Alec thought it ironic that he was facing two problems that challenged his ethics and morality, when he’d never had to deal with even one before. He’d never had reason to look at himself this way.
He left the locker room without being noticed and made his way out to the seats in the stadium. He was the only one sitting in the 40-some thousand empty seats there. The green grass in the outfield, the raked and smoothed, reddish-brown dirt in the infield: the place had an almost magical appearance. Alec found it was a good background for losing oneself in thought.
Taking Tanner first, he looked at it from different angles. Was it his responsibility to tell what he’d learned about the guy? Wasn’t it the job of people, people who knew baseball inside and out—coaches and managers and such—to figure out what Alec had seen? And too, he’d caught on because he was doing a favor for a friend. He’d been asked to warm up Tanner. What kind of friend would he be if he ratted him out after learning what he had only because he’d spent a time of friendship and trust with Tanner?
No, however he looked at it, it didn’t seem to be his responsibility to throw Tanner to the wolves, and doing so would make him lose respect for himself.
The only reason he’d reveal what he knew would be because he was looking for praise from his father. It wouldn’t be to help his team; what he saw would make little difference to the Sea Otters overall but could destroy Tanner. And in fact, would his father even think highly of him for telling him Tanner’s giveaway?
It just didn’t seem right to tell what he knew about Tanner. He decided he wasn’t going to. But should he tell Tanner himself that he was giving away pitches? And if he should, why should he? He thought that needed more consideration, and he’d rather think about Leo right then. That was a more immediate concern.
Okay, then. Telling on Leo didn’t seem right, either. It seemed like what one would do in the second grade. ‘Teacher, Bobby was fooling around when you were teaching. He should be paying attention like I do.’ Yeah, it would feel like that. And he’d be doing it again to curry praise from his father. Sure, he’d be doing it to protect the players involved, but however he cut it, it would be telling about a problem that he wanted someone else to solve for him. Did he want to be that guy, so weak he turned his troubles over to someone else rather than face up to them and work them out himself?
No, he didn’t! Squealing on Leo would be just that: ratting him out. He knew what he should do. And what not to do. Don’t tattle. But don’t ignore the problem, either.
But it wasn’t that straightforward, because part of the reason for not telling was that he wanted sex with Leo that he was sure would happen soon. He was eagerly looking forward to that. And ignoring what he’d seen Leo do so he could have sex with him—that would be worse than tattling.
Decision time. He knew what he should do. It took some courage, but he had enough courage, didn’t he? And what he felt about himself was important and worth supporting.
Yes, he decided: do what’s right. He got up, stood up straight and went back down to the locker room. It was empty. That was what he should have expected; Leo never stayed for the games even when Alec invited him to watch them from his—well, his dad’s—private box. The next day, Alec and Leo cleaned the four rooms as usual, although Alec was quieter than usual and after a bit, Leo noticed. “Something wrong, Alec? You seem off today.”
“I want to talk to you when we’re done.”
“What about?”
“When we’re done.”
Leo laughed. “Okay, okay. When we’re done.”
After that, they finished their jobs in silence. By now they worked as a team, doing what needed to be done without any instructions or even chatter about who’d do what. They finished, and then Leo got himself a coke before sitting in one of the chairs in the locker room. He looked at Alec and pointed to another chair. It was an unupholstered one, and Alec brought it over so he’d be facing Leo when he sat.
“We have to talk,” Alec said.
“Uh, okay. You sound serious.”
This was hard, confronting Leo, but Alec felt this was the best way to do it. Give Leo a chance to explain. He’d sure want it done this way if he was being accused of something. Of course, this wasn’t just an accusation. He’d seen what Leo was doing.
“I was here just before the game last night. In the locker room. You didn’t see me, but I saw you, saw what you were doing.”
Leo wrinkled his forehead, half closed his eyes, and asked, “What was that?”
“I saw you stealing money from Rodriguez’s locker.”
Leo didn’t respond right away. He looked at Alec, then away, then finally back at him again. In a very even voice, he asked, “Who have you told?”
“No one. I wanted to see what you had to say first.”
“And you decided to confront me.”
