Safe With You Read Free Page B

My night was going pretty awesome when I met Olivia. But now I’ll most likely never see her again because she probably thinks I’m some asshole who picks fights everywhere I go.
    Cam sighs and grips my shoulder. “It’s not the end of the world, man.”
    “Dude, I’m over it. Drop it.” A few knee surgeries and a massive amount of rods and screws aren’t going to change that I’m never going to play college baseball again, let alone professional ball.
    Cam sighs and takes out his phone after it chimes to read a text. “At least you’re running again?”
    “Drop it, okay? I don’t want anyone here to know about what happened. It’s bad enough I didn’t think about New Orleans being the epicenter for raging tools coming to party.” We get off the elevator. I swallow hard and continue on to my apartment.
    “You should have come to LSU with me.” He nudges my arm. “It would have been epic.”
    “Listen, for once I need my own life and some space.” We never have awkward moments, but this whole situation tonight almost makes me want to bring up the weather to change the subject. I moved to Louisiana to be closer to my best friend and the only person who calls me out on my shit no matter what, but not close enough to have to weather Tavares Twenty Questions on a daily basis.
    “Whatever. I swear if you don’t get over this bullshit soon, I will drag you to a therapist myself. I’m fucking serious. I have two shrinks, and you don’t see it revoking my man card.” Cam sighs, and I wish he’d leave already. When we arrive at my apartment, I push the door open and kick off my shoes without a word.
    Instead of going to assault my bathroom, Cam opens the fridge and pulls out a bottle of water and a beer. He hands me the water and downs his beer in a few gulps. “Want to play?” He nods to my Xbox.
    “No, I’m good.” I walk into the kitchen as a dull pain heats my left leg. I rinse the remnant blood and beer taste out of my mouth and shake my foot. I’ve had raging, permanent shin splints for the last year and a half. “I need to … Nevermind, I’ll be back.”
    When I get into my room, I flop onto my bed and almost scream into the pillow. Nothing I own here is from my past. The trophies, team pictures, and awards are all sitting in a box at my parents’ house in Houston. For their sake, it’s lucky it got back there in one piece.
    After a good wallow and a lethal punch to my mini-sparring bag, I walk into the living room and drop into the recliner in the corner. Cam doesn’t even flinch as he continues to play video games. My gaze stays fixed on the scar running down my left leg that starts at the edge of my shorts. The remnants of where the rods held my leg together for weeks after the surgery resemble some sadist’s version of connect-the-dots.
    There’s something about Olivia. Maybe because I think she needs someone more than I do. She’s the first girl I’ve talked to in years who didn’t know who I was or what was ahead of me. It was different in the best way. It’s like she saw who I am without knowing anything at all.
     
     
    ***
     
     
    “Finally! An outfielder!” this guy, Zach, says as I fill out the signup sheet for a recreation softball league on campus. I don’t even know why the hell I enrolled in school, but I have nothing else to lose, so I might as well get a degree in the meantime. My dad said I needed to grab the bull by the horns and get some new hobbies. Baseball was my only hobby, so I’m sticking to what I know.
    Cam will be so proud.
    “I primarily play center, but I can fill in wherever.” The tightness in my chest gets worse as I look at the few other guys filling out paperwork. “But I prefer the outfield.”
    “Dude, at this point I’m going to throw you in center and you’re covering all of it. We have no one.” Zach laughs as he takes another few sheets. “Hold that thought … Noah?”
    A stocky guy with hair like a porcupine stops in his tracks