Aphrodite
APHRODITE
I LOOKED AROUND the room at the dozens of boxes we had scattered around and a feeling of peace had come over me.
“This feels so good.”
The walls were still cream because we didn’t know what color we wanted to put on them. We already discussed that we wanted a house full of Black art and had already had several pieces from the artist Harmonia Rosales ordered to hang in multiple areas of the house.
Anthony looked up from the box he was pulling items out of to see what I was talking about.
“What does?”
“This. You and me.” I motioned around the house and then between the air between the two of us.
That confession brought the sweetest smile to his face and he put down the framed LSU jersey that he’d gotten from his Uncle Silas’ house.
After he’d gotten his items that had been stored there so his mother couldn’t sell them, he’d come back home and we’d taken the six-hour drive south to Port Aransas beach.
I’d rented us one of the last houses that had direct ocean access so we could relax and not have to be interrupted.
Since it was in the middle of the school week the only people that were around were locals, no one paid us any attention when we went down to the beach or swam in the ocean.
Most people would’ve wanted to hop a flight but we were finally moving.
It felt even more special that we entered this house with all the parental issues behind us.
Anthony’s father was apparently on the run and he and Antwan had to make some type of statement to denounce his actions and tell him to turn himself in.
Some folks, manly fans from teams that hated ours, tried to call them thugs and the regular bullshit but they paid it no mind.
He’d apparently tried to rob a Miller Bank & Trust location but hadn’t been successful.
Life caught up with Jill as well. True to her word Billy started the court proceedings to hold the blogs and stations that had run with the story about their betting without doing due diligence.
They’d been so eager not to be behind the news they hadn’t thought to question the source since it was their mother.
They were trying to settle and then go after Jill but Billy apparently hadn’t heard a number that would keep her out of court yet.
They really should’ve known better.
It was fortuitous that right when we needed good PR, the magazine spread that we did together all those months ago was released.
Not only did they highlight me, but apparently they’d done some follow up questions with Anthony before it came to print.
The interview was incredibly sweet but when they got toward the end Anthony sealed that he was never going to shake me.
Interviewer: “What do you think of how your girlfriend made history this year?”
Anthony: “I had no doubt. I’ve seen the work she’s put in, how she trained especially after Wimbledon but stayed focused. We’ve made it a point to keep things positive with us even when the world tris to become negative.”
Interviewer: “How proud of you of Aphrodite?”
Anthony: “Man, proud doesn’t even begin to cover it. As an athlete, I’m in awe of what she does. Her making history was a guarantee once I saw how she pushed herself. The only question was what year she was going to do it.”
Interviewer: “That confident?”
Anthony: “Have you seen her play?”
Interviewer: “I have and I definitely agree. So she should be ranked number one in your mind?”
Anthony: “In the sport, of course. In my heart, that goes without question.”
So yeah, he was stuck with me forever.
“I’d hope you feel that way. Got you running around with my name on you, you can’t be denying my ass after I’ve professed to the world how I feel multiple times.”
He tugged at the t-shirt I wore that had his name and number on the back of it.
A fan had designed them for us and they were the perfect weight to lounge around the house in.
The fireplace was wood-burning and directly off the large kitchen.
I loved how the rooms flowed one into another.
With the number of friends and family here, we could have everyone in one space and it not feel like anyone was cut off.
The primary bedroom was downstairs and there was another upstairs with four other bathrooms. There was a double-sized bonus room on one side of the house that doubled as a workout room and den.
The den was being used as the trophy room and Anthony had plans to have lights installed over every one of my trophies so they lit up when someone entered.
I tossed the throw pillow off of the sofa I’d gotten as our joint homecoming gift.
Billy had turned three of the photos that we’d done for Sports News into paintings that we’d hung on the wall.
It was crazy that the random man I picked out to be in a photoshoot with almost nine months ago was now the love of my life.
“That’s the only reason you want to keep me around? So that folks who ain’t in this with us don’t clown you?”
“Nah, I want to keep you around because the thought of being without you makes my heart want to stop beating. Makes the air in my lungs seize up. Everything about you makes me want to be better than I was the day before.” He touched his heart as if the idea of being without me caused him pain.
“Bam.” Besides the way he beat the pussy up, I called him Bam because he was always saying stuff like this and it struck me to my soul.
“I’m serious, AP. The idea of you, the thought of you it’s enough for me to want to keep going. Stay motivated to reach even higher than I did before. You’re the part of me that was missing and the piece of me I’d been waiting for.”
I rubbed the side of his face and then let my fingers run through his braids. His eyes closed as they always did when my nails scraped his scalp. “I never knew love that until I knew you. I was afraid of what I would lose by taking a risk on somebody.”
