Do Not Fall For The Baseball Captains (Victoria and Elijah) novel Chapter 164

Speak In Codes

Nova’s POV

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I carried the extra throw blanket up the stairs, intending to leave it by Caleb’s bedroom door in case he got cold during the night.

The hallway was quiet, the soft wooden floorboards creaking faintly beneath my bare feet.

I stopped just outside his door, my hand raised to knock, when his voice drifted through the thin wood.

“…up at Pine Ridge…” Caleb was saying, his tone clipped and tense. “…a six–hour drive… don’t want you driving up here in the dark, Lexi.”

My breath hitched. My hand froze mid–air, inches from the oak paneling.

Lexi.

I bit down on my bottom lip so hard I could taste the faint copper sting of blood, holding my breath as I strained to hear the rest through the heavy wooden door.

“…packed as it is…” Caleb continued, a low, frustrated sigh escaping him. “…reserved a room for you and me… but there’s no room for your friend.”

Heat rushed behind my eyes, and I blinked hard against the tears clouding my vision.

He was talking to her. He was letting her come here.

This was the same girl who had walked away from him after his car accident. The same girl who had left him broken in a hospital bed, leaving him to nurse his injuries and his ego in total isolation.

He had spent weeks complaining about how toxic she was, how much she had messed with his head.

And now, with one phone call, he was telling her how to navigate the mountain roads to reach him.

How could he be this foolish?

I didn’t knock. Instead, I quietly set the folded blanket down beside the door.

My fingers lingered on it for a second before I stepped back and turned away.

My chest ached. It felt like I’d just been blindsided by a man who couldn’t stop reaching back into the wreckage of his past.

I didn’t want to go back to my room. I didn’t want to lie in the dark staring at the ceiling, wondering when she would show up.

Instead, I slipped down the back staircase and pushed open the heavy wooden screen door, stepping out into the cool midnight air.

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14:45 Tue, Aug 18

Do Not Fall For The Baseball Captains

…

The rest of the cabin was dead silent. Everyone else had turned in for the night.

I walked down the sloping grass path toward the edge of the lake.

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The water stretched out before me like a vast sheet of dark glass, reflecting the faint pale glow of the moon overhead.

The cool night breeze swept off the surface, biting through my silk robe, but I welcomed the cold. It kept me grounded.

I stood at the edge of the wooden dock, staring out at the black water as small waves lapped against the pilings below.

My thoughts drifted to Victoria.

For fifteen years, she’d loved Caleb while he chased one person after another, always believing that one day he’d finally realize what he’d had all along.

What I could never understand was how she’d managed to walk away.

After loving someone for that long, she’d let go in just a few months.

It had never made sense to me.

But standing here now…

I finally understood.

I’d seen the way Elijah looked at her. I’d seen the happiness on her face whenever she was with him.

It wasn’t that she’d stopped loving Caleb.

She’d simply discovered what it felt like to be loved the way she’d always deserved.

The thought settled heavily in my chest.

Was I doing the same thing now?

Was I standing in the exact place Victoria had stood for years, hoping Caleb would wake up one morning and

see me?

And if he never did…

How long was I willing to wait?

“Nova.”

The voice broke through the quiet–a deep, resonant timber that made me startle.

I spun around quickly, my hand flying to my throat.

2/5

14:45 Tue, Aug 18

Do Not Fall For The Baseball Captains

:

Leo was standing a few feet back on the grassy embankment.

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He wore a simple black t–shirt that fit loosely over his broad shoulders and chest, the faint outline of a dark tattoo winding around his right forearm.

Under the moonlight, his hair was ruffled, and a calm, easy smile rested on his lips.

“You startled me.”

“Sorry,” he chuckled softly. “Didn’t mean to creep up on you.”

I let out a slow exhale, forcing a small smile as I brushed a strand of hair behind my ear.

“It’s fine. You just caught me off guard.”

“Hard to sleep?” he asked, walking up to stand beside me at the edge of the dock, keeping a respectful couple of feet between us as he looked out over the water.

“Something like that,” I murmured.

“Yeah,” Leo chuckled, his gaze shifting up toward the stars. “Must be something in the air today. Either that, or the universe just keeps finding ways to throw us into the same square footage.”

I laughed out softly. “I guess so.”

We settled into a comfortable quiet for a minute or two, the gentle lapping of the water against the wooden pylons filling the space between us.

“Clear night like this doesn’t come around often,” he said softly, breaking the silence as he put his hands into his pockets.

He tilted his head, his gaze sweeping over my face with an intense focus.

“Though, if I’m being honest, you aren’t really looking at the lake, are you? You look like your mind is miles away, holding onto something heavy.”

I blinked, caught off guard by his directness.

I opened my mouth to pull up a quick, automatic defense–to tell him I was just tired, or that I was just out here enjoying the fresh air–but he held up a single finger with a gentle, knowing grin.

“Don’t bother,” he said softly. “I’ve been reading people for a long time, Nova.”

I looked at him, curious despite my mood.

“Is that right?”

“It is,” he said, shifting his posture casually against the wooden post of the dock. “When you hang around guys like Elijah and Nate long enough, you learn to read between the lines real quick.”

I raised an eyebrow, tilting my head.

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14:45 Tue, Aug 18

Do Not Fall For The Baseball Captains

“Nate? Nate seems like he doesn’t have a single dark thought in his head.”

Leo laughed, a warm sound that seemed to ease the lingering tension in the air.

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“Nate’s a good guy–one of the best. He’s bubbly, funny, always cracking jokes. But a lot of times, being the light in the room is just an armor. It’s how people hide when they’re angry or hurt or just overwhelmed. So I keep an eye on him. I watch how Elijah’s jaw sets when he’s stressed, I keep track of when Nate stops laughing, I check on everyone after bad games…”

I considered that for a moment, genuinely intrigued as I processed how much effort he secretly poured into keeping his friends grounded.

“You make it sound like a full–time job,” I murmured softly.

“Sometimes it is,” Leo replied, his tone softening as he looked back out at the dark water.

“Society tells guys that the only acceptable thing to do with your feelings is to lock them up in a chest and bury it underground. But somebody’s got to be the guy who grabs a shovel and helps dig it back up before it rots them from the inside out. I kind of made it my mission to be that friend for the team.”

He paused, a soft, encouraging smile touching his mouth as he held my gaze.

“Which brings me back to you, Nova. You’re not happy right now. Even the moon and the stars look a little dull around you tonight.”

I laughed before I even realized I was smiling. It came easily, and somehow that alone made me feel a little better.

“That was incredibly cheesy, Leo.”

A grin spread across his face as he shrugged.

“Cheesy works if it makes you laugh.”

“You’re a good person, Leo,” I said softly, looking at him with honest admiration. “I really respect the way you and the guys look out for each other. It’s rare.”

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