Roman (Season Three: The Ninth Inning #7)

by Lindsay Paige

  Hector had food catered in and there is a lot of alcohol. I’m thankful for both as I pile my plate up and grab a bottle of beer. Zoey and Hector re-did their backyard with tables and chairs for everyone to sit. There are decorations hanging from the trees along with a lot of lights. I love it. It’s perfect in every way. As all the Angels sit near each other, I sit with my co-workers. I don’t want them to be left out. I’m having so much fun talking and laughing with them. I do have a clear view of Roman, and our eyes are in constant contact with each other.

  I love him and I hope I’m not reading more into his loving gazes at me.

  After my co-workers eat and have a couple drinks, they leave. The guys rearrange the tables to make one long one. Tanner, Spencer, and Roman carry over the tubs of beer, and we all begin to chatter about everything, but it quickly turns to sex.

  “Carissa, how is it you’re not taken yet?” Tanner asks.

  “I’m waiting for Chris Hemsworth to get divorced,” I joke, sipping on my beer and the girls laugh with me. I notice Roman shakes his head with a smile.

  “What is with him? I’m much sexier.” He flexes his arms, making us laugh harder. “Fine. It’s your loss.” He narrows his glare at me with a smirk.

  “Tanner, I can’t wait to see who ropes you in,” I tease.

  He sits up tall. “I’m a lifelong bachelor.”

  “Famous last words,” Abigail speaks up.

  I gasp. “I bet you fall for an older chick. Some cougar-hunter type.”

  “How much?” Spencer asks.

  “Fifty bucks Tanner gets clawed by one.” Zoey, of all people, calls him out and everyone starts talking about it.

  “No way,” Tanner yells. “Spencer, Roman, and I are going to remain single. We’re not going to drink from the pool of love y’all are drowning in. The three musketeers will hold strong.” He pumps his fist in the air, and I almost fall from my chair with laughter, as does everyone else.

  Tanner carries on a bit more before baseball stats and future games begin to take over. The girls and I are talking about everything else, and we’re having a great time. Trent and Scarlett are the first to go, and then Colby and Ariella. Her beautiful belly is growing so much, and the baby will be here in a few short months.

  The rest of us start to clean up, even though Hector tell us we don’t have too. We all move the party into the house, and I can hear my phone ringing from my purse. I let it go once, but then it kept going. I figure it’s Mom and Dad, and I excuse myself to answer it. I step out to the back porch.

  “Hello,” I sing. I maybe should have stopped one beer ago.

  “Fucking drunk, aren’t you?”

  My heart stops. “Why are you calling me, Dane?”

  “It’s your birthday, you spoiled brat. Think I forgot?”

  “Stop calling me.”

  “Nah, see you owe me money, and you better pay it up real soon.”

  My mouth goes dry. “I told you to sell my stuff. You can keep the money for it.” I’m sure it is much more than what he’s paid into storage.

  “Have you spoken to your mother?”

  I’m taken aback at the quick change of subject. “It’s none of your business.”

  “Well, I saw her yesterday. She still thinks I’m quite a catch and is concerned for you now that you’re living on your own.”

  My stomach drops. What did she say to him?

  “I mean, a single woman living alone on the fifth floor.” He chuckles evilly.

  I whip around and look around the backyard. Is he here now? Is he watching me?

  “Just remember, no one wants your fat ass. You’re a spoiled, evil, little brat, and you will be alone because no one will ever love your high maintenance pussy.”

  I end the call as quickly as I can push the button. My hands are shaking. Hell, my whole body is right now. Does this mean Dane is coming after me? Why after all this time? It’s been months since I left him, and I’ve hardly heard from him until the past month. Is it just about money? What if he hurts me?

  “Carissa.” I turn to see Hector on the porch with Roman, Blake, and Felix.

  The hot tears are burning my cheeks, and I see Hector coming for me, but Roman makes it to me first, wrapping me up in his arms.

  Roman.

  I’m safe with Roman.

  Then it happens…

  “What the fuck?” Hector’s voice roars in my ears.

