Wild Pitch

by Sloan Johnson

  “You’ll have to be patient with me,” I reminded him. “I’ve spent most of my life trying to avoid getting involved with anyone, so it’s going to take some time for me to get used to the fact that I even want a relationship. As for the rest of it, I’m sure I’ll get used to walking around behind you picking up stray clothes and I’ll be sure to put leftovers away. It’ll be worth it to get some extra time with you.”

  Mason shoved me down onto the bed, and fell on top of me, being careful to put all of his weight on his left arm. The Velcro of the brace on his right scratched the side of my face as he ran his fingers over my short blond hair. “It’s a lot for both of us,” he admitted. “Hell, until a few days ago, I couldn’t even admit to anyone that I wanted to be with a man. I thought I’d missed my chance to be with the one person I’ve ever really wanted. Now, I’m wondering why in the hell I didn’t say anything when we were younger. We lost so much time we could have been together.”

  “Don’t think about that,” I scolded him, reaching up to brush the hair away from his face. I curled my fingers around the back of his neck, pulling him down until our lips met. The kiss started out slowly, cautiously, but quickly grew in intensity. Mason moaned as my tongue pushed past his lips, his left arm slid beneath my body, as his right hand reached for the hem of my t-shirt. “Mace, we don’t have time. Tonight, I promise.”

  “I want you now,” he whimpered before nipping at my earlobe. He seemed to have some sort of oral fixation, and I was all too willing to let him sink his teeth into my skin. But not now. Right now, we were both at risk of being late for work. My brain was already short-circuiting from the way Mason was licking and biting his way down my neck, and I almost gave in to his whispered pleas. Almost.

  “Tonight,” I repeated, placing my hands in the middle of his chest to push him off me. “When I get home, we’ll have dinner, talk a bit, and then not talk the rest of the night.”

  “I hate you right now,” he groaned, unashamedly adjusting the hard-on in his jeans. Of course, I couldn’t help but watch him, thinking about how easy it’d be to lean forward and release him, sucking him to the root until he screamed. I had it bad.

  I stood, tossing my arms around Mason’s neck. “I know, but look on the bright side.”

  “I’m failing to see one right now.” I kissed him on the forehead, loving that he thought he could pull out the puppy dog eyes and get me to bend to his whim.

  “It gives you a good reason to hurry up and get back here.” I gave him one last kiss before quickly ducking out of the room to keep him from starting anything else we couldn’t finish.

  Chapter 10

  PT was not only boring and tedious, it hurt like hell. No matter how many times I told the trainer that I wasn’t up to doing what she asked, she pushed harder and harder. By the time Abi pulled up outside the players’ entrance to pick me up, I was ready for the pain pills I’d been avoiding so far.

  If not for the fact that I was pretty sure I was already a goner over her brother, I would have leaned across the truck to kiss her when she greeted me with a bottle of water and my medication. “I grabbed these out of Sean’s bathroom before we left,” she told me. “I figured you’d be too pig-headed to admit you need them.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I scoffed.

  “Exactly what I said. You’re a stubborn man, and admitting you need the pills is some sort of weakness in your eyes.”

  “Is not,” I argued. I instinctively reached for the handle over the door when Abi whipped the wheel to the left to beat the oncoming traffic. I clutched my right arm against my chest when I realized how stupid that was. The pain that had been barely tolerable when I got done with therapy was now agonizing. “Be careful, would ya? I’m pretty sure your brother will be pissed if you crease his truck.”

  “Yeah, your bitching has nothing to do with the fact that you didn’t trust me and grabbed the oh-shit bar, does it?” she scoffed with a dramatic eye roll. “I’ll have you know I’m the only one of us kids who’s never totaled a vehicle.”

  “Oh, that makes me feel better.” I tried to relax, a feat on par with trying to scale a mountain, as Abi wove her way through downtown Chicago. I had to give her credit¸ not only did she get us to my condo without incident, but she also managed to find parking close by.

