“Thought you weren’t allowed to play with the Unicorns anymore?” I asked in a daze.
Enrique only rolled his eyes. “Like a man is going to tell me what to do.”
“Oh, Harley.” Brad kneeled beside me, running his hand over my hair. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you to catch it.”
Nicky tittered and squeezed my arm, face pinched in concern. “What hurts?”
Some of the Grizzlies surrounded us too, including Boyd, who stood at the front of them. Now that I thought about it, his name sounded familiar, and it took me a few seconds to connect the dots. He was the boss of the company that Kwan was applying to work for. Maybe I should have said a few words to him about Kwan. It was a stupid thought to have while my face pounded, but it distracted me from both the icy coldness of the pack and the burning pain.
“My cheek.” I rocked closer to Brad and he curled his arm around me, placing a kiss on my temple. “Fuck. That hurts.”
“Come on, let’s get you off the field. Enrique, take second base. Nicky, change to first. Evan, can you be the pitcher while I take care of Harley?”
“Sure thing,” Evan said, shifting to my other side and hooking his hand under my armpit, helping me stand.
Brad slid his hand to my waist and we slowly walked in. He sat me down on the wooden bench and moved beside me, sticking the ice pack back onto my cheek.
I let out a long sigh. “I didn’t catch it, Master.”
His eyes widened and he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have teased you like that.”
“But I wanted to catch it.” My gaze drifted to my family, who were all focused on our bench, on me, though I didn’t think they could really see me with Brad huddling so protectively around me.
He followed my line of sight toward the bleachers and smiled gently. “They’re still proud of you, Harley cat.”
“I wanted to show them I could play.” I pouted at him, my heart clenching. I hated feeling like this. This was the first time I ever felt like I was a part of something. I wasn’t just Harley, the weird guy. I was a Unicorn, and a son or brother my family could cheer for. It wasn’t something I’d thought I wanted, but now that I’d had a taste, I wanted more of being included. Just like Kwan included me as a pet.
“This was your first game, kitten,” he whispered, dragging me closer. I buried my face against his chest and sighed. With the ice pack, the dull pain in my cheek faded. Not disappeared, but not as painful as it was before. “Do you think something’s broken?”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t hurt enough for that.”
“You’d be surprised. I broke my wrist once and Mom took me to the doctor. Doc said it wasn’t broken, even after he took an X-ray. We got a phone call a week later to say the X-ray was double-checked by another doctor and it was broken. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it is.”
“You don’t talk much about your family.” I sat up straighter and grabbed his hand, kissing the knuckles. Lowering the ice pack to the bench between us, I licked at my dry lips. “Do you talk to them?”
Brad grabbed the pack and placed it back on my face with a firm no-nonsense expression I’d quickly become accustomed to. This was my Master telling me to be a good boy and keep it on there. “They live in Georgia. I talk to them once a month on the phone. We don’t have a bad relationship.”
“Oh.” I nodded, nearly dislodging the pack again. The hard but concerned look he gave me made me stop moving. “Do they know you’re gay?”
Brad smiled. “Yes, kitty, they know, and they’re okay with it. Well, as much as they can be, and I’ve accepted that. They don’t hate me.”
“Good. I’m glad.” I frowned in thought. “Because no one should hate you. I didn’t know, because the stats aren’t on our side when it comes to families.”
He shook his head, the laugh lines becoming more prominent on his handsome face. “No, they aren’t, but my parents aren’t bad people. I’m an only child. They aren’t mad at me for being gay, just disappointed about the grandchildren thing, I think.”
“I want kids.” I blurted it out before I could stop myself. Flushing at Brad’s shocked expression, I looked at his chest instead and continued. “In the future. I always thought about adopting a kid or having one of my own. Only one. I’m not insane like my brothers. So down the track, if we’re still together—”
“When we’re still together,” Brad interjected.
“Yeah, when we’re still together, we could have a few kids if you’d like that.” I chanced a glimpse at him, and the tenderness on his face made my belly warm and my heart pound harder than my sore cheek.
“I’d like that, kitty. Very much.”
“Okay. Good. I’m glad.” I chuckled. “Maybe you should be the one to teach them how to play kickball, though.”
Brad laughed so loudly that the Grizzly Boys’ kicker turned to frown at us. “Yes, I probably should.”
Epilogue
