T. A. Chase

Wednesday Work in Progress

Since At First Touch and Every Shattered Dream are the two I’m still working on this week, I thought I’d give you another small peek at At First Touch, our soccer(football) story. 🙂 Also, I wanted to let you know that I might not be able to post the next installment of Hearts tomorrow. I’m going to be busy all day with real life stuff, not writing. Unfortunately….and I’m not sure I’m going to be up to writing when I get home tonight. But I will try and post something on Friday. I don’t want to leave you or the guys hanging…lol

so here’s another snippet from At First Touch.

At First Touch copyright c.2013 T.A. Chase and Devon Rhodes

Excerpt:

The stadium vibrated with the stomping and chanting of the fans as the teams came out on the field. Ewansiha felt the energy rise from the soles of his cleats up through his legs into his chest. It was almost like being at a rock concert, and feeling the bass drive the beat of his heart until he thought it would come out of his chest.

His cock stiffened, and he was happy his shorts were baggy enough, none of his fellow teammates would notice. Of course, he was pretty sure most of them sported hard-ons of their own. The excitement of the fans and the adrenaline of the players conspired to get them all hornier than monkeys.

Lukas jogged down the sideline next to him, and Ewansiha didn’t his best not to stare at him. Waking up to find him in his bed that morning had freaked Ewansiha out a little. Oh, it wasn’t the first time they’d slept together or anything like that. What had freaked him out was how right it felt to have the blond in his arms, and sharing his bed.

“Heads up, King.”

He looked up in time to catch the ball Padraig had thrown at him. Guess I should be happy he warned me instead of just letting it hit me in the face. Allowing the ball to drop to the ground, he began kicking it from foot to foot as he ran along

“Hey Schulz,” he called, and when Lukas glanced over at him, he kicked the ball to him. Lukas took it in stride, then proceeded to return it to him without pausing.

They ran some more warm up drills, including Paolo and Padraig along with the other guys who were going to be starting the game. Ewansiha would start, but he knew that later in the second half, when it got close to the referee calling time, the coach would pull him to put Lukas in. He was fine with that because his knee would be screaming by that time, and he’d be ready to call it quits for the day.

Their last practice had been run at full speed, and he’d needed Sergio’s magic hands and a tub full of ice to be able to walk out on his own two feet yesterday. His doctors all had promised him that the ache would fade over time, but Ewansiha was afraid that there would always be some lingering pain, waiting to take him out at the most inopportune times. He wanted to be able to play football for several more years, but he wasn’t positive that was going to happen.

He and the other nine men who would be starting the first game of the new season lined up to take shots at Paolo in goal. The man clapped his yellow gloves together, jeering at them, arrogant as always about being able to keep the ball out of the net.

Ewansiha knew how to score on Paolo, having played on the same team with him for five years and studying the man’s every move. It was insurance in case his contract ever got bought out by a different team, and he had to play against the goaltender. He wanted to be able to do it.

He jogged slowly towards Paolo, keeping his gaze on the man, not the ball at his feet. He’d always had a ‘sixth sense’ about where the ball was at all times, whether he had it or someone else did. Ewansiha watched Paolo, waiting for the right moment. There!

Paolo had shifted his weight to his left foot, putting all of it on his heel like he thought Ewansiha would kick the ball to the right, and Paolo would have to push off with that foot. It would put him off balance, not giving him enough time to react to Ewansiha’s kick.

Ewansiha drove his foot forward, propelling the ball as fast as he could towards Paolo. The goalie reacted too late, and the ball hit the back of the net. Paolo glared at him, but Ewansiha simply nodded to the man before taking off back to the team’s bench. He didn’t need to take any more shots to prove that he had Paolo’s number.

“You always score on him, even during mock games,” Lukas said softly under his breath as they took sips of Gatorade while waiting for the coach to give them last minute advice.

He shrugged. “It’s not hard when you know what to look for.”

Lukas shot him a quick look. “Will you show me?”

“Tonight at my place, we’ll go over some game footage, and I point out what I’m looking for before I hit the ball at Paolo.”

“Thanks.” Lukas bumped their shoulders together, just like two normal teammates would before a game.

“No problem, man. You’re going to be taking my place at some point. Want to make sure you’re as good as you can be before that happens.” Ewansiha had never been against sharing his secrets with teammates he liked. He never understood men who didn’t try to help the people they worked with. When one of them got better at his position, all of them got better as a team.

“All right, men. You know the game strategy. Kroenig, I want you playing center back to start. Defending might be easier on your knee. We’ll get you back playing center forward by the third game.”

Nodding, Ewansiha wasn’t going to complain. Part of his usefulness on the team was the fact that he could play both forward and defender positions, though he was stronger as a center back. Yet the coach knew best, and he still wasn’t at a hundred percent, no matter what the doctors had told him.

“Time to go, gentlemen.” The referee told them as he ran past to the center of the pitch.

“O’Leary, you’re center forward this game. The rest know where your spots are.” The coach gestured for Padraig to go to the middle of the pitch to do the coin flip.

Their team lost the toss, but none of them were worried about it. Once their opponents chose which goal they wanted to attacked, everyone took their positions. Ewansiha settled in his spot, then shot Lukas a quick glance.

Lukas grinned at him before giving him a wink. Chuckling, Ewansiha shook his head slightly before slipping into his game mentality. The pitch wasn’t the place for him to get distracted by his lover.

Filed under: At First Touch,Every Shattered Dream,Excerpts,For Every Dream that Shattered,Hearts on the Line,International Men of Sports,Real Life,Wednesday WiPs,writing | |1 Comment