Out of Left Field

Chapter 3 - Target Practice (Sloane)

Sloane

"No. Nope. Absolutely not." I shook my head, pocketing my phone while staring at Chris.

Today was supposed to be uneventful.

Uneventful-ish.

After the last two days... I needed uneventful.

Apparently, Chris didn't get the memo.

The tension I've been carrying from the upcoming announcement of our relationship knotted every muscle in my back from the base of my spine into my neck and the massage I got this morning did nothing but give me an hour without my phone.

I was supposed to head into the office after the massage, get a few hours of work done, come home and enjoy a nice glass of expensive wine while the news of our new relationship dropped.

But instead, I've been working off of my phone all day, weaving in and out of sweaty men carrying boxes through my apartment and the plans for our relationship announcement have changed at least 7 times.

And now here stood Chris.

His Red Sox hat was turned backward, sweat stains forming a perfect 'V' down his chest, the thin material clinging to his heaving chest and showing just a peek of the tattoos and chain he had underneath.

"Did you run here?" I asked, looking from him to the dog sitting at his feet. "Never mind that. Still no."

Dodger's head tipped to the side, his left ear quirking.

Chris stared at me, Dodger's leash in one hand, his mouth parted in surprise. "Sloane. Come on!"

It's been 48 hours since Chris and I signed the PR contract. I thought there would be a little more time to sort through all the jumbled thoughts in my brain, but alas... Chris had a home game tomorrow and they wanted this sorted sooner rather than later.

The uneventful day I had planned was completely ruined by Chris moving his things into my once quiet and tranquil apartment, and now he stood here with a dog.

A dog.

And Cami was blowing up my phone again about our relationship leak.

At first, it was supposed to be just a simple Instagram post. That's it. Then Chris decided that wasn't good enough and people would just assume it was PR. Never mind the fact that the fucking head of PR okayed it.

So then, it turned into a walk with Dodger. But, Chris argued, there were hundreds of pictures of the two of us walking him and no one suspected a thing.

My patience with the situation was wearing thin after the 6th Zoom call about it before noon.

After going back and forth, Cami decided that a soft launch would be best and we would need to be pictured doing something 'domestic' together.

Like stocking up our apartment after Chris's recent move, which was coincidentally photographed today, too.

And already posted.

Hence why I was also currently ignoring any and all phone calls from my family and Chris's. They've seen them... they want to know why he's moving in and if the rumors are true... and neither of us have addressed it.