Read Full Count (The Catcher Series Book 1) Online
Authors: Bri Izzo
“Anything to protect Bianca,” Leah mutters under her
breath, complete with an eye roll.
Uhh does she really think I can
’
t hear her? Wow. Bitch.
Before I can react, Skyler steps up for me, which is
good because I probably wouldn
’
t have said anything. I
just bow my head to ignore her. “Um yes, that
’
s exactly
what this is,” he tells her and motions to everyone around the table like we
’
re a cult. “And if you don
’
t like it you
can get the fuck out.”
“Skyler!” Rex snaps, throwing his arm over Leah
’
s chest like they
’
re stopping suddenly in
a car. I guess he has the same protective instinct as Skyler has with me.
“Hey!” Benny tries butting in to back up Team
Skyluzz with the meanest eyes I
’
ve ever seen him glare at
his twin. Sky won
’
t even let him speak, though.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Did you not hear what
your fucking girlfriend just said about your sister?” Skyler shouts.
“She just-” Rex tries, but Skyler is not having it.
“There
’
s no fucking excuse to
say something like that! Both of you shut the fuck up,” Sky demands, pushing
his chair out so he can leave the situation and I assume go to his own house,
leaving me in the most uncomfortable room in my life.
I glance at Benny and Sam from across the table and
both of their eyes are almost out of their heads. They smartly decide to remain
silent - right now saying anything without starting World War III is impossible
- but they do send me apologetic looks that I have to appreciate. My dad is
behind me, so I can
’
t see his reaction to this. I hear him
lightly throwing things into the sink and then see Rex
’
s
guilty-as-fuck expression as my dad
’
s heavy footsteps grow
quieter while he walks down the hallway and back upstairs. They all know Rex
and Leah are in the wrong. Dad will yell at him later, not in front of
everyone. Baylee looks like she
’
s about to cry; she loved
Leah, probably just up until this moment. Tiffany looks ready to slap her, and
Sam apparently doesn
’
t care enough to act like he
’
s heard a thing because his head is now down looking at his
breakfast.
And Leah looks like Gretchen Weiners telling Regina
George she can
’
t sit with them because she
’
s
too fat to wear anything but sweatpants.
My heart is pulling me to follow Skyler, but I know I
can
’
t. He needs his space, and I don
’
t
want anyone talking more shit behind our backs. So I awkwardly stay at the
table, nibbling on my pancakes, totally silent.
Leah tries talking again, focusing more on Baylee,
someone she can clearly stand, unlike me. “Bay, what did you do last night?” Leah
pries all innocently.
Rex finally tells her to shut up. “Leah-” he
acknowledges her. When she looks at him he shakes his head as if to say “stop.”
The rest of breakfast is dead silent except for the clinking of our silverware
to our plates.
Leah is such a fucking bitch. I have no idea what Alex fucking
sees in her. I can
’
t believe what she says at the
breakfast table, and after calling her out on it, I have to leave. I do feel
bad for leaving Buzz in this fucked up situation with Leah, but I would do
something I regret if I didn
’
t get myself out. Never mind
that no one asks where I slept last night; dodged a bullet there. But I had no
problem with Leah prior to this morning. Sure, she
’
s set
me up with her friends a few times, most successfully Makenna, but they were
mostly harmless. So I don
’
t know what fucking possessed
her to run her bitchface mouth like that.
Directly from the Ferraris
’
house,
I drive to the batting cages so I can take out my frustration. I keep my
baseball gear in my Jeep for moments like this when I want to play baseball
immediately - which happens a lot.
The batting cages are outside so I get to experience
one of our last nice days of fall before the snow starts coming down in a few
weeks. I pay and enter a cage and just start swinging. The first ten balls are
Leah
’
s head, the next two are Alex
’
s.
Eventually they
’
re just baseballs, and I
’
m
only swinging for myself.
Once the machine stops, I pack up my bag and drive to
the high school baseball diamond where I can enjoy the one place where I truly
feel at home. I sit with my back against the backstop facing the perfectly
trimmed field and sit alone like this for a while, enjoying my favorite view
from behind the plate. When I hear a car pull up behind me, I turn over my
shoulder and see that it
’
s Alex, Benny, and Sam.
At least Alex is fucking smart enough to bring
buffers.
When they approach the field, Alex says, “I
’
m sorry Leah was a bitch this morning.”