  As soon as we walked through the front door, I caught a whiff of cleaning chemicals. Since I knew for a fact that my mom was in Springfield and I hadn’t asked the cleaning service to come by, that meant Abi had spent the day cleaning an already spotless condo. Sean was right, something was really wrong, and I was going to figure out what it was.

  “Hey, what do you say we watch the game here? If we head back as soon as it’s done, we’ll probably still get home before Sean does,” I suggested. I couldn’t explain why, but I figured it might be easier on Abi not to be at her brother’s for a while. “The fridge is empty, but I’m sure you already knew that. I’ll order takeout and we’ll kick back.”

  “Sounds good to me,” she agreed quickly. “Like I said, I’ve spent most of the summer so far at Sean’s place, so it’ll be a nice change of scenery, even if your place is a bit sterile.”

  “Hey now! I think it’s pretty decent, given the fact that I’m rarely here,” I protested. When she flopped down on the couch next to me and planted a sloppy kiss on my cheek, I knew she was trying to rile me. “You’re a brat, you know that?”

  “So I’ve been told.”

  I picked up the phone and called in an order for Chinese before searching for the game in a sea of about a thousand channels. I wondered why I bothered paying for the premium package since it was rare that I even turned the damn thing on.

  The announcers were still doing their pre-game analysis, so I muted the TV and turned to face Abi with my arm draped over the back of the couch with a bag of ice over it. “You can tell me it’s none of my business, but were you totally honest with Sean this morning?” I asked, cringing because I sounded more judgmental than I’d intended.

  “What do you mean?” Abi asked, chugging her bottle of water.

  “I mean, I know you told him that you’re worried about school and all that shit, but is that all it is? If it is, you need to quit stressing about it and relax over the summer,” I advised her.

  “No, but it was enough to get him off my back,” she admitted, worrying her lower lip.

  “Anything you want to talk about?” I offered, because now that we were talking about her issues, I Abi was retreating into her shell. I wasn’t good at this shit. I didn’t have any siblings, and whenever Teresa had been upset, I’d dealt with it by trying to get off the topic as quickly as possible.

  “Yeah, that’d work real well,” she sneered. “No offense, but if I tell you, you’re going to run and tell him out of some sort of screwed up loyalty to him.”

  “No, I won’t,” I promised her, reaching for her hand. “Abi, if something’s bothering you, you can always talk to me without worrying that I’m going to tell him. The only exception would be if I think you’re in danger, but even then I’d tell you that I was going to tell him.”

  “Are you for real?” She asked warily.

  I pinched myself for dramatic effect. “Yep, pretty sure I am,” I confirmed for her. “Now, tell me what’s going on so we can figure out how to get you out of this funk. No offense to you, but moping and shoving food in your face doesn’t work for you. You’re supposed to be annoyingly happy and optimistic.”

  “None taken. Remember, you said you won’t tell Sean,” she reminded me, causing me to wonder exactly what was going on. I nodded and reached for her hand. “Okay, well toward the end of the school year, I was supposed to be at the cabin with Mom and Dad, but then Leanne wanted Mom’s help looking at reception spaces, so that blew apart. I was pretty pissed, because Leanne was yet again the center of attention and Mom waited so long to cancel that everyone already had plans for Friday night. I decided to hole up in my room and study for finals instead of
get shitty drunk with the girls downstairs.”

  This didn’t sound good at all. I took a few breaths to keep from jumping to conclusions, and there were plenty to choose from. I motioned for her to continue, and she started to cry. I scooted closer to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. She slumped into my side as she gently sobbed.

  “I walked out of my room to take a quick break, and I heard voices coming from one of the rooms across the hall from mine.” She angrily wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Let’s just say that my boyfriend had no problems making other plans since he thought I would be out of town. And to make matters worse, when someone told him that I was home and in my room, he knocked on the door and pretended that he hadn’t been in that whore’s room all night.”

