Warning Track (30 page)

Well, there went the thought of having a nice pizza night with Luke, Molly thought, as she slammed her head into a pillow and chastised herself for opening her stupid mouth when they were actually starting to have a moment of clarity.

**Parker**

“You sure you want to do this?” Parker asked, as he watched Margo take off her heels and place them on the bench in the dugout.
 

“Are you kidding me? I’ve always wanted to see what the big deal is about a major league baseball field.”

Margo gathered her dress up and sprinted up the steps out of the dugout and ran out onto the field. She ran straight across the mound and stopped at the shortstop position. She turned around and squatted in a ready position, while slapping her hands together as if she had a glove on her left hand and was ready for some grounders to be hit at her.
 

Shaking his head at how cute she looked, he walked up the steps and got in the batter’s box. “You want some grounders, Mo?”

“No, I just want to know what it feels like to be Parker ‘The Kirby Machine’ Hill.” She spit to the side and performed a routine he was very familiar with because he did it before every pitch. She looked to the side, called out the outs, spit into her hand and rubbed her hand in her palm as if it was her glove, then got in position. She then added a crotch-grab for good measure, making Parker full-belly laugh because the gorgeous girl in front of him was dressed to the nines, wearing an exquisite dress, and acting like a damn buffoon.
 

“I’m ready,” she called out, as she swayed back and forth.

“Just so you know, I don’t grab my crotch every time,” Parker said, as Margo raised her eyebrows at him. “I don’t!” he admonished, while he walked toward her. “But, yes, maybe I grab it a little more than normal, but can you blame me? They can’t make a cup big enough for my elephant-sized balls.”

That comment made Margo scoff. “Keep dreaming, Kirbs.”

Parker was inches from her as he asked, while holding out his arms, “What do you think? Pretty nice digs, right?”

“Eh, it’s alright. I’ve seen better,” she teased.
 

Parker gathered her in his arms and placed a kiss on her head. “Can never give a guy a break, can you?”

Margo pulled away from his chest to look up at him in the eyes. “Seriously, Parker. This is amazing. I couldn’t be more proud of you for making the big leagues. I remember talking about it in college and it was always a dream, but you made it happen. You made it come true.”

Her words touched him. Most of the time, they joked around with each other, but he lived for moments like these, where Margo let down the sarcastic guard she always had up and truly let him see her for who she was, an amazingly beautiful, kind and loving woman.
 

“Thanks, Mo.”

He placed his hand under her chin and brought her lips up to his. They were pink and perfectly ready for his. He was one lucky bastard, he thought, as he kissed her softly, letting her know how much she meant to him. Her hands ran up his chest, setting his nerves on fire. All she had to do was touch him and that was it for him.

When he thought things were going to get more intense between the two of them, she pulled away from him, gathered her dress and skipped toward home plate.
 

“Where are you going, pretty girl?” he asked, as she spun around and smiled at him.
 

“Race me.”

“Around the bases?”

“Yeah, you stay at second and I’ll start at home. First one to return to their respected base wins.”

“What do we win?” Parker asked with a glint in his eye.
 

“The power to do whatever you want in bed tonight.”

“Well, aren’t we being a little assertive? Who’s to say I’m going home with you tonight?” Parker joked.
 

“You better be coming home with me or I’ll cut your balls off.”

“Ouch,” Parker grimaced, as he grabbed his balls.
 

“Then you wouldn’t have to worry about a cup at all. I might be doing all the Atlanta fans a service of not having to see you adjust yourself all the time.”

“It’s not all the time,” Parker said defiantly, wanting to stomp his foot on the ground. Now when he was playing, he was going to be self-conscious whenever he went to readjust. Thank you, Margo!

“I’m just teasing, don’t get your testies in a twine.”

“Get ready to be smoked,” Parker said, as he got in position. He was going to win and then torment Margo until she couldn’t take the buildup of her orgasm any longer.
 

“Wait,” she held up her hand. “You have to take your shoes off, it’s only fair to me.”

Parker shrugged. “Fine with me, babe. I’m still going to beat your Latina ass.”
 

“Don’t count on it.” She got in position as well.

“Who is going to start us off…?” Parker started to ask before Margo interrupted him.
 

“Go!” she yelled as she took off, giving her an advantage. Parker swore as he took off a couple of seconds after her. The sneaky bitch.
 

Parker’s feet dug into the dirt as he propelled himself forward. The dirt wasn’t as soft on his feet as he thought it might be, but he didn’t care, he dug deeper and rounded third just as Margo passed first. He was not going to lose the opportunity to own Margo’s body for the night, so he turned on his engine reserves and muscled through as they both hit second and home at the same time. He was evening out their distance. As he headed toward first, he cut the corner perfectly, giving him a direct shot to second. He was on the home stretch and so was Margo, but she wasn’t going to win.
 

“Done!” he shouted as his foot hit second and his body tried to slow down. The same time he hit second, he looked over to see Margo a couple of steps off of home. He beat her.
 

Fist pumping the air, Parker cheered for himself as he ran around the field, gloating that he beat his girl in a foot race around the infield. Yes, he was slightly pathetic, but he’d won…that was all that mattered.
 

Margo stood at home with her arms crossed over her beautiful chest and waited for Parker to get closer as he continued to cheer for himself.
 

“Are you done yet?” she asked, while tapping her foot.

“Don’t be a poor loser, Mo.”

“I’m not, I’m just waiting for you to stop being a jackass so I can tell you that I won.”

Parker’s cheering immediately halted as his eyes bulged out of their sockets. “What? Are you insane? I clearly beat you.”

