Redemption (Forgiven Series)

by Brooke, Rebecca

  “Let me go, Caleb,” I growled, fighting against his hold. Just being in Ryan’s presence made my blood boil, but to hear him call her baby? I wanted to murder him.

  “No. You’re going to sit down and ignore that asshole,” he ordered. “Lauren is trying to concentrate, and you are not going to ruin that by fighting him right now.” He used his grip on my arms to force me down onto the bleachers. “What you do after the game is up to you, but don’t ruin this for her. She was nervous enough about playing in front of you in the first place.”

  “How did you know that?” I asked suspiciously.

  He looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “How do you think?” he asked shooting a glance at Angie.

  If she was so nervous, why hadn’t she said anything to me? That knowledge was enough for me to stay in my seat and ignore the fucker… at least until the game was over.

  I looked back at Caleb. “Can you let me go now?”

  “Do you promise not to go after him?”

  “For now,” I promised, a hint of menace still in my voice.

  He shook his head, but let me go. He knew I would keep it together throughout the game. But once the game was over, all bets were off.

  Lauren struck out the next two batters. The speed at which she threw the ball was mind-blowing. It was a good thing I’d found this out sooner rather than later so that I could remember not to make her mad enough for her to throw something at me.

  Inning after inning, she retired the batters. Even if they did manage to get a hit off of her, the rest of the team were quick to make the out. After every inning her smile got bigger and bigger. The amazement and pride I felt watching her succeed astounded even me.

  I still couldn’t believe how quickly she had become so important to me. We spent the entire game cheering and screaming for Lauren, and I was just waiting for the moment she would come off the field and I could congratulate her properly.

  Finally, since our team was ahead and therefore didn’t need to finish the last part of the inning, after Lauren finished pitching the top of the seventh inning the game was over.

  The team made their way into the dugout I quickly sent Lauren a text letting her know we would be waiting in the parking lot.

  “Where does everyone want to go to dinner?” Angie asked as we made our way towards the cars.

  We all looked around at each other and shrugged. “How about Max’s?” Andrew suggested, shooting a pointed look at Emily. Something was definitely up with those two.

  “Sounds good,” Caleb agreed, nodding his head.

  Everyone else muttered words of agreement and continued talking about Lauren’s game. A little while later, she emerged from the locker room, her hair still wet from the shower. She looked sexy as hell walking up to me with that devious smile that I loved on her face.

  Somehow in my excitement, I’d forgot all about Ryan being there, at least until he walked up and stopped Lauren on her way to me.

  Instantly, the rage I had suppressed earlier boiled to the surface. Before I’d even taken two steps in her direction, Caleb had clamped his arms around me, again.

  “The game is over and you better fucking let me go,” I snapped, making it clear that I wasn’t having any of this shit.

  He reluctantly let go, but followed me as I walked up to Lauren. When I got there, Ryan already had his hand on her arm.

  “Come on, baby, we need to go celebrate your win,” Ryan murmured near her ear.

  “You better get your motherfucking hands off of her,” I snarled, not giving Lauren a chance to answer.

  Both of their heads snapped in my direction and a look of relief crossed Lauren’s face as she used Ryan’s moment of distraction to pull her arm out of his grip and came to stand beside me. I placed my arms around her shoulders and watched his lips turn down into a frown of disgust. I looked down at Lauren. “Jersey, you ready to go?”

  Ryan snarled at me. “Jersey? Really, that’s the best you can do?” He transferred his gaze to Lauren. “See he can’t even come up with a better nickname for you than where you’re from. And you actually expect him to stay with you. By next week he’ll be screwing half the school… again,” he scoffed.

  Lauren shifted uncomfortably next to me. That was it, I’d heard enough. Dropping my arm from Lauren’s shoulder, I walked up to Ryan until I was standing in his face. “I am not the stupid bastard who decided to cheat on her,” I growled, and shoved my finger into his chest. “Now you listen up, asshole. Lauren wants nothing to do with you, so you’d better stay the hell away from her.”

