Switch Pitching (Off the Bench #1)

20. James

20

JAMES

I wake up in Ethan’s bed again. Over the past few weeks, I’ve probably spent a grand total of two nights in my own room, but I don’t mind at all. In the past, I always invited my hookups to spend the night, with some staying and some heading home, but when it comes to me? I don’t even want to move after the sex that Ethan and I are having, much less leave the room.

Besides, waking up together roughly doubles the odds of morning blowjobs. Don’t ask me how I got to that statistic, but I know it’s right.

Today, my eyes open to the sight of Ethan’s arms wrapped around me, and I let out a satisfied sigh. Being little spoon fucking rocks, and I can’t get enough.

I carefully slip out of bed, not wanting to wake him up too early. I make coffee and grab some toast. The morning light streaming through the window feels warm and inviting, but I remind myself that I have to get moving. The team is flying to the west coast for a week and a half, and I still haven’t packed, even though our flight leaves this afternoon. I trudge back upstairs and go to my room, pulling my suitcase out from under my bed and grabbing random clothes from the closet. After throwing my haphazardly folded shirts and pants into my bag, I dart into the bathroom to pack my toiletries before remembering that I left all my skincare in Ethan’s bathroom.

It suddenly dawns on me that I’ve basically moved into Ethan’s room, and I let out a chuckle. The two of us live together and I still found a way to move into his space. I walk over to Ethan’s room to pack my stuff, and I find him awake, still shirtless, and scrolling through his phone.

“Hey,” I greet him, sending a brisk nod his way.

“Where’d you go this morning?” he asks.

Grabbing my wash kit, I snicker and emerge from the bathroom. “You miss me or something?”

Ethan jokingly rolls his eyes and smirks at me. “Just got used to you being here, that’s all.”

I tilt my head and fix Ethan with a pitying expression. “Aww, did someone get lonely?”

He laughs and flips me off, which just encourages me.

Raising my voice an octave, I keep teasing him. “Uh oh, Ethan’s cranky when he doesn’t get morning sex.” I lean over to dance my fingers up his exposed thighs and slip a hand under his shorts. Once I reach his crotch, I accidentally brush against his rock-hard erection and Ethan rocks his hips off the mattress.

“Being horny is a fucking curse,” he mutters under his breath, closing his eyes in frustration.

“But you love it, don’t you?” My fingers coil around his dick as I slip his shorts down, stroking him slowly. Ethan moans and cusses, his head pressing into the mattress. Bringing my other hand over, I fondle his balls before I wrap both hands around his cock and pick up the pace.

Ethan’s face melts into a blissed-out expression, his eyes half-shut, and I keep going. Once he starts squirming, I grip tighter and he quickly comes with a shuddering grunt, shooting all over his abs.

I grab a fistful of tissues and dump them unceremoniously on Ethan’s stomach before heading back to my room. It’s almost noon, and we have to leave soon if we don’t want to be late.

Once I’m done packing, I head back to check on Ethan, who’s fallen back asleep. I grab his metal water bottle from the nightstand and press it against his neck, and he wakes up with a hilarious high-pitched yelp.

“Dude, what the fuck?” he yells, throwing a pillow at me, which I dodge.

I toss the pillow back at him. “We have to be at the airport in an hour. Get the fuck up.”

Huffing, Ethan drags himself out of bed. “I’m basically ready. I just have to shower and then we can go. Are you done packing?”

Smiling, I reach down and cup my dick. “I’m always packing. You should know this.” It’s always a struggle to stop myself from laughing at my own corny sex jokes.

Ethan just chuckles, gets up, punches me on the shoulder, and disappears into the bathroom. I check the time and then frantically finish the rest of my packing so we aren’t late.

Half an hour later, we meet in the entryway and take the elevator down to the parking lot. Sliding behind the wheel of my car, I power it up and roll us onto the street. As I turn right onto Storrow Drive, I glance over at Ethan who’s busy scrolling through his phone. I reach over and give his leg a playful squeeze with my right hand. He jumps a little, then smirks at me.

“Smooth, James,” he says, a playful glimmer in his eye.

I grin back. “Just getting warmed up.”

“So,” I say, keeping my eyes on the road but sneaking a glance at him, “have you ever been to California before?”

“Nah. I never traveled much as a kid, and I’ve only ever played against other East Coast teams.”

Letting out a slow whistle, I make a complicated lane change to get on the I-93 ramp toward the airport. “We’re gonna love it. Heard good things about LA, but I’ve never been before.”

“Is this also your first time?”

“Yeah. My family mostly went on vacation in Canada. We made it out to Vancouver a few times, but we never went further south than Seattle. Other than our trips to see my grandparents in Panama.”

“Panama?” Ethan tilts his head. “That sounds cool.”

“Oh yeah.” I grin while keeping my eyes on the road, turning off the highway toward the private terminal. “Panama’s great, and I lived for those trips. We should go together sometime.”

Ethan raises his eyebrows. “I’m so down to go. Never been anywhere like that before.”

“You’d love it. And besides, all four of my grandparents already know who you are. They follow baseball religiously, especially now that I play for Boston. They like you.”