His eyes opened slightly but I could tell my touch was relaxing him. “So why did you?”
“You showed me it wasn’t a risk. That falling in love with you, that loving you was almost guaranteed to work. It felt right. It feels right. Even when you do the little things that make me want to kick you out of the bed, I still wouldn’t want to be away from you long.”
“How you gone put me out our shit, Phro? We ain’t even been here two days.”
I rolled my eyes at him because he acted like I hadn’t ever been to his brother’s place. “Antwan and Rye have a house with a whole other house in back. You act like you’d be on the street or something.”
“Anywhere I gotta lay my head that is absent of your love and presence is akin to hell to me.” He kissed the back of my hand and I swore I was going to melt like butter on a hot stove.
“You trying to get me pregnant talking like that.”
“Nah. You at the top of your game and I would never want you to limit anything about you and ever feel you settled. You made history this year and that is the crowning achievement for some. But I know you still hungry for more. When it’s time to hang up the racket you’ll be wearing my ring and my name before I put a baby in your belly.
” His fingers were grazing my hip bones like he could already imagine the baby he was going to put there in a few years.
“You feel that way because of your parents?”
“Yeah. There ain’t ever gone be a time that you gotta wonder where I stand.
You gone always know how crazy I am about you.
How much I wanted you and that I’ll never stop pursuing you.
Some folks get married and think that’s it, but to me it’s just the beginning of being able to love you as a completely new version of me and a new one of you. ”
“New version?” I wondered how much he thought I was going to change.
“Yeah. Right now I’m loving the woman who made history. Then I’ll be loving you through each phase of fiancée, wife, mother of my kids, my teammate as they battle against us, and the lil gray haired ol’ lady I’m sittin’ wit’ on that front porch recounting how I taught her how to drive.”
He had me smiling especially when he pronounced porch like pawch . His accent was so damn sexy to me and it was so cute to hear Nia talk like her daddy. To imagine I was gonna have the same one day running around this house brought tears to my eyes.
“That life sounds perfect. Even if I know it won’t be smooth and stuff will come up, we've got each other to work through whatever comes.’
“You damn right. Dance with me, Aphrodite.”
“Dance?”
“Yeah. My ass was born 90s and I loved seeing all the movies that had great love stories that came out during that time. You’ve met my mama so you know she wasn’t slow dancing with my daddy and shit.
But I wanted to do that. Have that moment that was pure romance and feeling.
So come dance with me Aphrodite, goddess that I love, so that you can make another of my dreams a reality. ”
This man was so rough on the field, happy to talk shit but with me he was gentle and loving.
I’d seen the phenomenon play out with other men but never thought it would happen to me.
Being in the middle of the toxic relationship my parents had made me feel like these moments were only on the big screen.
But I was living them. Being showered with love and protection from a man who was perfect for me.
He believed in my dreams, supported them and ensured I had everything I needed.
With tears in my eyes, I took his outstretched hand as he started the music from his phone and it played on speakers throughout the house and grounds.
It was an old Jodeci song called Cry For You and the opening line always cracked me up.
These men were out in the desert in leather cause their woman had been gone for only an hour.
But now I understood that sentiment. Being away from Anthony as much as I had been made me feel like I was suffocating.
And for him to play this and convey those feelings made me feel like the most loved woman in the world.
“You’d be out there in the heat singing like this for me if I were gone for an hour?”
“Shit, I might not last that long. It was hell when you had to be away from me but I damn sure don’t want to stop your shine. And you made history because of our sacrifice.”
Even as we swayed together I felt him growing harder. The love we had for each other fed the lust we experienced that no one else could ease. He started to kiss the side of my face, working his way down my ear and then my neck.
“Should’ve put sheets on that bed today.”
“You getting fancy on me and need a bed now, Bam?”
He laughed as we swayed, his hands roaming the planes of my body. “Ain’t nobody trying to have our people sitting on the sofa you done soaked through with pussy juice.” He looked disgusted at the thought and I hated that he seemed to forget who is brother and sister-in-law were.
“We've got blankets. Besides, we've gotta christen every room in this house, right?”
“You ain’t lyin’. We startin’ today?” He picked me up and hiked my legs around his waist and I was immediately leaking.
“Right now, actually.” I squeezed my thighs around his waist making him grin.
“Who knew the goddess of love was such a freak?”
I winked before bending down to bite his lip. I used my tongue to soothe the sting as my hips started to wind on him.
“Only for you.”
“I’mma to do whateva to ensure that never changes, AP. ”
The End