Ship to Wreck

16

This chapter is hard, and a lot of things happen in it. Friendly reminder that these characters are fictional, and that though we use baseball players as the main characters, these stories are not meant to portray them as they are in real life.

That being said, enjoy the true beginning of this very long and hard road for Gio, Christian, and Athena.

***

Christian sighed as he got to his apartment, taking a deep breath. Athena was cooking, and he knew that she was hurt by his coolness. But his heart was still in tatters and he didn't know when the pain would stop.

She loved Gio... And not in the way she said that she loves him. Except, he loved her the way she loves Gio. But he would never be on the receiving end of that love.

This is why he never let himself have feelings. They always just ended up hurt.

"Hey," he said quietly when he walked inside, not looking at her as he hung up his keys.

He heard her jump and gasp, which confused him, so he looked over. "Woah, Athena! I live here!" he said quietly, eyes wide and brow furrowed as he stared at the knife in his roommate's hand.

"I-I... I'm sorry," she whispered, putting the knife down as her hands trembled. She heard the door open and instantly thought that Kyle had found her. That he was going to hurt her again.

"What happened?" Christian whispered, seeing that she needed him. He needed to ignore his hurt and be her friend. If it was the only thing he got to be, so he needed to be a great one. "Oh, Athena," he said softly when he saw her start to cry.

"He found me," she whispered, immediately seeking out her friend's arms.

"Kyle?" Christian asked quietly, the anger building within him. He needed to stay in Milwaukee until that man was in prison.

Athena's nod only punctuated that. "Christian I'm scared," she whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm going to protect you, Athena. If it's the last thing I do," he whispered, gently kissing the top of her head. "I'm here."

Athena nodded, trusting him completely.

***

It had been two months since Athena had seen Kyle, and the fear was still there. Christian had gone out and gotten her a ton of self-defense tools, along with giving her some self-defense skills.

He wanted her to be safe, and that made her feel a bit safer.

Which is why her guard was down as she left King after the final day of exams for the first semester. She wasn't even thinking about how Kyle still knew the final exam schedule. That Kyle was a cop, so there would be no hesitation to let him into the staff parking lot.

As Athena got to her car, about to text Gio to let him know how much she missed him, a familiar strong hand gripped her arm, causing her to drop her phone.

"Gotcha, princess," Kyle whispered. Athena acted on instinct and flipped Kyle just like Christian taught her, macing him for good measure. She picked up her phone before getting in her car and speeding away, the adrenaline guiding her home.

"Oh my god," she whispered as she got to her door, her hands starting to tremble and her eyes wide. "Oh my god."

"Thenes?" Christian frowned when she opened the door, immediately going over to her and wrapping his arms around her.

"Thank you," she whispered, looking into his eyes.

"For?" he questioned softly, gently running one hand through her hair as the other rubbed her back.