Six Pack Box Set

Chapter 1-4

Newberry clapped his shoulder, and Lucas flinched. His eyes widened and he took a deep breath and tried to steady his nerves.

“You guys may have noticed that we have a new sports announcer,” Newberry began, his large hand still gripping Lucas’ shoulder. “Let’s welcome him and let him tell us a little about himself.”

As Newberry stepped away, leaving him standing alone in front of a room full of sexy men, all eyes on him, Lucas forced himself to breathe. He could do this. His gaze darted around the room, landing on Caleb. Number thirteen. It had been hard to keep his eyes off him for all nine innings. Caleb held his gaze and Lucas calmed a little. Odd.

He cleared his throat and forced himself to look at the entire team. Why was it he could talk freely behind a microphone, but put him in front of people and he almost forgot his own name?

“Um, yes. My name is Lucas. Lucas Landry,” he said, pausing to glance at Caleb again. “I started with KRVH News and Sports Radio yesterday. And, well, I was actually hired for news, not sports.” He surveyed the room, and it seemed they were all listening. “I…I wasn’t expecting this. When I arrived at the office yesterday, I was informed that the previous announcer was leaving and they needed someone right away.”

“What happened to Al?” a player asked.

Before Lucas could answer, another guy in the back raised his hand.

“Hi,” he hollered as he rose from his chair. “I’m Jamie Vance. The Mascot.”

“You might have seen him hopping around out there, looking like Peter Rabbit,” another guy called. Snickers and laughter followed.

“Hey, I don’t mind being the rabbit,” Jamie announced, smiling. “Gives me a chance to work on my hip-hop moves.”

Lucas smiled as the other guys groaned. The kid was funny.

“Oh, God, Jamie. That was bad.”

“Lame.”

“Whatever.” Jamie smiled and gazed at the players. “You’re all just jealous of my moves and my…great hare.” He ran his long fingers through his shaggy brown hair before retaking his seat.

Silence fell over the room as his words sunk in, then one by one, men began laughing. The guy next to Jamie tousled the kid’s hair, eliciting a yelp from him.

Lucas glanced at Caleb and his breath caught in his throat when he caught sight of the blinding smile. He froze for a moment and could only smile back, not even caring everyone could see him.

Laughter filled the room again, and Lucas realized that the stress and bad mood from the game had mostly run its course. His gazed stayed glued on Caleb as the merriment finally began to die.

“What about it?” Caleb asked quietly, his icy blue eyes boring into him.

Lucas furrowed his brow, trying to figure out what Caleb was asking.

“About Al?” Caleb reminded him.

“Oh, what happened to Al?” He swept his gaze over the team again, noting all eyes were once again on him. He cleared his throat. “Um, yeah, well apparently, Al met some woman online and gave notice. He’s moving to Utah.”

Everyone seemed a little shocked.

“You telling us that Al left us for some p***y?” Frank asked.

“Shut up, Frank,” someone called. “Even old guys can get it up sometimes.”

“Yeah, just ask Coach Ibarra!”

More snickers and laughter filled the room.

“I mean, according to my boss, that’s what happened,” Lucas confirmed. “Anyway, they asked me to fill in for now.” He felt the blush creep up his neck. What he had to say next was embarrassing and he was pretty sure they would be less than kind about it. “So, um, yeah. You might have noticed today that I…I know very little about baseball. I was lucky to have some help in the press box today, but I need a crash course in the game.”

Silence blanketed the room. For about ten seconds.

“What the hell, man?”

“How are you going to report a freakin’ game?”

“Are you shitting us?”

Lucas felt his face redden and he stared at the ground.

“I’ll do it,” a husky voice offered.

His head whipped up. Caleb was staring directly at him, making him feel exposed as the man’s gaze deliberately dropped to his lips, then back up to his eyes. What the hell? Was Caleb teasing him? Great. All he needed was some straight jock to start messing with him.

Lucas bit his lower lip. Think, he yelled inside his head. You can’t spend time with him. He’s too hot. And he’s a jock. Historically, he and jocks had never gotten along too well. But they were all jocks and he had to learn from someone.

