Curve Ball (Stadium Series Book 2) Read online

  Curve Ball

  S.A. Clayton

  Copyright © 2021 by S.A. Clayton

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Contents

  1. Josh

  2. Harper

  3. Harper

  4. Josh

  5. Harper

  6. Josh

  7. Harper

  8. Josh

  9. Harper

  10. Josh

  11. Harper

  12. Josh

  13. Harper

  14. Josh

  15. Harper

  16. Josh

  17. Harper

  18. Josh

  19. Harper

  20. Josh

  21. Harper

  About the Author

  Also by S.A. Clayton

  1

  Josh

  She ran… again.

  Watching Harper walk away from me is becoming second nature, not that I blame her. If I walked in on what she saw, I would have done way more than walk away. The look in her eyes still haunts me as I lean against the side of the building, hoping she’ll come back and let me explain, but knowing it’s hopeless. She’s pissed, probably hurt, and as much as I want to run to her apartment and demand she talk to me, I know that I need to take a second and get myself together before I try and get Harper to hear me out.

  “Now that she’s finally gone, we can go back inside.” Angela’s high-pitched voice brings me back to reality as her hands wrap around my bicep, pulling herself closer. Before this goes any further, I pull free of her grip and head back toward the front doors of the bar.

  The click of Angela’s heels echoes down the empty street as she follows me past the front doors and stops when I reach my seat. I signal the bartender, hoping he can be quick with the bill so I can get out of here and start groveling.

  “You’re leaving?” Angela asks, sitting down on the stool next to me, crossing her legs suggestively and batting her eyelashes like it will seduce me into wanting her instead of Harper. Little does she know how much those don’t affect me. I ignore her, just signing the receipt and grabbing my jacket that I left on the stool in my haste to follow Harper outside. “So, what, that kiss meant nothing to you? That night at that basketball game meant nothing?” she sneers as if I offended her in some way.

  I take a deep breath before turning back to face her, and I have to admit that any red-blooded male would jump at the chance to be with a woman like Angela, but I know her type and right now I want to get as far away from her as I possibly can. If I was five years younger and had no idea what kind of woman she was, I probably would have taken her up on everything she’s offering, but right now I can’t get the sad, destroyed look in Harper’s eyes out of my head.

  “No, it didn’t,” I say bluntly, hoping this is the last time I have to have this conversation with this girl. “You know what you just did was way over the line, and because of that, the woman I actually want to spend time with thinks I’m seeing you on the side.”

  Instead of being pissed like I assumed she would be, Angela gets closer and whispers, “It doesn’t have to be a lie, you know…”

  I recoil, backing away and heading for the door. I knew from the first moment I met this woman that she’d be trouble, but I just thought she’d back off when she realized that I was taken, but I never thought she would stoop as low as to try and steal me away from Harper.

  The second I step outside, I take out my phone and call Harper, wanting nothing more than to hear her voice, but I sigh when it goes straight to voice mail. “Hey Sunshine, please let me explain. I know what you saw looked bad, but I promise it’s not what you think. Please, sweetheart, let me explain.” I end the call and lean against the window of a closed-up barbershop. I tilt my head back against the glass door as I shut my eyes and hope to God I didn’t just ruin this.

  “Josh, please don’t leave.”

  I groan as Angela makes her way toward me, sashaying her hips in a way that’s supposed to be seductive but just comes off desperate.

  “I know you have this thing for Harper but from what I saw, you should just let her go. She obviously doesn’t want you anymore and to be honest you can do so much better.”

  I take a deep breath in an attempt to control the anger that is raging beneath my skin, and when it’s under control, I stand at my full height, turning so that we’re face to face, and to get my point across I lean down so we’re eye to eye.

  “Angela, I am only going to say this once, okay? I want you to leave me the fuck alone. I don’t know what gave you the impression that I liked you, but I don’t.”

  She huffs, and stomps her feet like some kind of child and pouts, clearly thinking that will get me to change my mind.

  Is this woman for real?

  “Josh, come on, you know you should be with a girl like me.”

  I shake my head, wondering how I can get away from this woman without calling the cops—something that is looking more likely by the second.

  “You shouldn’t be with someone that has a ton of baggage and issues a mile long.”

  I cock my head to the side, wondering how she knows Harper’s past, but knowing it doesn’t change my mind in the least.

  “Sorry. Harper is the only woman I am interested in, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be leaving and groveling to the woman that seems to think I’ve cheated on her, when in fact, I didn’t.” I take a few steps away before I turn back and meet her hopeful eyes. “And if you ever kiss me, touch me, or insinuate that you are dating me ever again, I will be pressing charges.”

  Her eyes widen as I turn, signaling a cab that pulls up in front of me.

