Chapter 5 #2
I glanced up, immediately seeing the sign on the building in front of us—Millers Pointe High School. To the left was a massive football field and several bodies running back and forth. It was cold as hell out here, yet there was no snow on the field and they were out here.
Hani opened the door to get out. He then glanced in my direction. “What, you gonna sit here and stare or get out of the car?”
I side eyed him before getting out of the car. It was so cold and crisp out here that I stuffed my hands into my pockets with a quickness.
“You’re only cold because you ain’t used to this type of pressure,” he tossed over his shoulder as he led the way to the field. Once on the field, we approached a man standing there with a whistle to his lips. He focused on the several players running drills before he looked from my cousin to me.
“Hudson Mayers, as I live and breathe. Your father is always talking about you. Shit, I was starting to believe you weren’t his son for real. My name is Daniel Jefferies and I’m the principal here at Millers Pointe High school, and as you can tell, the coach of the MP Broncos.”
He shook hands with Hani before extending his hand to shake mine. I shook his hand, then focused on the team out there working.
He and Duhani made some small talk before Duhani’s phone rang and he stepped away from us.
I looked out on the field, my eyes catching the players going back and forth, running drills.
“What do you know about coaching, son?” he asked, letting me know he was now at my side.
“Not much, spent my whole life playing.” I looked from the team to him.
He nodded. “From my experience, if you can play it, then you can teach it, and if you can teach it, you damn sure can coach it.”
I nodded.
“That being said. I wanna offer you a job. It won’t pay as much as you’re used to making in the league, but it’ll fill the parts of you that seem empty.”
I turned my head and looked at him when he said that, wondering how he knew of any emptiness.
“You don’t have to voice it for me to know it, Hudson.
I spent three seasons in the league, and after I was done, I was the hollowest I had ever been in my life.
You give so much of yourself to the game, the field, the coaches, the fans…
this list goes on and on. But how much of yourself is reserved for you?
I could be reading you wrong, but my guess is you’re looking for something else here, something grounding. ”
I nodded, because he was right. I had never heard anyone put it the way he had. Everything he said was accurate.
In one swift motion, he extended a card. “I don’t need an answer now. Take the holidays, spend time with your loved ones. Let me know in the new year.”
I accepted the card just as Hani reapproached. “Hudson, I gotta go. Bridget is just about to have her mare.”
The moment we made it back to the ranch, I peeped Greene’s truck.
Then I heard the loud ass neighing coming from the barn.
Duhani couldn’t even shut the truck off good before he was rushing in that direction.
My cousin loved his animals, from the loud ass roosters that woke me up too early in the morning to the stubborn fat ass pig I learned just eats and shits.
It was unbelievable because absolutely nobody intended to eat it.
When I got out of the truck, I began moving toward the barn at a much slower pace than my cousin. What caught my eye was the little boy standing next to Versai.
When he heard my footsteps, he turned and looked at me.
He was the spitting image of his mother, down to the dark tinted eyes with honey specks in them.
I had to do a double take before the loud sound coming from the horse stole all of our attention.
It was then that my attention found her.
Her face turned up as sweat slithered across her skin.
Baby was going through the works, but she expected it, and to her, this was no job.
“Mommy, when you’re finished can we go eat?” he questioned, disregarding the entire scene before him like only a kid could.
“Yeah, as soon as I fin—shit.” She couldn’t give him much attention because her arms were in the womb of a horse and a whole bunch of shit just came sludging out on her. Shit was nasty to me, so I could only imagine how bad it was to him.
“Yo, what do you eat, lil man?” I asked, looking down at him.
“Cheeseburgers and fries or spaghetti. Mommy makes the best cheeseburgers and she gives me lots of pickles.” He looked so excited and rubbed his little hands together. A man after my own heart, a lil foodie.
“There is pasta sauce and beef in the house. There should be some at your house as well.” Versai looked from me to lil man. “I don’t cook much, fam,” she mouthed before looking from me to the kid.
