4
Coach James
Steve turned out to be a harder worker than James had expected. He cleaned the bleachers, scraped the gum off the seats, refilled the basketballs with air, and relined the basketball nets. James was impressed, to say the least.
Initially, he tried to convince himself that he only kept an eye on him while he checked the inventory on his clipboard, just to make sure that nothing went missing. But the coach couldn’t deny he snuck a peek at Steve when he could.
Something about how the sweat-drenched clothes outlined that tight body, or how Steve looked whenever he would bend over to pick up a ball, caused James’s mind to instantly go to sex. Every damn time, and it was slowly driving him insane.
It was wrong and dangerous. Worse than that, even. Not only was it risky being exposed as gay in a small town like this, but it put his job, his career, and his reputation at risk. It was all a recipe for disaster, and James should have known better. But try as he might, he couldn’t help himself.
The boy was that hot and it was as simple as that.
Shaking his head as he pulled his eyes from the young man one more time, he knew that he had to get his mind off of Steve and on his job. He sucked in some stale gym air and tried to clear his thoughts.
He loved sports, and loved the court especially. The swoosh of the ball, the squeak of the players’ shoes as they ran up and down the court, the hollow echo of their grunts as they played. And more than that, even. The tactics behind the game, that it was more than brute strength or physical force. He loved it all.
“Coach,” Steve said, jogging up to him. “Finished. Anything else you want me to do?”
James’s cock sprung up at the thought. “I’m sure I can come up with a few things.” He bit his tongue as the suggestive words came out. He shouldn’t have said that, but he couldn’t help himself.
He loved the way the young man blushed when he said things with a double entendre. And knowing that the kid found him attractive—heck, he’d caught him watching him—only made it harder. He ought to change the subject, and fast.
“I’ve been watching you during practices. You’re a damn good athlete,” said James, putting his clipboard on his side.
Steve may not have been the fastest or jumped the highest, but he had a tenacity, heart, and passion for the game that the other players lacked. Anyone could learn the skills; it was the love that couldn’t be taught.
“Thanks, Coach,” said Steve, smiling for the first time, that perfect set of teeth flashing. The expression made James’s heart flipflop as he gripped the clipboard a little too hard, almost breaking it in half.
Steve, not noticing, grabbed a bottle of water and unscrewed it. Sucking on that bottle didn’t help, either. It only made James’s imagination go places it shouldn’t. Why was this so hard?
He cleared his throat as if to wash his dirty thoughts away. “On the court earlier today, that was one hell of a double penetration.”
“Yeah?” Steve said, licking his lips as water dribbled down them.
James only just realized what he’d said and blushed a little, wondering how the younger man would respond to that obviousness.
“You like that?” asked the coach. He couldn’t help himself. Never one with the strongest willpower, he just couldn’t resist the temptation to push the button further, see how he responded. It wasn’t professional, but something about Steve made him want to go to the edge. Something told him that it would be worth it in the end.
Steve blushed. “What?” he said, his voice rising up an octave.
The coach stepped in closer, towering over the younger man now. He was aware of his physical dominance over Steve and aimed to use it to his advantage. But as he did, he realized that, again, it probably wasn’t the greatest of ideas, as the heat and scent from Steve’s body made James hard.
“Penetrating?” asked James, his sly smile suggestive.
Steve couldn’t even look at him as his face remained the same red hue it had gone earlier. “Um…uh, sometimes.” He chugged some more water from his bottle, and the liquid trailed down from his full lips to his chin and down his throat.
Watching that throat go to work, James wanted nothing more than to see his own milk do the same. He licked his bottom lip, wondering if Steve had caught on to what he’d asked. He couldn’t afford to be too obvious…but maybe that wasn’t the best way to go?
Resting his arm against the concrete wall, James looked Steve up and down purposefully. “That’s good. You just got to work on filling that hole,” James said. He had to push even more now.
Steve coughed up the water from his bottle, the liquid dribbling down his chin. “What?”
He stepped closer to Steve, loving how his body sized up the closer he got. The more vulnerable the young man got, the more it turned him on. “When you’re on the court, you gotta fill that hole. You’re letting too many men in.”
“Yes, sir.” The word sir sent a shiver down James’s spine as he got hard, real hard. His imagination filled with the positions he’d make the guy do, pumping into him, spreading that bubble butt apart, licking all its goodness. All the while having the kid call him sir, begging for more.
Steve held his position, tension building between the two men until James won the staredown and Steve stepped back. As he did, he lifted up his arm, revealing a nasty bruise that Steve had been trying to hide. “Ow.”
James arched his eyebrow as he spotted the bruise. It looked like Steve had been in a brawl or something. Although that thought turned him on, he realized that that couldn’t be it. He hadn’t noticed any marks on Steve’s fists. “What happened here?”
Steve suddenly became a whole different type of nervous, swallowing and clearing his throat several times before answering. “I…just…fell down the stairs the other day. I’m cool.” That didn’t ring true to James at all. Something else was clearly the cause of those wounds.
He crossed his arms and studied Steve, looking him straight in the eye. Making sure that Steve knew just how serious he was being. “You don’t strike me as someone who’s uncoordinated. Quite the opposite, actually.”
Steve shrugged. It was clear by the way he shifted back and forth, refusing to meet James’s eye, that he was uncomfortable about the topic. “I…it was stupid, wasn’t paying attention.” Everything in James’s gut told him it was a lie, but why? What could have caused the bruise, and why lie about it, anyway? Very odd.
Something about this strong young man seemed terrified. Thoughts of that only served to remind him of his own upbringing, one which hadn’t been the best. His dad used to beat him to a pulp just for fun, and even though he knew that it was stupid, he had always been too ashamed to admit it.
“Everything cool at home?” asked James. He’d overheard Steve talking to his friends one day about still living at home, and with his own past haunting him, his natural inclination was to assume that things weren’t quite right at his house.
“Why do you ask?” Steve asked nervously. Turning away, Steve shifted back and forth again as if he wanted to tell James more, but at the same time couldn’t. Yes, he thought, that’s got to be it. It broke his heart to think about.
James sighed, lifting the young man’s chin so their eyes would meet. “If there’s ever anything you want to talk about—”
Steve turned his head and blushed. “I’m cool, okay? I just…I should get going.”
Steve used the moment to take a few steps back, as if the gap would make everything better. James, not making a move to follow, called out to him. “Tell you what, you want to make some extra cash?”
Steve, stopping, turned around as his face lit up. “Sure, how?”
James stuffed his hands in his pockets, making sure to say his next words very carefully. It had been fun toying with the kid, but now wasn’t the time. “I’ve got some stuff that needs to be done around my house tomorrow. What do you say you come over and help me out?”
Letting students into his private life was dangerous. But this was more important than that. James’s heart bled for Steve, and by the look of the worn clothes he wore around campus, he knew that he could use some bucks. When it was all said and done, James had gotten into this job to help youths. Since he was a natural athlete, he had always tried to do that through sport and coaching. But now that he saw another way, well, he knew that he wouldn’t forgive himself if he didn’t at least offer.
“You’d do that for me?” Steve asked, the glint in his eye returning.
James smiled, unable to help himself. “Whatever you need.”