Long Pass Chronicles 02 - Canning the Center (27 page)

“Okay, then.”

“I know my money won’t last long, but please keep it. Hell, I owe it to you a thousand times over.”

Ev leaned forward. “It’s actually a pretty good idea. I’ll bet if it’s in your account, Dad, it’ll be harder for the team to get it back.”

His dad nodded. Thank God.

His mother looked serious. “We should use it to pay for Trevor’s schooling. He’s truly an innocent victim in this mess.”

Oh man, so true
. “I plan to pay for it one way or another. Whether they kick me off the team or not, I can get work. He doesn’t even have to know I’m doing it. I can pay the school directly like Will’s dad did.”

Ev threw her hands up. “Trevor doesn’t need schooling! I wish he’d pay attention to me. There are a hundred companies, including the one I work for, that would give their last nickel to employ him, I’m telling you.”

His mom frowned. “He doesn’t seem to want to do that, Evangeline.”

She crossed her arms. “He thinks he’s some kind of freak and he has to hide. Somebody’s been telling that kid he’s crap for so long, I think he believes it.” She shook her finger at Jamal. “And he’s too smart to believe that.”

Jamal stared at her. “You see that?”

Ev glowered at him. “I said you needed to take care of that guy, Jamal. I don’t see you doing that.”

He dropped his head in his hand. “He doesn’t want me to. He told me our being together was a bad idea, and he only did it for fun.”

“You believed him?”

“He was pretty convincing. Hell, I used him like some kind of doll I paraded around to keep my lies going. No respect for his brilliance or his amazing talent.” The reality of that swept through him and nearly made him gag.

His mom started to say something, but Ev cut her off. “I’m glad you see that.”

He looked up and saw his mom staring at Ev, but her mouth closed. She agreed. He was as bad as the family that had treated Trevor like dirt.

His father sat back in his chair. “When are you going to do this coming out?”

“As I was driving here, I got a call from Hartford inviting me to this big press event after the game on Saturday. That seems ready-made. I’ll call Xavier and tell him what I’m planning.”

“Will he support you?”

“He doesn’t have much choice unless he resigns as my agent. I’ve dragged him into this crap too.”

Ev had a single-track mind. “Most of all, you need to talk to Trevor.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Just tell him what happened.”

“I want to go to the school and see if I can arrange something about taking over the payments. It’s complicated because he gets some money for his ratty apartment too, and I don’t think he’ll take that from me. It’s this big house of cards, and I don’t know which card to pull first.”

“He needs to know you care about him.” Ev frowned. “Who knows what he’s thinking?”

“I know what he’s thinking. That I’m a using asshole he wishes he’d never met.”

T
REVOR
UNCROSSED
his legs and crossed them the other way. The receptionist sat tapping away on her keyboard between large green plants. The room managed cozy and chic at the same time. He liked it. Hopefully that would also apply to its owner. Jesus, he felt like he might die, he was so fucking scared.

A buzz turned the receptionist to her phone. “Yes. I’ll send him in.” She hung up and looked over at Trevor. “You can go in now. Just go directly back through the double doors and turn right.”

He stood and smoothed his sweaty palms on his jeans. “Thank you.”

Every step felt like fifty. He’d never taken this kind of chance in his life—if you didn’t count the night he set this in motion. What would Jamal say if he knew? Probably that Trevor was crazy, but what the hell difference did it make? He had the power and must use it.
Here’s hoping I made the right choice.

He opened the big door and walked into a hall, then stopped. Jesus, he was scared shitless.

He passed a hand over his tightly bound hair.
Get used to it. This is what being a responsible party feels like.

He stared at his hand as he raised it and rapped gently on the door.

“Come in, please.”

Oh shit!

T
WO
HOURS
later, he walked away from the high-rise. Okay, step one. He wasn’t allowed to tell anyone. That would be hard. Still, time to move on to step two. He grabbed his phone, hunted through the e-mails for the number, and dialed it in.

