Unforgivable - 10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Jason had woken up Saturday morning feeling muscles he’d forgotten existed. It’d been years since he’d played ball, and his body was letting him know about it. Sitting in the grass, he stretched out the tightness. They had two games today, with one being against Corey’s ex’s team. After the altercation last night, Jason had asked around, and it was confirmed Zach was playing in the tournament. When he’d let Corey know, the brunette shrugged as if it was no big deal, but Jason noticed the tension in his shoulders.

He looked up when a shadow fell over him. “I see you survived,” Jack said, smirking.

Jason chuckled as he stood and dusted off his pants. “Yeah, but I’m not sure about some of the others. They were still hitting it pretty hard when I left.”

Sure enough, a few of the latecomers looked a little worse for wear as they straggled onto the field. Jason smiled when he remembered Corey sporting a pair of dark sunglasses when he’d arrived earlier. The brunette didn’t drink very much, but he seemed to be feeling the effects this morning.

Leaving the coach’s side, he grabbed a water bottle from the cooler and held it out to his friend, who was leaning against the backstop. “Here.” Corey shot him a questioning look. “Rehydrate. It helps.”

Corey scoffed, but his eyes lit up with amusement. He took the water and drank half before setting in on the bench and running out onto the field with his bat. “Come on, old man,” the brunette yelled over his shoulder. “I want to practice my fielding.”

Jason grinned and grabbed a ball from a smirking teammate. “Hey, who are you calling old?”

Their first game was against a team of firefighters and police officers. It was a lot of fun with a constant stream of back and forth wisecracks. The view of some of the players wasn’t too hard on the eyes either, as Corey teased later. They were closely matched, and the game ended in a tie, even under threat of speeding tickets and impounded cars. Jason was jogging back to the dugout when he stepped on a clod of overturned turf. The pain was only a twinge, but was sharp enough to make him stumble.

“What’s wrong?” Corey appeared at his side, sounding concerned.

“Just my ankle,” he replied, with reassuring smile. Jason took a tentative step, and was pleased to feel only a dull throb. “I stepped on a divot. It should be fine in a second.”

“Let me look at it.” Corey followed him to the bench, and pulled Jason’s foot onto his lap. The brunette’s touch was light as he skimmed across the injured area. Jason felt his body start to respond as he watched the lightly tanned fingers glide over his skin. Appalled, he closed his eyes and hoped his jock would be enough to hide his untimely reaction.

“It looks okay,” the younger man finally spoke, with a pat on Jason’s shin. “You should elevate and ice it before the game though.”

Jason nodded, not trusting his voice. Grabbing some ice from one of the coolers, Corey wrapped it in a towel from his bag and handed it to his patient. “Here, you can use this.”

Taking the compress with a quiet thank you, Jason slipped on his sock and shoe and walked gingerly to the stands. As he sat, he noticed Zach out of the corner of his eye staring at the bench where Corey was gathering their belongings. The man didn’t look angry, but he didn’t seem pleased to see the brunette either. When Corey finally spotted his ex, he gave the man a slow nod before looking away again. Leaving their bags beside the fence surrounding the diamond, he joined Jason on the bleachers.

“Think he’ll cause any problems?” Jason motioned towards Zach, who was now heading for the dugout.

“Nah,” Corey denied. He took the ice from Jason and maneuvered his foot onto another folded towel. Soon Jason’s shoe and sock were removed and the chilled cloth was soothing any residual ache. Their team had a by this round so he had time to rest before playing again. “He can be a stupid drunk, but he won’t do anything when he’s sober.” The younger man grimaced. “His behaviour at the wedding and the bar was pretty unusual… even for him.”

Corey seemed confident, so Jason let it go for the time being. Zach’s team was playing in the next game, so they had front row seats to watch. Jason hated to admit it, but the burly blonde was good. Very good. He made some plays that would have made the pros take notice. They were going to get a run for their money.

