“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 watchSportslineto 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 was 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.
Mason relented, as I knew he would, and he followed me to my pickup. Although it wasn’t a long drive, Mason fell asleep as I wove my way through a maze of surface streets to avoid the overnight construction closures that were choking off the city. I entered the code at the security gate leading into a private lakefront community and gently shook Mason’s shoulder.
“Mason, wake up.” He blinked a few times as I pulled into the driveway.
“Where in the hell are we?” he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Eric’s house. When he got traded, he asked me to keep an eye on it until he decides whether or not he’s going to sell it,” I told him.
Mason stiffened and pressed his body against the door of the truck as soon as I mentioned Eric’s name. No matter how many times I told him that Eric wasn’t anything more than a friend with benefits, a convenient and safe way to bust a nut, it bothered Mason. “Hey, you have to get over this hang up. Eric has been my friend for a long time, the same as you, and that’s not going to change.”
“I know, but-”
I reached out for Mason and pulled him close to me.
“No buts,” I said firmly. “I’ll admit that I still don’t fully understand what’s going on between you and me, but I will guarantee you it’s nothing I ever would have considered with him.”
“So why are we here?” he asked.
“We have a lot to talk about, and I didn’t see that happening at home,” I admitted. “When we’re alone together, it’s too easy for me to convince myself that I don’t need to understand what’s going on or what you want, but it is.”