I chuckled. “That’s cool. My name is Hudson, what’s yours?” I probably sounded juvenile as fuck asking this kid what his name was.
“Ethan. My mommy named me after my pop pop.”
I nodded. “Cool, that’s a good name. Let’s go make you something to eat and watch TV while your mama works.”
“Okay, but can we watch football? And we gotta make my mommy food too. After she works she’s always very hungry,” he said in the weariest tone.
That earned a laugh from me. “I got you, lil homie. You know you about to help me, right?”
“I am. I don’t know how to cook though, Mr. Hudson.
While Mommy cooks I just play on my iPad.
” His manners were cute as we walked toward the house.
When inside, I went through the fridge to make sure I didn’t need to run over to Versai and Hani’s for anything.
I was happy as hell when I didn’t have to.
For the next thirty to forty-five minutes I hand pattied and lightly seasoned the burgers.
When I was done with that, I cut up potatoes and had Ethan help me blanch them.
I knew at some point those cooking videos I watched would come in handy.
Even though I never knew what I was doing, I most nearly always watched a video and learned things that way.
Ethan ditched me for my TV when it was time for me to cook everything.
I wasn’t tripping though, it gave me time to ponder the last few hours.
I hadn’t expected to be offered a job while wondering who I was.
Then, to make matters worse, I wanted to take it.
But how could I take a job here when I hadn’t quit the one back home?
I shook my head at the thought, because I remembered my high school football days.
That was when I met Coach Bridges, whose coaching took my game to the next level and made the league possible for me.
I could never forget that man and I could only imagine the countless other players who had a coach like that.
Coaches like that made a huge impact on the game.
I was in the middle of flipping a burger as well as a set of intense thoughts when there was a knock at the door. “It’s open,” I called out, then looked up.
Jonas entered with a bottle in hand and a smile. “Feels like I’ve only seen you the night you came in.”
“I’ve been moving around, old man, and you’ve been working. I’m shocked you aren’t there right now.”
He laughed. “Gotta stay busy, son. When you’re my age, idle time still hurts in a couple of hours.”
I laughed, watching him take a seat at the island.
“I hear you met Daniel over at the high school.”
“Yeah. He offered me a job.” I began plating Ethan’s food while cutting my eyes in my father’s direction. He was too quiet, and one thing about Jonas I remembered was even when he was quiet he had something to say.
“Were you looking for that job?”
I shook my head. “Nah, I wasn’t. I’ve been looking for a lot, but then again, since I got here, I’ve been finding a lot that I wasn’t looking for.”
“Ahh, the doc.” He tapped his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
“Here you go.” I laughed, grabbing the plate I made for Ethan and taking it into the living room where lil homie was. Once I had him set up at the coffee table, I rejoined Jonas in the kitchen. “You want a burger, Pops?”
“Nah. I’m going to eat at the lounge tonight.” He waved me off then made sure to pour himself a glass of brown liquor.
I nodded and began making my own burger.
“So, you gonna take the job?”
“I already have one.”
He waved me off. “So you say, but son, you’ve outgrown what doesn’t feed you. Money’s good, shit it’s great, but your heart ain’t in it. Hasn’t been for a while, even before you collapsed on that field. It’s up to you to figure that out though.”
He and I talked for a while longer before he headed out and I decided to watch TV with Ethan.
He babbled for a while, telling me about his presumed Christmas gift, how he liked my food, and spending time with his grandfather.
After a while he fell asleep and it was just me watching TV.
Instead of leaving him on the couch, I took him to the let out in the spare bedroom and left the light dimmed.
For a moment I watched him sleep, his little chest heaving up and down as he rested peacefully.
Looking at him made me think of my own childhood, or lack thereof.
Just by hearing him speak and seeing that light in his eyes, I knew Greene was doing a good job with him.
She was not only giving him a childhood but allowing him to be a kid surrounded by love.
A knock at the door had me walking toward the front of the house. I opened the door and there she was, exhaustion evident in her features.
“Thank you so much for taking him. He wasn’t too much of a bother, was he?”
