It was one thing when it was your choice to leave the only job in this world you could see yourself doing, but being forced to quit was another. The truth was that it was rarely ever your choice to leave.
I sucked in a breath, took one look at my beautiful wife, and hopped off the table. Grabbing her by the hand, I pulled her forcefully out of the locker room.
“Jesus, Jack, stop. That hurts.” She jerked her hand from my grip and I winced.
“Sorry, Kitten. I just want to get out of here.”
She looked at me with sympathy in her eyes and I almost f**king exploded. The last thing I needed right now was my wife looking at me with pity. “Don’t look at me like that,” I ordered.
“Like what?” She stopped walking and tilted her head at me questioningly.
“Like my life just ended and you want to make sure I’m going to be okay.”
She huffed out a breath before rolling her green eyes at me. “You’re an idiot.”
“Excuse me?” I shouted, my voice echoing throughout the concrete tunnels.
“Of course I want to make sure you’re okay, Jack! Jesus. Excuse me for giving a shit about your mental state. But I never once thought that your life just ended.”
“You don’t get it,” I breathed out, my tone agitated. I was acting like a complete ass**le in this moment and I f**king knew it. But I was pissed off. I was angry about putting my hand out like that … for letting it get hit … for letting it get broken.
“Oh, so now I don’t get it? You’re joking, right?” she snapped in response, her tone matching my own, before she turned around and walked away from me.
Fuck.
I needed to stop doing this to her; it wasn’t fair. Irritated with myself, I smacked the palm of my hand against my head before rushing to catch up to her. I reached for her arm with my good hand, desperately pulling for her to stop. “Kitten. I’m sorry. I’m mad at myself, not you.”
She nodded, her long blonde hair swinging with the motion, then let out a little sigh. “I know.” Then she locked her fingers with mine and pulled me toward the parking lot.
Once in the car with Matteo behind the wheel, I watched Cassie as she scrolled through her contacts, searching for my brother’s phone number. She must have already warned Matteo, because he hadn’t said two words to me and was avoiding all eye contact. My girl was good at this. I wished I hadn’t been such a dick earlier.
I reached my free hand across the seat and squeezed her thigh. She glanced at me, still a little wary of me, it seemed. “Thank you,” I whispered as she scrunched up her face in confusion.
“For what?” She scooted her body closer to mine to keep our conversation private.
“You know what.” I nodded my head in Matteo’s direction and she shrugged. I chose wisely when it came to picking a wife. She was the best thing I’d ever done. I needed to not f**k us up. Again.
She refocused her attention to her phone and I watched as Dean’s name popped up on her screen and she pressed SEND. The phone rang twice before my brother’s voice came from the speaker. “What’s up, Sis?”
Cassie turned off the speaker and sucked in a breath as she lifted the phone to her ear. “Hey, Dean. I just wanted to let you know before you saw it on SportsCenter or Baseball Tonight or something.” She paused briefly before continuing. “Jack broke his hand tonight.”
I could only imagine the questions my brother was shooting at her from the other end of the line. His voice was muffled since she’d taken him off speaker, so I couldn’t make out any of his words.
“He was pitching and the ball got hit straight back at him. He threw his hand up to stop it, or catch it, or something. But the ball crashed into it and he has multiple fractures.”
Cassie grew silent and I knew Dean was talking her ear off. I glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed Matteo paying attention to Cassie’s side of the conversation as well.
“Don’t think you’re getting a vacation or anything, buddy,” I called out in his direction.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he responded without missing a beat.
“I still have to go to the field every day to work out and I’ll need a ride there and back,” I informed him with a smirk.
“I’ll have to check with my other clients.” He raised his eyebrows and looked at Cassie. “But tell me, do you still have to go to the games and stuff?”
I nodded. “Yep. I have to suit up for the home games and hang out in the dugout.”
“What about when they’re on the road?”
“I meet with a trainer at the field when the team’s gone.”
“So you won’t travel with them then?”
“Nope. Not for six weeks.” I sighed, suddenly feeling agitated.
Cassie sounded like she was wrapping things up. “Yeah. I’ll call you tomorrow. Will you let Gran and Gramps know for us?” She paused. “Thank you so much. Yep, I’ll tell him. ‘Bye.”
She pressed END and turned toward me. “Dean says to take it easy and to not do anything stupid.”
“What the hell would I possibly do?”
“I have no idea. He’s your brother,” she teased and I grabbed at her.
“Oh yeah? Well, he’s your brother too,” I reminded her and a smile appeared across her face as she turned away from me. I leaned over and grazed my teeth against her earlobe, touching it with the tip of my tongue before whispering, “I love your smile. It’s sexy. Really f**king sexy. Don’t be mad at me. I really am sorry.”