Falling for the Rookie (Fan Girl Book 1)

by Trish Williford

  Lexi tossed a duffle bag of items I asked for from home onto the couch across the room before she plopped into the chair beside my bed. She studied my face with disgust as if I were a horror movie reject. "I hope you know you’re giving a whole new meaning to the term ‘balls to the face.’ Damn Mel, I can see the indentation of the ball's stitching on your forehead."

  I covered my face with a pillow. I've refused to look into a mirror up to this point, and she's made it blatantly obvious that my face is indeed as bad as I imagined.

  Lexi lifted the pillow. "It's not terrible. Once the swelling and bruising goes down, you'll be back to your sexy self, no worries." She grabbed my hand, her face turning serious. "I'm just glad you're okay. I was really freaked out when Clay called."

  I squeezed her hand. "I'm glad too. Thank you for coming."

  She took the remote off the tray table and turned the TV on. "Want to watch the highlights of the game since you missed the ending?" She offered. Lexi knows how much I love baseball and what the game means to me. She and I have been best friends our entire lives. Our parents were best friends too, so it was only natural that we became practically inseparable. When my parents died, her parents took me in and became my guardians without a second thought since I didn’t have relatives that lived close by. They suddenly had another teenage daughter, but they said they wouldn't have had it any other way.

  "Here's the game." Lexi pointed out.

  "Big opening day at Blue Stadium for the Birds today. The game got off to a slow start, but excitement filled the third inning. Nathan Ross was put on base by a hit to the lower leg, and to much disappointment, that’s the only base action he received today. Carson Lawrence, rookie out of New Mexico came to the plate. A foul ball into the stands hit a young woman, knocking her unconscious."

  Lexi hit my arm without taking her eyes from the screen. "OH MY GOD! YOU'RE ON TV!"

  And there I was, taking a high fly right between the eyes in slow motion.

  "OOOOOH!" She cringed. "At least your face was shown pre-hit. You wouldn't want that shit to be seen on national TV now."

  "Please turn this off." I cried.

  "Lawrence was nearly ejected from the game by Coach Anthony after he left the batter's box to check on the woman. Once he was assured she was fine, he returned to bat."

  I squinted my eyes at the TV. "I still can't believe he checked on me."

  "He watched the pitch, ball on the outside.Next pitch was beautiful, and Lawrence agreed as he hit a two run homerun that would ultimately win the game."

  Lexi smacked my arm. "He hit a homerun after hitting you in the face! Damn, you must have been good luck. Maybe you should take a few more for the team. God only knows that's the most action you've got in a while."

  "Shut up." I grabbed the remote from her hand and turned the TV off. "I'm just glad the boys won. Can we talk about something other than me taking balls to the face?"

  "Is that something you do often?" I heard a deep chuckle from the door. A tall man in a dark blue suit with brown messy hair and a gorgeous smile was leaning against the door jamb.

  Holy sex on legs.

  "Excuse me? No one is allowed to talk to her like that except me. Who the hell are you?" Lex stood, crossing her arms and popping a hip to the side.

  He held one hand up, his mouth twisting into a frown. "Sorry, didn't mean to offend anyone. I'm here to see Melody. My name is Carson Lawrence. I'm kind of the reason she's here."

  I covered my face again with the pillow. This is Carson Lawrence? Holy hell, Nathan Ross has nothing on him. This man is pure perfection.

  Lex gasped, pulling him into the room. "I'm so sorry! Come in! Please ignore her black eyes and the horn growing from her head, she is usually beautiful. In fact, she's beautiful enough to make this straight girl want to switch teams, but she's like my sister so it's kind of gross."

  I buried my face into the pillow, hoping it would eat me alive. Why does he have to be beautiful?

  Lexi pushed him to the bedside and ripped the pillow from my hands. "Knock it off, Mel. It's not that bad. Carson Lawrence came to see you, don't be rude."

  She's about to get a matching horn.