Over the next couple of hours they quietly analyzed their competition… especially the pitching and gaps they noticed in the outfield. Finally, Corey checked Jason’s ankle and proclaimed the blonde ready to play. During warmups, Corey had him doing stretching exercises to check his range of motion. As a precaution, the physiotherapist insisted Jason wrap the ankle to provide some protection. With the determined look in the Corey’s eyes, he knew better than to argue.

The game started well, with excellent plays made by both sides. He was especially impressed with Corey’s standing double in the third inning. Although he remained wary of Zach, the other man hadn’t attempted to talk to or approach his ex-boyfriend. It should have made Jason feel better, but he’d caught the assistant coach staring at Corey with a strange look on his face on more than one occasion.

At the top of the ninth, they were ahead by two runs. One of their opposition’s best hitters was up, with Zach on first and one out. Jason heard the crack of the bat and watched as the ball dropped between first and second base. Tanner fielded it easily and threw to Corey on second, trying to beat Zach to the bag. Jason watched as Zach slid, almost in slow motion, right into Corey’s legs. The brunette managed to fire the ball to first base before the big body took him down, hard. Corey had barely hit the dirt before Jason was racing from right field… not caring if they got the batter at first.

With his heart in his throat, he quickly made it to Corey’s side. He’d been hit like that before and it blew out his knee for months. The brunette sat up and dusted himself off, grimacing as he rubbed his hip.

“Are you ok?” Jason was surprised how out of breath he sounded.

“I’m fine,” Corey said with a pained chuckle. “Might have a bruise on my ass, but nothing major.”

Jason turned on Zach, who hovered nearby. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he yelled. “You could have seriously hurt him!”

“Jase….”

“I....” Zach scowled at the slightly shorter blonde. “I did my job and slid into base. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.”

Jason didn’t believe the man for a second. The slide was late and he'd come in high. From the rumblings around them, no one else believed Zach either.

A hand touched Jason’s arm. “Jase, it’s okay. I’m fine.”

“He could have really hurt you.” Jason turned and placed his hands on Corey’s shoulders. “You’re sure you’re all right?”

“Yes,” the shorter man said with a crooked smile. “I got out of the way; it’s the end of the game… we won.”

After assessing Corey for another moment, Jason turned to Zach again, who was now flanked by concerned looking teammates. “You’re lucky he wasn’t seriously injured. It’s a charity game for fuck’s sake.”

Jason felt a pull on his arm, and allowed Corey to drag him over to their group, while the other team hauled Zach to the dugout. The celebration was a little subdued, but they congratulated each other on their win. With the points tallied, Jack gave them the good news they would be playing in the championship game the next day. This loss dropped Zach’s team into the consolation game. Jason was grateful they wouldn’t have to play each other again. He wasn’t sure if he could get through it without punching the asshole.

Leaving the diamond, they walked as a group to the tented area set up for the barbecue. Grabbing hamburgers and drinks, they commandeered one of the long tables. People walking by called out congratulations to Corey on the great double play and sympathies about the slide, causing the brunette to flush with embarrassment.

“It was a good play,” Jason whispered as he nudged the other man’s shoulder. “Even if you did bruise your ass.”

“Asshole,” Corey grumbled with an eye-roll.

“You bruised that too? Ouch.” The bad joke earned Jason a punch in the shoulder, and a snorted laugh.

Everyone at the table talked and joked as they ate, enjoying the warm mid-afternoon breeze. By all accounts, it was a successful event. Sara could be seen flitting from table to table and around, making sure everyone had everything they needed. Jason knew what Corey meant when he’d described her as tireless.

“You two coming out to James’ place?” Kevin said, sitting beside Jason. “He’s got a pool, and invited everyone over.”

Jason was tired, but it would be nice to get to know everyone better without the noise of a bar drowning out voices... and a swim sounded great after all of the humidity this weekend. “A dip sounds good to me.”

Corey grinned. “Sounds great, Kev.” He nodded at the other man. “He still lives on Pembroke?”

“Yep.”

“I’ll be there.” The brunette confirmed. After both men agreed, Kevin said his goodbyes, saying he was heading home to change.

“So where is this place?” Jason asked, as they threw away their trash and headed for the parking lot.

“It’s only a couple of streets over from you.”

