The Slider (Boys of Summer Book 5) Read online

“Aunt Z!” Noah called from the back of the house when I walked inside.

  I paused just inside the door, wondering one, why he was home already, and two, why he was at the back of the house.

  I set my things down on the console table by the door, kicked off my shoes, and walked down the hall toward where Noah was.

  The back door was open, and I passed through the kitchen quickly, pushing through the storm door to see something I wasn’t expecting.

  Jacob was in the backyard with Noah, a baseball glove on his hand, a baseball hat on his head, looking sheepishly at me.

  “Hey,” he called with a small smile.

  “Look!” Noah said, jogging over to the porch, meeting me on the stairs to the yard.

  “I see. What’s going on?”

  Noah sucked in a big breath and launched into a story about what happened that afternoon.

  “While I was at ball practice, Jacob came. He sat in the bleachers watching us. I’m the only one that recognized him, but he hung out after to meet some of my friends and take photos.”

  He sucked in another breath before continuing. “Then he said he was there to take me home. He’d talked to Pops and Grams already, and they knew and would text you.”

  I didn’t remember getting a text, so I’d have to check for that, but Noah was still talking.

  “I called and asked Pops if what Jacob said was true. He said it was. So I told him how to get here and asked him if he wanted to hang around waiting for you. We’ve been out here for a while tossing the ball.”

  He sucked in another breath, but didn’t continue talking, which told me the story was over.

  “You need some water?”

  Noah nodded and jogged up the stairs to the house. With one guy gone, I turned my attention to the one who was now leaning against the end of the porch railing, his arms crossed over the newel post, hands dangling over the sides.

  I tried not to focus on how hot he looked with the ball cap pulled low over his eyes, and instead on why he was at my house.

  “How’d you find out where he went to school?”

  A slow grin spread across Jacob’s face. “Well, he told me when he came to the field.” Jacob started slowly walking up the stairs to the porch, making me feel like I was being stalked. “Then when I stopped by Java Hut, your dad was working and mentioned that Noah was practicing today. I was hoping to see you, but going to see him, too, worked. Just fortuitous.”

  He reached me at the top of the stairs, we were almost eye level with him standing two stairs down from me.

  “Fortuitous?”

  He nodded. “Oh, yeah.”

  Then he leaned in and kissed me. It wasn’t anything like the kiss yesterday morning, but it was still just as heady.

  His lips caressed mine, and he sucked on my bottom lip before leaning back.

  “You bring me some water?” Jacob asked, his gaze on me.

  But considering I didn’t have any water on me, I assumed his question was directed at Noah.

  “Yeah.”

  A bottle of water appeared in my periphery, which Jacob took before walking back down the stairs.

  “You didn’t tell me the date went that well,” Noah muttered from my right.

  I shot a glare his way, trying to ignore the smirk on his face.

  “There are some things that should remain sacred between us.”

  Noah snorted. “Yeah, okay.” He shook his head. “I just want you to know that I think it’s cool that you’re dating him and taking it slow or whatever, but I’m not stupid. I’m a teenager and I know what adults get up to.”

  I blanched at his words. I’d rather not think about how he knew what adults got up to or what he was referring to.

  “It’s totally cool if you have him over.”

  With those parting words, Noah jogged down the stairs and rejoined Jacob in the yard.

  I stood at the top of the stairs for several minutes, watching the two of them laugh, joke, and toss the ball back and forth.

  Seeing them together, I couldn't believe the rocky start they'd had. They were acting like they’d known each other for ages, it made a warm feeling spread through my body.

  I hoped it meant good things, because I really liked Jacob. I liked him enough that I could envision a future with him, which I knew I shouldn’t be doing. But it was hard not to.

  I checked my watch and saw the time, shaking my head and turning to the house.

  I guessed it was a good thing I’d planned on ordering pizza for dinner since Jacob was here. If he was anything like Noah, he could probably put some food away, and I didn’t want to have to cook enough food for an army.

  27

  Jacob

  “So, y’all do this how often?” I asked as I sank onto the couch, a bottle of beer in my hand.

  “As often as we can,” Noah said, digging through the DVD binders he’d pulled out.

  “We used to do it once a week,” Zoe said, coming in with the pizza she’d ordered plus the breadsticks, hot wings, and lava cake she’d tacked on to it. “But with work, and his ball schedule, we try once a month. Twice if possible.”

  I nodded and sipped my beer. “And you just pick a movie, veg out, and call it a night?”

  Zoe raised a shoulder. “Pretty much. When I kept him as a kid, we’d do this when he stayed over.”

  “When I moved in, we did it every Saturday,” Noah chipped in, pulling a DVD out. He looked over his shoulder at me. “In the summer, we do it more. Unless I make the traveling team this year.”

  He shot Zoe a look. I glanced at her and caught the raised brow. “If you make it?” she asked. “I thought you knew you were going to make it.”

  Noah shrugged and turned back to the television. “I know I’m going to make it. But there’s always that small chance.”

  I chuckled. “That’s a good mindset to have.”

