Chasing The BallGirl (FanGirl Series2)

  Chasing the Ball Girl

  by

  Trish Williford

  Copyright © 2018 by Trish Williford

  All rights reserved.

  Cover Design: Cover Couture

  www.bookcovercouture.com

  Photo Copyright: Jessica Hutzel

  Editor: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing

  www.unforeseenediting.com

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously.

  For Teri.

  A loyal baseball fan.

  An even more loyal friend.

  I’ll cherish our friendship forever; however, I will not go to a baseball game with you.

  You know, because I cherish our friendship.

  Love you, Yo.

  Chapter One: Ryan

  There were twenty-two tiles covering this drop ceiling. Fourteen had water stains, and seven were broken, exposing pink insulation. The reason I knew this was because I’d counted the tiles several times since my date for the evening had fallen asleep on me. Not just her head on my shoulder or her leg draped across mine.

  No, I wasn’t that damn lucky.

  Her entire slender body laid directly on top of mine, exactly where she’d collapsed after our romp.

  And I couldn’t remember her fucking name.

  Jennifer, Jessica, Jenna … Julie? It definitely began with a J. Or maybe a G.

  Not even twenty minutes ago, she had been riding me like I was a bucking bronco, and she was a fucking cowgirl going for eight seconds.

  And, goddamn, it had been hot.

  The thought of going another round began to awaken my cock, although I’d thought for sure he was down for the count.

  Fuck, I need to get out of here.

  “Sweetheart …”

  I tried to gently nudge her, but she only gripped on to my biceps tighter.

  Damn it, what is her name?

  I managed to reach my pants on the floor and dig out my phone. The bright screen lit the room and informed me it was after three in the morning. The team’s plane back to Baltimore was going to leave Boston in less than four hours. I had to hightail it back to the hotel to grab a quick shower, pack my shit, and be in the lobby to meet the bus.

  Going back to Baltimore wasn’t something I was exactly thrilled about.

  We’d lost the divisional championship game tonight, and the last thing I needed was to see disappointed fans and receive sympathy from friends and family. I’d really thought we would make it to the championship series, so getting beat in extra innings of game seven of the series hurt like a motherfucker. Tonight, I wasn’t in the rotation to pitch, but damn it, we were a team. We won and lost together, celebrated and bled with one another, and tonight, we were all disappointed as one. The series was so close; we could taste it. Our team wanted it so badly … but so did Boston. They played better and deserved to be in the series, but that was a bitter pill to swallow. Boston was our rivals, so to lose the championship game to them had made the burn worse. I’d decided after the press conference that I needed something or someone to ease the sting of losing—hence the unnamed girl on top of me.

  Who won’t fucking wake up.

  Finally, I decided to lift her off me completely and lay her onto the empty spot beside me. I quickly dressed and disposed of the used condom, but she still didn’t stir.

  I leaned down over her and rubbed a hand over her bare arm. “Hey …”

  Gina, Genevieve … what is her fucking name?

  She rolled to her side and curled into the fetal position.

  Son of a bitch.

  I clapped loudly beside her ear three times.

  Nothing.

  “HEY!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

  Not even a twitch.

  For fuck’s sake, is this a joke?

  I never left without saying good-bye. I might not remember her name and would likely never see her again, but I wasn’t a complete asshole.

  I covered her with the blanket that had been discarded to the floor with our clothing earlier. Soft snoring then filled the room. I quickly scanned her small studio apartment for a piece of paper to leave a note, but the place had clothing littering every surface. I rubbed a hand over my tired face.

  I don’t have time for this shit.

  I locked up the apartment and closed the door behind me as I left. Tomorrow morning, she’d think I was the biggest dick in the world, but I could at least leave without a guilty conscience.

  Chapter Two: Sammie

  I should have stayed in bed this morning. Anything and everything that could possibly go wrong today had, and it wasn’t even seven thirty in the morning.

  For the first time in my entire twenty-five years, I was running late because I’d overslept. I was usually that annoyingly early or exactly punctual person but not today. I’d hit snooze one too many times because I’d stayed up late to watch the Blue Birds lose in extra innings. And it wasn’t just any game; it was the divisional championship. The next-to-biggest series of games during the season, and they’d lost in game seven. My Blue Birds–loving heart was aching this morning just as much, if not more, than the rest of Baltimore. I’d been a part of the Blue Birds family since I was hired as one of the ball girls two seasons ago, so it felt as if I’d also lost the series. The entire city had been buzzing with excitement of a possible championship series, but Boston had squeezed ahead by one lousy run.

  Assholes.