  “Hector, not now, man. You can kick my ass later, but right now, I am taking care of my girlfriend.” Roman holds me tighter.

  There it is.

  “Girlfriend?” Hector’s voice is louder than before.

  Blake and Felix rush to hold Hector back as he charges. I know Hector won’t fight his teammate, but I’m not sure right now by the look on his face.

  My sobs are still coming, and Hector and Roman are yelling, but I can’t make anything out right now. I’m scared. I’m scared of Dane and Hector’s anger toward Roman. I’ve screwed everything up.

  Blake and Felix manage to get Hector back into the house, and I see everyone’s on the porch now. Spencer comes down to us with Sofia.

  “You two should go and let Hector cool off,” Sofia suggests.

  “I’ll have Tanner give me a ride.” Spencer nods at Roman.

  Roman leads me toward the front yard, and before I know it, I’m in his car heading toward our apartment building. I’ve not spoken a word, but my mind is spinning. On top of that, he isn’t pushing me to talk.

  I feel like a zombie when I make it to his place. I left my purse back at Hector’s and I don’t have my keys. I go straight to Roman’s room and lay on the bed. I feel the bed dip, and he spoons with me as he does every night we sleep together. He holds me close to his body, and his even breathing calms me.

  “Dane called me,” I choke out and spill everything he said to me. I can feel Roman tense up behind me as I tell him my fear of Dane coming to Tennessee.

  “I won’t let it happen.”

  I close my eyes at the sincerity of Roman’s words. But, how am I going to fix Hector?

  I hardly sleep. Even with Roman holding me, I’m antsy. When the sun begins to come up, he finally rolls to the other side of the bed. I easily leave the bed, grab a post it from his desk, and leave it on the pillow. I pick up his keys and my phone and softly walk out of the apartment. I have to use his car to talk to Hector. I can’t let my big brother be mad at me.

  I send a quick text to Zoey.

  Me: Are you guy up?

  Zoey: Yes.

  Me: Will you let me in? I want to talk to Hector, and I left my purse and keys there.

  Zoey: Door’s open.

  I rush to their house, thankful Memphis traffic is almost non-existent at the early morning hour. When I pull into the driveway, I’m nervous going in. I can almost feel his anger from here, but we need to talk. He’s my family.

  I push the door open and I make my way to the kitchen. I know they’ll be there. And I’m right. Zoey is sitting at the table and Hector is leaning against the counter. His face is red with rage.

  “Hector—”

  “Do not say anything,” he cuts me off.

  “Please,” I beg as tears fill my eyes.

  “I told you; I’ve been telling you for years not to mess around with my teammates.” His tone is low, and it scares me more.

  “Hector, this is different.”

  “Different,” he scoffs. “So, you and Roman didn’t fuck at Colby’s party? And you two haven’t been sneaking around for almost two months? And you haven’t had people lie to my face? For example, my wife.”

  I close my eyes. I don’t want Zoey and Hector to fight. This is on me. “I asked her not to tell you. I wanted to tell you.”

  “Oh,” he fake laughs. “You did, last night, in front of everyone. But, it’s okay because the whole damn team knew.”

  “That’s not true.” I step to him. “Tanner didn’t know.”

  He growls, and if he could, fire would blow from
his nostrils. “Carissa, you are my sister.”

  “I know, and you have to believe me when I say I’m in love with Roman. This isn’t a fling or a quick bang. This is real, Hector. I swear this won’t cause you any troubles at work.”

  He crosses his arms, steps up to me, and looks down at me. “It already has. Just because you think you’re in love doesn’t mean he is. I’ve seen him in action, and he’ll break your heart.”

  He’s trying to intimidate me. “Have you seen Roman with anyone else in the past two months? Has he left a bar with another girl or talked about his latest conquest?”

  Hector falters for a split second, and he knows I’m right.

  “He really cares, Hector, and I love him. I would never hurt you or your career.”

