Do Not Fall For The Baseball Captains (Victoria and Elijah) novel Chapter 122

Chapter 122

Chapter 122

Caleb’s POV

Victoria smiled wistfully, her thumb tracing the rim of her glass.

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“We grew up together, Caleb. Fifteen years is a long time. When you spend your entire childhood with someone, their problems feel like your problems. I knew you were being an idiot-trust me, I wanted to shake you by your shoulders half the time-but I also knew the guy underneath all that arrogance. I knew the boy who used to share his lunch with me on the school bus.”

She leaned forward slightly, her expression entirely serious.

“I stayed because I cared about you. I didn’t want to see you ruin your life over someone who didn’t value you, even if you couldn’t see it at the time.”

A tight feeling formed in my jaw at the mention of her. Just thinking about her made my chest flare with a familiar, sour

anger.

“Lexi didn’t care. She didn’t care if I lived or died after that car went off the road. Not a single phone call, Victoria. Not one visit while I was laying in that hospital bed wondering if I’d ever use my legs again. She didn’t just walk away; she acted like I never existed the second I wasn’t useful to her anymore.”

Victoria looked at me in silence. Whatever she saw on my face made her expression soften.

“Why actually Lexi, Caleb? What made you see her and think she was the one? I mean, looking back, even Susie would have been a better choice.”

I laughed out loudly.

“Susie? Are you serious?”

“I am,” Victoria said, a small, humored smile tucking at her lips. “I mean…. Susie was entirely unhinged. She used to give me dirty looks in the hallway just for holding your sports schedule, and she literally tried to ban you from talking to any girl who wasn’t related to you.”

“She was unhealthily territorial,” I agreed, shaking my head as the memory of my old girlfriend came back. “She used to call my phone twenty times a night if I didn’t text her back within five minutes. It was exhausting. But…” I paused, my voice dropping as the humor faded away, leaving only the cold truth.

“Susie wasn’t heartless. She was just overly jealous and insecure. Lexi… Lexi was actually cruel. There’s a difference.”

Victoria didn’t answer right away. Instead, she reached across the smooth marble of the counter, her warm hand sliding over mine.

The moment her fingers closed around mine, a familiar, deep reaction stirred in my chest; the exact same unexplainable feeling I used to get whenever she brushed past me or sat too close to me on the sofa.

I had never understood it back then, or maybe I had just chosen to ignore it because it didn’t fit into the neat, arrogant little world I had built for myself. But it was there, alive and aching, making my throat go dry.

“Lexi is in the past, Caleb,” Victoria said softly, her eyes looking right into mine with nothing but absolute sincerity.

“You need to let her go and move on. She doesn’t deserve to hold any space in your head anymore. There are going to be more girls in your life-girls who will love you for exactly who you are, who will actually see your goodness and stay through the hard parts.”

I just stared at her, my heart hammering heavily against my ribs. Her hand felt so comforting against mine, but her words

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Chapter 122

felt like a quiet door closing right in my face.

How?

The question echoed violently inside my own head.

How was it so incredibly easy for her to move on from me?

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For fifteen years, I had been the center of her universe. I had been the person she wrote about, the person she protected, the person she stayed for.

Now, she was sitting across from me, looking at me with nothing but friendly pity, telling me to find someone else.

Did I hurt you that bad?

The urge to ask her was overwhelming. It sat right on the tip of my tongue, a desperate, pathetic need to know if my arrogance had completely burned down whatever she used to feel for me.

I wanted to ask her if she remembered the long nights in my room, if she remembered the way she used to look at me when she thought I wasn’t paying attention.

But I forced my mouth shut, swallowing the words down until they burned.

I couldn’t ask her. I knew the exact second those words left my mouth, everything would be ruined.

If I asked her how she moved on, she would realize that I had always known. She would figure out that I knew about her crush, that I had read her diary, and that I had spent years knowingly preying on her devotion just to feed my own massive

ego.

It would show her how selfish I had truly been, and it would break whatever fragile peace we had left between us now.

I didn’t want to hurt her anymore. She had suffered enough under my care.

I pulled my hand back slowly, offering her a tight, forced smile that didn’t reach my eyes.

“Yeah. You’re right. She’s in the past.”

“How are things with Nova, by the way?” Victoria asked, her tone shifting seamlessly back into something casual. “She mentioned you guys have been spending a lot of time together studying for the finals.”

“Nova is good,” I muttered, glad for the distraction, even if my chest still felt hollow. “She’s still a total pain when it comes to checking my notes, but she’s a good study partner. She keeps me focused.”

Victoria smiled, a look of quiet satisfaction crossing her face. She finished her lemonade, setting the empty glass back down on the counter before pulling her purse back onto her shoulders.

“I should probably head out. Elijah’s meeting should be wrapping up soon, and we have a long drive to the venue tonight.”

“Of course,” I said, standing up and moving around the counter to walk her to the door.

We walked down the short hallway in a comfortable, easy silence.

When I opened the door, she turned back to face me, stepping forward to wrap her arms around my neck in a brief, warm hug.

For her, it was probably nothing more than a goodbye hug between old friends.

For me, it was the kind of simple gesture I’d once been too proud to read honestly-too comfortable letting her feelings stroke my ego while I buried the fact that I’d wanted her, too.

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