“What, was she mad you haven
’
t
fucked her yet?” I tease, knowing very well that they lost their virginity to
each other before the summer even started. To be honest, I can
’
t
believe he lost it before me and Buzz, but I know Leah can be demanding.
“It
’
s just been a while,” Alex
admits, throwing his bag on the ground by the fence.
“Then fucking lay her so she stops being such a
bitch,” I demand, standing up to meet them on the field.
“When I lay my girlfriend is none of your business,”
he points out. I
’
ll remember that when he finds out about
me and his sister and he freaks the fuck out.
“
I don’
t care when you fucking
lay her. Just do it so she leaves your sister alone,” I shout. As I step back
to walk away from them, I add under my breath, “I can
’
t
believe you can date such a witch.”
“Sky, it was the first mean thing she
’
s
ever said like that,” Alex softens his voice to try to reason with me. Like
usual, Benny and Sam have been standing to the side silently, letting me and
Alex fight it out. I wish one of them would be on my side and stand up to Alex,
too, like Benny tried doing at breakfast. I guess since I yelled over him he
thinks I don
’
t need him.
“Yeah, well she chose the wrong person to say it to,”
I tell him.
As I head to my car I hear an echo in my footsteps.
Sure enough, Benny is trailing me and stops me when I open the trunk to my
Jeep.
“Look, we all care about Bianca - no one as much as
you, obviously - but you need to relax,” Benny suggests, stepping in front of
me so I can
’
t throw my bag in the back.
“It
’
s bad enough that Beth rags
at Buzz as much as she does. I don
’
t need
Alex
’
s girlfriend doing it, too,” I explain, still
trying to shove past him with no success. He
’
s pushing my
bag, and subsequently me, away from my trunk.
“
You
don’
t need it or B
doesn
’
t?”
he questions my motives.
“Both. We all know Buzz won
’
t
make a scene no matter what is said to her. So yeah, I don
’
t
need to watch her isolate herself from the world even more. Excuse me for
giving a flying fuck about her,” I banter, finally conceding and throwing my
hands above my head as my bag drops to the ground.
“Leah just needs to cool off. She
’
s
mad that Alex has been focusing more on Bianca than her lately,” Benny
speculates.
“Selfish bitch,” I mutter.
“It
’
s the same way you
’
ve been focusing on her more than anyone else, too. Lay off,” he
warns. Then he reaches down and grabs my bag, slinging it over his shoulder. “Come
play with us. We got some more guys from the team coming, so we can all forget
about this morning for a while.”
By the end of the pick up game the tension between me
and Alex has mostly subsided. Benny makes sure we
’
re on
opposite teams just in case, but we playfully trash talk each other when I
’
m batting and he
’
s pitching. He hates
pitching when I
’
m not catching for him, so he knows our
disagreement can
’
t last long.
“Hey!” he calls after me when we
’
re
packing up our cars later in the afternoon. I look over at him behind his CRV
filling the trunk with his gear. “Leah was out of line. But it
was
my
fault. I
’
ll take care of it,” he promises.
“
I won
’
t
apologize for sticking up for Buzz,” I sigh, letting him know there isn
’
t going to be a returned apology.
“
I don’
t want you to,” he tells
me, and we exchange a hand slap and a tap on the back kind of manly hug before
departing ways. It
’
s almost as if he likes how I defend
his sister. But I know that
’
s in my head; he doesn
’
t really want me with her.
I
’
m so exhausted from the
weekend that I fell asleep before Sportscenter was even over. In the middle of
the night my phone vibrates and chirps to alert me of a text message since I
forgot to turn it on vibrate only. My eyes are foggy, but I manage to make out
the typed words.
Buzz Ferrari:
I haven
’
t heard from you since you bolted this morning…
Fuck. I never called or texted her to make sure she
was okay after breakfast. I already suck at the boyfriend part of our
relationship.
Buzz Ferrari:
I
’
ll catch a ride to school with the enemy tomorrow.
Quickly I dial her and await her answer, but all her
phone does is ring and ring and ring. What the fuck? She just texted me.
Answer
your damn phone, Buzz!
I hang up and try again, and after the third ring
her chipper voice appears in my ear.
“Hello, my hero,” she greets me with a girly giggle.
I let out a small chuckle out of appreciation for my
new label for shoving it to Leah in honor of Buzz. “Hi, sweetheart,” I reply.
“Are you asleep already?” she wonders.
“Already? What time is it?” I question, glancing
across my room to my alarm clock that reads 10:14 p.m. Wow, that
’
s
fucking pathetic.