“Yes.”
Leo paused again, then, surprising Alec, he smiled. “That was very brave of you. Very ethical, too. I’m surprised that you’d give me a chance to explain. Most boys in your position would have run to their boss—your father in this case. I’m kinda shocked . . . but also impressed.”
Alec didn’t respond, just met Leo’s eyes and waited.
He saw Leo’s body relax. “It’s not bad. I wasn’t stealing. I can only imagine how it looked, though. Imagine what thoughts you had. But, well, see, it’s sort of a long story. Julio, uh, you ever talk to him?”
“Rodriguez? No.”
“Didn’t think so. He barely speaks English—” he stopped to chuckle “—like several of the players. He and a couple more have the same agent. That guy has a lot of Latino players in his stable. His name is Matterly. John Matterly. He’s one of the good agents. Most agents, they seem to only care about getting the most money they can for their clients; that means their cut is higher. Matterly cares about the kids he represents. Most of them are young, rather innocent, and come from pretty poor countries. They’ve never had money, and suddenly they sign a big contract and the money comes pouring in.”
Leo paused to take another gulp of his Coke. “Matterly talks to them about how they should handle their money, but his message falls on the uncomprehending ears of people who’ve never had much of anything. Many of these guys tend to spend it as fast as they get it. Matterly wants them to be better than that. He knows many of them will only have this sort of payday for a short time. He wants them to be set for life when they’re done. The fact is, except for the superstars, most of the bench fillers don’t last that long in the majors, three or four years on average, and are broke within a few years of retirement. So, to prevent that, he has a condition that’s written into their contracts before he signs on as their agent: they have to put 35% of their pay into the bank. Or with a financial advisor.”
Leo finished his Coke, got up and threw the can away, then came back to his chair. Alec still hadn’t spoken.
“The other thing Matterly insists on is that guys get paid monthly or weekly, whichever they want, but not in one lump sum. Still, with the contracts he gets them, there’s a lot of money coming in every payday. Most of them want it in cash, too. With the amount they’re paid, most players have their wages sent directly to their bank accounts; Matterly’s guys want to actually see the money. They have no history with checks, and if someone gives them one, they won’t take it to a bank. They take it to a check-cashing place where Spanish is spoken; the guys there will soak them. So, they get their money in cash, usually once a week. “What you saw me doing here was part of an arrangement with the three guys on the team who are with Matterly. They don’t know banks from haberdasheries. They wouldn’t know how much 35% of their cash is, either. So Matterly and those three and I sat down and made a deal that on payday, I’d take 35% of that week’s or month’s pay out of their wallets and bank it for them. That still leaves them with a bundle. I keep records of what I take, and Matterly has access to their account balances, so he can see that the right amount of money goes into each one’s account each week. I give a receipt to the players each time, too. I guess you left before seeing me do that.”
“Right. I only saw you taking the money.”
Alec hadn’t meant to speak at all but then had felt the need to. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Leo preempted him. “This might sound fishy to you, but I want you to trust me. Hold on a sec.” He took his cellphone out of his pocket and dialed a number, then handed it to Alec. Alec took it and heard the ringing stop and a voice saying, “Matterly Agency. How can I help you?”
Leo took back the phone and said, “Hi, Alice. Is John there?”
Leo put his phone on speaker so Alec could hear, and he heard a male voice come on and say, “Hey, Leo, how’s it going?”
“Great, John. I’m off to the bank. Just wanted to let you know, Julio’s raise came through. There’ll be more going into the account today than usual.”
“Ah, good for reminding me. Everything else okay?”
“Si. No problemo, senor.” Spoken with a heavy Spanish accent.
Alec heard the voice laugh, then end the call. He was still looking hard at Leo, who was looking back, a picture of calm.
“Do you get a cut. A fee, maybe?” Alec asked.
Leo sighed. “You don’t know me at all. But it’s only been a short time we’ve worked together.” He stood up, saying, “I’ve got to get to the bank before it closes.”
“How much money are you carrying?”
Leo grinned. “Way too much. Jim always walks with me. And it’s early afternoon. The bank’s only two blocks away. No one would expect a kid who looks like me to be loaded.”
