Page 41 of I Wish He Would

I’m about to turn on the TV and see if I can find an old rerun of New Girl when there’s a knock at my hotel door. I run a hand over my face. If this is like the one time an obsessed fan found the floor the team was staying on and snuck past security, it’s best not to answer.

I reach for the TV remote when another knock sounds. I groan, push up off the bed, and make my way to the door. I peer through the peephole and see Hayden, Fletch, Cooper, and Dawson. Through the distorted view, it looks like a scene from a clown house. My teammates appear top-heavy and even more giant, taking up the entire hallway with their large shoulders. I can’t help but snicker as I unlock and open the door.

“What are you laughing at? We just lost.” Fletch knocks his fist against my arm as he moves past me.

“Don’t mind him. He’s grumpy because the other pitcher threw a no-hitter and not him.” Hayden grips my shoulder as he follows Fletch. Into my room. Dawson and Cooper trail behind them without a word. I stare at the empty doorway, dumbfounded, before closing it and turning to where the guys have taken up residence on my sofa. Except, I don’t see Hayden anymore.

I look to the left and groan when I spot him. “Dude, why are you in my bed?”

“In your street clothes?” Cooper shakes his head. “That’s gross.”

Hayden lifts the covers and looks down at his shirt with a frown. “I just showered and put these on.”

“Do you have a habit of unwinding in other people’s beds?” Dawson asks.

“Doesn’t everyone?”

We all stare at him in shock.

“Have you been in my bed?” Cooper runs a hand over his mouth, like he already knows the answer.

“Of course.”

“What do you mean, of course?” Cooper frowns. “Why would you get in my bed? Or anyone else’s, for that matter?”

Hayden shrugs. “Whenever you invite us over for a video game night, you always say to make ourselves at home.”

Dawson shakes his head. “It’s a figure of speech, man.”

“It’s how I relax.” Hayden clasps his hands behind his neck and flexes. “I can’t be the best DH in the league without my beauty rest.”

“The pretty, pretty princess needs his beauty sleep,” Fletch teases, and Hayden shoots him a withering look.

Cooper lets his face fall into his hands. “So, you’re telling me every time you disappear at guys’ night, you go hang out in my bed?”

Hayden nods.

Fletch chuckles. “I thought you were just taking a massive dump. This is so much better.”

“Your bed is nice, too,” Hayden says, shutting Fletch up real quick. “But Austin’s is the best. The memory foam wraps around me like a warm hug.”

“Dude, I’m never inviting you over again.” I pick up a water bottle and chuck it at him. He catches it easily. “Will you get out of my bed?”

“Fine.” Hayden slides out of the covers and pulls out the desk chair to sit in.

“And a good rule of thumb for the future: Don’t get in any beds that aren’t yours.” Dawson shoots him a look.

“What if I’m tired after a game?”

“No,” we all respond in unison.

“Unless you’re invited.” Fletch wiggles his eyebrows.

Hayden harrumphs as I sit on the edge of the bed. “Maybe there’s something else you guys want to explain?” They stare back at me blankly. “Like why you’re all in my hotel room at” —I glance at the clock on the nightstand—“eleven at night.”

“We thought you could use a pep talk,” Dawson says.

“Fletch seemed more torn up over the loss than me.”