Basketball Jones (15 page)

My own life. Real bad and real quick.

I stepped out of the shower. It had been three days and no word from Dray. Not one phone call, text, or surprise visit, and I was worried that he’d done something stupid. Drying myself off, I wondered if Dray’s disappearing like this might help make it easier not to miss him too much if one day I decided to leave him. The thought crossed my mind now and then. But thinking about it was a lot easier than actually doing it.

I spread cocoa butter all over my body, and then slipped into some pima cotton lounging pants with a matching T-shirt. I prepared myself for another day of surfing the Internet and waiting for a man who obviously wasn’t coming. Maybe I should go down to the Ninth Ward and see if I could help out there. Make myself useful, as my mother would say.

I logged onto the sports board to see if there was any news about Dray besides his upcoming bundle of joy or the new contract. Not that I expected to find anything out about Dray being
blackmailed, but there was one site called Ballersblog.com that sometimes included gossip about professional athletes. You never knew what would pop up there.

Just as I had pulled the site up, my cell phone rang.

“What’s going on, AJ?”

“Hey, Maurice, what’s good?”

“Oh, nothing, just looking over some fabrics for some of the outfits I’m going to wear to my party. I plan to change clothes every hour on the hour. Also trying to decide what champagne to serve, and it’s going to be hard since all the big companies have sent me free cases. Oh, have you seen Tay’s blog today?”

“No, I haven’t. What’s going on over there?”

“Just a little more mention of the party, which is great because every time I’m on the site I hear from more sponsors. But Tay’s going to drop a bombshell that will have the sports world rocking. I think I know what it’s going to be.”

“What?”

“I can’t say because Tay will know it came from me and I can’t have that diva mad at me. Speaking of the diva, he’s calling me now. I need to take this, hon. Talk with you later.”

“Okay. Keep me posted if you are allowed to share anything,” I said. As soon as I hung up with Maurice my phone rang again.

“Hello?”

“Hey, you, is everything okay?” It was Jade. I hadn’t talked to her since I left the restaurant in a rush several days before. Although I still didn’t know her very well, it was comforting to hear her voice.

“I’m fine,” I said in my best attempt to sound that way.

“I thought you were going to call me. You missed some good food.”

“Remember, I brought my grub home, and it was great. How are you doing?” I asked, changing the topic as usual.

“I’m doing great. I mean, they working me like a slave at the casino, but I’ve been meeting some nice people. Hey, do you like basketball players?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Do you like basketball players? You know, is that your type?”

“Why do you ask that?”

“I went out a couple of nights ago with the guy who’s going to make sure I meet Reggie Bush and we were hanging out with some of his boys. After we’d had some drinks they started talking about some guy who plays in the NBA who’s gay and who’s about to come out. They didn’t say who, but I think he might play in New Orleans.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. This wasn’t happening, I told myself.

“Did they say a name?” I asked, trying like hell not to sound as frantic as I felt.

“I don’t recall. They said it was a basketball player, or maybe I had too much wine.” Jade laughed.

“Are you sure?”

“I can find out,” Jade offered, “I’ll just ask Steve. I’ll tell him I want to make sure my girlfriends don’t date him if he’s on the low.”

“It’s probably just idle gossip. Believe it or not, guys talk just as much as girls,” I said, trying to act normal.

“Yeah, you’re right, but I just thought about you, especially if the guy’s somebody nice. Remember me and your love life?”

“Yeah, I forgot. Thanks for thinking about me, Jade,” I said, rushing her off the phone. I needed to get off the call quickly. “Hey, can I call you back? There is someone at my door.”

“Sure, but don’t let me have to track you down again. I don’t want to feel like I’m being a pest, but I do worry about you. We all we got in this crazy city.”

“I appreciate your concern and I promise to call you, Jade.”

“Okay. Have a nice day, sweetie.”

“You do the same.”

When I clicked off my cell phone, I immediately phoned Dray. It went straight to voice mail.

“Dray, call me ASAP. Please. It’s urgent.”

“What you need to talk to me about?” Dray stood a few feet behind me.

I threw my arms around him. I was so happy and relieved to see him. “Where have you been?”

“I’ve been taking care of some business,” he said, barely returning my embrace.

All my excitement over seeing him drained right out of me.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Hey, I don’t want to talk about it. I’m exhausted. I just came by to chill, not have another argument.”

I wanted to say “Hell no” but I could tell from the deep worry in his face and the tightness I felt from his body that he was probably tired from emotional overload. This was one of those times where he needed me to be supportive instead of harassing him about his personal life. I also saw this was not the time to share with him the gossip I’d just heard from Jade.

I reached out to him. “Okay, come over here and let me take your shoes off and we’ll take a nap.”

“I knew you’d take care of me. Nobody can make me feel better like you, AJ.”

“I know, Dray,” I said, loving the warmth of his embrace.

“I’m sorry I left like that the other day and had you worried,
but I just couldn’t take it anymore. To be honest, I was afraid for the both of us. You forgive me?”

“Yeah, of course I forgive you. What’s happened over the last couple of weeks would make anyone crazy.”

Dray sat down on the love seat in the bedroom. I got on my knees and unlaced his sneakers and took off his shoes and white socks. I rubbed his feet gently for a few minutes, then instructed him to stand up.

I took off his gray “Hornet Basketball” T-shirt and pulled down his black warm-ups. Suddenly, there he stood in just his blue plaid boxer briefs with the hint of an erection.

