O.B. Benson knows that, as a gay baseball player, his only chance to keep from being shut out of the Major Leagues is to stay as far from the public eye as possible. His low profile is threatened when the team manager insists O.B. take part in a TV interview to help boost lagging fan support.<br><br>Avery Turner, TV reporter, is handsome, fit, and definitely pushes O.B.'s libido into high gear. He’s also out -- something O.B.'s situation doesn’t allow. And Avery believes in monogamous commitment -- something O.B. cannot identify with. But when Avery delivers a curveball to the catcher, O.B. doesn’t know how to handle it.<br><br>When O.B.'s interview is aired, he’s forced to evaluate his life of meaningless one night stands. Can O.B. and Avery work out their differences and build a winning team, or will O.B. strike out?

Major League Shutout

O.B. clung to the word almost. It gave him a glimmer of hope. He got an idea—a crazy idea. It might be the only way he could get through to the man he loved, who was in such pain and unable to listen to anything O.B. tried to say.


“Don’t go away. You stay right here. I’ll be right back.”


O.B. grabbed his car keys off the table next to the door and ran out of the apartment. He got in his car and drove across town as fast as he could without the risk of getting a ticket.


O.B. pulled into the driveway of a modest house in a suburb outside the city. The lights were still on inside. He checked his watch: eleven-twenty. Probably still up watching the news, he thought as he got out of the car, dashed up the steps to the front door, and rang the bell.


An older man—balding and stout, in bathrobe and slippers—opened the door a crack. “Can I help you?” he asked suspiciously.


“Chuck?” the man asked, seeming not to understand.


Chapter 43