  I looked back at Zoe and caught a smile on her face before she started laying things on the coffee table.

  “You got the movie ready?” she asked Noah.

  “Yep.” He backed away from the television, hitting buttons on the remote until the menu for the movie he’d picked—Major League, Back to the Minors—was on the screen.

  He smirked at me as he turned. “I thought you might like this one.”

  “Lord, save me from the sports movies,” Zoe muttered, handing me a plate.

  I swallowed the laugh that wanted to bubble out because I had a feeling Zoe wouldn’t appreciate it.

  “Go on and hit play,” she said.

  A few moments later, the opening credits were rolling. Noah sat on the floor to my right, and Zoe sat down next to me on my left.

  I grabbed a plate, and after the two of them got their food, grabbed some and settled down to enjoy the movie.

  Almost two hours later, the movie was done, everything was cleaned up, and Noah was upstairs working on homework.

  Zoe sighed as she sat on the couch next to me, a large glass of red wine in her hand and a beer bottle dangling from her other.

  The wine she swirled, but the beer she handed to me.

  “Thanks,” I said with a grin.

  She smiled in return, but said nothing. She laid her head back on the couch and her eyes fluttered closed.

  I sipped the beer, then set it aside, wiping the condensation from my hands before turning toward her and grasping her leg, pulling it onto my lap.

  Zoe cracked an eye and looked at me.

  “What are you up to?”

  I just smiled and started slowly massaging her calf.

  Zoe whimpered, and her eyes closed again. “Oh my, God. I didn’t even know I needed this.”

  I grinned to myself and continued my ministrations, working my way to her foot, which I massaged as well, before working up toward her thigh.

  I did that leg for several minutes before tapping it. “Other leg.”

  Zoe sat up and rearranged herself so both of her legs were draped in my lap.

  I did the sa
me to her other leg, listening to her sighs of pleasure. It made me feel good to know I was doing something that she enjoyed.

  I dropped her foot and grabbed my beer bottle. As I sipped from it, Zoe opened her eyes and rolled her head so she could meet my gaze.

  “Why are you divorced again? If you did that for your wife, I want to know why she got rid of you.”

  I winced at her words, and Zoe grimaced.

  “I’m sorry, that was probably too far.”

  She sat up and turned so she was facing forward, her wine glass clutched in her hands.

  “Hey, it’s fine.”

  I scooted closer to her, throwing an arm along the back of the couch. “Don’t worry about if you just put your foot in your mouth. You were making a joke, and I’m not offended.”

  She looked at me with wide eyes. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded. “I’m positive.”

  Her shoulders dropped, and I breathed an internal sigh of relief.

  “To answer your question, I didn’t do that with her.” I took a larger sip of my beer, wishing it were a little stronger if we were going to talk more about Lexi.

  “You didn’t?”

  I shook my head. “If I’m being honest, I didn’t really have the urge to do something like that with her. And ‘lack of attention’ was only part of what she told me.”

  Zoe turned toward me again, and I mirrored her, keeping my arm across the back of the couch.

  She tilted her head to the side. “Lack of attention? What else was there?”

  I took another long pull from my beer. “It really boils down to I don’t think she liked my career as a baseball player. She wanted me to settle down into something permanent that wouldn’t require moving at some point.”

  Zoe arched a brow. “Didn’t you say you met in college and she knew what your dream was when you got married?”

  I nodded. “Yep. She was aware, and she was the one that pushed for marriage.”

  Zoe sipped her wine and studied me for a few beats. “Yet she asked for a divorce because you weren’t attentive?”

  I scrubbed a hand over my face, trying to think of what to say that wouldn’t make me sound like a complete and utter tool.

  “You don’t have to tell me. I’m just trying to understand.”

  “Nah, it’s fine. I’d have to tell you at some point, I’m sure.” I sighed and finished my beer off, setting the empty on a coaster as I pulled my thoughts together.

  “Something you haven’t seen because we’re just starting out is that I’m very passionate about baseball. I told you I love stats and watching game footage, but what I didn’t tell you is that it used to consume me. I’d watch hours of footage on any given day.”

  “And she didn’t like that?”

  I shook my head. “No, she didn’t. When we first got married, she would watch with me. I don’t know when it happened, but eventually she stopped joining me and instead started asking me to go do things with her.”

  I paused, wetting my lips, then continued. “I went with her at first, then I realized some of what we were doing was just stuff to get me away from the house so I couldn’t watch any footage. When I confronted her about it, she didn’t even deny it. She said she was more important than some silly game and that I needed to get my priorities straight.”

  Zoe’s mouth dropped open in shock. “That probably should have been my first sign, but it wasn’t. And I’m not telling you this to make you think she’s a bitch or anything. I fully own that I could have tried harder in our marriage before we got to where we were at. But I didn’t know I needed to and when I asked, she wouldn’t tell me.”

  “Not until after it was finalized?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. I begged her to tell me what was wrong so we could work on it, and she refused. She wants me back.” I figured straight forward and blunt was the best way to approach this.