  I sat up in bed but kept my focus on my lap, letting a curtain of blonde hair cover my face. "Thank you for coming, Mr. Lawrence, but I'm okay. I appreciate your concern."

  I heard Lexi grunt. "Mel-"

  "Can you give us a few minutes alone, please?" Carson interrupted her.

  I wanted to peek through the curtain of hair to see her reaction. I'm sure she wasn't exactly thrilled she was being booted out of the room.

  "Uh, yeah. I mean, I have to leave anyways. Mel, I'll be back tomorrow to pick you up. If you need anything just call." A moment later I heard the quiet click of the door as it shut, leaving Carson and I alone.

  Why in the world would he want time alone with me?

  I was startled when fingers pushed my hair back and tucked it behind my ear. "That's better." He said as he sat on the chair beside the bed. I finally looked over at him, bracing myself to find him looking at the bump on my head.

  He wasn't.

  His dark brown eyes were looking directly into mine, a small smile forming at the edges of his mouth. "Hi. I'm Carson."

  His voice. Oh sweet lord his voice. It was deep and smooth and I wanted to curl up in it and take a nap. "I'm Melody Carrick. You can call me Mel."

  His smile became wider. "I think I'll stick with Melody. It's a beautiful name for a beautiful girl."

  My stomach rolled. "There is no way you can possibly think I'm beautiful right now with the horn growing from my forehead and my shiny brand new black eyes. Why are you here? To smooth things over and make sure I don't sue? Don't worry, I wasn't planning on it."

  Creases lined his forehead as his brows pinched together. "I'm here to apologize and make sure you are okay." He handed me a large bouquet of flowers I hadn’t noticed. "And to give you these. I'm not here to bribe you with sweet talk. If I were, I would have had my publicist call and make things right. I’m sure she’d be much better at this than I am, but I'm not that type of guy. When I heard you were admitted I was concerned and wanted to check on you with my own eyes. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you were hurt."

  I smelled the flowers and wondered briefly if I could hide inside the bouquet. "I'm sorry for being snappy. Thank you for the flowers, they are really beautiful."

  His grin returned. "I'll accept your apology if you accept mine."

  "Tit for tat?" I smirked. "You don't have to apologize, Carson. It was an accident. I should have been paying better attention."

  He clutched a fist to his chest. "You weren't watching me during my first at bat in the majors? That hurts, Melody."

  A giggle escaped my lips. "I was yelling at Clay because he was being grumpy about the score of the game. I heard the crack of the bat and pretty much watched the ball land on my face. It was my fault."

  "Was he the old guy with white hair and the cane? I thought he was going to jump the wall and kick my ass." He joined in on the laughter.

  "That's him. He's protective of me, I've known him since I was a kid." I wiped away the tears that spilled onto my cheeks from laughing. "I promise I'll watch all of your at bats for the rest of the season."

  He gave me a strange look. "I'm sure you don't watch all the games."

  "I do. I record the away games if I'm busy and I come to all the home games. I have season tickets. I'm a pretty big fan."

  His strange look morphed to shock. "Really?"

  "Why are you surprised at that?"

  "Usually I see guys or families buying season tickets, not young hot females. I think it's pretty awesome."

  I rolled my eyes at the flattering comments. "Stop complimenting me."

  "Why? Because it's the truth?"

  "Because you're lying to make me feel better."

  He leaned closer to the bed to rest his arms on the mattress. "You have really pretty sparkly green eyes and a be
autiful smile. And if you want me to be honest, I kind of dig the purple under your eyes."

  "You're ridiculous."

  He caught my hand before I could smack his arm and held it in his. "I'm serious."

  "I'm not sure my boyfriend would appreciate you holding my hand." I lied.

  He leaned a little closer towards me, my hand still in his. "Then dump him."

  I felt my mouth gape open. "Seriously? That’s pretty brazen of you."

  "Yeah. Because if he's not by his girlfriend's side while she's in the hospital, he doesn't deserve her." He continued looking straight into my eyes, nowhere else. "Besides, you don't have a boyfriend."

