Play Along(117)

I burst a laugh. “Yeah. Hell no.”

“Isaiah.”

“Kenny, I didn’t get into it with him during the game today. I still have to deal with him for two more in this series. You’re not sleeping in my bed because he’s here. What else do you want from me?”

“I want you to talk to him.”

She stands firm, holding my eye contact.

I’m already annoyed that she stayed at her place last night to hang out with him, and now he wants to talk to me?

Every part of me is wanting to scream no. Fuck that guy. But I truly don’t know how to say no to this girl. Never have.

“Fine,” I huff. “But I’m only accepting sexual favors as a thank you from you.”

A little grin on her lips, she shakes her head at me as she leaves to go work on another one of my teammates.

With only an ice pack and a pair of shorts on, I leave the training room to find Dean leaning against the hallway, waiting for me.

“What?” I ask, staying on my side of the hallway, closest to the door, so I can leave as soon as he says some stupid shit I know I’m not going to like.

He clears his throat. “I need to apologize.”

That has my head whipping in his direction, single brow lifted.

“Kennedy chewed me out. She found out the details of our little childhood rivalry.”

She did?

I try to act nonchalant. “Well, I didn’t tell her anything.”

“Wouldn’t have blamed you if you did.” There’s a heavy pause, Dean’s focus locked on the carpet under his feet, clearly uncomfortable. “The truth is, I was a little shit back then.”

“Still are.”

His eyes shoot to mine in warning. “Still am, sometimes, but I was angry as a kid, and I took it out on you. So . . . I’m sorry.”

“How’d those words taste?”

“Pretty fucking terrible.”

“Well, I don’t really care anymore, so it’s whatever.”

“Yes, you do,” he says. “And you should. It was messed up. I fucked with you because I could, and it made me feel better when just about everything else in my life made me feel like shit.”

From across the hallway, I watch him, looking for any sign of bullshit, which is the only thing that comes out of Dean Cartwright’s mouth.

Only this time, he seems . . . sincere.

“Jesus,” I huff a laugh. “What the hell did Kennedy say to you?”

“Yeah, she’s fucking pissed. Told me she was more than happy to cut off our relationship if I didn’t apologize, so here I am, apologizing.”

I brush him off. “You’re good. I’ll let her know that you did.”

I turn back to the training room, but he stops me.

“I am though,” he says. “Sorry about it. I know you probably won’t believe me but I’m not that guy anymore. Well . . .” He tosses his head from side to side. “Unless my father is around. He tends to bring out the worst in me.”

“Yeah, your family sucks.”

“Tell me about it. Other than Kennedy, they’re all the fucking worst. And I didn’t understand how my life was shit and yours wasn’t. You had everything I wanted, and I hated you for it.”

“Me?” I ask in disbelief. “I had nothing. You were the one with all the best baseball gear. New cars. Fuck, you even took every girl I had ever liked. I showed up to games on a city bus. I shared gear with my brother and half the time it didn’t even fit.”

“You had a brother who cared about you. Who would do anything for you, and you’d do the same for him. People loved you.”

I could try to argue the fact, but he’s not wrong. Kai and I would do anything for each other, and I’ve always had the desperate need to make myself enjoyable to be around for other people. From Dean’s perspective, I was a naturally likable guy, but he didn’t know I spent my entire life making myself easy to digest. Always bringing the fun and laughs even when I didn’t necessarily want to.

“My dad threw his credit card at me to make up for being absent,” he continues. “And the one and only game he ever came to, we played against you guys, and he didn’t have a single thing to say about me afterward, but he fucking raved about you. I hated you for it. I took it out on you for a long time and I’m sorry for that.”

Across the hall, Dean holds his hand out for me to shake.

“Damn. Kennedy really did a number on you, huh?”

“I’ve never seen her so mad.”

For her I want to forgive him, but even more so, for myself. I just don’t care anymore, not when I feel like I finally have everything I’ve ever wanted.

So, I shake his hand.

“Just how pissed were you when you found out about us?” I ask, amusement lacing my tone.

“Oh, don’t even get me started. I finally had someone in this fucked-up family who I enjoyed being around and she goes and marries you of all people.” He huffs a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. “I was livid. And not just because it was you, but because of what she went through, only to end up married to someone else she didn’t want to be with.”

“I get it.”

“But you don’t, Rhodes. I don’t know what she’s told you about growing up the way she did, but I had to sit back and watch it all. In the early years, when our parents first arranged for her to marry Connor, she used to cry herself to sleep at night. I’d hear it through my bedroom wall, then each morning, she’d act as if nothing happened. Once we got close enough, she finally admitted how unhappy she was, but in the same breath would also say she didn’t know what happiness even felt like. How fucked up is that?”