Page 57 of Fly

“I see. Now I understand why there is a pool with a fence. Can alligators climb fences?”

“They can, but he’s never shown any interest.”

“Maybe we’ll just stay inside and have sex.”

“Speaking of that…” I turned to gather him in my arms, then playfully wrestled him down to the sofa. “I think we need to get naked asap.”

“Mm, I like the sound of that.” He tugged at my shirt to yank it free from my shorts. “What will Bert think if he sees us fucking on the sofa?”

I pressed a kiss to his throat. He moaned softly. “He’ll think he wishes he were me,” I purred as I went for his fly. Jari forgot about Mr. Snoutman for the rest of the afternoon.

By the end of our week of heaven, I was back on the mound surrounded by men in Iron Horse uniforms. Not the whole team, of course, just about five or so guys enjoying the antics of Jari in the stands behind our dugout.

“Okay, so that guy is who exactly?” Julio Garcia, our second baseman, asked me.

“That is my boyfriend,” I announced proudly. God, it felt good to say that to the world.

“Okay, but why is he wearing rainbow mouse ears?” Pete Monn, one of my fellow pitchers, asked as fans seated around Jari enjoyed his go-team-go dance. Jari was an enthusiastic fan of mine, shouting and bouncing about, even though we weren’t having an exhibition game today. It was just us Horses doing our workouts. Lots of hitting, fielding, bullpen sessions, and the like.

“We went to Disney World yesterday.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” Yanni clapped me on the back. “You should show them your matching tattoos that you two lovestruck kids got after your day at the park.”

“I’m not sure…” I mumbled even while Jari was hooting and shaking his foam Iron Horse finger about. Now that he was out, the man was all the way out. Years of hiding who he was had made him a little rambunctious about showing the world who he was. Which I loved.

“Oh, come on, show us,” the other guys cajoled.

With an exasperated sigh, I rolled my sleeve up to show them the new ink on my left biceps. The tiny, mouse-shaped, all-black tattoo, with a tiny rainbow heart in the right ear, stood out well. Inside the heart were our initials. Jari had one just like it.

“Okay, so that’s adorable,” the men teased. I waved them off my mound with a few vibrant ideas of what they could do with their mitts.

“It is cute and all…” Yanni said as we began to make our way to the bullpen to warm up my arm for practice. “But initials are permanent, Cam.”

I paused to look back at the man in the mouse ears, smiling at me with love flowing from him.

“Yeah, I know. So are we.”

The End