Do Not Fall For The Baseball Captains novel Chapter 104

Victoria

The silence inside Adele’s bedroom was absolute, heavy and thick enough that every micro sound could be heard clearly.

For the past two days, the world had shrunk down to the four corners of this guest mattress and the white ceiling above me.

I lay on my side, my knees pulled tightly toward my chest, staring at a small knot in the dark wood of the floorboards without actually seeing it.

Beside the bed, an untouched bowl of chicken soup sat on the nightstand, a thin film forming over the surface as it slowly lost its heat.

“Tori, please just take three bites,” Adele pleaded softly, her voice carrying a weariness that made me feel an instant pang of guilt.

She was sitting on the edge of the mattress, a silver spoon held between her fingers, her eyes filled with a deep worry.

The moment everything had imploded at the diner. Adele hadn’t hesitated. She had packed up her things. left Miles’ apartment where she had been staying to save on the commute, and moved right back into her own place to take care of me since I didn’t have anywhere else to go to.

Her off-campus apartment was nearly forty-five minutes away from school, meaning every single morning since the fallout. she had to wake up incredibly early just to drive us both all the way back to campus for our remaining papers.

She’d sacrificed a lot in the last two days to keep me afloat, while I was doing my absolute best to sink.

I didn’t answer her. I just pulled the duvet higher, burying my nose into the soft fabric.

Ding-dong.

The sound of the doorbell cut through the quiet apartment, crisp and demanding. I didn’t move an inch, but my entire body went rigid beneath the blankets.

Adele’s hand paused in mid-air, the spoon tilting slightly. We both knew exactly what that sound meant. It was the same routine, at the exact same hour, every single afternoon.

“I’ll get it,” Adele murmured, setting the spoon back into the bowl.

I listened to the pad of her bare feet against the hardwood hallway, the faint creak of the front door opening, and the low, muffled exchange with the delivery courier downstairs.

A moment later, she returned, her footsteps heavier this time.

When she walked back into the room, she was balancing a glossy boutique shopping bag on her forearm, a sleek designer gift box in one hand, and a heavy, ribbon-tied cream scroll in the other. Probably one of his letters.

For a moment, I managed to forget our problems just to marvel at how romantic, thoughtful, and intentional Elijah Carter

He was the absolute definition of why you don’t judge a book by its cover. The public image I had of Elijah didn’t match this version of him at all.

The man I thought I knew wouldn’t be capable of genuine romance; instead, he would have subtly manipulated me into believing I was the one at fault for everything

My eyes followed her as she crossed the room, watching her set the new gifts down with the others.

She placed the vase on the dresser opposite my bed, right next to the other gifts that had arrived over the last forty-eight hours.

They all looked beautiful, especially the bouquets with apology notes tucked into the petals, but I still hadn’t found the courage to open them. I hadn’t touched a single piece of paper he’d sent.

“He’s really not stopping, is he?” Adele asked softly, looking at the neat, authoritative handwriting spelling out my name on the front of the envelope.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify