Chapter 2

"You know the game isn't going anywhere, right?" Mike said narrowing his eyes, leaning in towards her and giving her a slight nod; a nod that indicated he was serious.

He was icing his knee, Ginny could tell it was hurting a lot more than he was showing or letting on, he would wince every so often but would shake his head trying to put his mind on something else.

Ginny scoffed and stared at him with her 'yeah right' glare as she continued stretching her legs. He laughed at her stare and sighed.

"It's easy for you to say, you get to keep playing, meanwhile I'm sitting on the sidelines."

"If I remember correctly, didn't you say that to me, more on the lines of 'we need you for the long haul'?"

"Oh so you choose to remember that, but when I ask you to put caramel in my coffee that you forget?" She said through half-stretches.

Mike chuckled and groaned from the pain "What can I say, I choose to remember what I want, Baker."

Ginny rolled her eyes at him and saw the way he kept pursing his lips, the room was empty and she stared around to make sure no one was around. "Do you want some help?"

Mike's face made a funny look, as if he wasn't sure that was a good idea; considering their history, the famous 'almost kiss' well she couldn't blame him for not wanting her to touch him, but she could tell he was thinking about it. He nodded quickly, stretching his hand out with the bag of ice for her to grab.

Ginny walked over the few inches that he was from her and bent down to look at his knee. It was red from the ice, she put her hand gently on it and she could feel his body tense up, she wanted to take it off to not scare him at the fact that she was touching his skin, but that seemed to be more awkward if she did do that.

She ran her fingertip on the crevice of his knee and put the bag gently on top of it, he winced once more this time not caring that Ginny could see the amount of pain he was in.

"Damn knee is going to give in any day now."

"Why are you so cynical?" She brought her eyes up to meet his and saw the way he stared at her very intently as if trying to pick the right words to say to her.

"I'm just being honest."

Ginny saw the way his eyes went back and forth between her lips and back to her eyes.

"Is that too much pressure?" she interrupted the way he was staring at her, she wasn't sure how much longer she could handle that stare.

"No, that's perfect."

"What's perfect?" Blip entered the room just in time to catch the last bit of those words, but Ginny was glad for the interruption considering she wasn't sure what her body was going to continue to do with Mike staring at her the way he did. "Nothing" they both said silently.

Blip looked back and forth between them and laughed at Mike sitting on the floor with Ginny's hand on his knee with the ice. "You know there are assistants who can do that, right?" Blip grabbed a towel; ignoring the lingering stares that Ginny gave Mike who also didn't notice. Ginny tossed the bag of ice on Mike's chest and stood up.

She felt embarrassed, she wasn't even sure why because there was nothing that Blip said that made it obvious that in fact Mike and Ginny had been pretty intimate not too long ago, but her body felt hot and she didn't like it. Mike groaned as he stood up and stared at Blip, they started joking around and Ginny continued feeling awkward.

"So, how's the hand Gin?" Blip said finally interrupting her thoughts; Mike's eyes were now back focused on her. She looked down at that damn hand that wouldn't get better and her anger bubbled, but allowing herself to push it to the side to be able to answer him properly. She really didn't want to lose her cool in front of the guys, but especially these two.

"It's getting there"

Blip nodded but she could tell he hadn't believed her, and definitely knew that Mike didn't.

"So that's a big fat horrible lie." Blip finally admitted and both of the guys laughed at Ginny's annoyed glare.

"I'm not technically lying, it's just not really getting there so much as just still hurting….all the time."

"Well how about we take your mind off of that. Some of the guys want a break from the training part of this; they want to go out to drink, you up for that?"

Ginny looked at Mike quickly noticing the way he looked away when she stared at him. She could tell he was a little uncomfortable with her going with them considering what happened the last time, but she couldn't say no. It would seem suspicious so she nodded, even though she really didn't want to go out.

"Whatever to take my mind off of this" she looked down at her arm and then back up at the guys; Mike gave her a nod and walked away. She could see his hesitation so she followed him, making it less obvious she was going after him for Blip to not question anything.

"Are you cool with me going?" Ginny asked, making Mike turn his head to look at her but continued walking. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good."

She stopped walking she could tell that Mike didn't really want to talk. She sighed and ran her hand through her already uncombed hair that was in a ponytail.

~0~

"So Ginny, what's up with you and that billionaire guy?" Vorhees asked, making everyone turn their attention to Ginny. Her face felt hot from everyone looking, not to mention Mike was also staring, but his face was hard to read what he was thinking; making her feel even more nervous about that question. She really didn't want to talk about her relationship or lack of one considering she hadn't really spoken to Noah since the whole 'vacation' talk minus a few texts messages from him of him telling her that he understood she needed space especially with what happened to her arm. She knew that they wouldn't let her slide away from not answering so she smiled, grabbing her beer and shrugging.

"Oh come on, we'll spill on our relationships." Vorhees sat back, with his beer in hand.

"Come on, leave her alone." Mike said slapping Vorhees on the shoulder. Ginny felt surprised, she wasn't expecting for Mike to do that and wanted to smile at him, but knew better than that with all the guys still looking at her. "It's not like we have anything better to do than to hear about her relationship." Mike spoke again, making a few guys laugh and a few others including Blip stare back in shock.

Ginny raised her brow "Okay, Mike that was—" Blip started to speak but stopped when he saw Ginny shift and sit up straight scoffing, Mike was now staring back at Ginny with a look of determination. He seemed very upset and she wasn't sure why he was this annoyed.

"No, Blip its fine. No, please it's not like hearing about my relationship is worse than constantly hearing about how you and your ex-wife are at it again, or will or won't you be traded, or the fact that you are getting older….let me know if I'm hitting it close to home?"