  He moved his feet apart and crossed his arms over his chest. ”Not like you to stick up for your fuck-buddies, Walker?” he said menacingly.

  “She’s my girlfriend, not a fuck-buddy, so back the hell off,” I snapped.

  “I don’t think I will,” he taunted me, looking Lauren over with an appraising eye.

  Oh, I’d had enough of this shit. I gave him a quick shove backward, not giving him time to recover before I took another step in his direction.

  “Josh,” Caleb warned, but I ignored him and kept my eyes trained on Ryan.

  Lauren grabbed a hold of my arm. “Josh, just let it go,” she ordered.

  It took a supreme effort but I tore my gaze away from Ryan to look down at Lauren. She seemed upset with me for some reason. What the fuck?

  “Just like your mother, Lauren. Always needing to be the center of attention,” an unfamiliar voice accused from behind me.

  Everyone turned and looked in the direction of the voice. My immediate thought was that this guy did not look like he’d just sat through a college softball game. Instead he looked as though he just stepped off his private plane.

  “Shit,” Lauren muttered next to me. “Hi, Dad.”

  Dad? What was he doing here? From what Lauren had told me about her father, he rarely showed up for her events—that is unless there was something in it for him. But this was the opening game of the season, it didn’t make sense.

  Glancing at Lauren out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that she too looked confused, but her body language was saying something completely different. She was nervous and uncomfortable, and kept fidgeting with the strap of the bag over her shoulder.

  “Lauren?” I questioned.

  “Josh, do me a favor and please don’t say anything.”

  Despite my confusion, I nodded my agreement.

  She took a step toward her father, trying to cut him off from our ‘little’ disagreement. Okay, little was not the right word because if Ryan didn’t knock it off I was going to beat the living shit out of him.

  Moving my head in his direction, I noticed that Ryan was moving toward Lauren’s dad.

  Ryan reached his hand out towards Mr. Pierce. “Hi, Mr. Pierce, it’s good to see you again,” he said, shooting a smirk in my direction.

  I had to lower my hands to my sides as I flexed my fists. How the hell did Ryan know Lauren’s dad?

  Looking over to see Caleb’s reaction, I noticed our whole group were sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to see what happened next, like this was some damn soap opera.

  Mr. Pierce reached out and shook Ryan’s hand. “Ryan, it’s good to see you again. I’m not sure what is going on here, but I hope you’re taking good care of my daughter?”

  Ryan nodded. “I’m trying to, sir.”

  Oh, hell no. There was no way he was going to act like he was Lauren’s boyfriend. The dickhead couldn’t even keep it in his pants , yet there he was trying to pretend like he was taking good care of Lauren. He had to be kidding me.

  “Good, good,” Mr. Pierce said, turning his gaze on Lauren. “And can I assume that you are behaving yourself?”

  Lauren’s face flushed. Was this guy serious? I was so shocked by her dad’s behavior I froze. Why would he be giving his daughter a hard time, while praising that cheating bastard? When exactly did I board the crazy train?

  “Dad, I’m not with Ryan anymore,” Lauren admitted. “What are you
doing here?”

  “Well, I know your mother,” he sneered the last word, “wouldn’t allow you to tryout for the Olympic team last year, so I just wanted to make sure you were staying in shape so that you were ready for this year’s tryouts for the national team.” He gave her a look of censure. “Now do you want to tell me why you and Ryan aren’t together anymore?”

  Ahh, there was the reason for his visit. Being the parent of a national team athlete interested him—not Lauren’s welfare.

  “That’s not why I play,” she said, disgusted.

  “Why else would you play, if you weren’t trying to be the best?” he questioned.

  She shook her head at him. “You’ll never get it. I’ve told you a hundred times, I play because I enjoy it. When the game stops being fun, I won’t play anymore.”

  “Fun? Why the hell am I spending all of this money for you to play for fun?” he demanded. “And you still haven’t answered my question about Ryan.”