“And you don’t do this for any reason other than to help those guys out?”
“I like doing that. And they invite me to the year-end party. Look, Alec, I wouldn’t feel so good if I got paid for it. Haven’t you ever done something just to help someone out and for the good feeling you get from doing it?”
“Not much, I guess.” Alec frowned. “I guess I do things to help my dad. And I do like doing that.”
“There you go, then. Well, I’m going to shower, and then I’m outta here. We’ve only got one more cleaning day after this one. Sort of a mini-vacation, huh?
“And look, I don’t mind you thinking I might have been stealing. What you saw, you’d have to think that. I’m really impressed you came to me with this. Not just anyone would do that. Probably most wouldn’t. A lot of them would run to tell an adult to make themselves look good. You didn’t do that. You’re okay, Alec.”
At that, he began stripping. Alec watched, then made up his mind. He began stripping, too.
Leo eyes brightened, and he said, “Really? Today’s the day?”
Alec grinned. “Why not? Oh, and I have to tell you, I’ll probably get hard. We don’t shower at school. I’ve never seen a real person naked. You’ll be the first—well, you’ve been my first—and I know my body. I get boners all the time, and with you there, naked and sexy like you are all the time, flirting with me, well . . .”
He broke off and blushed but continued undressing. He was telling himself, yeah, he’d had the courage to confront Leo. Now he had the courage to shower with him. Yet it was taking every bit of the courage he had to do this.
He did get hard as he was sure he would. He was hard even before he got his boxer briefs off. It didn’t help that Leo stood watching him all the time, naked as usual, eagerness in his eyes.
When Alec was naked, he just stood and let Leo look for a moment, then walked to the shower room, holding himself so it wouldn’t bounce all the way in.
He turned on a shower and found it was warm right away. Leo walked in and took the shower right next to him. He was half hard, and he was grinning.
Alec washed himself and watched Leo wash himself. Leo spent way more time than needed washing his genitals, and he was fully aroused by the time he was done.
He turned to Alec and said, “You didn’t get your back. May I?”
Alec’s heart began racing. If he said no, that would be it. He knew Leo wouldn’t force the issue. But he didn’t want it to be over. “Sure,” he said, his voice hoarse and not sounding like it normally did.
Leo moved behind him, his erection hitting Alec in the butt. He applied soap to his hands, rubbed them up and down over Alec’s back, then let them move across Alec’s hips. He kept moving his hands forward till they touched Alec’s erection. He opened his hand and gently took hold of it.
“Is this all right?” he asked Alec.
Alec didn’t speak. Didn’t trust his voice. He did wonder if his heart was about to pop out of his chest and how he could be breathing as hard as he was and not inhaling shower water. So he remained mute; all he could manage was a nod.
Leo slid his soapy hand along Alec’s boner, not fast and not slow. Out and in. Out and in. He moved his other hand around the other side of Alec and cupped Alec’s scrotum with it. This brought him closer to Alec, and his erection slid up so it was lying vertically against Alec’s butt and lower back.
Still holding Alec’s cock gently, Leo sped up the stroking and started moving his hips so his erection was sliding on Alec’s body.
Leo increased the pressure, gripping slightly tighter with his hand, then made the strokes more rapid. That was all it took. Alec felt his climax coming, coming fast, and he started wriggling uncontrollably and then shot. That continued as Leo loosened his hand and slowed his stroke but he kept going gently till Alec slumped against him.
Leo stopped, put one arm around Alec’s chest to hold him up and used his other hand to finish himself off.
When Alec had recovered enough to stand by himself, he shook involuntarily once, then rinsed off completely and turned off the shower and returned to the locker room, grabbing a towel going in. It was a few more minutes till Leo joined him. Alec was half dressed by then.
“That was wonderful,” Leo said. “Your first time with someone?”
Alec nodded. For some reason, he didn’t blush. It surprised him, but he didn’t feel embarrassed. He thought he should be, but he wasn’t.
“I’m honored you chose me,” Leo said.