  “Where to?” the driver asks and for the first time, I realize I don’t know. I know I want to go straight to Harper’s apartment and grovel at her door. I want to demand she see me and let me explain everything but the other part of me, the one that is clearly rational, knows that’s the last thing I should do.

  “Home,” I say, giving him the address and sitting back in my seat and looking at my phone once more, hoping by some miracle that I missed a call from her, but seeing that I didn’t, I send another more desperate text and hope it gets through.

  Please know that what happened tonight was not what I wanted, I wanted to have a nice quiet night with you, and I fucked it up. I am so sorry.

  I send a few more begging for her forgiveness and asking for a chance to explain. I know it looks sad, but at this point, I’ll do anything to get her to talk to me again. When the cab drops me off at my apartment, I pay and then head upstairs, and just as I get inside, my phone goes off in my hand and I don’t even look at who is calling, I just answer, hoping it’s her.

  “Harper?” I breathe, hoping to God it’s her as I lock my front door behind me.

  “Do I sound like a chick to you, Anderson?” Will asks from the other end of the line and I close my eyes as my head hits the closed door behind me.

  “What do you want, Will?” The anger is coming off me in waves and I know he doesn’t deserve it, but right now he’s the only thing I can direct it at that isn’t my own reflection.

  “Chill out, man. What happened with Harper? I thought you were supposed to be on a date with her tonight. She dumped you already?” he teases but the implication that I’ve lost my shot with her pierces my heart one
silent breath at a time. This can’t be it, I won’t let it.

  “Why are you calling, Harris?” I’m annoyed and from his throaty chuckle, I know he can tell. I need to get off the phone and figure out what I’m going to do from here.

  “I wanted to know if you wanted to do some extra practice tomorrow morning before everyone gets to the field.”

  I know I need it. I need to get my head back into my game because from what Justin said earlier, management has noticed and if I don’t get my act together, there will be consequences. Yet right now, that is the last thing I’m thinking about.

  “Sure,” I mumble, not really paying attention.

  “Are you okay, man?” The concern in his voice is evident, and so I decide to do the one thing I never do in this kind of situation. I talk.

  “I fucked up,” I admit, pushing off the front door and making my way down the hallway, turning on the lights as I go. “I don’t know how I let this shit happen!” I grunt as I proceed to tell Will everything that happened, from our date getting interrupted, to the phone call and what Justin said at the bar, ending with the nightmare that is Angela kissing me and Harper seeing it all.

  “Have you tried calling her?” Will asks as I flop down onto the couch, crossing my feet at my ankles as my head hits the pillows behind me.

  “No… I haven’t thought of that.” The sarcasm comes naturally whenever he asks me a stupid fucking question, and right now is no exception.

  “Okay, sorry, I deserved that. Stupid question. But knowing you, I know you haven’t had much experience in the chasing aspect of dating. Usually, girls fawn all over you and don’t care what you do.”

  I take a deep breath, remembering that that’s the exact reason I liked Harper so much. She didn’t do any of that shit.

  “I’ve called, I’ve left messages and I’ve even texted dozens of times, but she’s not answering.” Will is silent for a minute and I know he wants to say something that he knows will probably piss me off. “Spit it out,” I mutter as he chuckles softly.

  “Just give her time. You know if the situation was reversed and you walked in on something like that, you would have reacted the exact same way, maybe even worse.”

  He’s not wrong.

  “She needs time to think about everything and you bombarding her with texts and calls probably isn’t making it any easier.”

  “Since when did you become a romance expert?” I ask, knowing Will is as much of a ladies’ man as King, just less in your face about it.

  “There’s more to me than a pretty face.” He laughs, causing a small smile to form, and for the thousandth time in my life, I wonder what I would do without him around.

  “That’s what you think,” I tease, sitting up on the couch and leaning my head back, staring at the ceiling. “I gotta go, I’ll meet you at the stadium tomorrow.” We say goodbye and I sit here with silence surrounding me as the past twenty-four hours plays through my mind.

  I need to fix this.

  2

  Harper

  I can’t believe I was so stupid. Why am I always attracted to men who can’t keep their hands off other women? The sight from that night kept me up all night, flashes of Angela’s lips on Josh’s was enough to cause every hour of the night to creep by like molasses.

  In the back of my mind, I know this is Angela’s doing, trying to get under my skin and I hate that it’s working. Josh has never given me a reason to question his fidelity, yet those doubts creep into the recesses of my mind and cause me to question everything I think I know about him.

  Good morning, Sunshine. I miss you.

  I pick up my phone off my desk and see Josh’s text, the same one he sends every morning since I walked away from him as Angela hung off him like she belonged there. I’ve ignored every one of them, deleting them every time they come through my phone. I know I should spare myself the torture and just block his number, but there’s something holding me back, a reason I can’t seem to delete him from my life.

