Read Online Catching Hell: A Hot Contemporary Romance by Mindy Klasky - Free Book Online

Lot.” The third was “Equipment Maintenance,” and it ran on for half a dozen pages. Each was addressed to him. Each had been initialed GS.
    Gregory Small.
    “What the—” He skimmed through the first page. “This memorandum is to inform you that your locker has been reassigned. You will now maintain all of your personal belongings in Locker C-27.”
    “That’s a corner locker, Ep. They put rookies in the corner.”
    “They’re putting you there now. Read the rest of them.”
    He did. His parking space had been switched. The team was no longer responsible for cleaning his cleats or his batting helmet. He’d be charged for all laundry generated in the locker room, with invoices to be paid weekly.
    “This is bullshit.”
    Epson shot his cuffs. “Of course it is. And it’s just the opening round. They want to give you a taste of what will happen if you don’t fall in line.”
    “Change my goddamn parking space?”
    “I’ll bet you a c-note right now, the new one is under a leaky pipe. Or a bird’s nest, if they could find someone to wrangle the fucking pigeons.”
    “Penny ante bullshit. So? What do we do about it?”
    Epson shrugged. “You don’t have a lot of room to maneuver here. But there is one thing I can suggest.”
    “What?”
    “This Friday, drop the appeal on your suspension. Take the five days the league gave you. With the team heading out for a tough road trip, they’ll want you behind the plate in New York. So deny them that. Stay home and take your punishment and let them fall flat on their asses.”
    Zach narrowed his eyes. It was a risky strategy. If he wasn’t catching and the team won, then he’d just be proving how useless he really was.  
    But New York was leading the division. And the teams were meeting up in a four-game series, on enemy ground. The Rockets would have to feel the loss of Zach’s experience, his calling the pitches, his threading the needle for a string of desperately needed victories.
    “I’ll do it,” he said, even though it went against everything he’d ever done as a Raleigh player, everything he’d ever done for his team.
    Epson nodded once, and then he held out his hands for the papers. “I’m heading over to talk to Small in person. To tell him officially that you aren’t waiving the clause. But you know, it’s not too late for you to reconsider. We can use the suspension to fly out to Texas—”
    “It’s not going to happen,” Zach cut him off. “And if you suggest it again, I’ll fire you.” He kept his voice mild, but there was no mistaking the bedrock beneath his words.
    Epson shrugged. “I’d suggest you get ready, then. The Rockets are about to make your life a hell of a lot more uncomfortable.”
    “Let them try,” Zach said, rolling his shoulders. “Let them give it a goddamn try.”

CHAPTER 4

    Anna resisted the urge to tug at the front of her dress. It was Rockets red, which should have been a comfort, but she couldn’t help but feel like the floor-length gown was a blinking sign, commanding attention from every corner of the crowded ballroom.
    It didn’t help that she was trapped on the dais with Gramps. Her grandfather had been holding court all evening, accepting the greetings of various Raleigh luminaries. Half the conversations were light-hearted speculation on the Rockets’ chances for the season. The other half, though, were more pointed. The other half were directed to raising desperately needed funds for Raleigh Against Drunk Driving.
    Gramps had long ago perfected the amount of pressure to apply in a handshake, the precise touch that indicated he held each particular person in the highest esteem. The old man’s accent shifted over the course of the evening, depending on the person he addressed. At times, his speech deepened into a slow Tidewater drawl; other times, he quickened his words until they became the efficient patter of a time-pressed businessman.  
    Gramps rarely asked for money directly. Anna had