  His face is still twisted with anger. “I can’t be around you right now.” He brushes past me, and without even a word to Zoey, he leaves, slamming the front door behind him.

  ***

  CARISSA LEFT BEFORE I woke up, and I haven’t heard from her yet, so I have no clue what mood Hector will be in when I walk into the locker room for practice. Since she has my car, I ride with Spencer. He was pissed as hell last night. But there wasn’t a moment of hesitation once I saw Carissa crying, and I knew it had to be Dane related somehow. I was right, too. I wonder if she filled Hector in on what Dane said to her.

  Hector doesn’t glance toward the door when I push it open. He’s quiet for a change and is keeping to himself. That’s fine with me. I’d rather he give me the silent treatment until he cools off rather than him to go off on me every five seconds. My hope is that we don’t discuss it at all while we’re at work.

  We make our way to the field, and Spencer walks next to me.

  “I forewarned Tanner against bringing up the delicate subject,” he says.

  “Thanks.”

  “He’s been blowing up my phone wanting details. He’s pissed he was left out on the secret.”

  “He’ll get over it. They both will.”

  And if he doesn’t, it’ll be his problem. I won’t cause him trouble, and I’m not going to stop seeing Carissa either. If this becomes an issue between us, it’ll be because of Hector. We get through our stretches, led by Grumpy, and then Coach divides us up to work on different things. Hector sticks to acting as if I don’t exist.

  After practice, we head to the weight room for a workout. Everyone seems to be relatively quiet today. The door opens, causing every head to turn, and we see Sofia.

  “Hector, don’t you need to see me?” she asks.

  He looks confused. “I don’t think so.”

  She tilts her head and raises an eyebrow at him. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Just go,” Blake tells him.

  He sets his hand weights down and follows her out of the room.

  “Is she sticking her nose in his business, too?” Jordan jokes.

  Blake nods. “She can’t help herself.” He looks at me. “She’s probably bailing your ass out for you. Have you talked to him yet?”

  “Not since we left last night. Carissa went to see him this morning. I’m not going to talk to him while we’re here.”

  “Why was I left out?” Tanner blurts, unable to hold it in any longer.

  “Because you can’t keep a secret,” we all answer him.

  “Since when?” he retorts.

  “Since always,” Spencer says.

  Conversation finally flows throughout the room like normal. Hector never returns. I shower, dress, and grab my things. I’m walking through the parking lot, about to call Carissa, when I hear, “Roman!”

  I turn to see Hector jogging toward me. He stops about a foot away and glares at me, but doesn’t say anything.

  “What is it?” I finally ask.

  “Are you going to break up with my sister?”

  “You’re joking, right? I’m not going to break up with her. She’s happy with me. Why is that such a bad thing? Blake and Sofia are in a relationship and they work together. If that can work, I don’t see why we can’t.”

  He narrows his gaze. “She’s in love with you, you know that?”

  His words stun me. “Really?” My tone is too surprised maybe, but I can’t help it.

  “You don’t have to grin like an idiot,” he grumbles.

  I do my best to get rid of the grin I didn’t know I had. “Yeah, well, you don’t have to put your sister through hell because you don’t like the situation either. She’s dealing with enough as it is.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Looks like she didn’t mention Dane. “She’ll tell you about it when she’s ready, if you don’t already know.”

  “No. I’m sick of this secret bullshit. What the hell is going on with my sister, Roman?”

  “You’re her big brother, I get that, but your sister can take care of herself. If she didn’t tell you this morning, then I’m not telling you.”

  “She didn’t tell me this morning because I walked out on her,” he grits.

  “Then that’s your fault. I’m not here for you. I’m here for her. My loyalty is to her first and foremost. If you want to know what’s going on, then suck it up and go talk to her. We didn’t tell you and you’re pissed. I get that. But it’s better that we waited until we were ready and until we had a foundation to stand on before telling someone we knew would blow up when he found out. And for what it’s worth, Carissa didn’t like not telling you, and we were going to tell you. Your best bet is to get used to the idea because I’m not breaking up with her.”

