Dropped Third Strike (Portland Pioneers #1) (25 page)

Reid dropped his hand and took a step back.

“What did you say?”

“It’s true, Reid. I used to think you were different than other guys – smarter and kinder. But you’re really not. You are just like them – selfish and mean,” Kate said. “I was stupid enough to give you my virginity before I learned my lesson. That was my second mistake with you. There won’t be a third.”

“Katie … that’s not how it was.”

“Maybe not for you, but that’s how it was for me. You have no idea what you put me through,” Kate fumed. “Did you know I got pregnant?”

Reid’s eyes widened and his face went white. He looked like he’d been hit. Well, in a way she supposed he had, but his expression made it seem like he’d been physically hit. He appeared to sober up even more.

“You what?” he asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You had broken my heart. And then I miscarried, so what was the point?”

“You still could have told me. I would have …,”

“You would have what?”

“I would have been there for you.”

“I handled it just fine on my own. And don’t worry, I didn’t tell anyone so your reputation is safe.”

“I’m not worried about that.”

“I don’t want you to worry about me either. You didn’t care about me back then, so don’t start now.”

“Yes I did, Katie. I wish you had told me.”

“Why? I’m really not sure why I’m even telling you now,” she said. “It’s not like you’ve ever cared about me, and the last thing I need is for you to realize the kind of power you have, I mean had, over me. I have no desire to stroke your ego … or anything else of yours for that matter.”

“Katie …”

“Stop calling me that!” she shouted.

“Kate …” he tried again.

“I don’t want to hear it, Reid. I just want you to leave. Your cab should be here any minute.”

She walked over to the front door and looked out the window. Her driveway and the street in front of her house were both empty. She wasn’t sure exactly how long it had been since she called the cab. A lot had transpired since she made that phone call, making it feel hours later even though it was probably only a few minutes. She just knew she needed to get away from him. Her emotions were swirling, and her mind was a jumbled mess.

Naturally, Reid followed her into the foyer. She heard his footsteps behind her as she peered out into her quiet neighborhood. Every house was dark, indicating her neighbors were all still in bed – just as she should be. She wished she felt as calm as the scene before her. She wished she’d never opened the door for Reid. She wished she’d never told him the secret she’d kept between herself and Jill all these years. She took a deep breath and turned around to face him, crossing her arms in front of her.

“You’ve had a chance to explain your side. Let me tell you mine,” Reid said.

“I’m not interested in hearing it,” she said. “I don’t need some lame excuse about why you did what you did. What’s done is done, and nothing you say can undo it.”

“I just want you to understand. There’s a lot about me you don’t know.”

“And I don’t want to. I know enough.”

She heard a car pull up and honk.

“Your cab is here,” she said, opening the door. “Good night, Reid.”

He stared at her for several moments, unmoving.

“If you don’t leave, I will call the police,” she said. “So you can go home or you can spend the night in jail.”

Kate didn’t know if she actually would call the police on Reid, and thankfully, she didn’t have to make good on her threat. He left without another word. He didn’t even look at her as he walked out the door and folded into the waiting cab. She closed the door, but watched through the window as the cab backed out of her driveway and started down the street. She kept waiting for it to stop and for Reid to storm back up to her house, but it didn’t and he didn’t. They both disappeared into the darkness.

Kate locked up and headed back up to her bedroom. She climbed under the covers and tried to relax again, but it quickly became apparent sleep wasn’t happening that night. As she tossed and turned, she cursed Reid.

Damn him for asking me to tutor him back in high school.

Damn him for asking me to prom.

Damn him for kissing me at the after prom party.

Damn him for breaking my heart.

Damn him for inviting himself over to watch a movie over Christmas break.

Damn him for being so good in bed.

Damn him for breaking my heart again.

Damn him for coming over here drunk.

Damn him for kissing me senseless.

But even during her inner diatribe about Reid, Kate knew the blame wasn’t all his. It was easy to just blame him, but Kate knew she was plenty guilty.

Damn me for letting him in.

And she wasn’t just referring to her house.

Chapter Eleven

Too late, Reid realized he hadn’t reset the alarm on his phone. It went off at an ungodly hour the next morning. He groaned and rolled over, but that proved to be a bad decision as he landed on the floor with a thud.

“Ow, damn it,” he grumbled.

As he sat up, he grimaced. His head felt as though there were two tiny people in there taking turns hitting each side of his skull with a hammer. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the couch, waiting for the pain to subside a little so he could get up. He didn’t need to be at the ballpark until noon but it appeared he would need every moment between now and then to recover from his hangover.

His bladder kept him from staying on the floor all morning. He didn’t know how long he laid there like that, but the sun was definitely a little brighter by the time he finally got up. The pain seared through his head as he pulled himself off the floor and made his way to the bathroom.

As he washed his hands and splashed water on his face, Reid made the mistake of looking at his reflection in the mirror over the sink. He looked even worse than he felt. His eyes were puffy and a little bloodshot. He needed a shave, and his skin looked dull.

