Page 14 of Caught Running

Having heard the now more familiar Campbell-bellow, Brandon glanced up as he shifted the desks back into place. “Hey,” he greeted.

“Hey,” Jake returned with a small smile. “Sorry about barging in earlier,” he offered. “Usually in these parts when there’s yelling it means the teacher’s been hung from the ceiling by his toes.”

“Not by his tail?” Brandon joked. “They’re good kids. I’m glad they enjoyed the game. Helps make them more at ease with me, at least.” He straightened up and stretched before shoving his glasses back up his nose. “How was your day?” he asked politely, looking at Jake curiously.

“There’s a reason we’re not allowed to torture kids anymore,” Jake groused seriously. “I gotta run, got bus duty today,” he practically growled. “See you in a bit.”

Left behind, Brandon reflected on how much he’d laughed the last three days. He just couldn’t help it, especially with Jake’s insane sense of humor. With a sigh he sat at the desk and pulled out his folders, settling in to do some—hopefully most of—his grading. He had an hour before he had to be on the field.

So fifty minutes later he was in the visitors’ locker room, stripped down and just into the white baseball pants when he started stretching. He wanted to be ready to run the suicides, and it was easier to do it here than out at the field. Jake had said they’d be narrowing the team down today. He distracted himself from the slow stretches by mentally reviewing his notes on the players.

Jake was doing his last survey of the locker rooms before classes were let out to clear them of anyone that shouldn’t be in them, and he pushed through the door with catlike silence and crept into the rooms. He peered around the first rows of lockers and into the showers and found no one, then stepped through into the other bank of lockers to find Brandon there, half dressed and stretching out his long legs slowly.Jesus.

The coach stopped short and blinked, a rush of lust assaulting him before he could stamp it down. He swallowed heavily and watched for a moment longer before retreating quietly, licking his lips nervously as he pressed against the cinderblock wall near the sinks.Wow.He knew he should creep back out of the rooms before Brandon sensed someone around, but he couldn’t seem to force himself to move. He couldn’t remember ever being hit that hard by the desire to pounce on someone before. Just like that, right out of the blue. Was that what that niggling feeling had been the last few days? Unrealized lust? Christ.

Sighing quietly, Brandon slowly bent over at the waist, grasping the backs of his thighs, eyes closed. After holding the position he straightened and stretched both arms up into the air, groaning when his neck popped. He yawned involuntarily and grunted, shaking his head to try to ward off the doze as he held the stretch.

Jake shook his head and told himself to move. Walking in on the man innocently was one thing, but standing there and listening while he considered the shape of his ass was bordering on territory that would have him feeling dirty. Yeah, he definitely felt dirty. He crept out into the other side of the room, flushing hotly even though he was the only person who would ever know what he was thinking. He pushed at the locker room door. “Bed check!” he shouted, his usual bellow somewhat ineffective as it came out slightly croaked.

Brandon’s eyes flew open, and he turned in place, then moved to stick his head around the corner of the lockers. “Bed check?” he echoed. “Are we in the Army now, Sergeant?” He tilted his head, noticing that Jake looked out of sorts.

“Any kids in here?” Jake asked the man without responding to the tease, already knowing the answer. His voice was tight and clipped. The last thing he needed was an attraction to another teacher. Another teacher who knew him from before he’d grown up. Not to mention that he really didn’t want to be outed at any point because he was ogling the man, thank you very much. So he overcompensated, his black eyes hard and his body tense.

Feeling an unexplained wave of coldness, Brandon shook his head and dropped the attitude. “No,” he said shortly before leaving Jake’s view to finish getting dressed. He just didn’t know how to deal with Jake. He yelled at the kids, but took care of them. He could be friendly, and he could be cold. He could explain or he could browbeat. He could do a hell of a lot,Brandon admitted silently. “Just not predictably,” he muttered under his breath as he pulled the Under Armour over his head.

