Maid For Beckett Catching The Baseball Legend’s Heart novel Chapter 65

55 Vouch

“You know you can’t use that I’m your boss‘ line forever, right?” I asked with a chuckle as I ambled towards one of the barstools on the kitchen island.

I don’t protest because I feel the prickling pain that shoots through my left side. I had replaced the bandage of my woun this morning, and it was still fresh. It was small, almost an inch, but it was deep. If I’m not careful, it might gape open.

Beckett smirked as he placed two cups of coffee on the island. “You can’t be sure of that,” he teased.

I giggled. The three dogs settled down on the floor as Beckett placed a plate before me, filling it up with a tower of panca “I can do that.”

“No, I’m the boss,” he reminded me, and I can’t help but laugh.

I kept telling myself this is just because he was worried about me, that once my wound is fully healed, he’d go back to his usual self, but I hate how my heart was thrashing excitedly in my chest. I cannot get used to this because, like before, my here is temporary.

We ate in comfortable silence. Beckett was deep in his thoughts, and so was I.

“Did Mom come by yesterday?” I asked. I didn’t know that I had fallen asleep all afternoon.

Beckett nodded. “They went to see you at the pool house, but Julie said she didn’t want to wake you up.”

Oh, Mom… They drove all the way here, and she didn’t wake me up? I wanted to see them, ask them how they are doing, a where they were staying. We had a lot of things to discuss. Now I have to wait a few days for my day off before I see them.

Beckett must have seen the crestfallen look on my face. “We can visit them later,” he said. It wasn’t a question. It hangs between us like an unanswered question.

I shook my head. “I… I don’t want to bother you more than I already have, Sir.”

He shrugged. “I have to go to the city anyway,” he sounded overly nonchalant. Beckett never goes anywhere unless it is something important. His time is as precious as his name.

“Uhm, okay,” I agreed, skeptical of where he was really going today.

It was mid–afternoon when we drove into town. The weather outside was humid, and the air conditioner was blasting inside the car. Beckett had said it would be a quick errand. He sounded so casual that I thought he was talking about stopping by a pharmacy or picking something up from an office.

I should have known better. Beckett Hale doesn’t do mundane errands.

The traffic thickened as we drove through the heart of the city. It felt as if the stream of cars was moving in only one direction. To the ballpark. I hoped I was wrong, but as soon as I saw pedestrians walking in jerseys of flashing blue and white and green, I knew I was right. We are going to the Hawthorn Bay Mariners stadium.

Despite being inside the car, I felt the air thicken, and a charge of energy outside made my stomach giddy. My chest tightened as the massive concrete structure came into view, towering and alive, like it had a life of its own. The huge screen outside shows the two teams playing tonight.

1/4

12:40 am

Chapter 65

“Errand” I said slowly with a good pinch of sarcasm to hide the dread creeping into my

He didn‘? answer right away Just pulled into a reserved parking space, Killed the engine, and looked a

unreadable expression that always made me feel like I was three steps behind bin

“This will be quick” he said. Then, he reached behind the backseat for a brown paper bag “You’l be for of y

That last word sounded caught between a question and a suggestion I accepted it and probed inde i was the color of his team, the Brighton Reapers Blue and white. When I pulled it out, it was his jersey and a cap. It even weled like his

“Is this bulletproof? I cajoled and clutched his jersey in my lap. “I thought I was hiding from the press

Beckett pursed his lips. “We’re not hiding you,” he said. “Besides, a lot of people are wearing my jery time should he pro you’re wearing one that I had worn.”

I gasped and looked at him with wide eyes.

He shrugged. Just saying. A lot would spend a fortune to wear that, you know?

I hummed sarcastically. “Well, I’m not one of them, just so you know?

He chuckled with a secret smile on his lips. “No, you’re not.”

And that was how I ended up sitting closer to the visiting team’s dugout than I had ever been to anything in my life.

The noise hit me first; it was crashing on me like waves on all sides. The smell of popcorn, beer, grilled meat, and hot dogy filled the air… it was overwhelming. The stadium was too huge; it swallowed me whole, I felt small in the sheer number of people who all seemed to belong here.

One look at me, and one would say that I belong here, too. I was in a Reaper’s jersey with their Hall of Famer’s name on my

back.

Oh, Beckett. What are you doing to me?‘

I tugged self–consciously at my jersey, acutely aware of how out of place I was in a Reaper’s jersey in the ocean of Mariners fans. Beckett guided me to my seat like this was nothing, like he hadn’t just dropped me into the middle of a world Ed only ever seen on television screens mounted above bar counters. People were staring at us. Isn’t this the exact opposite of what he wanted to do? To hide me?

“This is insane,” 1 muttered as I sat down. I bit my lower lip, nibbling it as my heels bounced up and down on the Boor. I felt a punch in my side again, the pain meds I had were starting to wear off. “You said an errand.”

He leaned closer, his voice low. “It is an errand.”

I shot him a glare. “This is a game.”

“A quick one,” he said unapologetically.

I opened my mouth to argue, but a guy in Reaper’s uniform with headphones hanging around his neck called his name.

My stomach dropped. I wanted to grip his shirt or his hand and beg him not to leave, but I couldn’t do that Lam not a child. and I am not his obligation.

My hands curled into my lap as I watched him leave. He gave me one last glance before he disappeared completely from my sight.

I was still trying to steady my breathing when I felt a familiar presence slide to the seat beside me

2/4

1240 am

Chapter 65

7

155 vouther

“Jesus, you look like you’re about to bolt,” Siobhan said, handing me a bottle of water like she’d been preparing for this moment all her life.

Relief flooded me. “Thank God you’re here.”

She grinned. “I figured if he dragged you here without warning, you’d need a familiar face.”

I turned to her immediately, my outrage spilling over. “He didn’t tell me this was a game.”

She laughed. “And if he had?”

I opened my mouth–then stopped.

“I wouldn’t have come,” I admitted. “Especially not knowing what team he’s playing against.”

Siobhan’s expression softened, and she reached for my hand and squeezed it. “We’re here to support Beckett, not your stupid ex

It’s funny how I had never watched Carter’s game live. This was gonna be the first time I’m seeing him play. That realization hit me harder than I expected.

I’d watched clips, highlights, muted TVs in bars where I refused to look too closely. But this–this was different. This was live Freaking live, and I am seated in the lower box. My pulse kicked up so fast it made me dizzy.

Now I understand why Beckett told me to bring my pain meds.

I fumbled for the bottle in my bag, dry–swallowing one tablet as the announcer’s voice boomed through the stadium. My heart was racing like I’d been sprinting, like my body knew something was coming and couldn’t stop bracing for it.

“Hawthorne Bay will be pitching first,” one guy behind me said.

My breath hitched.

“And starting pitcher,” the announcer said, “number-”

I didn’t need to hear the rest.

Carter jogged out onto the field, an overly confident rookie pitching to the veterans from the Reaper lineup. The crowd roared, and the sound seemed to wrap around my ribs, squeezing tighter and tighter.

I pressed one hand flat against my chest. I couldn’t explain what seeing him like this–after everything–was doing to me. Our memories surged in my head. How stupid of me to think that he really wanted to build a life with me.

Siobhan squeezed my hand harder. “I’ve got you.”

I nodded, unable to speak.

I was desperately grateful that Carter couldn’t see me in the crowd. That I was just another face among thousands, hidden in plain sight, trying to breathe through the ache blooming in my chest. Beckett’s cap was shadowing my face.

Nothing could have prepared me for this. I wasn’t ready to watch him stand on that mound, as nothing had ever broken

between us.

3/4