Chapter Nineteen
Corey
Waking up next to Dominic had been wonderful. Corey was so pumped she got to do it for the rest of her life. The rest of her life. That sounded crazy even in her head. They had breakfast together, and then after he’d gone home to change, they drove to work together. It had been pure bliss. She felt like she was walking on a cloud all the way to the athletic building.
And blah blah blah, plus all that other girly stuff.
Ugh. She needed to stop thinking of him and start focusing on the screen in front of her. She was reading files on the guys she was meeting with today. Of course their files told her nothing interesting, all the players on the team seemed to walk the line. She had finally started to read again when she heard a knock. “Come in.” She looked up to see Jasper walk through the door. “Hey, Jasper, have a seat.” She shut her laptop and picked up her pen, ready to make some notes relevant for his eval. “Thanks for coming to meet with me today, I really appreciate it.”
“Well, I wanna play ball, so I don’t really have another choice. Do I?”
She gave him a tight smile. “Sorry, kiddo, you don’t. But I promise this will be fast and easy.” Damn it. Fast and easy? Not something to say in front of horny teenage males. She pointed a finger at him when he chuckled under his breath. “Don’t say one word, Jasper, what I meant to say was, this won’t take long and I don’t have many questions to ask.”
“Whatever you say, Ms. Cooper.” Jasper held his hands up, surrendering.
She cleared her throat and sat up straighter, going into counselor mode. “How long have you been playing baseball?”
“Uh, as long as I can remember. My dad played college ball, even played pro for a few years. Then he met my mom and got married, started his own company to have more time with us.”
“What do you love most about playing?”
“To start?” Jasper’s face lit up. “Everything. I love being part of the team. I love the smell of fresh cut grass on the field. I love the sound the ball makes when it hits my glove.” His smile faded slightly. “You aren’t going to share this with the other guys, are you?”
“No, Jasper. I won’t share anything we talk about with anyone else. Don’t be embarrassed. It’s wonderful that you are so passionate about baseball. Many people go their whole lives without feeling true passion about anything. You are lucky to have found something you enjoy.” Corey tilted her head, studying him. She was pretty sure he had said everything she needed to hear. This was a boy who simply loved to play ball. “I think we are good here, buddy, you are free to go.”
“Really? That’s it? Henderson interviewed me for hours. Made everyone answer questions about our families, girls we dated. All kinds of weird stuff.”
“Really? Well, I don’t know what Mr. Henderson was up to. But I need to know that you love the game and that you play for the right reasons.” Corey smiled at Jasper, but her brain was going a mile a minute. What the hell had Henderson been doing? Why would he make these kids sit for hours while he hammered them with personal questions? No wonder they were so pissed when they thought they had to do it all over again. Poor guys. “Thanks for coming in, now go back to class and try to behave yourself.” Jasper got up but didn’t leave.
“Ms. Cooper? Are you meeting with Jace next?”
“Yes, sir, you want me to give him a message for you or something?” She was splitting her attention between the notes she was making in her computer and Jasper. She looked away from the screen when his silence stretched on. “What is it, buddy?”
“I, well, Jace… He’s, uh, well, he’s a little different. I don’t want you to think he’s weird or anything. I mean he’s my brother, and… You know what, never mind. I don’t even know why I brought it up. Sorry.”
“Hey, no worries, okay? I understand what you are trying to say. You’re a good brother, Jasper. Now get back to class.” She smiled at him to let him know she’d heard him loud and clear. He gave a slight wave and walked out the door.
Corey stared out the window, looking toward the stadium. She was wracking her brain trying to figure out what Henderson had been doing interrogating the baseball team under false pretenses. She was interrupted when Keller stuck his head in her doorway, knocking on the wood lightly.
“Was that my star catcher I saw leaving your office?”
“Yes it was. And he was wonderful.” Corey laughed a little. Who knew Jasper would be so poetic about baseball?
“Well, good to know. How was your date with Dom last night?”
“It was spectacular, thanks for asking.” Their romantic first date that led to them being freaking mated? Yep, it’d been great. Did Keller know? Would Dom have already told him and the rest of the coaching staff? She studied Keller, looking for signs that he knew what had happened between her and Dom last night, but his face remained neutral. “Hey, while you’re here, can I talk to you about something?”
“Sure, darlin’, what’s up?”
“Come in, shut the door though.” Corey waited until Keller did that before she went on. “When I met with Jasper, he said some strange things about Mr. Henderson.”
“Oh yeah? What did he say? I mean all the guys complained about Henderson, but we figured they were bitchin’ just to bitch, you know?” He sat down in one of the chairs she had facing her white desk.