“What?” Jake called as he turned and headed for the door. He felt almost physically ill, and he was desperately trying to think of some sort of joke to break the tense mood he’d created. But he could think of nothing.Goddamn it!

“I’ll see you out on the field,” Brandon called out, feeling really off-balance. He had to figure out a way to relate to Jake or he just might lose his mind. Or worse. He dropped his head into his hands, trying to shake the odd warm flush that filled him every time he saw the man. He just couldn’t afford this kind of reaction right now.

“Yeah,” Jake agreed woodenly, making his escape as quickly as possible. He needed some ice water or something. He needed to deal with this and fast.

“Does anyone else wanna bitch about being tired?” Jake practically screamed as the unfortunate kid in question started on the first of his five laps around the field. His tone was different today than it had been before. Jake always shouted. But shouting and angry were two different things, and Jake was rarely angry. Today he was, though, and the kids could tell. Dark was soon approaching, but no one dared hope it meant the end of practice was coming. Even Troy was frowning at the man and watching the kids closely. He seemed to want to step in, but apparently even Troy knew enough to be afraid of Jake when he was in a mood. He also knew that no matter how angry he was, Jake would never let the kids come to harm.

Brandon stood nearby, nearly wincing, though more at Jake’s language than the tone. But the angry note was a little distressing. Brandon knew Jake wouldn’t have the reputation of an excellent coach if he truly abused the kids. Still, in Brandon’s own quiet opinion, the kids needed to be running more. Theyneeded to build up their endurance. Some of them wouldn’t last a mile before dropping.

Finally Jake dismissed the kids in disgust, waving them off the field without even a word as he turned away from them. There had been misplayed grounders, dropped balls, swings that were a mile off target, not to mention the complainers who always got on his nerves. It was days like this when he questioned whether he was in the right place. The other coaches just waited quietly, knowing not to poke the growling tiger. Even Troy kept his mouth shut, which surprised Brandon.

Jake grunted at the other men and shook his head. “Beer,” he snarled at them as he passed them by. Shrugging, Brandon led the way, following Jake. They were supposed to go to the head coach’s house tonight, and he figured that was still on despite Jake’s wretched mood. “You guys want a ride? I can drop you back here after,” he offered to Troy and Jonathan.

“I’ll take you up on that,” Jonathan grinned as Troy shook his head.

“Thanks, but I’m good,” Troy answered as he watched Jake stalk ahead of them. “Jake drove today, so... “He trailed off and cleared his throat as Jake stalked up to an old Chevy truck and chucked his equipment bag into the back, an action he usually undertook with great care. “Actually, yeah. Shotgun,” Troy said to them, and Jonathan scowled at him as they continued on to Brandon’s car.

Brandon snorted and unlocked the car doors so they could climb in. “Don’t sit on the limes,” he warned Troy, who was about to flop into the passenger’s seat. There was also a six-pack of bottled Corona in the floorboard.

“Is that legal?” Troy asked as he slid into the seat and plucked the beers off the floorboard. “Damn! Jake told me I couldn’t bring alcohol onto the campus,” he sulked, pulling the door closed.

In the back seat Jonathan laughed and reached up to pat Troy’s head. “That’s ‘cause you were trying to bring it for lunch, man.”

“Fuck you,” Troy sneered, hugging the beers to him. “Fuck you all,” he declared as Jake’s truck pulled up beside them.

“I’ll meet you boys there,” Jake said to them as he stuck his head out the window of the truck. “I’ve got to run by the store and pick up a few cases, y’all go on ahead.”

“You might pick me up another pack of Corona, Troy seems to have gotten attached to mine,” Brandon said drolly, glancing to the blond man now crooning to the clear bottles.

Jake peered past Brandon to look at Troy and then rolled his eyes. “Corona?” he asked, just to make certain.

Brandon nodded. “Yeah.” He tried reaching over to get the six-pack from Troy, but got his hand slapped. “Bastard!” he barked at Troy, though he smiled while Jonathan just cackled in the back seat.