  “Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry,” I said, attempting to soothe her. “It’s no excuse, but I will say that men are assholes sometimes.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it,” she huffed.

  I peeked over her shoulder as I tried to get her to calm down, checking on the game. It didn’t matter if we watched or not since Sean was between starts, but I told him I’d watch so I was.

  When the doorbell rang, I got up and paid for the food. I heard Abi pulling out plates and silverware, so I dropped the bag of food on the island and turned the television so we could see it from the stools. I was impressed with her commentary on the game, since most girls could barely wrap their heads around the basics.

  We wound up leaving my place during the top of the eighth since the Mavericks were up by seven. Abi was still a bit sullen on the drive, but I didn’t press her to share anything else with me. I figured I’d do well to take it slow and earn her trust so she knew I wasn’t fishing for information.

  The first half of the drive was uncomfortably quiet. I reached down to turn on the stereo, but every channel seemed to be on commercial break at the same time. While I rummaged through the console for Sean’s CD collection, Abi turned the volume all the way down so we were back in silence.

  “Mason, can I ask you a question?” I glanced over to the driver’s seat and saw her hands gripping the wheel as though we were driving through a blizzard. She really needed to get past whatever had turned her from bubbly to uptight. Fast.

  “Anything.”

  “Have you ever thought about having kids?” she asked, the words so quiet I barely heard them over the rumble of the engine.

  “All the time,” I admitted. “Granted, I think I’ve spent more time thinking about why I couldn’t have kids than why I wanted them, but I think everyone wants a family.”

  She gnawed at the corner of her lip. One mile went by, then two without her saying anything more. “Why do you think you can’t have a family?”

  “Well, first it was because I wanted to be home for my kids,” I told her. It sounded silly since there were plenty of players who started families while they were playing, but I didn’t want that for my own. I figured I’d play ball for a while, then move on and still have time to have it all. “Then, Teresa and I started having more problems, and I knew I didn’t want to bring anyone into that chaos. And now…well, you’re a smart girl, I’m sure I don’t have to give you a basic biology lesson. I can’t say for sure that this thing between Sean and me will last forever, but as long as we’re together, it’s not like anything we do is going to lead to the next generation of ball players.”

  “That’s not true,” she countered, eyes still on the road in front of her. “There are plenty of gay couples who have families. The question is whether or not you want that.”

  “Abi, we’ve been dating, or whatever, for about two minutes, I think it’s premature to start planning that far into the future.”

  “Humor me. Let’s say, hypothetically, that you and Sean are still together down the road. Is that something you’d want?”

  “If we got to that point and both of us were on the same page, then sure.” Traffic started to get heavier and I was given a reprieve from this little dream world Abi was trying to weave. That didn’t mean I stopped thinking about what it’d be like to have a family with Sean.

  Chapter 11

  Mason sent me a text message shortly after the game ended to let me know they were stuck in traffic. Apparently, he and Abi had stayed in Chicago later than they’d intended and he hadn’t considered the post-game traffic jams. It irritated me at first to know that they weren’t home, but I decided it wasn’t worth the aggravation. Besides, after a shaky road stretch, it was impossible to be in a foul mood while sitting around the locker room. The guys played a hell of a game tonight, and were in full celebration mode. Most of the single guys were going out for a while, but the rest of us wanted nothing more than to get home to our families.

  I stopped in my tracks at that thought, because my mind seemed to have accepted that that’s what Mason was to me. With or without the sex, he was a part of me. And he’d be home soon, as long as my sister didn’t kill him with her driving.

  “Signal that stop next time,” Jason scolded me as he ran into my back, shoving me forward so my shin connected with the bench in front of me.

  “Sorry,” I apologized.

  “No worries,” he assured me with a slap to my back. “I figured you’d be out of here the second you were able. What’re you doing hanging around?”