“You did, but you never hit third base,” she said matter-of-factly, as if she’d just watched the replay over and over again on the big screen.
 

“Bullshit, plus there is no base to hit. How can I miss it if there’s nothing there?” The bases were only brought out for a game, otherwise, the field was naked without them.

“You didn’t hit the imaginary base,” she said with full confidence.
 

“Imaginary base? Really?” Parker laughed and scooped Margo up in one swift movement, carrying her to the dugout. “You’re mine for tonight, Mo, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

She pressed her hand against his cheek and said, “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

**Luke**

He was pathetic, a pathetic excuse for a man. The girl that stood by his side, who gave him her heart, who waited patiently for him as he checked out of life, told him she almost committed suicide and what did he do? He ran away like a fucking pussy because he couldn’t stand the thought of Molly doing something like that to herself.
 

Pacing the small confines of Winnie’s room, he needed to scream, to tear into something, to punch a wall, but he knew that wasn’t going to do anything to help his rage, so he called the one person he could think of that might actually talk to his sorry ass.
 

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite blond,” came Nash’s voice from the other end of the line. “How the fuck are ya man? Getting fucked every night now that you’re back home with that fine-ass girl of yours?”

“Not quite,” Luke answered, skipping all the pleasantries.
 

“You didn’t go all celibate on me, did you? I know you’re trying to cleanse yourself and all that bullshit, but come on man, you have to be at least beating yourself off to her.”

Growing frustrated, Luke said, “Cut the crap, Nash. I didn’t call you to talk about my fucking sex life.”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a second before Nash said, “Well, damn. I didn’t answer the phone expecting to have a tea party either, but it seems like you need to talk from the way you’re practically gnawing on the phone.” He blew out a breath and said, “What’s up?”

Rolling his shoulders, trying to extract all his tension, Luke answered, “Did you know about Molly’s struggles while I was gone?”

Silence.

“Nash, did you fucking know about Molly?” Luke repeated himself.
 

“No,” Nash said almost silently. The mood of the conversation dropped from annoying to awkward in the matter of two seconds.
 

“What are you not telling me?” Luke asked, as he sat down in Winnie’s pink polka dot chair. The thing was small as hell, but he found himself sitting in it almost every night…like a damn giant.
 

“Damn it, Luke,” Nash huffed out. “I wasn’t there, alright? I wasn’t there for you, for her, like I should have been. The moment I heard your plane went down, I checked out, I checked out more than I already was. I’d lost so much already and to know another one of my brothers went down, I just couldn’t take the pain, so I checked out of life. I should have been the better man. I should have watched over Molly for you. I should have gone to your damn funeral, but I didn’t. I did jack shit.”

Luke was stunned. Nash wasn’t one to express his feelings, so their conversation was new for both of them. Luke didn’t know how to react; he didn’t know what to say.
 

Before Luke could answer, Nash said, “I saw Molly once; she was pregnant in the grocery store. I followed her around as her brown-haired friend helped her through the store. Molly looked distraught, like she was barely living life and just making the necessary motions to get around. I felt her pain, I knew what she was going through, to lose someone that meant so much to you, but I couldn’t go up to her. I couldn’t reach out to her. I was too fucked-up in the head. I found out from Connor later that she had the baby and that he was coming to Atlanta to help out, but that was it. I didn’t know about anything else.”

“You knew about Winnie?”

“Yeah,” Nash said quietly.

“And you didn’t bother to help me out, to help me understand what went down when I was gone? What kind of fucked-up friend are you?”

“I didn’t know anything!” Nash practically shouted. “I didn’t know about what was going on, all I knew was she was pregnant. And if I’m being honest, you couldn’t have handled it. I saw the distant look in your eyes when you came to me, because it was like I was staring in a fucking mirror. What you needed was a detox, to step away, to get your shit together and that’s what I gave you. If I dropped bombs on you, you would have lost the battle that you and I fight every goddamn day and I couldn’t do that to you, man. I lost you once, I couldn’t lose you again.”

Luke sat frozen in Winnie’s chair as he listened to Nash. Luke wanted to be mad at Nash, he wanted to throw Nash into a wall and beat the everliving hell out of him, but he knew he never could. Nash was right, he gave Luke the opportunity to chill, to just decompress after two years of hell. Nash was the first person who saved him when he returned from his mission. Molly was the second person to try to save him and all he was doing was pushing her further and further away.
 

“You have to give her a chance, man. You’re stronger than you think you are. You can easily beat this, you’re not some fuck-up like me. Don’t let the past eat at you…forget everything that went down the past two years, drop it and move forward. You have one hell of a woman waiting to be there for you, give her that chance. Grab ahold of your balls and jump in, get lost in her. It can’t be any worse than what you went through two years ago and hell, you can even get your dick whacked off by someone other than your hand.”

Luke chuckled to himself as he let out a deep breath.
 

“You really think I can move beyond the past? You think I can have a normal life?”

“No one ever has a normal life,” Nash said. “No one is ever normal, but can you have a fulfilled life with a woman who loves you and a daughter who most likely is cute as shit? Yes, I believe you can have that. I believe you can have a family, and be a dad and an amazing husband to Molly, a husband that she deserves.” Nash blew out a long deep breath and then said, “Shit, I need to go bang someone. All this mushy crap has me reaching on the floor trying to relocate my balls. I’ll talk to you later, man.”

“Thanks, Nash. Thank you for everything.”

Luke didn’t say anything else because Nash knew what he was thanking him for, not just for this conversation, but for taking him in and then kicking him out when Luke needed it the most. For pushing Luke to be a better man. If only Luke could return the favor someday when he was healthy. Nash deserved to be happy too.