“To be honest, I really don’t care what the girls think.” I shrugged my shoulders because it was the truth. I loved Frankie and Josie, but their opinions didn’t really matter when it came to Allie. I knew that they only wanted what was best for her, but I also knew that neither one of them believed that was me. “But I don’t think there’s a chance for me to fuck things up further. Allie is refusing to even speak to me.”
“Well, you’re going to have to figure out how to get past that, or you’re going to have to give up.” Beck stood and closed his locker. “Those are your two options.”
“You say that like it’s easy.”
“Hell no. It isn’t easy.” He paused and nodded to one of our teammates as they walked by. He waited until he was around the corner before he spoke again. “But that’s your reality. It was the same reality I had to face with Josie. She’s either worth the work to get her to forgive you or she isn’t, and you’re the only one who can decide that.”
“But Josie was head over heels in love with you before you fucked everything up.”
He nodded his head and crossed his arms. “And Allie was with you. You don’t think we all realized that Allie’s been into you long before the two of you pushed each other away, then started making your way back to each other? Whatever you did, and I mean beyond that stupid fucking bet, you need to fix it. You need to fix it and make sure she knows that the two of you are worth it.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“Make her.”
“I don’t think Allie can be made to do anything,” I grumbled and grabbed my glove. Beck followed me out of the locker room and onto the field.
There were already a couple of our teammates throwing by the time we got out there, but Olly was nowhere to be seen. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and sent him a quick text asking him where he was.
Beck and I started throwing, and several minutes later, Olly finally pushed through the locker room door and out onto the field.
He was pissed. I knew that the moment I saw him, and Olly rarely got pissed enough to show his emotions.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him as soon as he tossed his baseball bag down on the ground and shoved his left hand in his glove.
“Nothing. Throw me the ball.” He hit the inside of his glove, indicating for me to throw it, and I threw the ball to him even though I knew he was lying.
He pulled the ball out of his glove and threw it back to me a lot harder than necessary. I didn’t say anything, though. I simply caught the ball, then threw it to Beck. I could see Beck watching Olly too. He knew he was lying just as well as I did.
“Why are your knuckles bloody?” As soon as the question passed Beck’s lips, Lucas and Eli walked out onto the field.
I saw Olly wince before I saw anything else. But then I saw Eli’s face. He was pissed too. Angrier than Olly, and he was also sporting a split lip that still had fresh blood pooling around it.
I looked from him to Olly, and I couldn’t help noticing how Olly clenched his fist at his side.
“I’m warm,” I called to the two of them, even though we had barely thrown, before jogging up beside Olly.
“What the fuck happened?” My question was quiet because the last thing we needed was for Coach to hear us. He would hand us our asses before our practice even began.
“I said, nothing.” Olly tried to shrug us off, but neither Beck nor I were having any of that.
“Something happened.” I nodded toward Eli who had moved as far from us as he could possibly get to warm up. He looked up in our direction as he ran the back of his hand against his lip. “Did you do that to him?”
“I did.” Olly grabbed his bag, and Beck and I followed him to the dugout.
“And?” Beck asked the question we were both thinking.
“And he deserved it. He was talking shit, and I just couldn’t stand it anymore.” Olly tossed his bag down on the bench.
“Talking shit about what?” I was pretty certain I already knew. If I had to bet, I would say that Eli was talking shit about me or Allie or a combination of the two of us. It was the only thing that guy had to brag about these days.
“Allie,” Olly confirmed, and my pulse spiked. “Allie gave him nothing and hasn’t spoken to him since that day at the campground, but he’s walking around talking like he bagged her. He was telling a few of the guys some bullshit story in the hallway, and I couldn’t stand it.”
“He was telling people that Allie slept with him?” I could hear my own anger. I could feel it pulsing through every part of me. This anger was so much easier than the anger I felt toward myself. I could mold it, control it, do something about it.
And I was going to.
“Carson.” Beck put his hand on my chest, but I didn’t need him to calm me down. I needed Olly to tell me exactly what he said.
“Yeah.” Olly nodded, and I knew from the look in his eyes he was thinking about lying to me with what he said next. He realized how easily triggered I was. “But he won’t talk about her again. He hit that locker so hard when my fist connected with his jaw that I think he was dazed for a second. He didn’t even try to hit me back.”
“What the fuck did he say, Olly?” I stared at him because I wasn’t fucking around. I wanted to know exactly what that piece of shit was saying about my girl.
“He was just telling them about how you had his sloppy seconds. That he paved the way for you to get inside her.”
I didn’t wait around to hear another word. I stormed out of the dugout and headed straight for Eli. I didn’t care that the rest of the team was still warming up or that Coach was standing there with his clipboard going over our roster. I pushed through all of them until I was face to face with Eli, and he looked up at me with that fucking smirk on his face.
That fucking smirk that was going to get him killed.
“What is it, Hale?” He tossed the ball in the air before catching it back into his mitt. “Are you butt-hurt like your little buddy in there? It’s not my fault that Allie dropped your ass after you couldn’t give her what she needed.”
“Don’t say her fucking name again.” I stepped toward him, and there was the slightest flash of fear in his eyes. “Don’t talk about her at all.”
“What’s going on here?” I could hear Coach coming up behind me, but I couldn’t care less about him at that moment.
He could punish me however he wanted. He could kick my ass off the team if that’s what it took, but I wasn’t walking away from Eli until I made it perfectly clear where I stood when it came to Allie.
“Oh shit, my man.” Eli laughed and put his hand over his chest. “I thought this was all about a bet. I didn’t realize the girl had you fucking whipped.”
Laughter rang out around us just as Coach came into view.
“The two of you back away from each other. I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but my field isn’t the time or place for it.”
“Don’t tell people that you slept with her when you and I both know that she didn’t let you touch her.” I didn’t know why the thought of him telling everyone bothered me so much. Of course, I didn’t want anyone to think badly of Allie, but I also couldn’t stand the thought of anyone thinking that she had ever been anyone’s other than mine.