“Jasper said that his evaluation took hours. And that Henderson asked him really personal questions, like about his family and who he had dated and stuff like that.” She leaned back in her seat. “And he made it sound like he wasn’t the only one who went through something like that either.”
“And none of that is needed to clear the team to play?” Keller narrowed his eyes, clearly confused.
“Nope.” She shook her head. “All we need to hear is that they play ball because they love it. I mean they aren’t convicted felons. They’re kids.”
“Huh. That’s weird.” Keller chewed at his bottom lip. “Well, at least he’s gone, right? Don’t have to worry about him anymore. But it sucks that the boys had to go through all that for nothing, it couldn’t have been easy having to answer so many personal questions.” Keller stood up and turned to leave. “Thank you for caring about these kids. They are far from home, and they miss their families, even if they don’t show it. It’ll probably do them a lot of good to have a female around. I know it’s good for us too.”
Corey smiled. “I’m glad I can be here.” Once he left she turned back to her computer. She shouldn’t even pretend to try to focus on the files in front of her. Now instead of only Dominic in her head, Henderson was taking up space too. She played solitaire instead, trying to noodle out the old counselor’s actions until there was yet another knock on her door. She looked up to see Jace walk in and sit down. He didn’t say anything; he simply stared at her with his hands folded in his lap, calmly waiting for her to start.
Creepster. She silently scolded herself. Hadn’t she promised Dom and Jasper both that she’d keep an open mind? “Afternoon, Jace, thanks for coming to meet with me. This won’t take long. I only have a couple questions.” He still said nothing, just stared at her blankly. Okaaay. “Jace, how would you feel if you could never play baseball again?”
He blinked twice. “I would feel fine.”
“Really, you wouldn’t be upset if you had to stop playing?” She leaned forward in her chair, clasping her hands together on her desk.
“No. Why would I be upset? It’s only a game.” Barely any inflection in his voice.
“Yes, you’re right, it’s only a game.” She cocked her head to the side. “Tell me, Jace, why do you play if you are so indifferent?”
“I play because I’ve always played. My father wanted me to, so I did.”
“So you started playing because of your father, but why do you keep playing?” This kid was definitely night to his brother’s day. Jasper was so animated, so full of life. Jace wasn’t.
“What else am I supposed to do with my time here?”
His answers were so monotone, the pitch of his voice hardly ever changed. “There are plenty of other things you could do here at St. Leasing. There are art classes, music classes, other languages you could learn. Why do you choose baseball, Jace?”
“My father sent me to an all-boys boarding school hundreds of mile from where I live. I am isolated from pretty much everything. Baseball comes easy to me and it keeps me in shape. I don’t play because I love the game. I don’t play because I like to be part of a team. I play despite it. I am smarter than everyone and they make dumb careless mistakes that can make me look bad. I don’t like relying on others for my victories.” Jace stared at her again, his gaze never wavering. He didn’t look down or out the window, just straight ahead, meeting her eyes.
“Do you feel like your father forces you to play?” There was definitely something off about this kid. No more open-mindedness, she had to dig.
“No one forces me to do anything.”
“What about Jasper, do you enjoy playing ball with your brother?” Her last-ditch effort to find some emotion, to try to find something redeemable that she could mark down in his file.
“He’s my brother. He enjoys playing ball, I play with him.”
He never really answered her question. Other than that one there-is-an-I-in-team speech, every word out of his mouth seemed calculated and insincere. He was placating her, little fucker. “Jasper told me that Henderson grilled him for a couple hours during his evals, asked a lot of personal questions. Did he do that with you?” Corey watched as a slow smile spread across Jace’s rugged face, which looked odd and out of place.
“He did ask me a lot of personal questions, things that were none of his concern.”
“You are smiling, is that funny somehow?” Her voice was matching his on its own accord, she sounded as calm, as calculated.
“It’s comical to me, yes, a lot of time wasted on his part if you ask me.”
“Why do you say that?”
“All those hours talking to us, and nothing to show for it.”
“Well, because he left doesn’t mean he didn’t take all his research with him. Who knows what he wanted it for? He could be writing a book about this team or trying to publish a paper. Does that bother you?”
“Henderson is not a concern anymore.” Jace’s jaw ticked, the only small tell she’d seen from him since he’d walked into her office.
“Why isn’t he a concern? Out of sight, out of mind?” She hoped like hell that was what this crazy kid had meant.
“Sure.”
Corey nodded her head. “Well, I think we are done here, Jace. Thank you for coming to see me.” She watched as Jace got up and walked out. No good-bye, and no backward glance.
She needed to talk to Dominic. Something wasn’t right with that kid.
She’d tried, gave him all sorts of chances. He’d failed.