  I managed to pull my now hot hand from his and cross my arms. "And how could you possibly know that?"

  His lips lifted at the corners as he leaned back in his seat. "Because I heard your friend mention you haven't gotten any in a while."

  I'm going to kill Lexi. "Are you going to harass every fan that you hit with a foul ball in your career?"

  "No, just the pretty ones named Melody."

  I refuse to get my hopes up on him and his flirting. I know that once he walks out of this room, I'll never hear from him again. "Thank you for checking on me, I promise I'll be fine."

  "Then I wish you a speedy recovery." He stood up and put his hand in his pocket. "I almost forgot, I have something else for you." He tossed me a baseball with his signature on it.

  "Oh my god, please don't tell me this is the ball that caused this shit."

  He laughed loudly. "No, that would be kind of a dick move, although it would have been pretty hysterical. That is actually the homerun ball. My first home run of my major league career. I doubt it will ever be worth anything, but it might be something cool to hang onto. Or give to a dog. Whatever."

  My heart swooned over the ball more than the flowers. "Are you sure? Don't you want to keep it for yourself?" I was inwardly praying he said no, because I wasn’t sure if I could actually give it back.

  He shook his head. "It's yours. You were my good luck today." He winked. "I'm going to head out. You need rest. Thank you for being cool about all this. I'm glad you're okay."

  "Me too. Thanks for stopping by Carson. It was nice meeting you." And I meant it. I really enjoyed talking to him.

  And looking at him too.

  He walked backwards towards the door. "You too, Melody. I'll check on you later."

  "Isn't that going to be hard to do since you don't even have my phone number?"

  He leaned on the door jamb like he did when he first got here. "I know where your seats are at the stadium." He winked again. "Good night." He pushed off the door jamb and walked out of the room.

  I stared down at the ball in my hands and grinned like an idiot.

  Chapter Four: Carson

  The last thing I was expecting when I walked into that hospital was to be attracted to a girl with a goose egg and two black eyes. Her green eyes sparkled when she talked, even when she practically growled at me. But when she smiled, they looked like big green diamonds. Are they even a thing, green diamonds? Emeralds maybe?

  I think what enticed me even more was her laugh. It was perfect, and I wanted to make her giggle as much as possible. She seems like a cool as hell chick, one that I wouldn't mind to hang with sometime.

  Slow your roll, Lawrence. Can’t let a pretty face distract you from the game.

  The ringing of my phone brought my focus back to now. I pressed the answer button on my steering wheel to connect the call to Bluetooth. "Hello."

  "Carson, its Dad."

  Fucking great. I should have checked my phone before answering. "Dad. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I asked dryly.

  To say my father and I have had a strained relationship since I was a teenager would be an understatement. I learned through a very hard lesson in my teenage years that my sperm donor was concern about one person and one person only; himself. The day and Mom and I moved to New Mexico and away from him was one of the best days of my life. It sucked moving across the country and starting over during high school, but it was well worth it to live a daily life without him. I still occasionally keep in contact with him, but it's only for my mother's sake.

  "I watched your game tonight. Hitting a homerun during your debut major league game is a pretty big deal, son."

  Son.

  When he used the word it made me sick to my stomach. "Yeah, it’s something I won't soon forget."

  "But that's not the reason I'm calling."

  Of course it's not. Don't congratulate your only child on a huge achievement, asshole.

  "I wanted to be sure your publicist will take care of smoothing things out with the girl you hit. You know, a lawsuit is the last thing you need during your rookie year in the majors. I'm available to represent you. It would be best to settle out of court and keep things quiet."

  That's my dad, the high-profile lawyer. Not worried if the girl is okay, but more about if his son may shine bad publicity on the family name.

  "She's fine, by the way." I offered. "And I handled it."

  "What do you mean you handled it? You have to let your publicist take care of your PR issues, Carson. That's what you're paying them for."

