Junior Year Box Set

By the time the top of the ninth was through, we were down 5–4. We started the bottom of the ninth with a leadoff walk by Royce Greene, our third baseman. Royce was replaced by a pinch-runner who stole second during the next at-bat. Jared Cornish, our right fielder, had come to the plate with no outs and singled up the middle to score the pinch runner and tie the score at 5–5. Jared was picked off at first, but Tristan Pratt followed with a one-out double down the right-field line. A bunt single by Patrick Welch allowed Tristan to advance to third, and a sacrifice fly by Logan Greene allowed Tristan to cross the plate for the winning run.

It was good to see the bottom of the order come through for us. With the 6–5 win, we’d won our fourth game of the COPABE Pan American ‘AAA’ Championships and were the only undefeated team in the field. We now had a day off on Sunday. Our next game was a Monday-morning start against Columbia.

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Since it was Saturday night, and we had the day off tomorrow, we decided to go out. We were in a cluster of better hotels, and Daz had found a flyer saying that the hotel across the street had a nightclub. Daz also informed us that the drinking age in Mexico was 18.

I made a call to Tracy to invite the girls, and she said she would get it set up. I also called Fritz to let him know of our plans. He, of course, wasn’t happy. I’m sure he would have preferred I’d stayed in my room 24/7, but that wasn’t happening. Fritz did make me wait until he organized the troops. I let Daz know I would meet the team there.

When I came down to the lobby, I smiled. This was what it should look like when a movie star walked into a club. Besides my girls, the twelve ladies from the calendar photo shoot were waiting for me. I thought Fritz had gone a little crazy when he had nine security people, including Nicki and his team. With me, that made almost 30 people. I dared anyone to have a bigger entourage.

Nicki took his team across the street and explained who I was and how many people we had. He then walked through the club to confirm the safety of the seating arrangements. When he stepped out and motioned, Fritz led us across the street. There were a few people waiting to get in who all stared when we were ushered in en masse. Brook and Halle grabbed an arm each and guided me to our table.

An older gentleman was waiting for us.

“Welcome to Casa Cielo, Señor Dawson and Miss James. I’m your host, Señor Garcia. If you need anything that our staff can’t help you with, please ask for me.”

“Thank you. I look forward to having an enjoyable time,” I said.

They’d sectioned off an area for us since they didn’t have a VIP area. I was glad to see they had enough tables so my teammates could all sit next to us. I suspect Tracy must have clued the calendar girls in because they found seats at the other tables with my teammates.

We’d just settled in when the DJ started to play Hey Ya by Outkast. Brook all but dragged me out of my chair.

“Let’s dance,” she announced.

It looked like the other girls weren’t going to let Brook monopolize my time on the dance floor, so they all joined me. If that didn’t inflate my ego, I don’t know what would. They all had moves from being cheerleaders. The one who surprised me was Beth. She hadn’t cheered in almost three years, and I’d always considered her kind of the girl next door. She broke out some sexy moves that put the other girls to shame. Either she’d learned a few new tricks at college, or had been holding out on me.

I was happy to see that Yuri and Roc had asked calendar girls to dance with them. Phil was on the sidelines, looking unsure of himself. Some of my other teammates got brave, and soon we pretty much took up half the dance floor.

As the night went on, I was introduced to ‘real’ tequila. You drank it like you would a good scotch or sipping whiskey. It was much better than the stuff I’d done shots with. I was having a great time getting a little drunk, sweaty, and my dance on.

I noticed that Phil was finally on the dance floor. Zoe had gone and pulled him out of his chair. Once he was up and dancing, he got brave and danced with some of the calendar girls.

I thought the night was going to be a success until I heard a yelp and a crash. It seems a local had stumbled over and made a crude comment to Tracy. Pam told me later that he’d told her she was hot and that he wanted her to suck on his polla. Even Pam figured that one out, and she dumped her drink on his head. I was saved a repeat of Pam and Tracy beating the crap out of a guy when Cassidy stepped in and took him down.

He was begging her not to kill him when two of his friends showed up. That was when it got ugly. Nicki strode forward and chopped one of them in the throat and then punched the other one in the nose. I’ve never seen a nose break so loudly and with as much blood as that. It was almost like Nicki hit him with a two-by-four.