Do Not Fall For The Baseball Captains novel Chapter 79

Dinner With the Rhodes

Victoria’s POV

“Dad, please stop!” I groaned, covering my face with both hands as my cheeks burned with an intense, raging heat.

The entire dining room exploded into a chorus of uninhibited laughter.

Leo was practically falling out of his chair, while Nate slammed a hand against the wooden table, thoroughly enjoying my misery.

“A real story guys!” my dad reiterate, waving a fork in the air as a huge, triumphant grin split his face.

“She was seven, completely obsessed with that old action–comedy Agent Next Door. You know, the one where the mail carrier turns out to be an undercover spy? Well, Victoria took it entirely literally. She spent an entire afternoon hiding behind the living room curtains in a bright pink tutu and her mother’s oversized sunglasses, spying on our mail carrier. When he finally walked up the porch to drop off a package, she lunged out, screamed ‘Freeze, FBI!‘ and threw a fistful of pink glitter directly into his face.”

“Oh my god, Victoria,” Allison gasped through her laughter, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. “I can’t believe you actually did that. Where is the footage? Please tell me there’s video evidence.”

I dropped my hands, glaring at her and the rest of the table with as much mock fury as I could muster.

“Oh, sure, keep laughing. As if none of you had an embarrassing childhood. Don’t act like you were all perfectly normal, sophisticated kids.”

“Hey, don’t get mad at us,” Jace chuckled, holding his hands up in mock surrender. ” None of us assaulted federal employees with arts and crafts supplies, Tori.”

The room erupted into another round of amusement. Squeezed into the seat beside me, Elijah was watching me with a small, lazy smile playing on his lips.

His dark eyes caught mine, sparkling with pure, unadulterated mischief.

“You really did that, Toria?” he asked softly, his voice cutting through the noise.

I nudged his knee hard beneath the table.

“Everyone else in this room can join in, Elijah, but don’t you dare start. Have some loyalty.”

“I’m just trying to visualize the tutu,” he teased, his smile widening into a genuine, handsome grin that made my chest tighten in a completely unfamiliar way.

My mom stood up from the head of the table, her face glowing as she looked around

15

Pine With the Rholes

at the crowded room.

“Alright, alright, leave the poor girl alone. I’m going to go into the kitchen and grab the dessert. Willow, Victoria, come give me a hand.”

Before my sister or I could even push our chairs back, Elijah stood up, his large frame instantly drawing the room’s attention. Miles, Jace, Nate and Leo stood up right after him.

“No, Mrs. Rhodes,” Elijah said smoothly, offering my mom a warm, polite smile. “The girls should get to sit and relax. We’ve got it covered. Lead the way.”

“Oh, wow. Well, aren’t you boys just wonderful?” My mom beamed, her eyes crinkling at the corners with pure joy.

She practically floated back toward the kitchen, with the boys following close behind her.

Watching them go, a profound, genuine warmth settled deep in my chest.

My mom had always secretly wanted boys. She loved Willow and me with everything she had, but she used to talk about how nice it would be to have a mix of genders in the house, to experience that boisterous, protective energy that came with sons. Seeing the guys naturally step into that role, treating her with so much easy respect, brought a visible wave of happiness to her face that made me incredibly grateful.

With the kitchen crew gone, the dining room settled into a quieter, comfortable flow. The table was currently occupied by just Allison, Betty, Willow, Adele, and me, alongside my dad.

Adele, never one to be shy, leaned forward and struck up a conversation with him.

My dad was an incredibly easygoing, cool person once he got past his initial protective -father exterior, and he leaned back in his chair, thoroughly enjoying the chat.

“So,” my dad said, leaning back in his chair and looking around at the group with an easy smile. “I assume most of you go to the same university, but I’d be interested in knowing what everyone actually does, if you don’t mind sharing.”

“I’m a public relations major, Mr. Rhodes,” Adele answered smoothly, offering him a bright smile. “Lots of reading, lots of writing, and dealing with people. It keeps me busy.” My dad nodded in approval. He then turned his gaze toward Allison.

“And what about you, Allison? Do you mind sharing yours?”

“Oh, actually, Mr. Rhodes, I’m already done with my undergraduate degree,” Allison replied with a proud grin. “I graduated last year. Right now, I’m just taking a few specialized post–grad certifications to clear up my resume before I hit the corporate world full–time.”

21/5

Luminne With the Rhodes

My dad’s eyebrows shot up in genuine surprise.