“Thanks, Dodson,” Coach Newberry said, breaking into Lucas’ thoughts. “Touch base with Lucas and then go home. That last goes for everyone. Go home, get some rest. Be ready for the game tomorrow evening. I want you all here ready to work hard with a good attitude. We’re not off to the best start in our series with the Lions.”

The manager stepped in front again. “I expect my players to follow curfew, stay away from alcohol, and get rested. Now go!”

Lucas watched as the men began talking and standing at the same time, pure chaos. His eyes scanned for Caleb, surely somewhere in the crowd, but he couldn’t find him. He sighed. Looked like he’d have to try and talk with him tomorrow.

When someone tapped his shoulder, he nearly jumped out of his skin and whirled around.

“Whoa,” Caleb said, hands up, palms out, “I didn’t mean any harm. I come in peace. Wow, you’re skittish, huh?”

Lucas felt the blood drain from his face as he searched his brain for something to say. Anything. Really, anything at all!

“Sorry,” he said, not wanting to look Caleb in the eye.

“Hey, I’m sorry, man. I won’t do that again. Promise.” Caleb crossed his heart and smiled.

Fuck. That smile did things to him. Lucas sensed trouble in his future.

“So, you want to start tonight?”

Lucas froze. “Um, tonight? Start tonight?”

“Yeah. Unless you have something you need to do. I mean, we have a game tomorrow and you were a little hard on us out there today. You definitely need some tutoring.”

“Hard on you?” Lucas asked incredulously as he looked around the now-empty locker room. “You think I was hard on you?”

Caleb nodded.

Lucas threw up his arms in defeat. “For your information, this was one of the worst days of my life. I hate baseball. I hate sports in general. And I really hate jocks!” He knew he was losing his cool, but damn, he hated having some stupid jock think he was an i***t and was hard on the team because he just didn’t understand the game. “For your information, I was hard on you guys because you kept dropping the damn ball! You let the Lions destroy you!”

Caleb stared at him for a minute with those soft blue eyes. He looked…confused.

“What?” he barked at Caleb, exasperated.

“How can you hate baseball?”

Lucas stared at him. “That’s what you heard?” He rolled his eyes and pushed past Caleb. “I’ve got to get going. We can start tomorrow,” he huffed as he strode across the locker room and out the door.

* * * *

Caleb watched him leave and his lips twitched into a smile. Lucas was a firecracker. All that passion rolled up in that tight body. Damn! It was going to be hard to stay away from that. God, I’m an i***t. How the hell was he going to play it straight around Lucas? His c**k was hard as marble and all he wanted to do was kiss those sweet, angry lips.

Tomorrow was going to be one hell of a day.

“Tomorrow?” His voice echoed in the empty locker room. “s**t. I don’t have his number,” he said as he grabbed his bag and ran to the exit.

He reached the parking lot and came to a stop as soon as he saw Lucas coming his way, head down, muttering. Caleb was pretty sure he heard the word “jocks.”

“Hey,” Caleb called, hoping he didn’t startle him again.

Lucas stopped. “s**t!”

Caleb grinned. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to scare you.”

“I’m not scared,” Lucas shot back. “I’m just…tired. It’s been a long day.”

“Yeah, I know. Not the best for either of us, I guess.”

Lucas granted him a half-smile. “Agreed. I’m ready to drown my sorrows in some chocolate ice cream and go to bed.”

The image of Lucas in bed popped into Caleb’s head, and the intense heat that unfurled in his belly surprised him. His d**k throbbed against his zipper, painfully at this point. “Chocolate ice cream, huh? I’m a mint chocolate chip guy myself,” he admitted, waggling his eyebrows.

Lucas laughed, and the sound crashed into Caleb. His heart raced and his skin heated. His balls ached and it took everything in him not to grab the man and kiss him senseless. He was sure Lucas was gay—he had always had pretty good gaydar—but he always had to be careful around town.

“Look, I forgot to give you my number,” Lucas said, offering him a piece of notepaper with a number on it.

“Thanks,” Caleb replied, taking it and stuffing it into his pocket alongside the other slip of paper Juan had given him earlier. “What time should I call tomorrow?”

“I’m up before the sun, so anytime would be fine.”

“Sounds good. Talk to you then.”

Lucas headed to his car. Caleb stood still for a minute, unable to tear his eyes from the man. Yes, he knew he was in deep. This season would definitely be interesting.