“Really?” Jason stopped beside Corey’s car, and leaned against the door. “Well why don’t you come over to my place and leave your car in my driveway? We can walk over together. If the whole team’s going to be there, the street will be crowded enough… and if you have to take a cab home, you’ll know your car is somewhere safe.” Corey quickly agreed and left with a promise to see him in an hour.

Jason was pulling on a pair of shorts when he heard his doorbell. Grabbing a towel and throwing it over his shoulder, he opened the door to find Corey grinning at him in the sunshine.

“You ready?”

“Yep,” he answered, putting on his sunglasses. “Let’s go.”

The walk was warm, but the tree-lined streets gave them plenty of shade. James’ home was an older building that was restored beautifully. Having had the man introduced to him as a carpenter, Jason wasn’t surprised at the fine detail work. Knocking on the door they were greeted by Kevin, who invited them inside, gave them each a cold beer and led them to the back yard.

“Make yourself at home guys. I’m just going to grab more snacks.”

The space was dominated by a large concrete deck and pool, with what appeared to be a small shed tucked into a back corner. Privacy was assured by a tall hedge surrounding the property. There were already several members of the team sitting in lounge chairs, or splashing in the water. Several shouts of greeting met them as they were noticed.

Corey gave Jason a crooked grin before dropping his towel onto a nearby chair, stripping down to his shorts, and jumping into the water. Chuckling, he followed the other man’s lead and placed his things on an adjacent chair, making his way more sedately to the stairs on the far side of the pool.

“Come on, old man!” Corey teased. “Get your butt in here.”

“Old man my ass.” Jason snorted a laugh before dunking himself under. The water was refreshing, and he could feel some of the tension he carried from the Zach incident drain away. The level of worry he’d felt for Corey surprised him, and he still fought the desire to hunt Zach down. His protective instincts were resurfacing quickly, it seemed.

A couple of hours later, he was sitting in a lounge chair, chatting with their third baseman, Al, when a cute brunette sat beside him. She was Kevin’s teen daughter… Allie, if he remembered correctly.

“Hi,” she said cheerfully as she settled back in the seat. “You’re new to area, right?”

“Yes I am.” He smiled at the girl. “I’ve only been here for a few months.”

“Dad said you were from Toronto?”

Jason’s brow furrowed, trying to figure out where she was going with her questions. “Yes,” he answered slowly.

The girl grinned at him. “Awesome! Could you please tell my dad that Toronto is a great place? I keep trying to convince him to let me go to Ryerson when I graduate next year, but he’s dragging his feet. He hates big cities.”

Jason snickered. “Toronto can take some getting used to, especially if you don’t visit often.”

Allie rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. “Tell me about it.”

“Hey Jase, could you throw me my towel?” He watched as Corey climbed out of the pool, dripping onto the deck. Jason grabbed a towel and tossed it over. The younger man smiled widely before scrubbing the water droplets from his chest. “Thanks!”

“So are you and Mr. Smyth an item now?”

Jason nearly choked on his beer at the question. “What?” he gasped, trying to catch his breath. “No, why would you think that?”

“You watch him a lot… like my dad watches my mom when he thinks she’s not looking.” The girl shrugged indifferently. “So can you talk to my dad for me?”

“Sure,” Jason answered, still stunned.

“Great,” she beamed at him before bounding off into the house, waving before she disappeared.

“This was a great idea,” Corey said as he lowered himself into the seat Allie vacated.

Jason watched as Corey’s hand absently scratch his muscular, lightly furred chest. He swallowed hard. Shit, he cursed mentally as his cock started to press against the fabric of his shorts. This wasn’t the first time his body had reacted to the handsome man… and now he was ogling Corey? He couldn’t… wouldn’t allow himself to have this kind of reaction. Corey had only just started to accept him back into his life, and he didn’t want to screw it up because he missed sex. Taking a deep breath and turning his attention to the pool, he willed himself to calm down. It was okay. Corey didn’t notice anything. It was fine… they were fine. Tilting his head to the side, he gave his friend what he hoped was a convincing smile. “Yeah, it was a great idea. I needed this.”