Everyone laughed, that was except Mike who was staring back at Ginny with an impressed yet sad face. She didn't mean to be so rude, or blunt honestly, but he was being an ass for no reason. She crossed her arms now, her sprint stuck out making it not so cool.

"Ookay, so I guess that is the end of that about relationships. So did you guys see my home run today?" Blip spoke up, once again stopping when he noticed Ginny sit up once more, leaning in closer, he sighed knowing whatever she was going to say was not good.

"Hey Gin, can I talk to you for a sec?" Blip grabbed her arm pulling her up before she could say anything. She looked back quickly to stare at Mike's face once more noticing he watched as they walked over away from the guys.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Blip stopped walking, but continued to pull her so she was now in front of him. She rolled her eyes, she could sense her anger bubbling even more now, it seemed like she was angry all the time but she knew it had everything to do with her arm and nothing to do with anyone else….although Mike didn't really help out in this scenario either. "What?" She said eyeing him, trying to understand what he meant or what he was getting at, but she knew where he was going with this?

"Don't act dumb, because you are most definitely far from that Ginny."

Ginny felt like someone slapped her, it was weird anytime Blip had a 'talk' with her, it felt like her dad was doing the talking. "Mike—"

"Mike is an idiot and is a man-child; you don't need to stoop to his level. His ex-wife just hit him with a possible law-suit."

Ginny's eyes widened "What?"

Blip rolled his eyes "See how easy girls are, I tell you something sad and you drop it. So act like a woman and let it go, okay?"

Ginny punched him in the arm and they both laughed, and walked back, having Blip shove her as they walked back to the table.

The guys started talking about who threw better, Ginny chiming in every so often saying it was her, she would look over at Mike who would lock eye contact with her and gave her a small smile that was quite clear he was apologizing.

~0~

"How could I not guess you would be here this bright and early? Show off." Mike said laughing as he looked down at Ginny who had already been stretching, smiling back at him. "Yeah, yeah, biology and genetics," He put his hand up to have her understand he knew that she was going to start that speech again.

He scrunched his nose when he saw her humming Rise by Katy Perry, how he knew it was that was beyond him. He chuckled at the way she was struggling so much to stretch. "Do you need help?" His eyes went wide when he realized that that sounded a little inappropriate. "I just mean, you look like you are…well you know having a hard time and—"

Ginny laughed softly at the way he was now fumbling over his words and cut him off "help sounds great." She really didn't want his help technically because that would mean he would be touching her and that just was asking for danger.

He walked over to her side and knelt down behind her, she was in a straddled position but due to her arm she was unable to reach her leg to get that stretch she really needed today. She could feel how tense her body was and she felt the annoyance creep in, but not from Mike, she tried to put her mind at ease.

His hands touched her side gently and her body instantly felt hot, she hated that he had this affect on her; she shifted in her spot and hoped he hadn't noticed her body going stiff and tense from his touch. He grabbed her a little tighter softly saying "is that okay?" Ginny just nodded, she really didn't trust her voice right now. She was actually able to reach her legs and winced at how tight her muscles felt. "You okay?" He let go of her side and leaned in to see her face.

Ginny felt the tears fall and she could feel Mike shift his position and was now sitting next to her, his hand was on her back and he had asked what was wrong. She shook her head, she was angry she was allowing herself to cry in front of him, but she couldn't help it.

"Nothing…."

Mike scoffed "Yeah, no I can see that."

Ginny tried laughing but her body wasn't allowing her to do so. She wiped her eyes and shook her head "I came from my doctors office this morning; guess whose hand isn't ready to have this be taken off?"

Mike nodded and sighed, rubbing circles and scooting closer to her, their sides were touching now and his whole hand enveloped her body; his hand squeezed so she was closer to him, making her feel nervous from how close their bodies were. "It'll heal…"

"It's not Mike! I have done every single thing they have asked and yet here I am still not able to play."

"If not today then tomorrow, you keep trying; you are the strongest player I know, by a long shot."

Ginny scoffed, knowing he was only saying this to be nice.

"Ginny." Her face shot up to stare at his face, their faces were really close to each other and she had to gulp in order to not throw up in front of him. She smiled at him and he smiled back "What's that face for?"

"You've only ever used my name twice, it's nice to hear."

He shrugged "I like saying it." He admitted and she could feel her body start to slowly let go, he definitely knew how to make her feel better.

She brought her face back up to stare at him once more and her body once more felt like the intensity was going to cave in. She saw the way his eyes went down to her lips as if challenging her and she could see the want in his eyes. The knock literally threw them off and she cleared her throat and pushed his hand away, she saw the way he dropped his eyes and she looked up to see the janitor giving them a look as if they knew what they had just been doing…which technically had been nothing.

He came in and grabbed the trash out of the bin and the silence fell, it was almost awkward but Ginny was actually thankful for the interruption. She stood up, huffing as her hand sat by her side and saw the way Mike wanted to say something but just kept quiet.

"I'll see you later."

"Weren't you going to—" Mike pointed at the machines but Ginny shook her head "I forgot I have to meet Amelia for coffee, she wanted to know how my appointment went." Ginny lied, even though she really did have to meet Amelia, it wasn't until later she had to. With that she walked out, hoping it wasn't so obvious she had so badly wanted to kiss him.

TBC….

A/N: I'm so incredibly sorry for the wait, it's been crazy with all the holidays, I have been working on this one for quite some time, but haven't had the time to sit down and write. I promise I will get my other chapter for my first Bawson story out as well, but please be patient. Thank you so much for reading and loving this story. You guys are the reason I keep writing!