Laughing, Ethan gently punches my shoulder. “Well, I should keep playing well if I want to stay in their good graces.”

We’ve arrived, so I park the car and unlock the doors. “You don’t have anything to worry about. This season has been great.”

At that, we leave the car behind, go through security, and board immediately. This is so much better than normal flying.

We spend the next few hours relaxing, watching movies, and occasionally chatting. It’s a perfect way to pass the time. As the plane starts its descent into LA, I turn to Ethan.

“Ready to take on the West Coast?” I ask, trying to sound confident.

He gives me a small smile. “Let’s do it.”

In the hotel, Ethan and I wrestle for first-shower rights before deciding to share. While I was hoping for some steamy action, Ethan’s all work and no play, and he wraps up his shower in about two minutes.

I leave the bathroom, and Ethan is in one of the beds flicking through his e-reader, his eyes narrow and soft as they scan the pages. Feeling energetic, I proceed to jump into the bed and ambush him with a bear hug. I snuggle against his soft shirt and lean up for a kiss.

My god, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of feeling Ethan’s smooth, full lips on mine. He’s so addictive. As I grind up against him, his stiff length pushes against me.

“Someone’s excited,” I tease.

“It’s your fault for looking so hot and fuckable,” he replies.

“Oh, I look fuckable? Do you wanna fuck me, Ethan?” I shuffle up to brush his dick with my ass for effect. Ethan lets out a lust-filled groan, which makes my cock perk up even more.

“I wanna fuck you all the time.” Ethan’s smiling at me, melting my stomach, but my ass clenches at the thought. I’ve never been fucked before. I’ve never put anything up my ass. Ethan’s dick barely fits in my mouth, and my ass is way tighter. And fuck, now I’m starting to overthink everything about fucking.

“Are you doing okay?” Ethan sounds concerned, which I don’t blame him for since I went from talking a big, sexy game one minute to totally clamming up the next.

“I’m afraid of getting hurt,” I say, before realizing all the different ways Ethan could interpret that. “Not emotionally or anything. But, like, physically.”

“James. I’d never try to hurt you, you know that, right?”

“I know you wouldn’t try , but I don’t know, you might not be able to help it.”

Damn it, he’s still confused. I’m gonna have to figure out how to spell it out.

“I’ve never taken anything up my ass before, and your dick is terrifyingly large.”

Ethan freezes before composing himself. “I’m gonna brush over the comment about my dick, but what you said about your ass being, um, uninitiated is totally valid. If bottoming is something you want to try at some point, take your time getting ready.”

“But still,” I start. “You might be waiting a while to…” Again, I’m struggling to find words. This is frustrating. “You might have to wait a while to fuck me.”

Ethan gazes at me, his eyes soft and full of understanding. “James. I don’t need to fuck you. I’m happy with what we’re already doing.”

“But I thought that you… I don’t know, were like—” Goddamn it. Fuck being “straight” for the first twenty-one years of my life. I don’t have the vocab to say what I want, and when I do know what to say, it comes out clunky.

“You thought that I’m a top.” Ethan supplies, his eyes narrowing.

“That’s the word. Because you’re tall and all that.”

Ethan clasps his hands together. “Okay. The thing is, I’ve topped and bottomed before, and I like both. I’m vers.”

“So you’d be cool if I topped you?” I ask.

Ethan’s eyes widen in surprise before he looks straight at me. “I’d be very, very cool with that.”

“Are you sure?”

Ethan manages to make his expression even more intense. “James, you could ask to fuck me right now and my pants would be off in less than a second.”

I swallow a small, apprehensive lump in my throat. “Let’s do it.”

Making good on his promise, Ethan discards his pants and lunges at me, crashing his mouth onto mine and slipping his tongue between my lips. We make out almost violently, our dicks rubbing together through the thin fabric that separates us. Ethan peels himself off me, panting hard.

“Ever done anal before?” he asks.

“Only once, and it was way too much work for the both of us, not gonna lie.”

Ethan slips his boxer briefs off and reaches into his bag, pulling out a bottle of lube. “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try and make it easy for you,” he says, slicking his fingers and reaching down. My dick twitches with excitement when Ethan lifts his legs up to rub lube over his hole, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply. Like everything about him, Ethan’s ass is perfect, and I get a little harder.

I lose my clothes the second Ethan starts opening himself up, working his fingers in and out, and stretching every so often. I make myself useful by hunting around in my wash kit for the unused stash of condoms that I put there at the beginning of the season. After tearing a packet open, I roll one on before grabbing the lube from Ethan and slicking some onto my aching length.

“Alright, I think I’m ready for you,” Ethan says.

When he follows that up by asking what position I want to fuck him in, I have to concentrate really hard to bring my brain back down to earth.

“You choose,” I respond absentmindedly.

Ethan shuffles onto his knees and elbows. “Fuck me from behind, but let’s face the mirror.”

I notice the body-length mirror leaning against the wall, facing toward the bed. Without another word, I climb up behind Ethan, and the sight of his wide, strong back arching away from me makes my head spin.

