Sweet Spot: Homeruns #4 (24 page)

I
f I could get
through these next few days, I’d get a break. Physically, I was in peak condition, but mentally I was drained. Part of that was thanks to a recent roommate assignment change. I’d gotten along well with Martinez, but then the prick hit his marker to get his own room, leaving me on my own. That hadn’t lasted an entire series before more changes were made and I was called aside in the hotel lobby and told I’d be sharing a room with Kevin Green. Kev was a good guy, the life of the party, all that happy crap. What he wasn’t was anything like I’d expected. From what I’d seen of him both in the clubhouse and when we were hanging out after games, I thought we’d get along fairly well. He seemed like the guy everyone liked.

I don’t know if he had a problem with me personally or what, but that was far from the Kevin I shared a room with. Once the door closed behind us at the end of the day, he seemed to go out of his way to avoid me. I knew he had a girl back home, so maybe that was his problem. Whatever it was, I sure as hell hoped his mood improved after the All-Star break, otherwise one of us might not make it to the end of the season.

I sucked in a deep breath as I pulled the key card out of my wallet. Kevin had begged off going out tonight claiming he wasn’t feeling great, so I slipped into the room without fully opening the door so I wouldn’t wake him. His back was turned to the door, leaving me to wonder if he’d fallen asleep watching something on his computer again. When I’d asked him why he didn’t just use the television like a normal person, he confessed that his niece had gotten him hooked on one of her favorite shows.

Okay, so maybe me laughing at him had something to do with why he didn’t talk to me any more than necessary, but I couldn’t help it. Here was this man who could easily be the poster child of the macho professional athlete and he harbored a secret addiction to
Hart of Dixie.
Like most guys, he tried to play it off as an infatuation with Rachel Bilson, but he was way into every storyline in the show.

As I toed out of my shoes and unbuttoned my jeans, I made the mistake of glancing over his body to see what episode he was on so I could tell him how many he’d slept through. Big mistake. Huge. We’re talking boutique bitches in
Pretty Woman
sized mistake. He wasn’t watching his show at all. He was watching fucking porn.

And because I was a glutton for punishment, I sat at the edge of my bed and peeked over to see what type of porn Mr. Wonderful was into. I winced as I watched the girl impale herself on one guy while the other positioned himself behind her. I almost didn’t want to think about her trying to take the thick cock up her ass. No way could that feel good, not with another buried…there.

Holy fuck!
My ass clenched as he went in for the kill. I should get up and run out of the room, but this was like
Jerry Springer.
No way would it turn out well, but I couldn’t stop myself.

“Dude, it’s only gonna get freakier, so if you’re squeamish you might wanna quit perving.” Kevin’s shaky breath made me jump. “You know, unless you like getting off watching another dude get off watching porn.”

“S-s-sorry,” I quickly apologized. “I thought you’d fallen asleep.”

“Nope. Now, if you don’t mind, not really in the mood for chitchat,” he told me. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I faintly noticed the sheet rising and lowering. He was actually jerking off right there. Who did that shit? While I tried to think of something, anything, to say, Kevin turned his head to look at me. “I mean it, Davies. Either join in the fun or get the fuck out. I’m not giving myself blue balls for you.”

As much as my dick wanted me to drop trou and jerk off thinking about what he was doing, that’d be weird. I’d been part of plenty of jerk sessions, but never with a straight guy, and sure as hell not with a teammate. I didn’t even bother grabbing my shoes as I bolted out of the room. “Try to hurry. I’m going for one drink and then I’m coming back whether you’ve busted a nut or not.”

“Already be done if you hadn’t interrupted me,” Kevin called out as the door slammed behind me.

Walking into the hotel bar in my socks caught the attention of more than a few of my teammates. The room was filled with catcalls and guys asking if Kevin and I had a lovers’ spat. I knew they didn’t mean anything by it, but their jabs still rankled. They didn’t know about me. No one did. I’d been trying to figure out when and how to come out now that I was where I wanted to be and on what’d been dubbed the most accepting team in the league, but I hadn’t gotten there yet. It wasn’t hard in theory, since all the hype about the Mavericks being inclusive was legit, but I had a lifetime of hiding that piece of myself and I was still scared I’d be the one that tipped everything out of balance.

“Davies, get your ass over here!” Jason called out. By the time I pulled up a stool next to him, there was already a frosty pint sitting in front of me. I had no clue how he got lightning fast service in every city, but I wasn’t about to complain.

“Thanks, you have no clue how much I need this,” I told him. As I took a long draw off my glass, I glanced around to see who else was still hanging out. Maybe Jason was exactly who I needed. Maybe he’d be the one who could help me figure out how to open that closet door for the first and last time. Maybe.

“Rough night?” Jason looked down at my feet and then took in my disheveled appearance. “Most guys come in here looking like you do and I’d think he’d followed the wrong chick to her room. But something tells me that’s not the case here.”

I cocked my head and tried to figure out what he was getting at. If anyone on the team was going to call me out for hiding in the closet with my teddy bear, it’d be him. But was he? Or did he think I was one of the guys who simply wasn’t interested in a one-night-fling and a lifetime of antibiotics?

“Definitely not the case,” I agreed, shuddering as I admitted to myself that being with one of the groupies might’ve been a step up for my night. “How well do you know Green?”

Jason shrugged. “About as well as anyone, why? Listen, if he was being a dick, you have to forgive him. I love the man like a brother, but he’s got the social graces of a long-haul trucker. We’ve tried telling him to think before engaging his mouth, but we gave up on that a couple of seasons ago.”

He was kind of a dick, but not really. God, why did Jason have to use that particular term? Now, all I could think about was Kevin’s dick. And what he was doing. And— No. I wasn’t going to go there.