“Hey, Aldridge,” Dray said, sounding to me as vulnerable as a little boy. “I really am sorry. I know you think I’m trippin’ and maybe I am, but I couldn’t hurt my pops like that. He is everything to me. You never knew your dad, so you might not understand. When I was a little boy, he lost his job and could only find work in Mobile, which was almost six hours away from our home in Mississippi. Seeing him gone all of a sudden, everybody in my neighborhood thought he was like most black men we knew, that he had left his family. But that was not the case. He called us every day and when I had basketball games he made every one of them. My pops told me it was important to him to set an example to me and my siblings so we would become adults he and my mother would be proud of. I’m not saying he’s right about everything, but there are certain things I could do that would hurt him, and nothing is so important to me that I would hurt my father. Does that make sense to you?”

“Perfect sense,” I responded, touched by his attempt to explain the situation.

“Do you forgive me?”

“Come with me,” I said, and dragged him over to the bed. I
pulled back the comforter and Dray climbed under the covers. I took off my pants and got in bed with him. I placed my back against him in the spoon position and pulled his arms around me. I felt his face nudge against my neck and I smiled to myself because suddenly everything was right with the world.

About five minutes later, I heard Dray snoring and the weight of his dick against my ass felt hard enough to drill a brick. He missed me. When Dray finished his nap everything would be like it was when he held me so tight. Suddenly I’d be back in a world where everything was magical and perfect.

A couple of weeks passed and everything had gone back to normal. Still, I held my breath the whole time, waiting for the other shoe to drop. But no word from the blackmailer, which I took to mean he’d gotten all he was after.

I woke up late one morning with a dreamy sluggishness and for a moment didn’t realize where I was. I knew I wasn’t in my own bed, but I felt a body close by. I turned over and there was Dray sleeping beside me. Then I remembered.

He had called me the evening before and told me he wanted to see me, so I did what I always did. I jumped on a plane and checked into the hotel the team was staying at and waited for him to call. We were in Washington, D.C., at the Ritz-Carlton near Georgetown, where the Hornets were preparing to play the Bullets that evening. This was my fifth trip of the season; I’d already joined Dray in Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami, and Orlando. If the blackmailer had any plans to drive us apart, he was wrong. I loved that Dray wanted to see me more now than he had in months. But maybe there was more to it. He probably
wasn’t getting a lot of sex at home since his wife was almost six months pregnant. I didn’t ask nor did I want to know for sure.

Whenever I joined Dray on the road, I usually got my own room on the club floor and hoped that he would be able to slip away from his teammates before I fell asleep. They didn’t have curfews, but he usually hung out with his teammates until they had made their out-of-town booty call connections. Sometimes this lasted till two and three in the morning and it was all I could do to keep my eyes open.

I got out of bed, walked to the large bedroom window that overlooked Georgetown, and opened the curtains. It was going to be a beautiful day. Motionless clouds hung in a perfect blue sky.

“What are you looking at, babe? Come back to bed,” Dray said.

“It’s beautiful outside. I think I’ll go shopping in Georgetown while you guys do your walk-through.”

“That sounds like fun. Now come back to bed.”

I kneeled down on the bed and whispered, “Are you hungry? Let’s order a big breakfast and put it in the middle of the bed and eat just like we used to,” I said, climbing back into bed.

“That sounds like a plan.” Dray pulled me close to him and nibbled on my ear. Being in Dray’s arms felt like old times and our recent scare felt a million miles away.

“You glad you came?”

“Yeah, Dray. I’m really happy to be here.” During times like this, it was like Judi and her bundle of joy didn’t exist. This was our world.

“I’m happy you’re here too. I always sleep better when you’re with me.”

“For real.”

“Real talk, babe.”

“What do you want for breakfast?” I asked.

“Waffles, bacon, eggs, and maybe some cheese grits,” Dray said.

“You must be hungry,” I teased.

“For food, and something else,” Dray said, grabbing my ass.

“I thought we took care of that last night.” I smiled.

“Yeah, but I want some more.”

“After breakfast.”

“Okay, order the food. I’m going to shower and brush my teeth. The bus leaves for practice a little after ten.” He hopped out of bed and ducked into the bathroom.

I heard my phone go off and I saw that I had a text from Maurice asking where I was. He said he’d been calling me with no answer. I sent a text back telling him that I was in Washington, D.C. I started to call him to see if everything was okay, but he texted back telling me to have fun at the Ritz. For a moment I wondered how Mo knew where I was staying, but realized he knew the Ritz-Carlton chain was my favorite.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was five after eight. I wasn’t surprised we were off to a late start. Whenever Dray and I were together, we lost all track of time.

I considered the options on the room service menu and phoned in our order. Sitting there, I noticed the elegant room with its cream-colored walls had a stillness that was heightened by the sound of the shower. After all the recent drama, I appreciated the calm.

That quiet was broken when the hotel room phone rang and I picked it up, assuming it was room service checking our order. The Ritz was impeccable and was always checking to make sure everything was just right.

“Hello?” I said.

“Are you enjoying your little visit?” a deep male voice asked in a hard, colorless tone.

“Who is this?”

“Never mind who I am. Just answer my question.”

“You have the wrong number.”

“I don’t have the wrong number. I called the hotel and asked for Aldridge Richardson and they put me right through.”

“You have the wrong room,” I said firmly.

“This is Aldridge, isn’t it?”

“Tell me who
you
are.”

“Don’t worry about me. Is your basketball boyfriend nearby?”

“I’m hanging up,” I threatened.

“That wouldn’t be a wise move, playa.”

“Why not?”

“Is your boyfriend there with you?”

“I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Oh, yes, you do. And if you want to keep him then you’re going to get me some big money. Otherwise I’m going to go to the press, wifey, and of course your boi’s family. I’m also going to tell your mother what you did when you were fifteen. I don’t think she going to like what I have to tell her.”