  Seeing the smug look on Ryan’s face snapped me out of my haze and I stepped over to slide my arm around Lauren’s waist. Since she seemed incapable of doing it herself, I reached my hand out to introduce myself to Mr. Pierce. I was a little annoyed with her for not answering his question about Ryan, but that was the least of my worries. I had to deal with Ryan and her dad. I could talk to her about the bullshit later.

  “Hi, Mr. Pierce, I’m Josh Walker, Lauren’s boyfriend.”

  Lauren stiffened beside me. Looking down, I realized that she was angry, but it was only when her eyes met mine that I figured out that she was angry at me. This was starting to turn into an episode of the Twilight Zone. I had no idea which end was up anymore.

  Why would she be pissed at me? I was trying to help her out. Mr. Pierce looked down at my hand like it was diseased. Being about four inches taller than him, it was hard for him to look down his nose at me, but that is exactly what he was trying to do.

  “Lauren, who is this?” her dad asked with disgust.

  Ryan decided, wisely, not to say anything, but he still stood there with a smug look that I just wanted to beat off his face. When Lauren didn’t answer right away, I decided to answer for her.

  “Lauren and I started dating about a month ago, isn’t that right, Jersey,” I said looking down and squeezing her tighter to my side.

  “Jersey? Her name is Lauren. I’m not sure why’d you call her something so ridiculous,” he sneered. He turned back to her. “Lauren, I believe you need to reevaluate your decision to date this… boy. Ryan is more worthy of who you are,” he said, gesturing in Ryan’s direction.

  Lauren looked up and pinned me with a glare that she then turned on her father. “You know something, Dad, you know nothing about me. Who I choose to date is none of your business.”

  “You’re my daughter so it is my business. Ryan’s been nothing but good to you,” he argued.

  “Seriously?” she exclaimed. “And how would you know?”

  “He’s just the type of guy who will always take care of you. Unlike him,” he gestured in my direction. “I’ve seen guys like him before, he’s the type that doesn’t know how to be faithful.”

  That was it. “Excuse me, I’ll have you know—”

  “Josh, that’s enough. Stay out of this,” she demanded.

  Whoa. He was the one calling me a cheater, but I need to stay out of this? Maybe Lauren wasn’t the girl I thought she was. Whatever. I didn’t need this shit. Without a word, I walked towards Caleb’s car.

  “Are you ready?” I asked, shooting him a look.

  Caleb looked between me and Lauren a few times before finally walking over to the car. “I don’t think we should leave yet,” he said uncomfortably.

  “I’m not really concerned with what you think. I obviously have no reason to be here anymore,” I snapped. I was pissed. Lauren couldn’t defend me, but had the nerve to tell me to stay out when I tried to do it myself? Did she really believe, even after the time we’d spent together, that I couldn’t be faithful to her? Fine. If that is what she really wanted, my ass was outta there.

  “Well, you’re going to have to get over it because I’m not letting you leave until you two work this out,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “Caleb, open the door.”

  “No,” he crossed his arms over his chest. “There was a time when you forced me to admit something that, if I’d ignore it, could have cost me the best thing in my life,” he said, looking pointedly at Angie. “So I’m not going to let you get in that car and drive away without you at least listening to what she has to say first.”

  As much as it enraged me, he was right. “Fine,” I hissed, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning against his car.

  “…and why should you be upset if I decide to date someone exactly like you? Don’t think I don’t know why you and mom split. How dumb do you think I am?” she asked rhetorically.

  “I will not have this discussion with you, again. That has nothing to do with who you are dating at the moment, which is the real problem. You’ve chosen to date someone unworthy of you,” he yelled at Lauren.

  Everyone around us continued to watch the story unfold.

  “Really, so you’d rather me date a guy like Ryan? Do you even want to know why Ryan and I broke up in the first place?” she asked, advancing on her father.

  “Lauren, once again you are creating a scene. Get in the car and we’ll discuss this privately,” he commanded.

