Do Not Fall For The Baseball Captains novel Chapter 76

The Plastic Brigade

Victoria’s POV

The engine died, but the silence inside the car stayed heavy.

Elijah stared straight through the windshield for a beat before his expression completely smoothed over, the rigid line of his jaw relaxing as he forced his usual unbothered mask back into place.

“We’re here,” he announced, his voice entirely casual, as if his knuckles hadn’t just turned translucent against the steering wheel a few seconds ago.

He got out first, walking around to the passenger side to open my door.

The moment my feet hit the pavement, the heavy bass from the house reached us, loud enough that I could feel the thumping through the soles of my shoes.

As we walked up the front steps, Elijah just reached down and took my hand.

His grip was solid, wrapping completely around mine as he navigated us through the crowded porch.

He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to–his height alone was enough to make people clear a path for us.

The front door was wide open, revealing a living room packed to the brim with familiar faces.

The whole crew was already deep into the night: Miles was perched on the arm of a leather sofa, Jace and Leo were arguing over a red plastic cup, and Adele and Allison were sitting cross–legged on the floor by the coffee table.

Right in the center of the main couch, Nate was already thoroughly tangled up with a girl, his hands gripping her waist as they made out, completely oblivious to the rest of

the room.

Elijah marched straight over, grabbed a stray velvet throw pillow from a nearby armchair, and chucked it hard right at the back of Nate’s head.

“Take that shit upstairs, you degenerate,” Elijah muttered, his voice flat and

unimpressed.

The pillow smacked Nate right in the face. He pulled away from the girl, blinking with a lazy, unbothered grin as he wiped a smear of lip gloss from his chin.

“Relax, Eli,” Nate chuckled, adjusting the flushed girl on his laps. “We were just

practicing for the main event. She promised me a throat–initiation tonight, and I’m just trying to get my dick wet before midnight.”

The entire couch let out a collective, synchronized groan of pure disgust. Miles

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immediately gagged, throwing a crumpled napkin straight at his face.

“Gross!”

laughed, shaking my head. As we moved further into the house, I realized the crowd extended far beyond our usual circle.

There were players from other university’s sports teams lounging by the kitchen, but the group that caught my attention was standing near the back patio doors.

“Wait,” I murmured, leaning closer to Elijah so he could hear me over the music. “Is that . Axel Dawson?”

Elijah glanced over, nodding slightly. “Yeah. Ashford University’s hockey captain. He’s down here for the weekend with some of his defensemen.”

I watched them for a second. I had heard so much about Axel Dawson through

campus sports gossip.

He was one of those legendary collegiate figures: massively popular, an absolute machine on the ice, but incredibly quiet and completely detached from social media.

Right next to him stood Malachi Reed, the terrifyingly solid defenseman from the Ashford team, his arms crossed over his chest as he scanned the room like a bouncer.

“Don’t stare too long. Hockey players have fragile egos. They think every girl in the

room is a fan.”

I nodded, my eyes scanning the room while I held onto Elijah.

“Toria,” he called softly. I looked up at him to find him already staring down at me, his thumb brushing the back of my hand.

“I’m going to go say a quick hello to some of the guys. You want to come along?”

“No, go ahead. I’m fine,” I assured, offering him a small nod. “I’ll hang out with the girls.”

He gave my hand a gentle squeeze before letting go, walking over toward the group near the back patio.

I navigated through the crowd and settled onto the floor between Allison and Adele, who were sitting cross–legged by the coffee table, deep in conversation with a couple of other girls from campus.

“Hey, look who made it!” Allison cheered, sliding over to give me some room.

I dropped down onto the carpet right beside her. But before I could even say anything,

I noticed Allison’s expression completely harden, her eyes darting sharply toward the hallway.

“Oh, great. Here comes the plastic brigade.”

I looked up. Amelia and a few other notorious mean girls from Lexi’s sorority were

strutting toward our corner, looking down their noses at everyone.

243

The Past Brigade

Surprisingly, Lexi wasn’t with them; she was on the opposite side of the living room standing near Caleb. But her presence was felt as she actively glared at me from afar.

My eyes involuntarily drifted over to Caleb. He was already watching me, his gaze heavy, but the moment Lexi noticed where he was looking, she instantly locked onto

him.

She shifted closer, putting on a tight, aggressively protective stance as she wrapped both arms around his elbow, practically marking her territory.

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