  Zoe stared at me for a few moments. “She wants you back?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. She found me after a game and dropped that bombshell, too. But I’m not interested in her that way anymore. I’ve moved on, and I’m much happier without her. I’m sure she is, too, but she can’t see it right now.”

  Zoe scoffed and shook her head. “I’m seriously trying to wrap my head around what you’re telling me. She wants you back and you’ve been divorced for seven months?”

  I nodded. “Thereabouts.”

  She shook her head again. “I can’t even imagine.”

  “Now you know how I feel.”

  She blew out a breath. “Let’s change the subject to something more enjoyable.”

  She asked me about baseball and we spent the next hour talking about it and other things, none of which were my ex-wife.

  When it was time to leave, she walked me to the door, and I felt like a teenager as I stood on one side of with her, the door shut behind us just in case Noah came downstairs.

  “We still on for date three?” I asked.

  “You mean this doesn’t count?”

  I grinned. “If you want it to, it will.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t mind.”

  “Then I guess we’re up to date four.”

  “I guess we are.”

  We grinned at each other idiotically for a few moments before I said, “I need to get going. Have to be at the stadium early tomorrow, so I need to get some sleep.”

  She nodded. “Okay. Good luck.”

  “Thanks.”

  I leaned in and pressed a light kiss against her lips. I wanted to deepen it, but knowing that Noah was on the other side of the door stopped me. We had plenty of time to make out later, and on her front porch when her nephew was inside wasn’t the right time.

  I pulled back. “Talk to you soon?”

  She nodded. I pecked her lips one more time, then turned and jogged down the stairs.

  It took everything in me to not turn around and go back to Zoe, but I forced one foot in front of the other, only looking toward her when I reached my driver’s side door.

  I waved to her before climbing in, watching as she stepped back into her house and shut the door.

  Only then did I start the car and drive home.

  28

  Jacob

  “Pay attention today,” King muttered as he dropped next to me on the bench.

  I paused in pulling my jersey on, looking at him. “Why?”

  King glanced around quickly before leaning in close. “The owner is here.”

  My brows rose to my hairline.

  I shouldn’t be surprised that he was at the stadium, but I was. He’d been hovering more over the last few seasons, and he hadn’t come to a game yet this year. We were due.

  “I’ll keep my eyes peeled.”

  King grunted and started getting ready for the game.

  I hoped like hell the owner didn’t come into the locker room before the game. We were playing better than we had been and I knew if he came in to talk to us before the game, we would likely lose whatever mojo we had.

  I hoped Chase could keep him away.

  “Alright, guys,” Chase said, stepping into the locker room and clapping his hands together once to get our attention. “We’re still riding a high from our last series. Let’s continue our streak today. Pay attention, have a quick bat, and let’s play some ball.”

  I blew out a breath as everyone started filing out of the locker room.

  As I stepped out, I glanced around me carefully, but didn’t see the owner.

  I’d count that as a win.

  I pushed the owner from my mind as I followed my teammates out to the field to warm up.

  I didn’t think of him again until the game was done—we won—and we were in the locker room, told to sit and wait for the owner to come talk to us.

  Normally we’d be celebrating, eating the food that Emma’s department laid out for us, then getting ready to head home before doing it again the next day.

  Instead, we were all sitting on the benches that stretched in front
of our cubbies in our dirty, sweaty uniforms waiting for the owner of the team to grace us with his presence.

  I was only a little bitter about that, if you couldn’t tell.

  The door finally opened, and we all turned to watch the owner step in.

  It was so quiet in the locker room, you could have heard a pin drop.

  He scanned the room, and I shivered at the beady look in his eye. I’d only met him a handful of times, and that was a handful too many.

  “Y’all played a great game today. I’ve been pleased to see how well you’ve been playing. Keep up the good work!” He clapped a few times, and I relaxed, thinking he wouldn’t do his normal talk.

  But I should have known that he wasn’t going to be nice.

  “But you can do better,” he said.

  He then launched into a diatribe about how we were embarrassing him as the owner and needed to get our shit together. He was looking at contracts and trying to figure out who’d be let go or traded for better talent.

  The talent comment made my gut churn.

  I was a pretty good player, and I did my part for the team.

  But unlike some players on the team, I didn’t have a no-trade clause built in. That meant I could be traded or the owner could try to buy my contract out and get rid of me since I only had a year left on it.

  I might be fucked.

  He finally stopped talking and walked from the room, not bothering to stay and talk to anyone or hear what we might have to stay.

  Silence reigned for several moments after he left, until Bob stepped forward and cleared his throat.

  “Remember, men, you’re here because you want to play ball and you’re good at it. Keep your head down, play the game, show up, and we’ll do what we can.”

  That was likely the best we were going to get from the coaching staff about this, and Bob was probably the best person to deliver it.

  I blew out a breath and shook my head. I would kill for a drink.

  I quickly stripped down and went to the shower, taking a fast one and dressing.

  Once dressed, I pulled my phone out and checked my messages. I had one waiting for me from Zoe wishing me luck before the game.