“Keep those thoughts to yourself.” He barks out a laugh. “She’ll be the first one to put you in your place if you try and come on to her,” he warns.
“I’ll take that as a challenge.”
“Whatever, man, just don’t go pissing her off. You make the entire team’s lives miserable; we’ll make your life miserable. Understand?” he asks, giving me a stern glare.
“Got it,” I tell him. I don’t have any plans on pissing off the rest of my team. I worked my ass off to get called up; no way I want to piss anyone off and have them sending me back down.
I step out onto the field and look around at the empty stadium. It won’t be long and the gates will be opened, and the fans will fill all the seats. I remember back to the first time I ever played in a stadium this large. It wasn’t anything compared to playing for the Lightning, but it was still an incredible experience. I was in college when it happened, now playing here is always special. I’m used to the big lights and the sounds of the massive crowds.
I run a few laps around the outfield as I warm my body up in my pre-game ritual. I’ve fine-tuned what works best for me over the years, changing up little things here and there that help me play to the best of my abilities. The last thing I want to happen is to get hurt bad enough I end my career before it ever has time to really take off. I’ve put in way too many early mornings and late nights staying up to practice to throw it all away now that I have my future and dreams in the palm of my hand.
I wipe the sweat from my face, the afternoon sun beating down on me. I’m hopeful the temps will dip a little once the sun goes down and isn’t shining directly on the field with an evening game. I look over to the dugout and see a few people milling about. A few other guys are out here stretching and warming up. The grounds crew is out perfecting the dirt, lining the field with the chalk lines, and putting in the bases before the game. I notice Carmen talking to a few people I don’t recognize, pointing to different parts of the field, and now my curiosity has piqued. What are they discussing? Is she really having to explain the game and where players spread out to on the field? I pick up my glove, ball, and water bottle and head back toward where she’s standing. I have to pass right by them to head back inside to the locker room so I can get dressed in my uniform and ready for the official warmups before the game.
“Lucas,” Carmen greets me as I approach. The disdain practically drips from her voice as she says my name.
“Carmen,” I greet in return and watch her reaction from behind my polarized sunglasses. I know she can’t see my eyes behind these lenses, which allows me full range of taking in her luscious curves. What I wouldn’t do to get her under me, or on top of me, or hell, against a wall for all I care. There is just something about this woman that drives me fucking crazy. “I didn’t realize giving tours was part of the PR department’s job.” I smirk.
“I’m not giving a tour; we’re going over station placement for the Fan Fun Day that is next week,” she informs me. “Don’t forget. Everyone is required to attend and help. You’ll have a specific job that day, so don’t screw it up,” she says, turning to face me fully as she stands her ground. I take a small step forward, effectively closing the gap between us. I don’t have any intentions of touching her since she’s in her business attire while I’m standing here sweaty in a tank and basketball shorts.
“Sorry, what day is that again? I might have made other plans,” I state, just to piss her off some more.
“It is on Thursday. I don’t care what other plans you might think you’ve made; cancel them. This isn’t negotiable,” she grits between clenched teeth.
I hold up my hands, palms out, as if I’m going to hold her back from attacking me. “Damn, I was joking,” I tell her. “I don’t have any plans that day, and I’ll make sure to be here.” I pause long enough to take a drink of my water. “I’ll even show up early if that will make you feel better,” I offer.
“You’re such an ass,” she says, giving me a smile that I know anyone else would think was sweet or friendly, but I can tell standing just inches from her that it is anything but sweet or nice, and that has me thinking once again what her lips would look like wrapped around my cock. Fuck, I can’t be thinking about that while on the field.
“I aim to please,” I toss out as I step away and head down the few steps into the dugout and then inside.
I head straight for the locker room, where I find most of my teammates milling around in a mixture of half-dressed states. I pull the tank I had on from my body, wiping at my torso with the fabric to wipe away some of the sweat that is still on my skin. Before getting my uniform on, I hit up the bathroom, then head back to my locker to get dressed.
Many athletes have a specific system. They might always put on their left sock before the right, or always eat a particular meal before every home game or run a specific number of lines across a field. I’ve done all of those things myself at one point or another, and today is no different. I started with my warmup; now it is time to get my uniform on in a particular order. Clean compression shorts followed by a compression tank to help with the sweat. My uniform pants come next, followed by my socks, then my top, and finally my cleats. Always done in that order. I snag my hat before leaving my locker, sliding it on my head as I head out of the locker room and into the dugout.
Four
Carmen
I rush around the stadium, making sure everything is where it is needed. The guys have started to arrive, which I’m thankful for. I’ve stressed myself out over the fact that some of them might skip today and make things not go to plan. The day is young, so I’m not counting out something might still go against my well-thought-out plan, but I’m also hoping that everything goes smoothly.
“Carmen, did you want me to take these bags down to the dugout?” my assistant Carly asks.
“Yes, please. I think Derek and Justin are here already, so if you need some muscle, I’m sure they’d be willing to help you,” I tell her, mentioning one of our star pitchers and catchers for the team. They also happen to be best friends, and it won’t surprise me if they end up being brothers-in-law, since Justin is dating Derek’s sister, and I think things are pretty serious between the two of them.
“I’ll see who I can round up,” Carly calls before she grabs a box of the goodie bags we’ve put together for all the kids to take home at the end of the day filled with team swag, and heads for the tunnel that will lead her out to the dugout.
I head up to the concourse to check in with catering to ensure they’ve got everything in place for lunch today. I’m sure I have nothing to worry about; it isn’t like they aren’t used to a packed stadium with upwards of forty-plus thousand people here each and every game.
All is good with catering, so I head back down to wait for everyone to arrive. We’d asked the players to get here an hour before fans will be let in, mainly so I can go over with them what their duties will be and a quick overview of the day’s events. They were already given most of this information, but I’ve learned that some guys don’t retain these types of instructions for long. So, I just planned to go over everything beforehand; that way, no one is surprised about anything happening over the next few hours.