Do Not Fall For The Baseball Captains novel Chapter 60

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With Jare

When had he even found the time to go down to the shop? And more importantly why the hell hadn’t he told me?

I immediately dialed his number, but the line didn’t even ring twice before it cut straight to his automated voicemail greeting. I tried a second time, with the exact

same result.

Frustrated and bursting with questions, I grabbed my denim jacket and purse, deciding to go hunt him down myself.

The second I stepped out of the apartment building into the bright afternoon sunlight, a sleek, pristine sports car pulled up right along the curb.

The engine purred gently before dying down, and the driver’s side door swung open.

Jace stepped out, looking effortlessly handsome. He had striking, bright brunette hair that caught the light, and his sharp blue eyes locked onto me immediately.

Unlike the previous times we had crossed paths, where he usually kept to himself or offered a simple nod, he gave me a warm, genuine smile.

“Hey, Zhen,” he called out, resting his arm on the roof of his car.

A startled chuckle escaped my lips, and I shook my head as I walked down the

concrete steps.

“Don’t let Elijah hear you call me that. He went through a massive amount of hassle to find a name, ‘exclusive‘ to him. He’ll probably throw you in a headlock.”

Jace rolled his eyes, a playful smirk touching his features.

“Typical Carter. For a moment, I honestly thought it was your actual legal name.”

“Nah,” I laughed, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “Like you said… typical

Carter.”

I looked past him toward the empty passenger seat, then back at his face.

“Why are you here, though? He isn’t upstairs.”

Jace scratched the back of his head, looking a little self–conscious.

“Yeah, I know. I actually came by to drop off a spare set of batting gloves I borrowed from his locker last week.”

He quickly cleared his throat, shifting his weight as he scanned my outfit.

“You look like you’re heading out in a hurry. Where to?”

“Looking for him, actually,” I admitted, gesturing vaguely toward the main road. “He’s not answering his phone.”

“Oh, he’s down at the campus diamond. He’s doing some extra defensive practice before the team meetings later. That explains why he isn’t taking his calls. He leaves

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With s

his phone in his locker during workouts.”

I smiled at him, the pieces finally clicking together.

“Thank you, Jace. I appreciate it.”

I turned to start walking toward the campus shuttle stop, but Jace called out before I could take two steps.

“Hey, I’m heading back toward the athletic wing anyway to drop these off. You want a ride?”

I paused, weighing the option, before offering him a grateful smile.

“Actually, yeah. That would be amazing. Thanks.”

We climbed into the leather interior of his car, the engine turning over with a smooth powerful purr as he pulled into the main traffic lane.

For the first few minutes, the ride was quiet, the campus scenery rolling past the large windows.

“To be honest,” I started softly, breaking the silence as I looked over at him, “I always thought you didn’t really like me.”

Jace chuckled, glancing over at me for a brief second before redirecting his blue eyes to the road ahead.

“Why on earth wouldn’t I like you?”

I shrugged, pulling my jacket tighter around my shoulders.

“I don’t know. I guess it was just the general vibe I got from you whenever we were in the same room. You always looked at me a bit weirdly.”

Jace smiled, a soft, ironic shake of his head following as he slowed down for a pedestrian crossing.

“I looked at you because I recognized you from high school, Victoria. We were literally in the same homeroom class for an entire year.”

My jaw dropped, an absolute shock paralyzing me in my seat. I stared at his profile, my mouth opening and closing.

“How… what? We went to the same school?”

I stuttered over my words so badly that Jace couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh.

“You were really that buried into Caleb Ashfield, huh?” he asked, his tone turning a little gentler, though a lopsided smirk remained on his face.

“You honestly didn’t notice a single person around you.”

Hearing those words come out of his mouth felt like a sudden drop in my stomach. The casual nature of his statement made my breath hitch.

Abide With Jace

“What… what do you mean by that?”

“Victoria, the whole school saw it,” Jace answered, turning the steering wheel smoothly as we approached the athletic parking lot.

“How you always hung around his locker, how you cheered at every single junior varsity game, how you followed him to the library… you weren’t exactly subtle, you know? Everyone knew you were completely devoted to him.”

There was something profoundly horrifying about hearing that reality voiced by someone who had been a complete stranger to me back then.

A cold sensation began to creep down my spine.

Did the entire school really know? Had I been a running joke for four years?

How many people had laughed behind my back while I thought I was just being a supportive best friend?