  Because I was late, there were absolutely no parking spaces available in the employee lots of University of Maryland Medical Center where, today, I would complete the last day of my six-week clinical rotation for school. After I utilized the parking garage two blocks away, which would cost me twenty-five dollars later today, I finally made it into the front lobby of the hospital.

  Except all elevators in the lobby were down for emergency maintenance due to a power failure overnight.

  Of course they are.

  Instead of taking the detour to the elevators near the gift shop, I decided to get my cardio in early and took the seven flights of stairs to the ICU where I knew morning rounds were already underway.

  I walked onto the unit, and according to my watch, I was twelve minutes late.

  However, by the scowl I was receiving from my preceptor from hell, Dr. Martina Hall, you’d think I’d missed half of the day.

  “Ms. Sterling, it’s nice of you to finally join us. The team is in room one, but you will not walk in and interrupt. Wait until they are headed to room two before joining them, and apologize to Dr. Wilkes for disrupting his rounds schedule. This is a terrible inconvenience.”

  I couldn’t argue with her in the least because she was correct. I was late, and there was no excuse for the tardiness. I just had to make it through today, so I never had to see her miserable face again.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  With a roll of her eyes and a flip of her long, frizzy black hair, she was gone. I exhaled when she was out of sight and stood outside of room one to wait for the group. When they finally emerged, two of my roommates and fellow students, Katie and Vanna, pulled me to the side.

  “What the hell, Sam? You’re never late, and it looks like you were thoroughly screwed this morning.” Vanna laughed.

  Katie agreed, “You definitely look freshly fucked with your pink cheeks and messy hair. Who did you hook up with this morning?”

  “I didn’t have sex this morning,” I shouty-whispe
red at them, not realizing that most of the team was within earshot.

  Including Dr. Wilkes.

  As if it wasn’t bad enough that he was one of the physicians I worked with during this rotation, he was also hot. Like obscenely gorgeous.

  The rest of the team chuckled as they walked past me and into room two, except Dr. Wilkes. He studied my face for a long moment, which had me turning even redder.

  “So, no sex this morning?” His eyebrow quirked up.

  Dead. I’m dead.

  “I’m so sorry, Dr. Wilkes. I’m never late. I’m willing to stay late this evening and—”

  He held a hand up to stop my blabbering. “You overslept because of the game last night, huh?”

  And here it was. I was going to fail this rotation and flunk pharmacy school because I was about to admit I’d overslept because I’d stayed up late to watch a baseball game.

  “Yes, sir,” I mumbled.

  He leaned in close, and for someone who had been working for the last forty-eight hours straight, he smelled fantastic. “I was watching the game between patients last night. It was a tough loss. I think the entire city is in mourning today, so don’t sweat it.”

  I let out a relieved sigh, and he smiled brightly.

  “Let me guess; Hall gave you a rough time?”

  When I only responded with a nod, he waved his hand. “Don’t worry about her. I think she gets on her own nerves. Let’s finish rounds, and I’ll try to keep you busy, so you can avoid her today.”

  I refrained from giving him a hug. “Thank you.”

  Dr. Wilkes held up to his word today, keeping me busy with counseling patients on their medications prior to their discharge.

  I usually left the medical center around six to head home, but since I had been “late” and put “everyone behind,” my preceptor kept the four other students and me until eight thirty to give us our evaluations. Luckily, she passed me based on my project and recommendation from Dr. Wilkes, but she had no problem with letting me know that, if it were solely up to her, she would have flunked my entire class.

  After my crappy day, the only thing I wanted to do was grab takeout and crash at home. Thankfully, I only had six months of rotations left, and then I’d graduate pharmacy school. Otherwise, I didn’t know how much more of this I could take.

  I walked into Paco’s Tacos to grab a taco box to go. Not only did Paco’s have the best tacos in all of Baltimore, but they also gave a thirty percent discount to all college students. Like most of my fellow students, my budget for food was minimal, so I was extremely grateful for their generous discount, and I came here at least three times a week to give eating ramen and Easy Mac a rest. After putting in my order, I took a seat at an empty table, and my feet thanked me for the relief.

  “Holy shit, is that you, Sammie?”

  I looked up from my phone and noticed my friends Lexi and Melody waving from a table near the window.

  “Sam! Come sit with us!” Melody smiled.

  I made my way over to their table and sat beside Mel. “Hey, girls. How’s it going?”

  “I’m stuffing my face full of tacos. Life is wonderful,” Lexi said with a mouthful.

  “She lives for these tacos.” Melody laughed.

  “It’s hard not to. How is Carson doing after last night’s game?” I asked Mel.