“Let me know if anything hurts, and we can stop,” I mumble, glazing Ethan’s hole with another squirt of lube for good measure. He nods in response, the back of his neck flushed.

Sensing a need to continue, I squirt some lube on my index finger and start to open Ethan up again, carefully stretching him until he’s relaxed. I move slowly at first, coaxing out soft groans as his muscles tense and relax.

He breathes out sharply. “More.”

I oblige. Another one of my fingers goes in, and I watch as his back arches. He’s ready.

Cautiously, I stick the tip of my dick in. This is nothing like I’ve ever felt before. He’s so unimaginably tight, and the rush of pleasure that hits me nearly knocks me backward. Through squinting, hooded eyes, I read Ethan’s expression in the mirror, sliding more and more of myself into him when I see that he’s comfortable.

Ethan keeps nodding in the mirror and biting his lip, signaling for me to keep going. I grab both sides of his firm ass and thrust a little harder, his muscles contrasting with the soft, warm pressure around my cock.

When I shift my stance and thrust downward slightly, the noise that escapes Ethan’s throat is loud and unexpected. It’s a primal moan that’s so fucking hot, and I have to bite my lip to hold back from coming immediately.

“Goddamn, that feels so good,” he grunts, his breath catching on every syllable.

Those words nearly undo me. I know what I have to do. I grip his ass as I ease back for just a second, trying to come down from the edge. Every slow thrust is now deliberate, hitting the same spot as before, which makes Ethan cry out. My heart’s racing, and I’m so close to the brink it’s dangerous, but the sounds he’s making are driving me wild. I lean down, my chest grazing his back as I press my lips to his neck and breathe him in.

“Harder,” he pleads, his voice thick with desire. Ethan stares back at me through the mirror, his eyes glazed over, desperate for more.

“Jerk yourself. I need you to come.”

Ethan reaches down, balancing on his knees and left elbow while wrapping his right hand around his cock. I start grinding faster again, feeling the first tingles of an orgasm build. Ethan times his strokes with my thrusts, writhing hard as he pants and moans, which almost makes me lose control. I’m barely holding on, focusing on Ethan and watching him race me across the finish line.

I have maybe five seconds to spare before Ethan yells out, his release wetting the sheets below him. His ass convulses around my cock, which pushes me over the edge. My climax ricochets through me, electric, fiery-hot, and unrelenting, blanketing every nerve in scorching pleasure. I find enough energy to pull out of Ethan and discard the condom somewhere before collapsing next to him. He looks just as spent as I do, ass-up and face smushed into the comforter.

“Fuck,” I murmur, out of breath. “That was unreal.”

Ethan turns his head to meet my eyes, a lazy, sated smile tugging his cheeks up. “Heh.”

I chuckle. “That’s all you have to say?”

“What else is there? You’re a natural. We definitely need to do that again.”

We lie there in silence, coming down from our mind-blowing orgasms. I’m hit with a realization: sex with Ethan has been consistently amazing. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had great sex before, but every single time with Ethan is like re-discovering what sex is. I’ve never come so hard, so often before in my life.

“I never want to have sex with anyone else, ever again.” Oh wait, fuck. That sounds like a conversation that I shouldn’t impose on Ethan right now.

He rolls over onto his side and gazes at me, covering his junk with a spare pillow. “What do you mean by that?”

I breathe deeply and laugh. “Dude, I think you ruined sex with everyone else.”

Ethan snickers. “That’s high praise, I’m glad to hear it, I guess.”

There’s another pause. I’m not sure where this is going, and I wasn’t kidding about the sex part. To be honest, sex with anyone else probably wouldn’t be as spectacular, but it also wouldn’t feel right.

“James?” Ethan’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

“Nothing. Just thinking about stuff.”

Ethan nods.

“Okay,” I start. “You don’t have to say yes, or anything, but I want to be, like, exclusive with you.”

I look back up at Ethan and see his expression change from shock, to confusion, to something else? He’s smiling, and I can tell from his eyes that he’s holding back.

“You want to date me or something?”

I didn’t say that, but hearing it from Ethan makes me all fuzzy and warm. Suddenly, I can’t think of anything more desirable than dating my best friend.

“Hell yes.”

Ethan’s smile grows, and he puts his hand on mine. There’s a comfortable silence and I fill it by leaning in to kiss him softly, our mouths brushing together lazily. I take a deep breath, and his familiar scent fills my lungs. It’s mostly woodsy shower gel and deodorant, but it’s unmistakably Ethan.

We pull apart from the kiss, our faces flushed. Ethan is smiling so widely, I’m scared his mouth is gonna crack at the edges.

“So, does this mean we’re boyfriends now?” he asks.

“Oh yeah,” I reply. “Now you’re stuck with me.”

Rolling his eyes, Ethan pulls me into a side hug. “Ugh, I’m stuck with you? I might as well say goodbye to sleeping under the covers forever.”

I just laugh, not wanting to argue the fact that Ethan and I both steal blankets from each other. We keep cuddling, kissing, and hugging for who knows how long, and the whole time, my mind is filled with only one thought.

I have a boyfriend .