“I hung up first last time, it’s your turn,” he argued.
“You seriously keep track of who hangs up first?” I asked in disbelief.
“Well, yeah. It’s not like I have anything else to do at night since I’m not going out partying with the guys anymore,” he scoffed. “So hang up, otherwise neither of us are going to get any sleep.”
“There’s something seriously wrong with you.” I rolled toward Mason’s side of the bed and clutched his pillow. He’d been on the road long enough that I could barely smell him anymore, but enough to get me through. Tomorrow morning, I’d change the sheets so they were fresh when he got home. “I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“Sweet dreams, baby.” I didn’t say anything more since that’d lead to another round of bickering over who was going to hang up first.
True to his word, I woke up hours later to the sound of my phone ringing. Mason asked me to join him in town for breakfast, and I was once again tempted to break my routine so I could see him. Instead, I reminded him that we only had to get through about twelve more hours before we’d be alone together.
He set down his phone long enough to order room service while I started making myself an egg white omelet. It wasn’t at all satisfying, but I was trying to make up for not working out as hard as I was used to. It was a sacrifice that was worth it since Mason was the reason for my semi-slacker lifestyle. We talked until it was time for me to get in the shower.
“Good luck out there today,” Mason said as the water warmed up. “If you manage to pull off the win today, I’ll make sure you’re so relaxed before tomorrow that the trainer will think you went off for a midnight massage.”
“Mmm, that sounds good.” I reached into my sleep pants and adjusted myself as I checked the clock, trying to decide if we had time for one more round of phone sex before I had to get ready to leave.
We didn’t.
“Yeah? You want me to rub you down tonight?” Mason teased. Voices grew louder in the background on his end of the line. “Shit. Hold that thought. But know I’ll be thinking about massaging every single inch of you when we get home tonight.”
“Can’t wait.” I hung up just in time to smell my omelet burning in the pan. I dumped it into the garbage and started over, telling myself that flub was not a sign of how today was going to go.
21
Mason
One,two, three, four…I counted off the steps to home plate, the same as I did during every away game. Every player had a routine that kept his mind in the game, regardless of the home team hecklers and this was mine. The fans were especially raucous today because Chicago and Milwaukee were border rivals.
I pushed the jeers out of my mind; counting, breathing, adjusting my helmet as I stepped into the batter’s box.Party in the USAby Miley Cyrus played in my mind as I tapped out a smiley face on home plate before lifting the bat into position. Every at-bat felt pivotal at this point in the season.
If I knew I had a place on the roster for next year, I’d have been able to enjoy today’s game. Instead, I was fighting for my future every time I stepped into the batter’s box.
Sixty feet away from me, Sean arched his back in a deep stretch. He shook his head twice before nodding. The cocky bastard winked as he shifted slightly on the mound. Sean released the first pitch and my bat caught nothing but air as it sailed over the plate. A perfect pitch.
“Come on, Atley, he couldn’t have given you a better pitch if he’d set the ball on a tee for you,” Jason chided me as he tossed the ball back to Sean. “Is there something specific you’d like him to throw?”
“Fuck off, Jason,” I growled as I wrung my hands around the narrow neck of the bat, trying to stay focused. The second pitch was high and outside, evening up the count.
“You wish,” Jason tossed over his shoulder as he jogged past me to have a chat with Sean. I’m not sure what that was all about because he’d been on fire most of the night.
If he was playing any other team, I’d have been proud of my partner because he’d managed to completely turn around the slump from early in the season and was more consistent now than I’d ever seen him before.
Sean rubbed his shoulder and I allowed myself to worry for a moment that the errant pitch was the result of an injury.
I glanced at the scoreboard, trying to stop thinking about Sean. In a few hours he’d be my lover again. While the game was still in play, he was the one man standing between me and the opportunity to help my team save face.
Sean twisted his neck to the left and then to the right. He rotated his shoulder a few times, clueing me in to the fact that it was still bothering him. He’d started complaining about it over a week ago, but I doubted he’d told his trainer how stiff he’d been.
My pride was the only thing keeping me from swinging at whatever he threw so he’d be one out closer to the end of the game. Besides, Sean would never let me hear the end of it if I pulled such a bullshit move.
Every time a pitch is thrown, there’s less than a second to make the decision to swing or stay. By the time I realized what was going to happen, it was too late. I heard the crack before the pain exploded across my face. I spun as I crumpled in a heap on the ground, writhing in agony.
It felt like the left side of my face had been blown off, but I knew that wasn’t the case. I heard Ike talking to me, but I couldn’t understand his words. I was incapable of doing anything but roll around in the dirt as blood poured from the side of my face.
Time stopped as I lay there, weakly spitting blood to keep from choking on the coppery liquid. Both team trainers, managers and other people I couldn’t see talked over me while we waited for the paramedics to pull up behind home plate. As they loaded me into the back of the golf cart that would take me to the ambulance, I tried lifting my head to find Sean, but they had me strapped down so tight that I couldn’t move even an inch.
I needed his optimism, needed to hear him tell me that it wasn’t as bad as it seemed because it felt like that five-ounce ball had decimated half of my face. The doors closed, leaving only a paramedic and Ike sitting on the bench as we slowly made our way out of the parking lot.