Chapter 17

J
AMAL
STARED
at his phone. Ev said Trevor needed to know how Jamal felt, but how did he explain that on the phone?
Hi. I’ve screwed up your life and ruined your scholarship, but I really care about you.
I know it looks like I care about football more than you, but it’s not so
.

No, he needed to prove it. He needed to come out, pay for Trevor’s scholarship somehow, and show he could function like a grown-up. Then maybe he could call. If Trevor would answer.

He sighed and hit the speed dial to Xavier. Unbelievably, the guy answered. “Hey, it’s me.”

“What’s going on? You sound bad.”

“I am. Let me tell you what’s happened.”

After five minutes of details, Xavier was spitting nails. “Shit. I want to kill the bastard. I don’t care if it loses me every client I’ve got. I want to bring him down.”

Oh no.
“Crap, man, I never thought about how bad it could be for you having Arondel against you.”

“Yeah, not the world’s best enemy, I’ll admit. But he shouldn’t be able to get away with this.”

“I won’t say anything about his blackmail unless I have to. Maybe that’ll reduce his retribution.” More people going down on his watch.

“We’ll get the Player’s Association behind you.”

“Unfortunately I don’t have any of his threats in writing. It’s his word against mine, and I doubt anyone’s going to believe a gay, black football player over a multimillionaire.”

“But if he does retaliate against your family, we can give that to the press.”

“What do you wanna bet he hides his involvement?”

“He will, but we can still make a stink. Where there’s smoke and all that.”

It sounded pretty flimsy. He sighed. “Thanks, Xavier. I know you can just walk away from this. I appreciate you not doing that. And if it’s any consolation, Jet West said he’d support me. I don’t know exactly what that means or how we could use him.”

“At the least, we can ask him to tell the press what a great center you are and how he enjoys working with you.”

“Yeah, character references help.” He tried to laugh. “I’ll call him and tell him I’m doing it on Saturday. If he wants to put in a good word, he can.”

“Okay, I’ll let you know what the Player’s Association rep says.”

“Thanks, Xavier.” He hung up and dialed Jet West.

E
DWARD
WAS
already there along with Ginny and RJ when Trevor walked into the meeting. Edward looked up, his eyes widened, and he jumped out of his seat. “Trev, are you okay? Jesus, you look sick.” He took him by the shoulder and guided him into a chair.

Funny. He hadn’t realized it showed. He nodded. “I’m fine.”
Wait.
These were supposed to be his friends. People he’d lied to since the day he met them—and then he blamed them for not knowing him. “Actually, my brother won’t let me see my mom anymore in the Alzheimer’s facility.”

Ginny slapped a hand on her face. “Well, that’s crap. Why on earth would he do a thing like that?”

Trevor took a deep breath and glanced at Edward. “Because he hates me and always has. He thinks I’m a piece of weirdo shit because I’m a drag queen.”

Edward’s pretty mouth opened, then clamped shut. There was the look Trevor had avoided for years.

“I never told you because I guess I was ashamed of it.” He frowned. “But I’m realizing that this whole pack of lies I tell isn’t getting me anywhere.” Air rushed into his lungs. “I’m not only a drag queen—and love being one, by the way, Edward—but I’m also really smart.”

Ginny nodded. “We know, Trev. Smartest guy in the room.”

“Yeah, well, smarter than that. So smart that I have no fucking business being in this school taking up a space and a scholarship that could go to someone who really could use it, you know? I’m just a chickenshit coward and a liar.” He tried out a smile. “I’m even in love with a football player. One of the guys we’ve been picketing, which was really mendacious crap on my part.”

RJ’s eyes widened. “Who?”

“I’ll never tell you because you’d never guess in a million years. I won’t make his life any harder. Maybe he’ll come out someday, but who am I to tell anyone to live authentically?” He stood. “Anyway, my lies lost him too. I need to quit hiding and letting other people do my work for me. It’s time I made a new life for myself. I’ll be leaving school and the committee, but I’ve enjoyed being with you. You helped me feel like a normal person sometimes.”