  This afternoon, I’d admitted to him that I’d driven down to pick up Mason as soon as we’d landed last night. He didn’t seem terribly surprised, and even suggested that we get together before Mason headed back to Chicago for good.

  “They got delayed driving up from Chicago,” I told him. “I’m going to hang here a bit longer, and I’ll probably still get home before they do.”

  As cool as Jason was with what he knew about me, I wasn’t stupid enough to think everyone would be, so I was very careful about how I phrased my responses to him in case anyone overheard.

  “Yeah, you probably will,” he agreed. “Well, I’m going to get cleaned up and head out. I’ll catch you tomorrow.”

  I checked my watch and decided it had been long enough that the traffic should be clearing up. On the way to my car, I stopped at the fence set up to keep fans from storming the players’ entrance and signed a few autographs. As usual, the fans were a mix of kids, grown men, and women who hoped to receive an invite for a more private gathering. I paid attention to the former groups, while carefully avoiding the women. No matter how many times some of these so-called ladies were turned down, they still tried to follow every player out to the parking lot, hoping we’d give them a ride in more ways than one.

  The house was still dark when I got home, so I made myself a sandwich and sat down to watch Sportsline to see what they had to say about Tulsa’s performance tonight. It was a habit of mine, watching to see what the analysts were talking about a few days before facing a team. In this case, they were gushing over Marcus Jones, who was on fire this season. His batting average so far was .337, which put him in second place overall, solidly in first in his league. The man had no weakness, which sucked for me.

  Plain and simple, we needed to sweep this series so we’d still be flying high when Tulsa came into town. They were a strong opponent and we were finding our feet later in the season than we’d like.

  I heard the garage door open and turned off the television. Abi quickly disappeared into the basement after giving me a peck on the cheek and telling me she’d need gas money tomorrow. I shook my head, wondering how our parents did it with five kids in the house. Then I remembered that they made us go out and get jobs, telling us that it’d make us stronger adults if we learned to support ourselves.

  “How’s PT?” I asked, noticing that Mason was favoring his right hand. It was swollen and his fingers looked discolored. That couldn’t be good.

  “Sucks,” he admitted, which said a lot about how much pain he was in. I remembered one time about a month after he started playing when he’d refused to admit that he’d done more than twisted his ankle. He could barely walk and we all knew he was in
pain, and yet he tried saying it was just tweaked. “I’m beat, can we go upstairs?”

  “Actually, there’s somewhere I want to take you.” I couldn’t explain why, but I needed to get out of the house. It had been a long time since I’d been this restless. Given the time of night, there was only one place I could think of that’d help me clear my head.

  “Sean, I’m not sure I’m up for a night out,” Mason protested, sinking into my side with his head resting on my shoulder. He rested his hand on my thigh, gliding his swollen fingers over the cotton of my pants. If we didn’t get out of the house, I couldn’t guarantee I’d keep my promise to let him set the pace. I was trying hard to take things slow with Mason, to give him time to make damn sure this was what he wanted, but my dick could only handle so much teasing.

  “No, nothing like that,” I told him. I pushed him upright and stood, reaching for his hand. “I want to show you something.”

  He grumbled as his head fell to the back cushion of the couch. “Do we have to?” he whined. “The only thing I want is to get you upstairs and naked so I can show you how much I missed you.”

  “Mace, you make it sound like we haven’t seen each other in months.” I grabbed his left hand and pulled him off the couch.

  “Well, excuse me for wanting to make up for lost time,” he huffed.

  “We will,” I whispered as I nibbled his neck. “But first, I want to go someplace quiet for a little bit.”

  As a child, I’d always taken for granted how lucky I was to live within biking distance of Lake Michigan. It wasn’t an ocean, but it was large enough that I could sit in the sand and listen to the waves roll onto the shore. It was simple yet hypnotic. When I was there, I released whatever was upsetting me into the water and imagined it getting lost in the waves.