Second String (In Too Deep #3) by Casey McMillin Read Free Book Online Page A

was married for a year to a girl named Kayla who'd left him a few months ago for an old boyfriend. The career was still firmly in place, though. Besides being the practical one of the group, Josh was extremely smart. He graduated from Cal with honors and was now a successful geological engineer. He consulted with people who were about to build things, and basically told them what to expect from the bit of earth they were working with.
    "I'm done, man. I did single arms for the last two hours."
    Josh sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Why's that? Are you changing your stroke or what?"
    "A little. Just doing some fine- tuning. Some days it feels like I'm starting from scratch," I said.
    "It'll pay off though man. You're looking good."
    "Thanks. I feel pretty good about the way things are going," I said. "Hey, this is totally unrelated, but Collin's parents are having a big New Year's party this year."
    "Is Collin coming?"
    "Well, yeah, I assume he is. He was talking like he'd be there."
    "When'd you talk to Collin?"
    "You haven't been to the apartment?" I asked.
    "No, why?" he asked, confused.
    "There's a plate of food from Gretchen's house along with a note telling you I'd gotten it when I spent Christmas in Ventura with Collin and them."
    "Why'd you drive all the way up there?" Josh asked.
    "Because Emily was there."
    Josh just gave me a blank look like he was almost pissed at how confusing this whole story was.
    "Who's Emily?"
    "The girl from Vegas. The showgirl."
    It was evident by Josh's expression that he may have remembered who Emily was, but still couldn't make sense of the whole Christmas in Ventura thing. He didn't have to ask. I just explained, "She's working as a Laker Girl and they ran into her at a game. They invited her to Christmas at Gretchen's and she was there eating breakfast with them when I called to wish Collin a merry Christmas."
    "So what? You just dropped everything and drove up there?" he asked.
    "Yeah. I actually got there pretty early. I spent the better part of the day with her."
    "She's the one who stayed the night in your hotel room, but only let you get to second base, right?"
    "Yeah," I said letting out a little laugh.
    "Did you get more than that yesterday—"
    "No," I said, cutting him off. "In fact, I barely made it to first."
    "What? I can't believe it, E. That's not your style. You must really like this girl," he said.
    "Not my style? What's that supposed to mean?"
    "You know what it means. I'm just saying, you've never been one to work too hard for a girl who's not giving you any."
    "That's because I've never run into a girl who won't give it to me," I said, being ridiculous and full of myself as always.
    "That's actually kind of true. I seriously can't think of another girl who's told you no."
    "Oh shut up, it's not like I sleep with every girl I meet."
    "You sleep with most of them . Anyway, it doesn't really matter… I just think it's cute that you drove three hours up the coast for one little kiss."
    "I think it's cute that you just said the fucking word cute ," I said.
    Josh laughed and held his hands up in surrender as if to say he wouldn't mention Emily or my inability to round the bases any more.
    He and I talked for a few more minutes before I took off. He said he'd probably go to the New Year's party since he didn't have any other plans. I told him I'd be seeing him back at the apartment later. On my way out, I stopped to tell a few others goodbye before leaving the pool in search of food.
    I ended up going to a place I frequented called Annie's Diner. It was a quirky restaurant that was owned by a woman from England. They served, among other things, a traditional English breakfast that I stopped in for at least three times a week.
    Annie and the other waitresses did weird things like bust out in to a line dance out of nowhere, and make loud announcements about random customers. Most of the time I escaped the shenanigans since I sat at the bar. I was just in it for the food.