The Trade(123)

“Nah, I need the bathroom.” I push past him and stand, wavering on my legs before taking a few steps toward the bathroom, only to lose my legs right beneath me. Suddenly, I’m falling forward and slamming into one of the tables the guys are playing poker on. Chips scatter right before the table breaks beneath me, and I crash to the floor with the wood splintering around me.

“Fuck, we need someone in here, now,” Jason yells as he drops to my side. Pain ricochets up my arm but nothing else registers.

Not the trainers surrounding me, asking me to tell them how many fingers they’re holding.

Not the stretcher I’m placed on, or the IV that’s strapped to my hand.

Not the ride to the hospital, or Milly sitting at my side, holding my hand, crying.

Not the twenty stitches sewn into my arm from a piece of wood driven through my skin.

Not when the doctors talk to my parents and Milly about my exhausted and dehydrated body.

Not when the guys come to visit me after the game, to see if I’m doing okay.

The only thing that registers in my mind is Jason standing in the corner of my room, talking quietly on the phone and saying, “Yeah, I’ll tell him. Love you, Natalie.”

But then everything goes black again.





Chapter Twenty-Nine





NATALIE





Still July





Potter Hospitalized, Misses All-Star Game

The night before the All-Star break, the All-Star first baseman looking to break multiple league records this year, reportedly fainted in the locker room during a rain delay. Sources said he was looking pale and unlike himself during warmups. According to the hospital and training staff, the cause was exhaustion and dehydration, but there have been reports of drug use . . .

Looks like the pressure is finally getting to the man who acts like he’s God on the baseball field. Oh, how the mighty fall hard.

I click out of the article and rest my head against my desk, trying to gather myself before I do something like text Cory myself.

I don’t know why I never thought about it, but the possibility of seeing Cory at The Lineup event never occurred to me until he was standing right in front of me, looking more handsome than ever. I know he’s been working hard, tirelessly actually, from what Jason has offhandedly mentioned, but I never knew how hard until I saw him in person. He looked more chiseled than ever, even while wearing his suit. And yes, he took my breath away with how handsome he looked, but I would be remiss not to mention the sunken set of his eyes, the slight red that rimmed them, the tiny specs of gray at his temples, or when he turned around, the tiny bald patches in his hair.

Cory might have solidified his place in the Baseball Hall of Fame with the first half of this season, but not without significantly aging himself. He looks nothing like thirty-five, more like bordering on forty.

Seeing him was probably one of the most painful things I’ve done in a long time, but then he approached me and to this day, I still can’t recall what he said to me, or what I said to him because my heart was pounding so hard in my chest, I could barely hear anything around me. It wasn’t until Nicholas came up to me that I realized what Cory was trying to ask me, but when Cory spotted Nicholas, it was too late. Cory shut down and walked away, leaving me wondering what the hell he was trying to do in that moment.

Nicholas spent the rest of the night at my side with the wrong impression. He was in Chicago for the week and it just happened to be when I was holding the event. I invited him because he has money, and we want it for our foundation. It wasn’t a date, nor was it a moment for him to claim me in front of anyone. But he acted like it was and when the night was over and he tried to kiss me, I had to turn him down again.

He asked me if it was because of Cory and I desperately wanted to tell him no, that the ship on that relationship had sailed months ago, but I’m not kidding anyone. I’m still hung up, unable to move past the pain I can’t seem to let go of. It’s why I keep turning down every blind date my friends and even Mom try to arrange, or don’t pay attention to any of the dating apps Monica set me up on. I can’t find it within me to move on, especially when I see Cory’s cheery and magnetic personality slowly fading with each passing day.

Looking down at my phone, I open up a text message.

Natalie: Is he okay?

Three simple words, words I write every week to Jason, just needing reassurance that he’s not slowly killing himself. I didn’t ask for details from Jason about what happened in the locker room, but I did ask if he was okay. All Jason said was, it was the scariest thing he’d ever seen and he’s glad Cory is going to be okay.

Thankfully Jason texts me back quickly.

Jason: I think so.

I roll my teeth over my bottom lip as my emotions start to surface.

Not again.

I’m not going to cry again.

Sucking in a sharp breath, I set my phone down with the knowledge that he’s okay, and I open my inbox. I have work to do.





August





Is Potter a True Rebel Now?

After a small break to recover from a terrible fall in the locker room and twenty stitches in his right catching arm, Cory Potter is back in the batter’s box and once again hitting the leather off every baseball thrown to him, bringing his team straight into the last two months of the season with a positive outlook on the post season. His teammates might be happy, but the fans are still not convinced this is the man they want leading their team.