“I . . . I felt . . . It was very good! Thanks, Leo. Uh, you do this with the guy I’m taking the place of?”
“Todd? Nah. He wasn’t much fun and was a little bossy. I like you a whole lot better. But I’ve gotten off a lot with other kids. Guys and girls. Doesn’t make any difference. I just love sex and coming.”
“You’re not gay, then?”
“No. I don’t know what I am, but probably straight. I’ll probably marry a girl when I find one who likes sex as much as I do. Till then, well, the more the merrier.”
By then he was dressed. He was on his way out when he stopped and said, “Tomorrow’s our last day for a while. We could leave cleaning till the next day as usual, but I hope you want to work that night so we don’t have to come in at all after that for a time.”
“You mean after the game tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I mean I’d like to do it tomorrow night.”
“Gee, Leo, I ride with my dad, and he doesn’t like to stay after night games. He waits for the traffic going out of the parking lot to ease up, maybe a half hour, and then leaves. We can’t get done in a half hour.”
Leo grinned. “I guess you’re right. And if we did do it after the game and your dad was waiting, we certainly wouldn’t have time to shower together afterwards.” He wiggled his eyes open wider a couple of times. “So we’ll come in the next day to finish up. Now, I’ve got to hurry. See ya.” And he was gone.
««« »»»
The next day there was a different feeling in the ballpark when Alec walked in and made his way to the clubhouse. It was difficult to describe it, and Alec didn’t know if everyone he passed and said hi to felt it or if he was the only one who did.
There was no doubt he felt different himself. Was the feeling because, with the team leaving, people were acting differently, or was it because he’d had sex with a guy and loved it, and he probably would again today, too? Yesterday, he’d had the best feeling ever, much more intense than when he did it solo. His feeling toward Leo was different as well. He realized there was much more to Leo than he’d thought. Previously, he’d allowed himself to use a single word to define him: fun. Now he knew there was no single word that could capture who Leo was.
Yet the funny thing for him was, he no longer had a crush on Leo. He liked him very much as a work partner, even as a friend. Now, he was looking forward to taking another shower with him; they’d almost certainly do that today! But a romantic crush like he’d felt for several guys this past year and in years before that? No, Leo didn’t spark that sort of romance in him. Odd, he thought. But all this stuff was so new to him!
Leo was the same as he always was when they met that morning to clean the rooms. Cheerful, friendly, joking. He made no reference to their dalliance the day before. Then he repeated his suggestion of last night. “After today, they’re on the road and we’re off for a while. You still don’t want to stay late tonight?”
“Sorry. My dad . . .”
“Well, that’s okay. Means we’ll have more time with nothing else to do when we’re done tomorrow.” He wiggled his eyebrows at Alec again, then laughed.
“Let’s get to work,” Alec said, but he laughed, too, and again felt the tingling Leo often provoked.
««« »»»
A very relaxed Alec had lunch with his dad that day. Hubbard had news for him.
“You have any plans for when the team is on the road for the next nine days?” he asked Alec.
“No. Are you going with them like you sometimes do? Will I be home alone?”
“Yes and no. I am going with them initially, and you won’t be alone. I want you to come with me. This is a West Coast swing. We’re playing three games with each team. Anaheim, San Diego and Seattle. I’m going with them to Anaheim. Their GM wants to talk trades, and it’s better doing that in person. But we have a problem that you can help with.”
“What?” He was eating mostaccioli and put his fork down.
“As you know, the home team supplies the visitors with a batboy. Most teams, including ours, take their own batboy on at least one road trip a year as a thank you for the job they do. We were taking Trevor on this trip, but he just got grounded; his mother won’t let him come with us. But we’d already told the three teams we wouldn’t need them to supply us with a batboy this time. I had to let them know things had changed and we’ll need them to supply batboys after all.
“Well, I just spoke to an Angels’ representative on the phone, and he said it’s too late for them to get someone for tonight’s game, that they were already short a batboy. We need to cover that. The other two games with the Angels and then those with the other teams, they said sure, they’d have no problem there. But we need to bring our own batboy for tonight’s game at Angel Stadium. So, you want the job?”
Posted 8 March 2025