“Shit, Davies. Now you got me wondering if I should go up there and kick his ass first, ask questions later.” Jason actually started to push away from the bar. I reached out to keep him from rushing to my rescue. Jason was good like that. He was the big brother to everyone on the team and seemed particularly protective of the younger pitchers. If we had an off day, it made his job that much harder.

“It’s nothing like that,” I hissed through gritted teeth. Now, Jason was the one calling attention to us and I didn’t like it. I much preferred being the guy who got by being boringly average in every way. It worked well. I came to work, did my job, and went home.

“Then why are you down here without your damn shoes?”

“Let’s just leave it at Kevin needed a bit of…private time.” I felt my cheeks flush in embarrassment, even though I wasn’t the one who’d been caught tugging his junk. Jason, on the other hand, seemed highly amused. He couldn’t stop laughing. “Yeah, laugh it up. You’re not the one who walked in on him watching two dudes shoving their—“

Jason held up a hand to stop me. “No need to finish that. I suppose we should’ve warned you about that.”

“You mean this is a regular thing for him?” I groaned, suddenly wishing for a Zoe and Wade marathon. I wasn’t sure I could stomach too much more freaky porn. At least he had the good sense to keep the volume down.

“I have no clue why he does it, but every once in a while he gets into this mood where he turns on the weirdest porn he can,” Jason informed me. “I don’t think he even watches it to get off, it’s more to shock whoever he’s rooming with at the time.”

“Is that why he needed a new roommate?” I decided it was better if I didn’t mention the fact that he seemed to be enjoying the hell out of the threesome he was watching. Or that I was more shocked by it than appalled and considered joining him. Neither were details that needed to be shared with my teammate.

“Are you kidding? Kevin’s porn collection has turned into a team legend.” Jason laughed. “Before he got called up to Milwaukee, he had guys knocking on his door or sending him messages online, asking if he had anything he could send them. He’s like a walking porn library. Whatever you’re in the mood for, he’s probably got it.”

Now, it was my turn to laugh. I highly doubted he’d be able to provide anything I’d want to watch. As if he understood my dismissive chuckle, Jason added, “Seriously man,
anything.
Kevin’s one of those guys who simply loves sex. He’s unapologetic about it. I’m not sure if that extends into his personal experience or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Sometimes, I wonder if he says some of the shit he does as a way to keep people from asking too many questions.”

Jason checked the time on his phone and quickly excused himself. With the way he smiled as he pulled a few bills out of his wallet, it didn’t take a genius to know he was going up to his room so he could talk to Cam. The two of them seemed like the odd couple, but they were the real deal. They balanced each other in a way I couldn’t even imagine having in my own life.

After finishing my beer, I made my way to the elevators, ignoring the snickers and stares from my teammates. I should kick Kevin’s ass for putting me in this position. Being a rookie in the majors was hard enough without handing anyone hazing ammunition.

B
y the last
day before the All-Star break, the tension in our room had grown unbearable. Kevin seemed like his usual self, but I couldn’t even look at him. I was the one embarrassed about the situation the other night. I felt like I should say something, but what? “Hey, sorry I interrupted your private time.” Or maybe, “Hey, next time shoot me a text and I’ll steer clear until you tell me it’s safe to come back to the room.”

No, it seemed we were doomed to this uncomfortable silence. The best I could hope for at this point was it’d be a long forgotten memory by the time we hit the road for the second half of the season.

I finished packing my suitcase and left the room while Kevin was still in the shower. It was better this way. We’d get through today’s game and then head home for a few days.

The waitress had just delivered my breakfast when I heard someone clear his throat behind me. I tried to school my features when I saw Kevin standing there, looking more uncertain than I’d ever seen him. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Do you mind if I sit?” he asked, nodding toward the empty chair across from me.

I looked around and saw that guys from the team were already filling most of the seats in the small dining room. “Yeah, I suppose,” responded flatly. It wasn’t as though he had a ton of available seats to pick from.

Both of us remained silent until after the waitress stopped by to refill my water and take his order. It wasn’t the silence that was uncomfortable, it was his presence. I focused on the food in front of me, but I could feel his eyes boring into my chest.

“If you’re trying to figure out what to say about the other night, don’t bother. It’s fine.” I pushed the eggs around on my plate, suddenly unable to eat anything. Why did he affect me this way? No one bugged me the way he did.

“Look, I was a dick,” he said, leaning in so he wouldn’t be overheard. “It’s your room too, and I shouldn’t have done what I did.”

“It’s not like you’re the only guy who needs to take care of business,” I responded dismissively.

“True, but I should’ve stopped when you walked in. I guess… fuck, I don’t know what I was thinking,” he admitted. “The guys are always telling me there’s a short-circuit between my brain and my mouth, and they’re probably right.”

“Seriously, it’s okay,” I repeated. “I’m not some sort of virginal prude. It was just a bit of a shock.”

Kevin chuckled. “Yeah, I hear that a lot.”

And then, the prick did something I totally didn’t expect. He winked at me. Jason’s words from the other night about how he had his assumptions about Kevin’s sexuality dipped into my mind, but I quickly pushed them away. We weren’t buddies, so there was no way to ask him if he was flirting with me without making a total ass of myself. Instead, I clung to the detail about Kevin loving sex. Something had been bugging me since I caught him watching that double penetration scene, and this was an opportunity to ask him about that.

“Okay, tell me to mind my own business if you want, but is that the type of thing you’re really into?” I’d been with women before, and while it wasn’t a bad experience, it didn’t really do anything for me. Their bodies were all wrong, too soft, and I couldn’t get into it. But if there was a third person there, a guy, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. And based on the few seconds I watched, it seemed the guys in the video Kevin was watching had no problem touching one another. I suppose sharing the same confined space with a third person would make it impossible to have issues about touching other guys.