The alarm went off again and as he silenced it, he looked at his phone and saw he had two missed calls and several texts. They were all from the one person he dreaded facing today – Kate.

He couldn’t pinpoint the moment he’d decided to go to Kate’s house. It was tempting to blame the whiskey, but he couldn’t be sure the thought hadn’t entered his mind when he was still sober. At some point during the evening, he’d decided he wanted answers from her about their past. And, boy, did he get them.

For some reason, he had naively believed she would tell him she was mad because he had made some stupid comment. Or because he hadn’t called her back once. He should have known better. Kate wasn’t the kind of girl to get bent out of shape over something petty. While other girls in their high school were fighting over someone wearing the same sweater or looking too long at a guy, Katie had always been drama-free. Even when the girls tried to toss insults her way, she just let them roll off her back and continued on like nothing had happened.

No, Kate had very good reasons to keep him at an arm’s distance.

His drunkenness may have clouded his judgment the previous night, but it had done nothing to dull his reception of Kate’s words.

The news of her pregnancy and miscarriage hit him hard, and even now he wondered what would have happened if she hadn’t miscarried. Would she have kept it? Would he be with her now? What would their child look like? Be like? He wasn’t sure how he felt about any of that.

Her assessment that he was a selfish jerk hurt and made him feel terrible. He had never intended to mistreat her, and he had no idea she had felt used. Looking back now, he could see how it might have seemed that way to her, and he wished he could go back in time and do things differently.

But it was more than just her words that got to him. The real sting was in her delivery. Piercing didn’t even almost describe the look in her eyes. She may as well have been looking at her sworn enemy who had just killed her family and burned down her house. And tone of her voice packed more punch than a Clayton Kershaw fastball. He had heard his share of anger from fans in recent years. Conversations with his family lately had been laced with disappointment. Kate’s voice held a mixture of both of those things and had an edge that cut right through him.

Their conversation had sobered him up considerably. As he rode home in the cab, he kept replaying her words in his mind. All the whiskey in the world hadn’t been able to numb the pain from that. Even now, as he thought about it, he felt an ache in his chest that had nothing to do with his hangover.

And yet, there was one part of the evening that made other parts of his body ache in a good way.

That kiss.

Going to her house to talk may have been a semi-conscious decision, but kissing her had been much like every other big moment between them – an impulse. And it wasn’t a mistake. It proved to him that their chemistry had not been a fluke or merely a thing of their youth. It was still very real and very alive. He thought it might even be stronger than ever, but he couldn’t be sure if that was because the time that had passed or the other lingering emotions between them. Either way, it felt incredible. He hadn’t had a kiss like that since … well, since her. And he had kissed his share of women in recent years, but no other kiss he’d experienced had felt like that. His entire body came alive in those moments, hardening against her as she melted against him. They fit just right, just as they always had. If she hadn’t pushed him away, he would have pulled open her robe and taken her right there on her living room floor. He had no doubt it would be even hotter than their past encounters.

More than once during their conversation, he’d wondered what she was wearing underneath that robe. His imagination gave him visions of satin and lace. He also pictured lots of skin. Kate still had a bit of a sun-kissed glow about her and Reid remembered the curves of her body well. And he had a feeling they had only gotten better with time. Her work attire was always conservative, but it didn’t hide the fact that she had taken very good care of her body. And he had a brief memory of the night he’d seen her heading out on that date in Minneapolis. The dress she’d worn that night showed off her killer figure, hugging every inch of her body and putting her cleavage on full display. The mental image, however brief, made him groan.

He groaned again when he realized he would have to face Kate in a few hours. It was a much different groan. That kiss and the information she had dumped on him about their past would only add to the tension that previously existed. And now there was likely to be a degree of awkwardness as well. No matter how amazing that kiss had felt, it probably hadn’t been his best career move. The fact remained that she was his boss. Not only that, but he could not forget that she had given him a new leash on his career. And this is how he thanked her, apparently – by getting drunk, showing up at her place, and kissing her.

He didn’t know why she was trying to contact him this morning, but he was certain he didn’t want to hear whatever she had to say. Reid put the phone back down as he began the work of nursing his hangover.

Kate’s number showed up on his display again while he was devouring a greasy breakfast at a local diner. This time, he decided to answer.

“It’s about time you picked up,” Kate snapped. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for hours. After last night, I …”

“Look, I’m not ready to talk about last night yet,” he said.

“Well, you don’t have a choice. Someone took photos of you and posted them online. They’re everywhere. We need to do damage control.”

“It can’t be that bad. All I did was sit at a bar and down drinks.”

“That’s not the only photo they got. Life would be easier if it was.”

“Then what did they get?”

“You. Leaving my house.”

“What? How?”

“Someone must have followed you from the bar to my place,” she said. “Someone else decided to do a little research, and now the media knows we have a history. Our prom photo is making a real splash.”

“OK, so we knew each other in high school … that’s not bad, right?” he asked.