And worst of all… did Caleb know too? Had he been entirely aware of my feelings the entire time, using my devotion as an ego boost while he ran around with girls like Lexi?

The car came to a smooth stop in the gravel lot right outside the baseball stadium, but the sound of the engine dying felt miles away.

“Well, we’re here,” Jace announced, turning in his seat to offer me a warm smile. “It was really nice talking to you, Victoria. Good luck finding Carter.”

“Thanks for the ride, Jace,” I managed to say, forcing a quick, tight smile as I unbuckled my seatbelt and stepped out of the passenger side.

“Anytime, Victoria. See you around,” he replied easily, shifting the car back into gear.

I shut the door, watching as his sleek sports car rolled out of the gravel lot and disappeared down the main campus road.

It was only when the sound of his engine fully faded into the distance that the absolute weight of his words truly caught up to me,

I stood completely rooted to the grass, unable to move a single muscle.

My chest tightened painfully, my lungs refusing to expand as I tried to draw a breath.

The air caught in my throat in small, useless gasps, and the entire parking lot tilted sideways.

I was hyperventilating, my vision going completely blurry as a panic took over my entire body.

I tried to take a step toward the stadium gates, but my knees instantly buckled beneath me.

The edges of my sight turned entirely black, and I began to sink, fully bracing myself to hit the hard dirt.

A Fate With face

But before I could connect with the ground, a pair of strong, familiar arms wrapped securely around my waist, arresting my fall and pulling my collapsing frame directly against a solid chest.

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Not Take Anymore?

Not Fake…Anymore?

Victoria’s POV

“After hearing what Jace told me… it just completely got inside my head and tore everything apart,” I whispered, the words shaking as they left my mouth.

“I feel so incredibly stupid. I’m angry at Caleb, but, I’m mostly just furious at myself for letting him have this much power over me for so long.”

A hot tear escaped my lashes, tracking a wet line down my cheek as I stared blankly at the red clay of the warning track.

Elijah and I were the only ones left in the massive stadium. The late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the grass, turning the entire diamond quiet.

Just ten minutes ago, my legs had completely given out the second I tumbled out of Jace’s passenger seat.

The sky had been spinning, but Elijah was right there.

He’d caught me before I hit the dirt, and carried me straight over to these secluded benches by the third–base line.

He didn’t ask questions; he just sat with me in the quiet stadium, his hands steady on my shoulders until the air finally returned to my lungs.

Now, he sat with his elbows resting on his knees, his large hands loosely clasped as he listened to me unravel.

“Jace was my classmate for a whole year. An entire year, Elijah. And I barely even registered his face. Aside from the fact that I’ve always been a total introvert who kept to myself, I realized today that I didn’t actually have a life. I didn’t make friends. I just… I existed under Caleb’s shadow. I built my entire universe around making sure he was taken care of, making sure I was there to cheer for him, and the whole school saw right through it. They knew exactly how desperate I was.”

When the words finally ran out, silence settled over the bleachers.

The quiet felt completely deafening, stretching out between us until I didn’t even know if I wanted him to say anything at all.

I was terrified of what he might think of me.

Elijah didn’t look pitying. He kept his eyes fixed on the empty pitcher’s mound for a moment before turning his dark head to look at me.

“How are you feeling right now, Victoria? Personally. Not about what Jace said, and not about the past.”

I let out a ragged breath, looking down at my sneakers.

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NoFake Anymore?

“Honestly? I don’t know. I don’t even know how I’m supposed to feel toward Caleb anymore. Or toward myself. It just feels like everything I thought was real was just me being completely blind.”

“I need you to take a deep breath.” He leaned in slightly, his tone leveling out until it completely steadied my racing thoughts.

“Look at me.”

I turned my head, meeting his gaze.

“It’s basic psychological attachment,” Elijah murmured, his fingers tapping against his knee.

“If someone feeds you crumbs long enough, you start to believe a whole loaf doesn’t exist. You isolated yourself because Caleb’s validation was the only currency you thought mattered. The ‘whole school‘ seeing right through it doesn’t mean you’re a joke–it means the prison you built for yourself was always obvious to everyone except the prisoner. The door is unlocked now, Zhen. You just have to be brave enough to

walk out.”

I stared at him, my breathing slowing down.

For a guy who split his time between studying crime scenes and controlling a baseball diamond, he had developed a mind that was almost terrifyingly sharp.

He had laid my entire psyche out on the table, dismantling my years of devotion to Caleb in a matter of seconds.

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