  Lauren stood her ground and I wanted to be proud of her, but I was still so goddamn pissed. “No, I will not come with you. Ryan cheated on me. He screwed some slutty baseball groupie,” she snapped.

  “It was a mistake, Lauren,” Ryan argued.

  “You see, you made a mistake. Ryan would never treat you that way,” her dad retorted.

  “Bullshit,” Emily and I both said under our breaths.

  “You know what, Dad, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I had a great game and had planned to go celebrate with my friends, which is exactly what I intend to do.” She turned in the direction of her car and called over her shoulder, “Next time you decide to come, you’d better treat my friends better than you did today. Otherwise, don’t bother visiting.”

  Something else must have crossed her mind because, suddenly, she turned her head toward Ryan. “As for you, leave me the hell alone. We are never getting back together. You made your bed, now lie in it.”

  “Are you coming?” she asked, and I realized she was talking to me.

  “I’ll ride with Caleb and meet you there,” I said flatly.

  “Josh, please don’t do this,” she pleaded.

  “Dude, just listen to what she has to say and if you don’t like it, call me and I’ll come pick you up. But you have to hear her out first,” Caleb said.

  With that, he opened his door and Angie’s but left the back door locked so that I couldn’t get in. Was he serious? Had he not heard the conversation that had just taken place? I doubted there was anything she could say to get me to calm down.

  Realizing my best friend was a traitor, I crossed my arms over my chest. Seemingly unaffected, Caleb slipped into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and before Lauren had a chance to say anything he started to pull out of the lot. As the car passed by it slowed and Angie rolled down the window to talk to me. “Please, don’t be too hard on her. She had a lot to deal with this afternoon and may not have handled it that well.”

  With a screech of tires, Caleb pulled out of the lot. The dust the car had kicked up blurred my vision for a moment but as it cleared and I looked around, I realized that everyone else had already left, leaving me stranded with Lauren—the last person I wanted to have a conversation with.

  Mr. Pierce and Ryan made their way toward their cars and I watched on as Mr. Pierce threw his arm around Ryan’s shoulders. For the millionth time that night I asked myself the same question: Why couldn’t Mr. Pierce see past all of Ryan’s bullshit?

  Then again, did it rea
lly matter at this point? I wasn’t sure if Lauren and I would be spending much time together after today’s events. Let’s face it, there wasn’t a whole lot she could say after the way she brushed me off. Thinking about Lauren, I’d just turned my attention back to her when she walked up to stand right in front of me.

  “Josh, will you please get in the car?” she asked, a hint of sadness in her voice.

  Without saying a word, I walked over to the car and waited for her to unlock the door. She let out a sigh of frustration before following me, unlocking the doors and throwing her bag in the trunk, while I slid into the passenger seat. After she sat down, I noticed her look over in my direction but she didn’t speak. Instead, she turned to face forward and started the car.

  We pulled out of the parking lot and instead of making the turn to go to the restaurant, Lauren took us in the opposite direction.

  “We’re going to Max’s,” I reminded her.

  “I know, but I need to go somewhere else first,” she said calmly.

  “Lauren, just take me to the restaurant,” I said in frustration. Done with the bullshit today, all I wanted was a beer and some food. She ignored me and continued driving in the opposite direction, turning the radio up loud enough to discourage any conversation.

  A few minutes later we pulled up to Stewart Park. What in the hell did she need to do at the park?

  “Lauren, what are we doing here?”

  I turned to face her and noticed the tears swimming in her eyes. Before I could ask her what was wrong, she brushed them away and jumped out of the car. What could she be crying for? I was the one that had been shit on for the last twenty minutes, not her.

  Even though I was still pissed, there was something about seeing the glisten of tears in her eyes that had me frozen to my seat. Why was I still sitting here? My brain was telling me that this was all a mistake. That her lack of faith in me was a roadblock we couldn’t overcome, but there was something inside of me that wouldn’t let me move. I sat silently, watching her walk over and take a seat on one of the benches to look out on the water, when suddenly it hit me like a ton of bricks.