  Melody was dating Carson Lawrence, the catcher of the Blue Birds. I had been praying to the baseball gods to let them pull ahead during last night’s game, but it just hadn’t been meant to be. My heart was still hurting as a fan. I was sure, if I was upset, the guys had to be devastated.

  “He’s okay. Definitely disappointed, but he’ll be fine in a few days. He got home this morning but has pretty much slept most of the day away. I’m giving him space to decompress.”

  I was so happy that Carson and Melody had been able to repair their relationship after the big news story was leaked over the summer. I had done my best to ignore what the newspapers and entertainment reports implied, but the story of how Carson had been driving the vehicle that killed Mel’s parents was everywhere, and everyone was talking about it. I would never ask either of them what had really happened because, frankly, it was none of my business—or anyone else’s for that matter. The only thing I cared about was the happiness of my friends, and thankfully, both of them seemed happy and so very much in love.

  “Are you going to be at the Blue Gala tomorrow night?” Lexi asked excitedly.

  The Blue Gala. I’d never gone to one, and I wouldn’t be going tomorrow evening. It was an annual event that the Baltimore Blue Birds Organization held for the employees at the end of the season to show their appreciation. The main rule of the Blue Gala was, you must wear blue to enter, and since it was a gala, I would have to buy a ballgown. I was a college student without a steady income, so buying a ballgown wasn’t in my budget. But, if I were being honest, I really, really wanted to go.

  “I completely forgot about it,” I lied. “You know, with school being so crazy and all. I’ll probably stay home and catch up on TV I’ve missed and chill out. I think I’m going to pass.”

  “What?” they said in unison.

  “Come on, Sam! We’re both going. You need to come with us! It won’t be the same without you there,” Lexi said.

  I want to, girls. I really do.

  “I don’t have a dress to wear.”

  “Don’t worry about that. We’re going shopping in the morning. You can come along,” Mel said.

  I wanted to tell them I couldn’t afford to go shopping, that buying a two-hundred-dollar dress would mean eating ramen noodles for each meal for the rest of the school year, but that was really embarrassing.

  “I can’t wait to hear about it.” I smiled.

  “Sam! Order up!” the guy at the register said.

  I had never been so thankful for tacos. I quickly stood up and grabbed my bag of food. “It was really good to see you girls. We should do something sometime.”

  They both smiled and waved good-bye as I rushed out the door.

  So, I wasn’t able to go to the gala. I’d be able to stay home, eat, and sleep the weekend away. It sounded almost just as awesome.

  Or at least, that was what I kept telling myself.

  Chapter Three: Ryan

  I pounded on Melody’s condo door, waiting for Carson to answer. He’d asked to borrow a blue tie for the gala tonight, so I’d told him I’d drop a few off at Mel’s.

  Lexi opened the door and crossed her arms. “You’re about nine hours early for our hot date, dickweed.”

  I held up the ties in explanation, but she smiled instead.

  “Ooh, kinky.”

  “Carson! Help!” I yelled over her shoulder.

  He rounded the corner and chuckled. “Lex, let him in.”

  She moved to the side, and I handed Carson the ties.

  “Thanks. I guess I’m going to have to buy a blue tie if this is going to be a thing every year.”

  “I still can’t believe Sammie isn’t coming.” Melody pouted from the couch.

  I perked up at Sam’s name. She was our hot-as-shit ball girl, who I’d been warned to leave alone. I’d tried flirting with her, but she hadn’t given me the time of day.

  “She’s not coming? Why not?”

  “She said she forgot about it, but I don’t believe her. She looked like she could have cried,” Lexi said.

  “Why don’t you believe her?” Carson asked.

  “She said she didn’t have a dress to wear, and when we suggested she come shopping, she brushed it off. I remember, when I was a college student, I pinched the pennies that I did have for food and occasionally going out. My parents helped me quite a bit, but not every college kid is that fortunate. Besides, pharmacy school is extremely expensive.”

  Melody closed her eyes. “I was so insensitive. She probably can’t afford a dress.”

  Carson wrapped an arm around her. “You didn’t think about it, babe.”

  “I can buy her a dres
s. Let me call her.” Melody reached for her phone.

  “No, she’s proud. She won’t let you,” Lexi said.

  “Let me take care of this,” I heard myself say.

  They all turned to me with surprised looks, and I was equally surprised at myself.

  “And how would you do that?” Carson asked.

  “The girls can go buy a bunch of blue dresses and say that they are their dresses. Then, she can borrow one. The dresses she doesn’t pick, we’ll just return,” I said simply.