Love In the Red Zone (Connecticut Kings Book 1) (7 page)

Here in the small and mostly empty coffee shop, I let a few tears of fear, excitement, and confusion slip. But then I wiped those shits off my face and got my ass up to leave. I needed to prepare for the biggest play of my life.

“Girl, when he pulled up to a little-ass cottage, I wanted to cuss his ass the fuck out!” my cousin, Lashawn, gasped into the phone.

I rolled my eyes while using my tablet to check the grade on my last History quiz.

An eighty-two! Unacceptable!

That caused me to roll my eyes again. If I was going to stay on top of Kyree for excellent grades, I had to step my game up, too. I loathed school, hated that I felt a commitment to this degree.

“Not everybody in Montclair has a big crib. You know that, Lashawn.” My cousin was a snob—more appropriate, a chicken-head, always in search of her next sugar daddy.

“That nigga said
Upper
Montclair, Jade; not just Montclair. Big difference,” she argued.

I nodded in agreement. “That’s true, but it ain’t the end of the world.”

“The hell it ain’t!” she charged. “I’m looking for my come up. Ain’t nothing more important in the world than that.”

Rolling my eyes again, I tossed a glance out onto the football field to gauge how soon Kyree would be done with practice. I was tired from not having gotten any sleep the night before. I battled insomnia. It started when eviction notices began popping up on my door last month. Tonight was my rest night.

“Your health and having a roof over your head is far more important than chasing men with potential paper,” I half-heartedly chided.

“Yeah. I’m gonna let that slide, seeing you got your situation going on. How’s it going, though?”

“Same ole. The lady across the hall said based on when the letters started, I may have another week; at least that’s what she’s observed from other people being evicted.” I shrugged with my lips in the dimness of the car.

“Nosy ass,” she hissed.

I laughed. “Shawnie!” Then I thought. “Hey, you think Ky and me can crash there for a few days if I can’t think of something else?” I held my breath for the inevitable.

“Girl, you know if it was my place, you two would’ve been here already! But my mother rolls with whatever Aunt Chéri does, and she would side-eye the both of us if you stayed here.”

She was right. My aunt Magness was my mother’s younger and unfairly impressionable sister. She was one that agreed with whatever my mother did and said. Aunt Magness also tried to mimic her older sister’s lifestyle, but always fell short in the finance department, seeing her husband was a high school principal earning well, but not as much as her brother-in-law, the corporate attorney for widespread restaurant chain,
B-Way Burger
.  Kyree often stayed over there to play with Lashawn’s son who was a year younger; however
our
staying there would alert Aunt Magness of something being amiss. That would, in turn, involve her calling my mother, and I couldn’t have that. My mother put me out and never looked back to make sure I was okay. I deserved much of her coldness, but wouldn’t subject myself to her taunting
I told you so
.

“Yeah, you’re right,” I sighed, feeling that familiar pang of fear of impending trouble. I had no one else I could trust. Ryshon’s mother was not an option. That would open up a far more dreadful can of worms. “I’ll figure something out.”

Lashawn started singing a familiar tune. I couldn’t hear all of it over her vocals. Then it clicked.

“Hey, is that Brielle?”

“Yeah, girl!” Lashawn hummed a high note from her latest single,
Purple Hearts in Square Places
. “You heard her new release?”

“Yeah.”

“That bitch been through some shit. She so damn private, but she got some good D and it fucked her up. But we’ll never know who because she and her camp keep it to the hip.”

“Mmmmhmmm
m…
” I agreed.

Brielle was arguably the biggest pop star in her genre. At twenty-four, she had countless Grammys and even won a Golden Globe award for starring in a movie with Will Smith as his young love interest. She was an amazing talent and put on the best shows from what I’d been told; I’d yet to go. She started out as an R&B artist at sixteen before going pop on her second album. She’d just dropped her fifth album this past summer and just like the rest, it had gone platinum in no time.

“I can’t wait for her to start her tour. When she comes to the
Garden
, I’m so in the building!” Lashawn decreed.

My eyes absentmindedly rolled over to find a tall and solid figure approaching my car. I couldn’t quite make out his face in the shadow of the night, but knew who he was. Even the field’s bright lights couldn’t reveal his features; he wore a hoodie again. He ambled with the posture of a lanky athlete as his big hand rested on a pouting Kyree’s head.
Dang
… I knew who the giant was and his business, walking my son to me.

“Shawnie, I gotta go. Ky’s done now,” I dismissed her hurriedly, scrambling for the door handle.

“Okay, girl. You can drop Kyree off when you need to, you know?” Lashawn had her issues, but she was a supportive cousin.

“I know. Thanks.”

