Maid For Beckett Catching The Baseball Legend’s Heart novel Chapter 146

Chapter 146

-Beckett-

She was sitting three rows up from the fence, wearing a white shirt and jean shorts, with her long, wavy brown hair loose around her shoulders. That Amber Wolves cap on top of her head was like a tragic comedy.

Unlike the people seated around her, she wasn’t cheering; she wasn’t holding a foam finger or a sign. She was just sitting there, eyes hidden beneath sunglasses, watching me like a scout, counting my every move.

My chest grew tight, not because I was perturbed, but because she was within arm’s reach. I promised not to force her to anything anymore, even if being away from her was ruining me inside out. No one dragged her here to the Amber Wolves ballpark, and unlike the warehouse, she wanted to be here. She was here for me.

Like she was the bane of my existence, the numbness in my arm, that constant, grinding pressure that had been stealing my velocity all night, magically vanished. As if it hadn’t been messing with my game all night. It’s like my arm had been healed so suddenly, like my body had been waiting for something to anchor itself to and had finally found it.

I had to drag my gaze away from her. I fear that if I stare longer at Andi, my heart would gallop out of my chest into her palms. I fear someone would notice how my blood came to life.

I turned back to the home plate, meeting Jace’s worried gaze. I heard the cue in the pitch comm as the batter took his spot in the home plate. The batter looked rather impatient, as if he was annoyed that Dave decided to break my continued mess on the mound.

‘Curve ball, low middle,‘ I hear the command in the pitch com.

I rolled the ball inside my glove, feeling that connection that I had been searching for since I stepped onto the mound. The ball inside my glove suddenly felt right, as if it were a part of my body.

I wound up, feeling the electricity rush from the ball into my arm as I threw the ball towards Jace’s waiting hand.

One hundred miles per hour. The batter swung late. Strike one.

The batter looked surprised. He shook his head, bit his lip, and slid a gaze toward their dugout, questioning their coach’s words. I wanted to tell him it wasn’t their fault. If he wanted someone to blame, blame Andi.

The crowd noise shifted. That pitch silenced the Amber Wolves‘ fans and made our supporters roar.

Jace tossed a ball toward me. I could feel my grip again. Really feel it, as if there was nothing wrong with my shoulder, as if the tension I was feeling before I saw Andi was merely a thing of the past.

I don’t look in Andi’s direction. There’s no need to. I can feel her eyes on me.

Strike two. A slider that broke late and caught the outside corner. The batter checked his swing, and the first–base umpire called him out, Strike three. He slammed his helmet down and walked back to the dugout.

Two outs. One more to go, and I was out of this mess.

The next batter was their shortstop, a switch–hitter, a lefty. He was the kind of hitter who chases every pitch, no matter how messy the throw is, and makes it count. If I hadn’t thrown a hundred–mile fastball earlier, I would worry about him. But I feel myself again, and Jace saw I was back to my old self.

I went right at him. First pitch fastball, high and tight, one hundred and eight miles per hour. He fouled it back. One- nothing.

1/3

10:39 am PPPM

Chapter 116

Second pitch in the same location. He fouled it off again, this time barely getting a piece of it.

Third pitch. I circled back to everything I had left, every ounce of confidence that Andi’s presence in the bleachers had given me, and I threw a fastball that cut hard over the inner half of the plate.

He never moved, as though he hadn’t seen the ball at all.

The umpire called strike three, punching the batter out. Our dugout erupted as if we had already won the game. Jace sprinted to the mound, and I let him grab my arm and shake it because I was already somewhere else in my head.

I removed my glove and tossed it on the bench at the dugout. Everyone was busy preparing for the next inning to notice that I was already walking out of the dugout.

“Where are you going?” Jace called after me, worried that Dave might notice I was about to exit in the middle of the game. “Andi’s here,” I murmured, and understanding already dawned on him. He shook his head, a secret smile ghosting his lips. He was the only one on the team who knew that only Andi could mess with my game.

“Good luck,” Jace grumbled as he started removing his gear.

I walked out of the dugout, past the equipment bags, and slipped past all my teammates. I walked until the hallway walls muffled the noise in the ballpark, until I only heard a murmur of the music, and the thousands of people spent their money just to watch the game.

I was chasing my breath, running as though I had just hit a home run, only stopping when I saw Andi stepping out into the hallway.

She stood there, just ten feet away from me, her chest heaving, mirroring my reaction.

Her smile was unsure as she pushed her hair to the back of her ears. “Hi… I wasn’t sure-”

Whatever the hell she was gonna say, I don’t pay any mind to it. Now that we were alone, I could follow my heart’s will, and what it wanted was for me to run towards Andi and pull her into my arms. And I did just that.

I ran as though she was the lifeline that would keep me from dying, and she landed with a ‘ump‘ as I enveloped her in the tightest and warmest embrace.

“You’re here,” I whispered on top of her Amber Wolves‘ cap.

She was as stiff as a pole, surprised by my reaction. It took her three seconds before she melted into my arms and wrapped her arms around my waist. Pure relief and happiness spiralled down my system. Dave would kill me if he heard this, but I don’t need to go back to the game; I had already won here.

10:39 am P P P M

Chapter 147