  "There is no publicity issue here! A foul ball accidently hit a girl in the face. I just left the hospital from checking on her. She's fine, no major injuries, and has zero intentions of suing."

  "Did you get that in writing? This could easily be a substantial pay day for her. People are always looking to take advantage of others to get ahead."

  "Don't I know it?" I growled. After he was silent for a solid minute, I continued. "It's over and done with. Is there anything else you need?"

  A sigh came through the phone. "No. Since you're in town again, maybe we can meet up and have dinner. I haven't seen you since you and your mother left."

  Not going to happen. “I'm busy. I have to go."

  "Try to stay out of trouble Carson."

  “Should I tell you the same thing?” I ended the call without a goodbye. I have zero desire to see him or spend time with the selfish, self-centered prick.

  ***

  I was still trying to brush off the recent conversation when I pushed the door open to my condo. My mom was in town for the home stand, refusing to watch my first major league game on television. I chuckled when I saw my kitchen decorated with blue and white streamers and balloons. There was a banner hanging from the ceiling with the number thirty-one in bold letters, which is my team number.

  "Congratulations honey!" She ran to me, her arms open. I leaned down to hug her petite frame, careful not to squeeze too hard.

  "Thanks mom, I'm so glad you are here."

  "Why aren't you out celebrating with your teammates? This is a huge night for you!"

  "I have you here. I'd rather spend time with you than sit in some bar. Besides, I don't really feel much like going out."

  She held me at arm’s length. "What's wrong, sweetie? Is that girl okay?"

  "Yeah, I went to the hospital to check on her. Her name is Melody. She'll be fine, there weren't any serious injuries."

  "That’s a relief. So why are you upset?"

  I exhaled. "Dad called me on my way here. Not to congratulate me, but to make sure my publicist takes care of 'smoothing over' the incident with Melody."

  "Of course he did." She opened the fridge and grabbed two beer bottles, handing me one. "Don't let his selfishness ruin your night. Tonight you should be on cloud nine, celebrating one hell of a debut game in the majors. This has always been your dream, Carson. Live in it while it's here. Don't let it pass without enjoying every single moment."

  She always knew what to say. She was more than my mother, she was my best friend.

  Mom and I watched the highlights of the game as we drank our beer on the couch. "Mom, what did you ever see in Dad anyways?"

  She finished her beer before answering. "He hasn't always been the man you've grown to know. When we were younger, we were very deeply in l
ove. Once he began taking on high-profile cases and became well known in the legal community, success and image became his priority. You and I just didn't fit well into his new dreams. I know he is proud of you even though he may not say show it, so I'm sure to say it for the both of us. "

  My mother is amazing. She has always been the mother and father figure I’ve needed in my life. "You're always going to be the most important woman in my life." I told her as I kissed her cheek.

  She rubbed my arm and smiled at me with pride like only she could. "Not always, but I'll gladly accept that title until the special girl comes along."

  And for some unknown reason, I thought of a certain pair of sparkling green eyes. "Mom, are there such a thing as green diamonds?"

  "That's a pretty random question, honey. I'm not sure. Let’s look it up." She grabbed her phone and a few moments later she nodded. "There sure are. It says here that they are rare. Why do you ask?"

  I couldn’t help but to smile. "No reason."

  Chapter Five: Melody

  “I can’t believe I’m missing the game.” I groaned from the couch. Before leaving the hospital earlier today, the doctor gave Lexi strict orders to have me take it easy for the rest of the day before resuming normal activities tomorrow. Lexi has put me on lockdown in the condo for the night while she goes out on a date, so I turned the game on and attempted to get ahead on some of my work.

  I am a website manager for a vacation rental company based out of Florida. Not only do I manage reservations for their rental properties, but I also take care of their social media accounts. The owners are in their late sixties, and Mr. Neikirk has said more than once that he’s “too old to learn that crap.” I love the flexible schedule and working from home, especially around baseball season.