I stood from the car, disconnecting the call. Prepared to receive whatever the man was going to tell me about Ky, I rested my arm on the open car door.

“What is it tonight?” I initiated the complaint.

Since the guy started talking to me about Kyree, I could tell he didn’t like it. It was as though he had no experience with reporting kids. I didn’t know him; couldn’t recall his presence here last year when Ryshon had me enroll Kyree for the first time. He must have been a new coach. As they neared me, my eyes roamed up his long legs that had a decent virile spacing between. He held a football in his palm, the ball fully nestled in the curve of his long fingers. Tonight, his sweat suit was heather gray with the jacket opened to a black t-shirt. I swept my eyes away from him.

Kyree’s sullen regard was downcast. I knew that face. It was of guilt.

What is his problem?

Kyree was otherwise a good kid, fair mannered, and got along with children his age. This was getting out of control.

“Let me guess,” I started when they were just feet away. “Tonight wasn’t a good one for him.”

“It was actually a great night, performance wise.” The guy’s thick chords produced. “I guess you haven’t noticed the other kids left. Kyree had to run extra laps again.”

“What for now?” I shrieked, asking Kyree who refused to look at me.

My son wouldn’t answer, further revealing his guilt. I folded my arms over my abdomen, signaling my wait. Ky’s little eyes shifted up to meet mine for just a few seconds before he dropped them to the ground again.

“Ky! What’s—”

“I don’t wanna go home,” he whined underneath his breath.

Shrinking embarrassment enclosed around me. My lips parted as my regard shot up to the man. I couldn’t catch his expression under the shadow of his hood, but I could only imagine what kind of red flags that outburst gave off. He’d finally let the cat out of the bag in front of someone.  

“Well…
I
-I don’t either, but it’s a school night and late.” I tripped over my words, my regard bouncing up and down between the two guys in front of me.

My heart pounded fanatically. Ky tossed me a nasty glare. I knew what he meant.

“Wanna go get a bite before bedtime?” the giant offered. “I get hungry after practice, too.”

My son’s head rocketed up and his face exploded in an animated smile instantly. “Yeah!”

I took to Kyree’s side, my hand moving to his left shoulder, swiping the guy’s hand from his right. “We always eat a sandwich before bed. That’s not necessary at all.” I offered a broad beam, just wanting to leave this awkward—and what could be detrimental—encounter before more could be revealed. “Let’s go, baby.”

I nudged him just to cue his movements.

“It wouldn’t be a big deal at all. I’m sure we can get something fast and quick to bring that surge of energy down from the work he just put in out there,” the man’s vocals grew with each word, pleading with me.

A stupid giggle escaped my throat. “No. Thanks. That PB&J always seems to do the trick.”

I opened the back door for Kyree to get in and told him to put on his seatbelt as soon as he was seated on his booster. Then I hopped into the front seat and went to cut on the engine. It stalled.
Of course, while this man is standing right in front, partially asking to take my son out to dinner, partially to send us off.
I tried again, pushing on the accelerator. I was so used to this, I forgot to be embarrassed by that, too. She typically started on the second try, but on occasion, the third. By the fifth time when the car puttered a sound I’d never heard, it was clear she wouldn’t be starting anytime soon.

A quiet cry shot up my chest and I dumped my head on the steering wheel.

Not tonight
…

I’d been pushed to the edge from life throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, all at once. Not here! Not tonight!

“Do you have triple A?” I heard a kind yielding to his chords. It was the giant.

I couldn’t look at him, wasn’t able to lift my head. My focus was tamping down the burgeoning cry that wanted to rip from my belly.

“Mommy!” Ky called from the back seat, concerned.

I shook my head at them both.

Not now
…

I took deep abdominal breaths, trying to calm myself enough to just think.

“Miss, it’s late. I know you want to get the little guy home. If you don’t have triple A, do you have a service to call?”

I couldn’t even look at him, just shook my head still pressed into the steering wheel.

“Okay. I can give someone a call to come look at—”

“I can’t afford it,” I cut him off.

I had little money to stretch and not enough to go into this car. Bigger than that issue, the revelation landed a gut blow, but directly to my face. It had all caught up to me: getting involved with a guy with no interest but the “block,” making babies, and no future other than a jail cell or premature death. Me dropping out of school, living on my own before I was ready, and having a child before I could care for him independently.

The consequences all crashed on m
e…
In this moment.

“Well, we have to decide what’s wrong before we can know how much, right?” The softness in the strong bass of his utterance had my neck lifting and I finally beheld him in the eyes as he squatted down at my window. “I’ll make the call and see how long it’ll take. Okay?”

With parted lips and weighted shoulders, I nodded.