Ginny’s mouth hung open. “You’re leaving school?”

“Yeah. All the stuff they’re teaching us, I could do when I was twelve.” He shrugged. “I just enjoyed feeling like I belonged somewhere. With friends, you know.”

She hugged him.
Whoa.
“You’ll always be our friend.”

“Thank you.” He hugged back.

Edward grinned. “Are you really a drag queen?”

Trevor nodded. “Yeah.”

“So where can we see you perform?”

He cocked his head and tried to smile. “I’ll get back to you.”

“We’ll miss you, Trev.” Ginny actually wiped a tear.

“Thanks. I’ll miss you guys too.” It was the truth.

He gave everyone a hug and walked out into the sunshine. As he climbed on his bike, his phone rang. He balanced on one foot, looked at the screen, and his breath caught. Okay. Maybe this was okay.

J
AMAL
PULLED
on his suit jacket but left the neck open. No tie. California casual. Besides, if he wore a tie, he might choke on it. For the hundredth time that day, he checked his phone for texts and messages, but the verdict felt pretty final. Trevor wasn’t calling back. Everything had been said.

Jet walked over and patted his arm. “Good game.” He smiled. “Considering. See you in a few minutes.”

“If I don’t have a coronary first.”

Jet didn’t try to make light of it. “Yeah.” He glanced around and lowered his voice. “Wonder why Arondel wasn’t here for the game.”

“Don’t know. I’ve never known him to miss, and the party’s today. Maybe he was too busy to do both.” Yeah, too busy firing Jamal’s dad and screwing up Trevor’s scholarship.

Jet shrugged. “We’ll see, I guess.” He turned and left the locker room.

Jamal glanced at the phone again.

“Hey, Jamal.”

He looked up at Xavier as the man walked in through the door Jet had just exited. Young, handsome, well-dressed, and smart, Xavier had made it to the top ranks of sports agents in his thirties. “Hey.”

He glanced around. “I’ve got a few sympathetic reporters and bloggers coming. I hope Arondel doesn’t keep them out. He’ll probably recognize them.”

“Strange, but we haven’t seen him all day. Maybe he’s been setting up for the party.”

“You gonna have your guy there?”

His chest squeezed. “No. We broke up.”

Xavier looked shocked. “Sorry, man. You still want to do this, right?”

He shuddered. “Yeah. I’m not doing it just for me.”

“Nervous?”

“Shitless.”

“Let’s go.”

They left the locker room and took the elevator to the loft floor, where the reception rooms of the very high football rollers were located. When they got off, the noise from Arondel’s suite hit Jamal like a wall pushing him away.
Do not wimp. Never again
.

He managed to navigate the line of people trying to get signed in at the desk with their press credentials. A couple of guys stopped him, and he shook hands, then made excuses and led Xavier inside. Hartford was greeting people at the door.

“Hi, Coach.” Jamal indicated Xavier. “You know my agent, right? Xavier Randelson.”

“Uh, yeah. Hi, Randelson.”

He had to ask. “Where’s Mr. Arondel?”

“I’m not sure. Still prepping for the party, I guess.” But he didn’t look happy about it.

They walked into the room. Some reporters came over immediately, and Xavier introduced them to Jamal.

One guy named Tibbits said, “I hear you’re going to have a story for us, Jamal.”

Xavier put a hand on the guy’s arm. “He is, but let’s let him get a drink first, okay?”

“Sure. Sure.”

Jamal smiled to cover the frogs jumping in his stomach. “I’ll be right back. Get you something, Xavier?”

“A sparkling water.”

Jamal threaded through the crowd, made it to the bar and back with a root beer and a soda water. “Sorry. Best they had.”

“No problem.”

Where the hell was Arondel? He glanced across the room, and Jet West waved a hand. Jamal smiled, and then his eyes widened. Standing next to him was Ray Shields, casually drinking a beer. And beside him was a handsome, fortyish guy who maybe, if you looked with the right eyes, thought the sun rose in Ray.
Son of a bitch
.