Free Drive You Wild: A Love Between the Bases Novel by Jennifer Bernard

one on his cheek were a constant reminder. The Wachowskis would demand more if they found him. And if they learned the whole truth . . . if they learned about Nina . . . He shuddered.
    Now that was never going to fucking happen.

Chapter 6
    C RUSH TOLD P AIGE to start her “internship” in the marketing and promotions department, since his battle against the Wades required extra ammunition.
    “We need to get the town on our side. Part one will be to win the championship,” he told her as they headed through the management wing to Marcia Burke’s office. “But we need more than that. We need to recreate ourselves. Perception is everything.”
    “Are you saying we need to put the Catfish on the map?”
    “I wish it was that simple. The Catfish are already on the map, but not in the way we want. They have a reputation. A bunch of wild and rowdy partiers who like to have a little too much fun.”
    “Hm. I wonder who that reminds me of?” Paige scrunched up her face, squinting into the distance as if searching her memory. “I’m sure it’ll come back to me, along with every time I got sent off the ranch for All-Star weekend.”
    “Funny.” He chucked her under the chin, a gesture left over from her childhood. “You know those parties were no place for a child.”
    “I wouldn’t know. I never got to attend one. Maybe now that I’m grown up I’ll finally get a chance.”
    Crush snarled like some sort of bossy lion. “Absolutely not. I don’t want you hanging out with the players.”
    “Dad, that’s ridiculous. How am I supposed to help market the team without hanging out with the players?”
    He scratched at his chin. “Good point. Okay, maybe a few ground rules, then. Don’t smile at them. Don’t bring them food. Feed them and they’ll be like puppies following you everywhere you go. Never, ever, buy them a beer.”
    “No food, beer, or smiles. You drive a hard bargain. Any wiggle room on the smiles? Because I didn’t smile for the last three months I was with Hudson.”
    Sympathy flashed in her father’s hazel eyes as he held the door to the marketing department open for her. “Smiles, but no laughs. Don’t get a big head, but your laugh is irresistible.”
    “Aw, Daddy. That’s such a nice thing to say.” She beamed at him, and he groaned.
    “Damn it, I might have to change my mind about the smiling.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous, Crush. Have you seen the girls who hang around the ballplayers? I think they can withstand an ancient, jaded old divorcée.”
    Marcia Burke, who headed the Catfish marketing and promotions department, had retired from a high-powered New York advertising job but still wore nothing but black. She wore square black eyeglasses and kept her silver hair in a bob that bisected her ears.
    She rose to her feet and put her hands on her hips, scanning Paige from head to toe. Literally, she was about half Paige’s height. “So. You ready to work hard?” Her raspy voice reminded Paige that she’d come back to Kilby to battle throat cancer.
    “Yes ma’am.”
    “I need ideas, brilliant ones, and I need them yesterday. We need to make Catfish synonymous with . . .” She cocked her head at the baseball field. “. . . impact. Glamour.”
    Crush muttered something under his breath, something that sounded suspiciously like “bullshit.” He told them, “I’ll leave you to it, then,” and hauled ass out of the room.
    As soon as he was gone, Marcia plopped back down at her laptop and started jabbing at the keys. “Impact,” she muttered. “Glamour. Social media, we need something on social media, something that’ll really make a national splash. Viral, we want viral. Grab a chair, brainstorm with me.”
    Paige scanned the office for an extra chair but didn’t see one. There were plenty of Catfish posters and piles of T-shirts and little key chains and pens, all in bright Catfish blue. The infamous poster of Trevor Stark hung next to the window that looked out on the