Do Not Fall For The Baseball Captains novel Chapter 3

You’re Drunk, Victoria

Victoria’s POV

Eva had come to my rescue with a set of fresh clothes. I spent a few minutes in the bathroom pulling myself together.

When I stepped out, the party had swollen into something louder and more suffocating than before. I didn’t return to the living room. I couldn’t sit in that circle and watch Caleb press his mouth to Lexi’s again.

So I slipped through the back door.

The pool area was quieter. I sat down at the edge, shoes off, and stared at the glowing blue water.

A few minutes later, I heard soft footsteps approaching. Someone sat nearby—not close enough to intrude, but close enough to be noticed.

“I don’t want company,” I snapped, my voice rough with the remnants of tears. I didn’t even bother to look at who it was.

“I never said I was here to keep you company,” a low, bored voice retorted.

I looked over my shoulders. Elijah Carter was leaning back on his elbows on a lounge chair.

He was the star of the rival team, the guy whose face was on every campus flyer.

Up close, he looked even more dangerous, his dark eyes scanning the horizon with supreme indifference.

“Elijah Carter,” I muttered, quickly wiping my eyes. I straightened my spine, trying to reclaim some dignity.

“Is the party not enough of a stage for you? Did you follow me out here to disturb my peace?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” he said, not even bothering to turn his head. “I’m just here to get away from the noise. You’re the one crashing my peace with all that sniffing.”

He finally looked over, his eyes traveling slowly from my ruined makeup down to my shoes.

A small, judgmental smirk touched his lips.

“Rough night? Or… let me guess—Ashfield finally got tired of you trailing after him like a lost dog?”

A cold prickle of shock washed over me. How could he possibly know that?

I stared at him, searching for any sign that this was just a lucky guess, because the alternative—that I was that obvious with my feelings—was unbearable.

“I don’t follow him around,” I defended.

“Right. You just happen to be wherever he is, wearing his jersey and that pathetic ‘pick me’ look on your face.” He took a slow sip of his drink, his expression turning mocking.

“You don’t know the first thing about me, Elijah. Stick to throwing balls and leave the psychoanalysis to people with actual brains,” I snapped, my voice trembling with a mix of fury and embarrassment.

“I know enough to recognize a girl who’s starving for attention from a guy who’s already looking past her.”

I felt the heat of a thousand suns rush to my face. The urge to wipe that arrogant smirk off his face was so strong my fingers curled into fists.

I stayed seated, my body tense as I fixed him with a cold, piercing glare. A sharp retort was already on the tip of my tongue, ready to cut through his arrogance.

Before I could breathe a syllable, a girl in a silk dress that left nothing to the imagination sauntered between us.

“Elijah, baby,” she cooed. She didn’t even glance my way, completely ignoring my existence as she leaned into his space.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why are you out here in the dark talking to… this?”

She finally flicked a look of pure disdain over her shoulder at me.

I felt a fresh spark of heat in my chest. I didn’t give her the satisfaction of a response; I just rolled my eyes and looked away, staring back at the glowing blue water.

“The night is cold, the party is getting boring, and it looks like you’re in desperate need of better company,” she continued, her fingers curling into his shirt. “We can go to my place. It’s only a few blocks away…”

Elijah didn’t even turn his head. “I’m not interested,” he said, his tone flat and dismissive.

She blinked, stunned by the rejection. “But—”

“I said no,” he added, his tone sharpening. She huffed and stomped off.

Two minutes later, another girl tried her luck with a sultry, confident smile. He didn’t even let her speak.

He just pointed a lazy finger back toward the crowd, his expression making it brutally clear that she wasn’t invited into his space.

I felt a surge of annoyance bubble up in my chest.

“Is there a trophy for being that much of an ass?” I snapped. “The ‘too-cool’ act? Does it make you feel important to treat people cruelly? To toy with girls’ feelings like we aren’t even human?”

“I prefer quality over quantity,” Elijah said, looking down at me, his dark eyes mocking. “You should try it sometime. Maybe then you wouldn’t be hiding out here crying over a guy who clearly didn’t notice you left.”

I glared up at him and shoved to my feet. “Go to hell, Elijah Carter.”

I spun around to storm away, but the gin in my system sent the world tilting sideways. My heel hit a slick, wet patch of tile near the deep end, and my balance vanished.

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