An Unlikely Allie

Chapter 45

Phaedra's POV

The team and I stood together in a bunch, waiting to see who we were gonna play next. I saw Darry talking with Mr. Edwards, his boss and Lucy's dad, along with a few others. My brother was the epitome of confidence and strength. Soda and Steve were off by themselves a bit. Every now and then, one of them would gently caress the other, but it was only obvious to those who already knew they were together. Ponyboy, Johnny, Dally, and Two-Bit were still over on the bleachers. Two and Dal were still hung over from last night.

Rachel, our shortstop, kept looking over at the gang, "how can you handle being around so many sexy men?"

I laughed out loud, "it's actually pretty easy." I jerked my thumb towards Dal and Two-Bit, "Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber woke us up last night cause they were too drunk to get to the right room."

"Are they all single?" Sasha jumped in.

"Darry and Ponyboy are.  Dally, the guy with the leather jacket and Two-Bit are single, but they got several broads on the side.  Steve and Soda are taken."

Katie nudged me, "what about Johnny?"  I glared on at her but didn't bother responding.

"Phae?" Darry made his way over to us, "what field are you on next?"

"We're gonna be on field 2, we play the winner this game. It's either gonna be a team from Lawton or Stillwater."

"Are you hungry?"

"Nah, we've got sunflower seeds down here."

"Ok," he tugged on my ponytail, "that was a helluva wild pitch, kid."

I smiled innocently, knowing full and well that he knew I did it on purpose, "can't throw all strikes now." He shook his head and walked away.

"Oh my god," Rachel whispered, "your brother is ripped! I could watch his walk away forever."

"And I just threw up in my mouth!"

Bryon's POV

I sat down at Charlie's bar, sipping on my whiskey.  How am I going to pull this off?  We could jump the Curtis twins, but they would know about it so I'm not sure if the fear would be real.  Bringing the Curtis's in is real risky, especially given the history between their outfit and the tigers.  Darrel and Miller always had respectful hatred between them, obviously the respectful part has been dropped when Wallace attack Phae with Miller's consent.

Charlie poured me another shot, "what is going through that mind of yours?"

"Charlie, you ever lost sight of who you are? Like, you're tryin' to do the right thing, but ya do shady shit and use people, knowing full and well they could lose everything if shit don't go as planned. Are you even doin' the right thing anymore?"

"You talkin' bout Jennings or that hippie kid?"

"I don't know...maybe both. Hell, maybe neither. Maybe I'm doin' so I can stop feeling guilty about it all."

"But if something goes wrong and people get hurt, then what?" Charlie asked, wiping down the bar.

I drained my drink, "Exactly."

"Douglas," Charlie called out as I got up, "face your own demons before ya bring anyone else into whatever the hell your doing."

He was right, dammit, he was right. I headed home, knowing full and well I wouldn't sleep tonight. Tomorrow, I was gonna go see someone I hadn't seen in a year or at least try. The last time I went, Mark Jennings refused to even see me.