I gasped, feigning complete shock. “You mean get professional athletes to prove they’re capable of more than playing ball and collecting a paycheck?”
“Yeah, it’s a shocker, I know.” Eric laughed. Most of the guys already did plenty to help others during their off time, but it’d be nice to get something a bit more organized, to encourage players to get out into the community to help those who didn’t lead the privileged lives we do.
“Speaking of which, have you decided what you’re going to do?” I had been avoiding the question, but now seemed as good of a time as any since Eric seemed to be in a good mood. Every day that passed without him getting an offer, he seemed to resign himself to the fact that whether he tried to say it was on his own terms or not, his time in baseball was coming to an end.
“I think so,” he said, pausing long enough to pay attention at a tricky intersection. “I’m going to wait until after the first of the year, and if there’s still nothing, I’m going to call Sam and tell him he doesn’t need to keep looking.”
“Why then?” He seemed content with his decision, so it didn’t make sense that he would wait unless there was still a small part of him that hoped something would come through at the last minute.
“Because I’m not going to screw up Sam’s holiday,” he responded. “While I might not be one of his bread winners, I don’t want him going into the holidays knowing he’s going to lose the percentage he could have drawn off me.”
“Okay, so what are you going to do after that? I can’t imagine you’re going to want to hang around the house all the time.” If he did, I wasn’t sure I’d want to be there after the first month. He’d grow unbearable over time. Eric was a man who needed to be doing something.
“I’m thinking about asking Bryce if he wants some help in the administrative offices at the center. They need someone who can work cheap and Bryce can trust. I don’t need their money, and if Bryce can’t trust me by now, we have other issues to work through.”
That’d mean all three of us spending more time together. Even though we’d be doing our own thing, I liked the idea of both of them being close enough to stop by the office and say hi every day. And if Eric wasn’t constantly busy in the office, maybe he could help with some other ideas I had for the guys. A lot of them had zero interest in sports, but more than a few had mentioned that they’d like to do something to feel better about how they looked. I’d offered to work out with them, but it wasn’t enough. My mind only knew what I needed to do to get back into shape. I had no clue what others should be doing. Eric did. Not only that, but he knew which muscles to work to get different results. All that shit was way above my head.
“Has he heard anything about his request to relocate permanently so he’d be running Milwaukee on his own?” Eric asked. Since Bryce hadn’t been spending as much time at the house, they hadn’t had a chance to catch up in the past week. That needed to change, but like so many things when it came to our group, I had no clue how to make it happen.
“Not yet,” I responded. “He’s hoping they’ll give him an answer this month. That way, he can put in notice on his current apartment and start looking for something more permanent.”
“Why would he do that?” Eric asked. I smiled, grateful that he seemed to be having the same thoughts as I was. “I’ve got plenty of room at the house and he’s always there as it is. Or at least he was until the fucking snow started. I don’t understand why he’s so hung up on driving when the roads aren’t clear. I’ve told him he just has to slow down and he’ll be fine.”
“And there’s the problem with your suggestion.” Both of us teased Bryce about his driving. When he got behind the wheel, he wasn’t unsafe, but he did test the patience of the local police departments with his speed. “I’m pretty sure his mind automatically adds fifteen miles per hour to every speed limit sign he sees.”
“True, but that’s beside the point. If he moves anywhere, it should be out to the lake,” Eric continued.
“Have you mentioned it to him?”
“Well, no.” Eric started muttering under his breath as he tried to find a parking spot within a block of the center.
“That might be a good place to start,” I chastised him. “Hell, I remember how resistant you were to Cam moving in, and he was just a roommate while you were on the other side of the country. Most people aren’t going to assume you’d want them to move in if you haven’t so much as hinted at the idea.”
“How the fuck was I supposed to know he’d even want to?” I looked at him as if that was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard. While I’m sure it wasn’t at the top of the list, it had to be close.
“Maybe because he’s there as much as possible,” I pointed out to him. “Or the fact that when he comes over for dinner, even if he says he’s going to head home to get some work done, he always winds up dragging his bag into the house to work in the living room while we watch TV. Or the fact that the two of you usually leave at the same time in the morning, you to go work out and him to head into the office.”
“Okay, I get your point,” Eric grumbled. “I’ll talk to him.”
“Good.”
When we walked into the center, Jacob was in Bryce’s office and they both looked pissed off. Like seriously pissed. I’d never seen Bryce lose his cool, but he seemed close. “Did we come at a bad time?”
Bryce looked up at us and visibly relaxed. “No, you came at the perfect time.”
“Oh?” Bryce walked around and gave me a quick peck on the cheek which was more affection than he ever showed when we were here.
“Yeah, I need you to do me a favor,” he said, kneading the back of his neck. “Cody and one of the other guys got into it a while ago. I’m not sure what’s going on, but he admitted that it was his fault. The problem is, he won’t say anything else and he’s freaking out, thinking I’m going to send him back out on the streets.”
“Fuck, he’s usually almost as cool and collected as you are,” I responded, slumping back into one of the chairs across from Bryce. “Tell me what you need and I’ll do it.”
“I need you to talk to him,” Bryce requested. “He’s not in danger of getting kicked out of the program yet, but he can’t keep reacting the way he did before. If I knew why, then I could work to fix the problem.”
“Got it.” I stood and quickly excused myself. As I walked down the hall, I heard the rhythmic thump of a basketball on the hardwood floor in the makeshift gym. Cody stood with his feet rooted to the floor as he dribbled the ball, oblivious to my presence.
I grew restless before he did and quietly opened the door. I didn’t say a word until I could reach around him to steal the ball. Cradling the ball under my arm, I motioned to the edge of the room.
“What the fuck, Drew? I was using that,” Cody burst out before stalking across the room toward me.
“Yeah, I could tell you were working hard on your skills,” I chided. I slid down the wall and placed the basketball under my knees. “And you can go back to it as soon as you tell me what in the fuck happened today.”
“Man, not you too,” Cody grumbled.
“Yeah, me too,” I responded, my mood quickly turning sour. “Now, Bryce is trying to help you, but he can’t do his job if you won’t talk to him.”
“You think I don’t know that? Fuck, why can’t everyone just give me some fucking space?” The teen’s vocabulary was impressive. He managed to fit fuck into more sentences than I did, and that was saying something.