“Wow! I have to admit, I didn’t expect that. You look so young, and you certainly carry yourself with a lot of vibrant energy. That’s fantastic. Good for you, Allison.”

The conversation kept rolling smoothly, full of life experiences chats and laughter, until the kitchen doors swung open again.

The guys walked back in, carefully balancing plates of homemade apple pie and scoops of vanilla ice cream.

For the next twenty minutes, the room went entirely quiet except for the scraping forks against ceramic.

The dessert was incredible, and the guys practically inhaled their portions, treating the pie like a competitive sport.

Watching them eat, my mother’s face lit up with another round of delighted smile. She absolutely loved to cook and bake, but she had spent years dealing with a house full of kids who just didn’t appreciate it.

Willow and I were never foodies. We just weren’t born with the biggest appetites, and our plates were always the first to be pushed away half–full.

Family friends and neighbors used to constantly tell us that we didn’t know the absolute gold we had in a mother, though it really wasn’t our fault we couldn’t match her kitchen enthusiasm.

Usually, she had to wait until our cousins, my dad, or her siblings visited to actually see people munching greatly on her food.

But watching the guys completely demolish their plates right now was the ultimate validation for her.

She looked like she had just found her favorite audience.

Once the last of the plates were cleared away, Adele cleared her throat, tapping her spoon lightly against her water glass to get everyone’s attention.

She looked directly at my parents, her expression softening into something deeply sincere.

“Before we move any further into the evening,” Adele began, her voice carrying across the table.

“I just wanted to take the initiative to officially congratulate you both, Daniel and Samantha, on the new career upgrade. It’s a massive achievement, and we are all so incredibly happy for you.”

She paused, looking around at the rest of our circle.

“And more than that, we want to thank you for inviting all of us into your home this

Der with the Rhodes

weekend. You’ve made us feel like we’re part of the family since the second we walked through the door.”

“Cheers to that!” Miles shouted, raising his glass.

The whole group cheered loudly, clapping and knocking their knuckles against the wood in a rowdy, affectionate display.

My mom pressed a hand to her heart, looking visibly touched, while my dad stood up from his chair, a sudden gravity settling over his features.

He waited for the noise to die down, his eyes sweeping across the faces of the young adults sitting at his table.

“Thank you, Adele. That means a great deal to Samantha and me,” my dad said, his voice dropping into a serious, emotional register. He looked at Elijah, then at Miles and the rest of the guys.

“But honestly, the pleasure is entirely ours. I want to thank all of you for welcoming my daughter into your circle. As a father, the thing you worry about most when your children leave for college is the kind of people they surround themselves with. Seeing how you all look out for her, how you protect her… it brings me an immense amount of

peace.”

He took a deep breath, a faint, reflective smile touching his lips.

“If I’m gone tomorrow, or if something ever happens to me down the line, I can sit here today and feel entirely confident knowing that my daughters have the absolute best association to lean on. You are good people.”

“Dad! Stop talking about dying, please,” Willow scolded immediately, throwing a crumpled napkin at him from across the table. “It’s a celebratory dinner, not a funeral prep. It’s not nice.”

“Yeah, Dad, let’s not talk about death,” I backed up.

My dad just laughed, a deep, booming sound that instantly cleared the sudden weight

from the air.

“Alright, alright, I apologize. It’s just an old man’s way of saying I’m proud of the company you keep. But let’s cut the heavy talk.”

“Group picture time!” Allison announced, pulling out her phone and setting it up against a decorative vase on the sideboard, switching on the self–timer.

We all crowded together tightly at the end of the room.

Elijah’s large hand came to rest securely on the small of my back, pulling me firmly

against his side as the camera flashed, sealing the moment in a burst of bright light.

4/3

Ms Delaney’s Garden

Ms. Delaney’s Garden

Victoria’s POV

“The weather is beautiful outside right now,” my mom noted, looking out the dining room window at the soft, golden afternoon light settling over the neighborhood. “Why don’t you all go out for a stroll? Victoria and Willow can show everyone the neighborhood, get some fresh air before the sun goes down.”

around

It didn’t take much convincing. Within a few minutes, our massive group spilled out onto the quiet, tree–lined suburban street.

We walked together in a loose, sprawling pack, the sound of our footsteps and laughter echoing off the neatly manicured lawns.

Every now and then, an old neighbor would be out working in their yard, and I’d pause to exchange polite pleasantries, introducing the group before we kept moving. Eventually, as it always happens with large groups, the crowd began to split up.