  With that, I turn and walk away, leaving him standing there.

  “Why are you sitting in here all alone and grinning like a doofus?” Spencer asks as he walks into the room.

  “No reason,” I lie. I’ve been thinking about what Hector said. That Carissa loves me. To strengthen my argument, I could’ve told him that I’ve fallen in love with her as well, but he won’t be the first to hear those words out of my mouth. Ever since I got home, I’ve been tempted to call or text Carissa and bring up the subject, but she’d probably be pissed that Hector told me. My next thing to do for us is to plan a good, fun date for me to tell her.

  “So, what do you think will happen with Hector?”

  “He’ll come around,” I say with confidence. He loves his sister, and he knows I’m not going anywhere. He won’t be a jackass and hold a grudge. It’s just a matter of time at this point.

  “Have you talked to Carissa?”

  “Not since this morning.” And that makes me frown. She should be off work by now. Why hasn’t she texted me back? I pick up my phone and text her again.

  Me: Everything okay? Haven’t heard from you today.

  Carissa: Yeah, just getting home. It’s been a long day. How was work? Did Hector behave? Please tell me he did.

  I don’t respond. “I’m going to see Carissa,” I tell Spencer as I stand and head for the door. A minute later, I’m knocking on her door. She grins widely when she sees it’s me. “Happy to see me?”

  “Yes!” She wraps her arms around my neck. “So? How was work?” she asks again as she pulls me inside.

  “It was fine. Quieter than usual, but fine. He caught me in the parking lot, and that went well, too.”

  Carissa eyes me skeptically. “I don’t believe you. He got so pissed at me this morning that he left. No way he’s going to be nicer to you than he was to me.”

  “I didn’t say he was nice. Just that he behaved.”

  “Well, Zoey told me to give him some time to come to terms with everything, so I guess I’ll do that. I called my mom on my lunch break. She doesn’t see what was so bad about telling Dane, so I broke the news of what he did. She felt bad. She was thrilled when I told her about you, though.”

  I grin. “So the parents know about me now? Sounds like you’re getting pretty serious about me.”

  She smiles. “I am, and you better be getting pretty serious about me.”

  “Already there, baby.” I lean forward and
kiss her. Before we get too distracted, she pulls away.

  “I’m starving. Come help me cook?”

  “Anything you want as long as you’re dessert.”

  She grins with that naughty smile of hers. “Done.”

  ***

  I WALK INTO Hector and Zoey’s house and head straight for the kitchen. I know for a fact Zoey was up late painting and is still in bed, leaving Hector alone with his morning coffee.

  I’m right when I see him sitting with his mug in hand. I stroll over to the coffeemaker and pour myself a cup before taking a chair next to him.

  “I brought fresh doughnuts.” I place the bag in front of him.

  He only eyes the bag, not touching it.

  “I talk to Mom and she’s fully aware of Roman and me.”

  He remains quiet.

  I sip my coffee and the silence between us is killing me. “Do you want to know why I was crying? The night of my party.”

  He eyes me for a flash and then back down at his coffee.

  “Dane called me.” That gets his attention. “He, in not so many words, threatened me. Mom told him I was living alone and even gave him my address.” A single tear slips down my cheek. “And now I’m scared, Hector, and I can’t have you mad at me.”

  “Is he in Memphis?” He finally speaks.

  “I’m not sure. But, I’m nervous.” I can feel my hands begin to shake a bit. “I don’t know why, after all these months, he’s bothering me now.”

  My big brother pulls me up from my seat and hugs me. “I won’t let anything happen to you, no matter how mad I am.”

  I step out of his embrace. “Roman is the greatest guy I’ve ever been with. Don’t you want me with someone who makes me happy? Don’t you want me to have good guy like you? Of everyone in my life, you’re the one who is the least judgmental and biased. This is Roman. He’s your friend and your teammate.”

  Hector rubs his face hard. “I’m scared for you.”

  “He may not have said he loves me yet, but he’s serious about me, and I love him. I can see us with a bright future ahead.”