“It wouldn’t be bad if these photos didn’t show me standing in the doorway in my robe,” she said. “Thankfully, Derek isn’t in any of them. That kid doesn’t need to be in the middle of this … not any more than you already made him part of it anyway.”

Reid sighed. His headache was starting to come back.

“So what do you want from me?”

“You need to be at the ballpark in an hour. I’ll work on a formal statement for both of us. You’ll read it, and you’ll apologize for embarrassing the organization.”

“Is that it?” he asked.

“For now, it is,” she said. “After that, I have a meeting with ownership to clear everything up.”

“Oh shit,” he said. “Am I going to be fired?”

“I don’t know yet,” she said. “You’ve created a real mess for me, Reid. This is exactly what I asked you not to do when I offered you the job.”

“Right, right … I’m sorry, Kate,” he said.

“Save it,” she said. “I’ve heard that word from you so often it doesn’t even mean anything to me anymore.”

Reid was about to say something else – what, he didn’t know – but she hung up. He still had half a plate of food, but he pushed it away. Between the hangover and the distressed phone call from Kate, his stomach was likely to protest anything he put in it. He put some money on the table and left, heading straight for Pioneers Stadium. During the drive, he tried to figure out how he could fix this.

When he got to the ballpark, he went directly to Kate’s office. She was waiting for him, along with James Scott and two men he couldn’t name but recognized as front office staff. Kate’s scowl was the strongest, but the others didn’t look happy to see him either. He’d been in plenty of meetings like this in New York, but he’d never before experienced this level of shame and embarrassment. He’d really messed up this time.

Kate crossed the room and handed him a sheet of paper.

“Read this over a few times so it sounds natural when we go down to the press room,” she said.

He hadn’t thought her tone could get icier than it had been in recent months. But he’d thought wrong.

Reid looked down at the words on the page and began skimming them.

“Read it aloud,” Kate ordered.

“I’m here today to apologize for embarrassing the Pioneers. Last night, I made the decision to drink at a local bar. I have no explanation or excuse for that decision, and I accept that I’ve made a mistake that could be costly. I will also accept whatever punishment the Pioneers front office sees fit, even if it means the termination of my employment. Once again, I am sorry to the organization, the players, and the fans, for my lapse in judgment.”

He looked up at her. “So, this only addresses the drinking. I thought you said there was another photo. Of me at your house.”

“There was,” Kate said. “I’ll be handling that statement.”

“What are you going to say?” Reid asked, glancing at the men in the room.

He wondered what she had told them about their past.

“Don’t worry about it,” Kate said. “The press will be here in 15 minutes. Read your statement a few more times and meet me down in the clubhouse. We’ll walk into the press room together.”

Kate, James, and the other men left the room, and Reid sat down, staring at the sheet of paper in his hands. Between the hangover, the bombshell Kate had dropped the previous night, and this media nightmare, he was having a hard time focusing on the words.

A short while later, he was sitting at the table in the press room. Reporters filled three rows of chairs while James and the two front office men stood at the back of the room. He glanced at Kate on his left, but she was staring straight ahead.

“Thank you all for coming today,” she said. “Mr. Benjamin and I each have a statement to read, and that will conclude the press conference. There will be no questions.”

She nodded at him, and he began speaking. Even though he hadn’t written the statement, it effectively summed up his feelings. When he was done, he folded the sheet and sat back, listening as Kate began reading her statement.

“As some of you have recently learned, Mr. Benjamin and I graduated high school together. We were friends until college, but we lost touch after that. But our shared history is not why I hired him. Mr. Benjamin is extremely knowledgeable about batting and the psychology involved with stepping up to the plate. When I interviewed him for the position, I knew he would be an asset, and he has proven me right. Our offense has improved greatly with his guidance,” she said. “When he made the decision to drink last night, he knew he’d made a mistake. Because of our long-established bond, he decided to come to me directly to admit his error in judgment before I could hear it elsewhere. This resulted in photos of him at my home. While I was not thrilled at his condition upon his arrival, I appreciate the fact that Mr. Benjamin has owned his mistake. He has also agreed to seek counseling for his drinking problem. We support him in his recovery, and he will remain the Pioneers hitting coach at this time.”

She took a breath and then looked at the reporters.

“I hope that clears everything up,” she said. “Thank you for coming today. We’ll see you later tonight at the game.”

Without another word or even a glance at him, Kate left the press room, followed by the owner and the other front office executives. Reid followed their lead, although he headed to the clubhouse instead of upstairs to the management offices.

He didn’t see Kate for the rest of the day. At least not up close. She was in the stands during the game, but she seemed to be steering clear of the clubhouse, batting cages, and everywhere else Reid might be. He decided not to push it by seeking her out. Besides, he still didn’t know what to say to her after everything that had transpired, so it was probably best to let her have her space.

He did have another person to apologize to though. After the game, he waited outside the clubhouse until he saw Derek Beaman emerge.