Then out of nowhere, Bigsby grabbed the front of AJ’s chest protector. “Calm down, lover boy,” he said with his smartass smirk and that did it.
“Get the fuck off me!”
Clearly, Bigsby hadn’t expected that reaction, nor that AJ would push him off him as hard as he did. Of course, seeing him and Bigsby have to be held back from one another got the entire place chanting, “Fuck Rage! Fuck Rage!” louder than anything else as if he’d been the one that started the damn brawl.
“Not in my house, asshole!” Bigsby yelled as several of his teammates held him back.
AJ didn’t try getting by the guys holding him back now, but he did hope Bigsby broke free and came at him. Just glancing up at the stands and seeing Addison looking so damn sexy, even with the troubled expression she wore, reminded him of the ump’s goofy smile. It made the urge to want to pummel someone that much more intense.
The only satisfying thing was seeing Bigby’s incensed face as he tried in vain to get to him. AJ was sure he felt like a dumb ass because AJ’s reaction had completely taken him by surprise. He’d probably expected AJ to let his egotistical ass storm over and look like the enforcer by talking AJ down, bringing order to his house. He would’ve come across as the big hero in front of all his chanting fans.
Since it wasn’t AJ’s beef to begin with and he hadn’t been nearly as enraged as he’d been in past brawls, he might’ve gone along with the asshole and just let Bigsby’s stupid attempt to be Mr. Big Man go.
Not today.
It took a while for things to calm and the field to clear. Smitty was ejected and AJ was warned that he would be too if there was any more retaliation. In the end, they won the game, but even afterward, when he was in the locker room, he still felt tense.
Talking to Addison would be tricky since he’d have to wait until he had her alone to ask her about her conversation with the ump. With the way he was feeling, he didn’t think he’d be able to hold back. Ironically, even pushing Bigsby off him as hard as he had, only worked to further fire him up. Not having been able to land his fist into someone’s face had upped the tension he’d begun to feel, knowing he’d be seeing and talking to Addison soon.
As he showered and got dressed slower than he normally would when he knew he’d be seeing Addison after the game, something suddenly came to him. AJ was notorious for not remembering small details, so it didn’t surprise him that he hadn’t even thought of this.
In one of his long Skype conversations with Addison, they’d talked about their love-life history. Addison spoke of the brief time she’d dated before she’d gotten pregnant, and then her love life sort of went dormant for years. She said because of her experience dating baseball players and because she knew what many of them were like she’d sworn off them. Years later she had met other guys within the industry because of her dad, not necessarily players, but she said even that ended when she moved to Chicago and away from her dad’s connections. She’d also explained why she’d been so chummy that first day with so many of the players. She knew several of them from way back in their minor league years when her dad was still coaching there. AJ had let it go and not bothered mentioning she seemed too friendly with them.
She hadn’t been specific about any of the ones she’d dated. Since she’d told him she hadn’t dated anyone one currently on his team, AJ hadn’t asked. After envisioning her with other guys after that conversation was done, he’d told her he didn’t care to hear about the details, so she’d spared him. But was it possible she’d dated this guy and now here she looked so damn happy to see him again? So happy she’d forgotten all about AJ? The visual of how infuriatingly chummy the two seemed, had him clenching his teeth even harder.
Speeding up now because he was suddenly even more anxious to speak with her, he threw on his jeans and shirt and finished getting ready. Thoughts of how they’d planned out tonight only pissed him off even more. Normally, her parents went to dinner before heading back to their hotel after the games. Addison usually accompanied them. Because AJ had expressed such anxiousness to see her tonight, she’d talked herself out of dinner, saying she had a report she needed to have done and emailed by midnight and would just grab something and eat back in her room. But Clair would be going with her grandparents, and Addison would wait until AJ texted her to head to his room.
It usually took the coach a while before his wife could drag him away from the stadium and off to dinner, so AJ and Addison had some time before her parents and Clair got back from dinner. Only now he had a feeling their talking would take up some of their precious time together because he was not letting this go.
Chapter 13
AJ
Like a kid waiting for Santa, AJ kept checking the peep hole on his hotel door to see if she was there yet. This was third time in the last twenty seconds or so. As usual, when she was finally there, he opened the door before she even knocked. As agitated as he still felt, he couldn’t keep his hands off her. His lips were on hers the moment he pulled her into the room. The only thing he didn’t do was pick her up and take her straight to his bed like he usually did when she snuck into his room. Instead, he spun her around and pinned her against door. Only instead of talking like he’d been more than anxious to do, he couldn’t keep his mouth off hers long enough to say anything.
“Jesus,” he finally whispered against her lips between kisses. “I’m supposed to be pissed at you, but I can’t stop kissing you.”
He felt her go a little stiff, but he continued kissing her, only she wasn’t quite matching his intensity anymore.
“Pissed?” she asked, her brows pinching as he pulled away slightly.
“Yeah, pissed,” he said, staring into her eyes. “Very pissed.”
She stared in his eyes, confused. He’d had a feeling she might be, but he expected her reaction to be a little more at ease. Maybe even think he wasn’t serious. She hadn’t actually done anything wrong, right? Like given that guy her number? Then he’d be beyond pissed, but the almost panic in her eyes completely unnerved him.
“You know why, right?”
Her continuing to stare at him without so much as shaking her head or nodding in response only raised his level of suspicion further. Obviously, she had an idea why he was angry. But if it were just that, that he was pissed about her choosing to hang out with that fucking ump instead of coming over to see him, nothing else, she wouldn’t appear so panicked. With that alarming thought, he backed up.
“Tell me about it, Addison,” he said, searching her overly troubled eyes. “You and him—”
“We’ve been over this already, AJ, and you said you didn’t want details of my—”
“How long?” he asked, feeling every nerve ending coming alive. “How long did you date him?”
“Not long,” she said.
The confirmation had him seeing red again. The memory of her big smile and how she’d made herself so comfortable with the guy only heightened his anxiety.
“Were you in love with him?”
“No.” She shook her head adamantly. “I told you. I know now I’ve never been in love.”
“You still have feelings for him?”
“Absolutely not,” she said with conviction, but AJ wasn’t buying it.
“Is that right?” he asked, raising his voice and turning away from her because he didn’t even want to look at her anymore much less touch her. “Is that why you forgot about me today? Because you were so enthralled about seeing and talking to your fucking ex when you got there you didn’t bother coming over to see me?” Once again, he felt like a child ready to throw a fit, and he was certain he sounded like one, but when she didn’t respond, he spun around. “Is it?”