All in the Game

Chapter two || The injury

𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧

People say my life is perfect, I like to say it's pretty damn close. I share an apartment with a friend of mine, he's on the same baseball team as me. Our other housemate is Benny, my golden retriever who I adopted at a charity event. I have a steady girlfriend of two years whom I'm planning on proposing to tonight. So, yeah you could say my life is pretty perfect. But to me it always felt like something's been missing. 

"Come on Nate you have been in there an hour already." Neil says banging on the bathroom door. "Shut up." 

"Seriously dude it's just a date I don't see why you are making such a big deal." 

Opening the door, I come face to face with him. Neil has curly black hair, and dark eyes. "I'm proposing to Alia tonight. Everything has to be special for her, plus it's great for publicity." 

He huffs moving aside so I can exit the bathroom. "You are not seriously going to marry that diva, are you?" 

"Alia has problems sure, but she's a nice person who's been under a lot of stress." 

Neil presses his lips together to hid his laugh. "Alia nice...yeah right. Girls as nice as a porcupine. You do realize she's using you." 

Moving past him I grab the velvet box sitting on the coffee table. "Whatever, hey don't wait up I will probably be home late." I tell him, a smirk forming on my face. 

"As long as you are well rested for tomorrow's game there will be no bad blood between me and Alia." 

Halfway through dinner at Callahan's I decide it's time to make my move. Alia is sitting across from me in a sparkly silver dress, her blonde hair flowing down her back in soft curls. Nervously I reach for her hand, she looks up at me her eyes sparking like crystals. 

"Alia..." 

She holds her hand up stopping me "don't." 

"What's wrong?" 

A slight smirk is plastered on her face. "You thought I wouldn't know what today was about? I knew all too well, maybe I could have stopped this before this got out of hand. But we both know I'm a selfish person." 

Brows furrowed I look at her confused, what was she talking about? Alia let's out a laugh "you still don't know do you?" 

"Know what? You aren't making any sense." 

She takes a sip of her wine "I was using you!" She says a little too loud and people around us look our way. "What...?" 

"Nathan, I have no feelings for you. And I know you don't either, I was just using you for publicity for the movie." Alia shrugs like it's no big deal, but to me it's a huge deal! Two years I have been wasting my time for two years. "You are wrong...I did—do love you." 

"No, you are wrong Nate you don't see it the way I do, but I'm not the girl you love. I don't know who she is but she's most definitely not me." 

Alia is wrong, thinking back on the past two years she's the only person I have loved. How could I not see that she was just using me this entire time? She grabs her purse ready to leave, I grab her hand not wanting her to leave. I needed more than some lame ass excuse as to why she was doing this. 

"Alia..." 

"Let go of my arm Nathan." 

"Not until you explain." 

"There's nothing more to explain. What more do you want me to say? That I have been screwing around with someone else, well guess what Nathan...I have!" 

That's my last straw quickly letting go of her arm, I walk past her not turning around to see if she's going to follow me. I sit in my car stunned; he was right Neil was right all along. Alia was just using me selfish bitch. I hit my steering wheel one, two, three times. The fucking bitch was screwing with my head and feelings all along. 

I'm not stranger to heartbreak, however I'm normally the one doing the breaking not getting broken. I guess I'm finally getting a taste of my own medicine. It really makes me feel bad for Abby, she's the only other person I ever dated. Could she be the girl Alia was referring to? 

The thought makes me laugh; no, it's can't be I haven't spoken to Abby since I left her back in Magnolia creek. Not even when she calls every year on the same day, and every important holiday. I wish things between us had ended better. However there's no changing the past, even when you wish you could. 

"So how did it go?" Neil asks me as I walk through the door. "Turns out you were right." I reply slamming my bedroom door. 

The only way to drown out the noise is by silencing my head, numbing the pain with alcohol. I'm not sure when or if I fall asleep, but before I know it morning is here. The day of the big baseball game, the one against our biggest rivals. Only problem is I'm WAY too drunk to be playing. 

Neil practically has to drag me out onto the field. "Neil I can't do this; I can't play today." 

"Of course, you can't play. But we need you they will smoke our asses if you don't play." 

"They will smoke our asses if I do play either way is a lose, lose and it's all because of me." 

Neil shakes his head. "It's not on you sure you were misguided by your feelings. But Alia shouldn't have done what she did right before the big game." He hands me a bottle of water and I chug it down. "At least with you playing we will have a fighting chance." 

Neil wasn't wrong at least we will have a chance, but chancing it was never going to work. I'm too drunk; and I shouldn't have been playing things like this always have consequences. Everything was running smoothly, well as smoothly as things can for someone who's playing half drunk. 

It's the eighth inning the score is twenty-nine to twelve spoiler alert we weren't winning. I'm up to bat; the crowd is cheering my name. That's about all I remember before everything got bad. The pitcher throws me the ball a second time, strike two. You know that thing people say about third times the charm? Well newsflash it's complete bullshit. The pitcher throws the ball again, and when I go to hit it, a searing pain rushes up my arm and I fall to the ground cradling it. 

Strike three. 

𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷𖧷

Well this can't be good...but you know what they say karma is a bitch and Nathan most definitely deserved what bad things were headed his way. But who knows maybe some good will come out of this. 😉 anyway how has everyone been this week? 

If you're enjoying my book All in the Game. Please click the star and share your thoughts in the comments. I will update chapters every Wednesday  so be on the lookout.–Morgan 💕

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