Do Not Fall For The Baseball Captains novel Chapter 46

Victoria’s POV

The ride to Elijah’s condo was filled with a thick, heavy silence. The only sound was the rubber of his truck tires gripping the pavement as we navigated the dark campus roads.

I kept my face turned toward the passenger window, watching the streetlamps pass by as a slow, dull ache settled into my limbs.

My jacket was ruined, my car was sitting in a dark lot with a shattered window, and the terrifying image of that man’s hand reaching through the glass was still looping in the back of my mind.

Finally, the truck pulled up at his apartment complex, rolling to a stop in his assigned stall.

We idled there for a long moment. Neither of us made a move to unbuckle. The engine cut out, and the sudden absence of the motor made the cabin feel incredibly small.

Elijah sat with his hands loosely gripped around the steering wheel, his eyes fixed straight ahead on the brick entryway of the building.

I could hear the faint, muffled thumping of music leaking down from his second–story

unit.

After a long stretch of silence, he finally broke it.

“The guys are in there,” he nodded toward the brightly lit windows of his second–floor unit. “They’re having a time. Drinking, playing games, being loud. Don’t freak out when we walk in. Just put on a smile…that’s if you wish to. Don’t be scared, I’m with you.” He paused, his fingers tapping once against the leather wheel. “And I can send them out as well.”

I managed a small, tired smile, shaking my head.

“You don’t have to do that. They’re your friends, Elijah. You don’t have to

inconvenience them just for me.”

Elijah let out a short, dry chuckle, a sound that rumbled from deep in his chest. He turned his head, his dark eyes locking onto mine in the dim moonlight filtering through the glass.

“I’ll inconvenience the world for you, Lowe.”

My heart practically froze. It felt like a sudden, sharp hitch in my chest, a mini heart attack that left me completely breathless.

The casual, easy way the words dropped from his lips made my entire body go rigid.

1/5

511 Your Boyfriend

i stared at him, my mind scrambling to find a defense against the absolute weight o his words.

“Elijah,” I whispered, the word slipping out before I could stop it.

He stared back at me, his gaze so intense, so entirely unblinking, that I couldn’t keep up with the scrutiny of it, so I looked down at my lap, focusing on a loose thread on my jacket.

Even with my eyes averted, I could still feel him watching me.

“Don’t ever do that again,” he said. His voice was quiet, completely even, but it held a certain power, an aura that did something strange to the air between us.

I turned back to look at him, my brows drawing together in pure confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“Whenever you need something, you come to me. Regardless of what the situation looks like, Lowe. And for the record… I wasn’t ignoring you this week.”

He muttered the last part, his gaze drifting toward the dashboard as if the admission was hard to pull out of him.

That caught my attention. My confusion shifted into something else.

“Well, it certainly didn’t seem that way, Elijah. You completely went silent on me.”

He let out a long sigh, running his palm down his face, looking suddenly exhausted.

“You know… I have other things occupying my mind. I have things to worry about.”

A dry scoff escaped my lips before I could stop it. I leaned back against the headrest, looking at him skeptically.

“As if.”

Elijah paused, his hand dropping from his face as he turned his head to look at me.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means exactly what I said,” I started rambling, the words tumbling out of my mouth before my filter could catch them.

“I mean, really, Elijah? What could someone like you possibly have to worry about? You come from an incredibly wealthy background, you’re the star athlete on campus, and ‘you basically have your entire future mapped out on a golden platter. You live in a

luxury off–campus condo with absolutely everything figured out. Your Cgpa is great too.”

Elijah chuckled at my rant, a low, humorless sound, and raised a single brow as he caught the heated expression on my face.

“You really think so?”

25

5 Your Boyfriend

“Of course I do,” I said plainly, confident in my assessment.

He just smiled, a small, weary line on his face, and shook his head.

He leaned closer, resting his elbow on the center console.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover, Lowe. I’m human. I go through things.”

And that was the exact moment I really looked into his eyes.

Without the barrier of his usual arrogance, I could see the profound exhaustion buried in his pupils. There was a quiet, unresolved war behind his gaze, something heavy and hidden.

I wanted to ask questions. The urge to press him, to find out what was causing that look, rose up in my throat. But Elijah beat me to it, shutting down the vulnerability before I could speak.

“Look, Victoria, don’t worry about whatever is going on between us, okay?” his voice dropped into a quiet, serious tone that demanded I listen.

“Don’t ever look at the friction, or the arguments, or whatever distance you think there is, and use that as an excuse to freeze me out. When you are in need, especially for something like this, you come to me. No matter what.”

My natural stubbornness flared right back up. I wasn’t used to relying on people, and I certainly didn’t like being managed.

“Well, I am independent, Elijah. I can handle myself.”

A dry, sarcastic sound rumbled from his throat.

“Oh, really? Like the way you handle yourself tonight?”

“That doesn’t count! It was completely unexpected.”

“Exactly the point,” he countered, his tone turning firm. “You never know what kind of evil is lurking around. And Victoria, I am completely exhausted. I am not in the mood to argue with you right now, so just do as I say.”

| I bristled at his demanding tone, leaning back against the passenger seat.

(“I don’t owe you that, Elijah. You don’t get to dictate what I do.”

That did it. The comment seemed to tick something off inside him.

Elijah leaned across the console, his large hand reaching out before I could flinch.

His fingers gently but firmly gripped my chin, tilting my face upward and pulling me forward until our breath mingled in the tight space between us.

My heart started beating erratically, hammering wildly against my ribs.

He was entirely too close, his scent completely erasing any ability I had to think straight.

35

S Your Bovtornd

“I have to look out for you,” he murmured, his thumb resting right against the corner of my lower lip. “Because you’re my girlfriend.”

My brain went into a complete mush, my thoughts scattering like loose paper.

I stared at his mouth, completely frozen, until a sudden image of Caleb flashed into my mind–Caleb tucking my hair behind my ear, Caleb smiling at me in the park.

Reality snapped back. I cleared my throat roughly and pulled my face out of his grip, creating distance between us against the leather seat.

“The agreement is over, Elijah,” I reminded him, my voice trembling slightly as I tried to regain my composure. “Caleb and Lexi broke up. We don’t need to do this anymore.

Elijah let out a soft laugh, shaking his head as he reached for his door handle. “That’s not how it works, baby girl.”

“What do you mean?”

“You still have to keep up the act,” he said, glancing at me over his shoulder as he pushed his door open. “Caleb hasn’t shown a precise sign that he’s actually interested in committing to you. He is just circling. For now, we keep up our game.”

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