“10:14,” she answers me. I have to smile that she
always accounts for every minute of every single day. She doesn
’
t
round up to the next half hour or five minute mark. She appreciates every minute.
“Is it too late for you to come over?” I inquire,
hoping it isn
’
t. I just want to lay with her for a while
before the new school week starts. It
’
s always so easy and
carefree with her, completely unlike the halls of high school. And now we
’
re together, so it
’
ll be so much better.
Her voice doesn
’
t sound, but I
hear a bunch of rummaging around on her end of the phone. A few seconds later
she replies, “I
’
ll be right over.”
Since I fell asleep so early, I
’
m
still in regular clothes for when I go to meet her outside on my porch. I
’
m not too fucking thrilled that she didn
’
t
give me the opportunity to pick her up. She only lives eight houses down and
across the street, so I can see her as she locks up her front door and heads
down her driveway towards the sidewalk.
When she makes it to me she has a fake frown on her
otherwise gorgeous face.
“What?” I ask her, crossing my arms over my chest.
“You met me out here. I wanted to scale your tree
and climb through your window,” she whines with a childish grin. She
’
s so fucking cute
.
“My parents cut the tree down after the third time
you did that,” I laugh, unfolding my arms so I can drape one around her
shoulders as we walk inside my house.
She looks like she
’
s already
ready for bed with her hair pulled back into a ponytail and the rest of her in
a t-shirt and a pair of my old athletic shorts. I go into the bathroom to brush
my teeth, and when I re-enter my room, Buzz is already tucked in under my blue
and red comforter pretending to be asleep facing away from me. I slither in
next to her and feel my hand around for her waist and detour to her apparently
completely bare leg. Jesus Christ.
On pure instinct, I throw the comforter off of her
and onto the floor as I discover the absolutely fucking hottest lace trim
underwear being the only thing she has on below the waist. The backside of them
reads, “Take me home,” with a Cubs logo and rhinestones. I grab her hip and
pull her close to my arousal so she can feel how she
’
s
affecting me.
“How many of these fucking sexual innuendo panties
do you own?” I sigh, trying to contain my attraction to her.
“I
’
ll let you keep track of
that,” she teases with a giggle.
“Is this why you wanted to come over?” I ask. I
fucking love when she sleeps in my bed with me, but I don
’
t
want her thinking that now that we
’
re together all I
’
m thinking about is fucking her. I mean, yeah I think about it
because I can already tell she
’
s fucking amazing in bed
just like in every other aspect of her life. I also just like being with her.
And I fucking respect her.
“To tease you? Yes,” she smirks. After waiting a
moment to see if I
’
m going to roll my eyes or play along,
she rolls underneath my arms to face me and drape a leg over my body. Her hand
presses onto my shoulder and pushes it to flatten against my bed so she
’
s completely on top of me. She looks so fucking good on me
.
Buzz begins working her lips up my neck and
eventually begins playing with my ear; licking it and biting it.
Holy fuck
.
I let out a deep breath and feel her smile against my cheek like she knows she
’
s
that
good.
Did I win the
jackpot, or what?
“We
’
re not fucking tonight,” I
blurt out, completely changing the mood in the room. But I have to be upfront
and say it before I just let it happen because I want her so fucking badly. We
’
ve only officially been together for twenty-four hours even
though we
’
ve known each other our entire lives; yeah, we
’
re definitely not fucking tonight.
“What? Why not?” she questions me, mirroring my
serious mood. She stops kissing me and props herself up with her hands on
either side of my head. I can imagine her boobs freely hanging underneath her
t-shirt like I saw for the first time last night, and I want to play with them
all over again; ugh but I have to fucking stop. This isn
’
t
how it
’
s going to happen.
“Let me ask you something,” I decide, stroking her
bare thighs with my fingertips.
“Okay,” she agrees, and I have to hide my thrill of
seeing how I affect her. She
’
s trying so fucking hard to
just breathe normally, but my fingers on her skin are such a distraction. I
like that something so minuscule can rattle her.
“You
’
ve imagined having sex
before, right?” I assume. Every teenager pretty much thinks the same common
things; having sex is just one of the cliche teenage desires.
“Yes,” she confidently confesses.
“And when you
’
ve imagined
having sex before, were you in a bed?” I question. This girl has always been so
crazy and daring before her accident, so I know her fantasies are elsewhere.