Miles, Leo, and Nate were ahead, deep in an intense debate about upcoming sports stats with Willow and Betty, while Allison and Adele were lagging slightly behind, chatting with Jace.

Without even realizing it, I found myself walking a few paces behind the main pack, with Elijah matching my slow stride right beside me.

We were in the middle of a sentence when my footsteps faltered.

My throat went completely dry, and I paused mid–conversation, my eyes locking onto a familiar, two–story brick house situated at the corner of the cul–de–sac.

Elijah stopped instantly. He didn’t say anything at first, his dark eyes tracking my absent–minded gaze until they landed squarely on the building across the street.

“Let me guess,” Elijah said quietly, his voice breaking through the silence. “Ashfield’s house?”

I took a slow breath, nodding softly. “Yeah. That’s Caleb’s place.”

I stood there for a moment, staring at the front porch, and a sudden rush of old memories began flooding my mind.

They didn’t carry the sharp, painful sting they used to, but they felt heavy with the passage of time.

“It’s weird seeing it now,” I murmured, turning my head to look at Elijah as we slowly started walking again.

“I spent half my life on that porch. I remember how I used to sneak out of my bedroom window on Friday nights just to come over here and watch bad horror movies with him

35

in his basement. Or how we’d meet up at the crack of dawn just so we could wal

the neighborhood park together before anyone else was awake. When we got caught our parents would call both of us into the kitchen and ground us together like a package deal.”

I let out a quiet, dry laugh, tracing a pattern on the sidewalk with my shoes

“But it wasn’t all perfect. Caleb’s father… he never really liked me. Not even a little upt He always looked down on my family because of our financial background. He didn’t think a girl from a middle–class home was a suitable best friend for his son, especially as we got older.”

Elijah stopped in his tracks, his entire body going rigid. He turned to face me completely, his dark eyebrows knitting together in a heavy, stunned frown.

“Are you serious? His old man actually treated you like that?”

“Yeah,” I said, offering a small, sad shrug. “He made it pretty clear whenever Caleb wasn’t in the room. I never told Caleb about it because I didn’t want to cause a rift

between them.”

Elijah stared down at me, his expression hardening. The cocky ease he usually carried had vanished.

His jaw was tight, his shoulders squared, and the look in his eyes made it clear he was barely holding his temper in check.

“He’s an idiot,” Elijah hissed, his voice dropping into a taut tone that seemed to seep directly into my heart.

“And his father is quite a dumbass. Your background doesn’t dictate your worth, Victoria. Anyone with eyes can see how incredible you are. If they couldn’t appreciate having you in their lives, it’s their loss, not yours.”

The conviction in his words sent a sudden, powerful tremor straight through my chest.

I froze, my eyes locked with his as a long, intense stare contest took over the space between us.

Standing there under the shade of the old maple trees, I felt a strange, inexplicable sensation blooming deep inside me.

There was something about the way Elijah looked at me, something entirely unique that he managed to pull out of me every single time we were alone.

He made me feel seen, safe, and valued in a way I had never experienced before, but I couldn’t entirely wrap my head around what the feeling actually was.

It wasn’t love–not yet–but I genuinely, deeply liked him as a person.

I wanted to explore that feeling to its absolute deepest core, to find out what lay

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beneath his guarded exterior.

Realizing the moment was getting entirely too thick, I broke the intense eye contact, a small, playful smile forcing its way onto my lips to break the tension.

“You know,” I murmured, starting to walk again. “I really didn’t expect you to be this way when I first met you on campus.”

Elijah fell into step beside me, a familiar, lazy smirk returning to his face.

“Oh, yeah? What way is that, Toria? Disappointing?”

“No,” I laughed softly, looking up at his profile. “Your reputation on campus isn’t exactly wholesome. You have this bad–boy, arrogant persona down to a science. I didn’t think you had a sincere bone in your body.”

“Reputations are built by people who don’t actually know me,” he said smoothly.

Without a shred of hesitation, he stretched his large hand out toward me, his palm

open.

I looked at his fingers, a soft flush rising in my cheeks, before slowly slipping my hand

into his.

His long fingers instantly slid between mine, wrapping around my hand in a warm, secure hold that felt entirely right.

We continued walking in a comfortable, peaceful silence, trailing a block behind the rest of our loud friends.

A few minutes later, we passed a quaint, older house with a beautiful, sprawling front garden.

Sitting on the porch in a rocking chair was Ms. Delaney, an old neighborhood lady I had known since I was a little girl.