“Not one at all. He did some eating, talking, and fell asleep.” I stepped to the side, allowing her in.
“Then can you help me get him to the car? It’s late and I just want a shower.” She stretched, looking around.
“Nope, but you can go in there and get in the shower. He’s sleeping good. I’m boutta go find him another blanket and I’ll see you back there.”
“Hudson, I need to g—”
“Nah, what you need to be doing is getting the horse pussy off of you so I can feed you and we can get some rest.”
She giggled. “Horse pussy? Really, Hudson?”
“Yeah, now go on, man.” I didn’t give her a chance to tell me no.
I was already moving toward the closet I’d stumbled on earlier.
I found a cover and took it into the room.
I set it down next to Ethan before leaning down to remove his shoes.
Once he seemed comfortable, I tucked him in and made sure he was good.
When I was sure he was, I went toward the master bedroom and first grabbed a t-shirt for Greene, then what I needed for myself before I stepped into the washroom.
She had already stepped in, and probably had the water on hell, because the steam had already taken over the bathroom. Once I was stripped down, I opened the glass shower door and joined her. By the shower lights being on, I could see everything about her I was about to appreciate.
“How exactly did I know you’d be joining me?”
“Because I told you I would be.” I pulled her body back against mine, kissing the side of her neck. “And you missed me.” Had she not been tired as fuck, I would’ve been inclined to get it cracking in here, but I was on something else.
She turned around and faced me, holding the gray wash rag at her side. “How can I miss you if I don’t even know you like that?”
I grabbed the towel from her hand, then reached for the body soap she had apparently brought in here with her. I squeezed a hefty amount onto the towel in my hand before putting it down. “You don’t have to know me like that to miss me, G.”
“I don’t? Then what would I miss about you?” she asked with a knowing smirk on her face.
“Shit, if you don’t have an answer to that question, I don’t know what to tell you, baby.” With the towel flat against my palm I began lathering up suds, then pressed it against her skin. “You sure you didn’t miss me?” I asked, watching her watch me.
She bit into her bottom lip. She was so stubborn and fucking cute that it made me corny.
Once I had thick bubbles attached to almost every inch of her body, I stepped under the water, pulling her in with me.
Then I lowered my neck, kissing her at the same time I leaned down and picked her up. Her thick, buttery thighs wrapped around my waist almost instantly. When she pulled back, gazing down at me, I couldn’t look away. This wasn’t some fling or some ‘one weekend in December shit’, this was intimacy.
“I can’t get used to you being around. It’s detrimental to my mental,” she said out of nowhere as her head rested on my chest. We had long since gotten out of the shower, moisturized, and climbed into bed.
“How do you figure?”
“You have a life that isn’t he—”
“What if I didn’t? What if I build a life here?” I felt like I was at a crossroad, knowing I needed more but holding on what was in the past even though it no longer fit.
“Why would you do that?”
“Shit, why wouldn’t I? You don’t want me to?” I flipped her off me and hovered my face over hers.
“I mean, of course I want you t— It isn’t about what I want, Hudson. You barely know me. What do you want?”
“I know enough. Ain’t nothing about our time on this earth promised, Greene.”
“And what does that mean?” I could feel her pouting into the darkness before I lowered my lips into her neck.
“It means if you want me, tell me that shit. ’Cause I for damn sure want you and I don’t give a damn that I’ve only known you less than five days.”
“Fine. Pushy. I do want you, but I’m not the type to get caught up in fairytales or the quick falling hard shit I watch on TV.
I gotta keep my expectations low, Hudson.
So when you decide to go home, I’m not left picking up the pieces of those high ass expectations.
Because really, Hudson, is it that easy for you to turn your back on everything you know to stay here? ”
I pecked her lips, figuring I’d show her better than I could tell her.
Promises and sweet whisperings meant nothing to a woman like her.
She needed action because one bitch ass nigga had fucked up her trust. Funny enough, I had never been in anything serious in my life, but all I wanted from Greene was seriousness. I wanted her.