  “Buttercup,” Henry calls from my doorway, jolting me out of my own head. His sad smile deepens when he sees the dark circles under my eyes. “You okay?” he asks, as I nod, not giving him a verbal answer as I turn my head to the computer screen and pretend to be busy so I don’t burst into tears right here in my office. “Call Mel,” he mutters as my teary eyes meet his. “If you can’t talk to me about it, talk to her.”

  I give him a slight nod, words still stuck in my throat as he winks, leaving me alone and shutting my door as he leaves.

  I toy with my phone as I take Henry’s words to heart. I need to talk about this since talking to myself about this is causing me to go around and around in circles, and I’m getting nowhere. So, I dial her number and hope to God she’s up this early.

  “Hello?” she answers, and a sense of relief washes over me at the sound of her voice. I make a note to thank Henry later.

  “You’re up early,” I admit, seeing that it’s not even after eight in the morning.

  Her sarcastic cackle brings a much-needed smile to my face as I sit back in my chair and put my feet up on the edge of my desk.

  “Yeah well, when your mother calls at six and wakes you up only to berate her about your last date going to the shits, you tend to have a hard time falling asleep.”

  “So, the date didn’t go well?” I ask, already knowing the answer. They never go well.

  “Harp, he had the audacity to order for me and then made me pay for dinner. The guy was a douche canoe.”

  I try to hold in my laughter, but it doesn’t work.

  “I appreciate your warm words of support. You’re the best friend a girl could ask for.”

  I roll my eyes at her sarcasm, loving the relaxed feeling that’s entered my body.

  “Happy to help,” I tease.

  “So why are you calling me this early?” she asks and everything from the past few days comes crawling back into my mind and I sit there in silence, not really knowing where to start. “Harper? You okay, babe?”

  I guess I better answer her.

  “What’s wrong with me?” I ask somberly, knowing she has no idea what I’m talking about and hearing it sends that pit in my stomach to fall even deeper.

  “What happened?” she asks again as I take a deep breath.

  “I had a date with Josh.”

  She makes a noise telling me this is something she already knows. I then proceed to tell her everything that happened.

  “That fucking bitch,” Mel snarls into the phone. I nod even though I know she can’t see me. “What did Josh say after all this?” she asks, and I say nothing, wiping away a stray tear as it falls down my cheek. “Harper, please tell me you let the man explain…”

  “Um…”

  All I hear is her loud groan as I sink deeper into my chair, feeling utterly exhausted.

  “I bolted after I saw her lipstick on his lips and her fingers gripping his shirt. Mel, he told me he was meeting his agent, he lied to me.”

  “Seriously? What are you, twelve?”

  I gasp, not expecting this reaction from her.

  “You know better than to jump to conclusions, maybe there’s an actual reason for what happened, and you just ran away like a fucking baby.”

  I hate that she’s right. She’s always right. But at this point my walls are so high and so thick I don’t think it will make a difference.

  “Harper, babe,” she starts as I take my feet off the edge of my desk and lean forward, hiding my head in the palm of my hand. “He deserves a chance to explain himself, you can’t throw everything away because of one misunderstanding.”

  “A misunderstanding? Mel, his lips were on another woman’s, not only that but it was Angela!” I cry out, hating the way my voice breaks the more I let my emotions come to the surface. “We’ve only been going out for a few weeks, what would I be throwing away?” The words are all lies. What I feel for Josh is so much more than a one and done. There’s a lightness when he’s around, a feeling I haven�
��t had since my father was alive.

  “I know you’re pissed. And you have every right to be with what you saw, but you also need to think about letting him explain.”

  “Fine. I’ll talk to you later. Maybe we can have a girls’ night in and watch Chris Hemsworth become a Norse god?”

  Mel chuckles as the pit in my stomach loosens just a little.

  “What? You have to admit that a Chris of any kind will fix almost anything.”

  “That they do,” she admits. “Call me later and I’ll come over.”

  I tell her I will as I hang up the phone and place my phone back down on my desk, the voice mail icons flashing letting me know I have messages. My fingers hover over the button and before I think better of it, I click it and bring the phone to my ear.

  “Harper, Sunshine, please. I need to talk to you. I swear whatever you’re thinking… it’s not true. I promise. Please call me back.” His voice is both a dagger and balm because as much as I hate to admit it, I’ve missed the sound of him in my ear, even if it causes my stomach to turn.

  I contemplate calling him back, knowing it’s the adult thing to do. Yet something is holding me back. Maybe it’s the fact that I would rather sit here in limbo than know the truth? Or maybe I just don’t want to hear what it was like for him to kiss the one person in my life I hate more than my memories.

  I set my phone back down on my desk and head toward Henry’s office. I stop just outside his door and take a look around the room, hoping and praying that a certain person will not grace me with her presence today.

  “She’s not scheduled today,” Henry whispers, coming up behind me and placing a heavy hand on my shoulder.