived for on the field, the one I was known for creating time and time again. This was what Calvin Malone needed to respect and learn to trust. “Holy fuck,” Ace exclaimed, turning to offer me a quick wink.
“That’s what I want to see,” Coach yelled out from the sidelines.
After practice, I stripped down and hit the showers, uninterested in the rub down or the ice bath. Adrenaline was rolling through my veins like thunder. I didn’t want that soothed away or numbed down.
“Good job out there today,” Ace said, patting me on the back as he walked by. Calvin took notice of his generosity with a quick glare in my direction. Oh, so not only Whitney but I need to stay away from Ace too?
I dressed, gripped my duffel bag, and rushed out of the locker room. This was going to be a tough season. But, all I wanted was to beat the Mets and prove to them the mistake they’d made by letting me go. I needed Calvin Malone on my side to do that.
I knew eventually we’d get to the point where we were unstoppable. As much as I disliked the guy, Calvin was one helluva pitcher. His ability to read a player and my ability to read the field would create a battery that was more powerful than any before it. We were the strategic players on the field, the ones who led the players to victory or brought them to defeat. The brunt of the weight was on our shoulders, and without Calvin’s full trust, respect, and cooperation, it rested on mine alone.
CHAPTER FOUR
Katrina
Marlo, my supervisor at the radio station, was super gracious about my leaving for New York. “Your position is safe, but you’d be crazy to turn down this offer.” She sat on her desk sipping on an iced coffee. She was the only one I’d confided my family’s troubles to, so she knew how much this offer meant to me.
She was right. I’d be an idiot to turn down this opportunity. I was just worried that I couldn’t handle it. Jumping in over my head would be a career ender. “Go have some fun.” She pushed me out of her office.
My bags were already packed, my driver waiting outside to escort me to the airport. This was it. I took a quick selfie with a large smile to show excitement, even though I was riddled with fear. I posted it to my Snapchat account and climbed into the backseat of the red Suburban that had been hired to whisk me off to a new life.
Airport security was a nightmare. I was pulled aside for a random check, and those little blue pills for my nerves stuffed in my bra started to melt against my warm flesh as I was patted down, placed in another scanner, and then zapped with a handheld one. One of the workers dug through my bag, pushing my personal items to the top for everyone to see. I suddenly regretted packing my lace thongs in my carry on as they were displayed so openly atop my other items. “All clear,” the large lady with a stained white shirt announced. Finally.