Anthony #3
“Nah, AP but it’s the reality of the situation. That nigga had opened his mouth to address you and he would’ve gotten worse. Rich took it easy on his ass to be real and it was probably because y’all were here. He ain’t want to do too much and have y’all upset.”
I caught Money’s eye and raised my brows questioningly. He still looked murderous but he was trying to keep his head on straight because of where we were and who we were with.
“You good?”
Money’s nod was quick and I could tell he wasn’t feeling the situation anymore. “Yeah, y’all wanna eat?”
Aphrodite’s eyes lit up and she was the first one to throw out a suggestion. And I be damned if it didn’t throw me for a loop. “Strip club wings?”
Rich looked just as shocked when he glanced at me and shook his head. “That wasn’t what I had in mind…”
Her shoulders slumped like she was disappointed in us. “Oh. Damn I thought we were gonna live like ballers for the night.”
I pulled her closer to me and whispered in her ear. “You trying to throw some ones and watch some ass?”
“I mean…maybe?” She wanted to but again, it was something we would have to save for a later date.
“Nah, AP you not stripper ready yet. Let’s have a good night tonight. You’ve had enough shit happening. We don’t want someone to see you throwing twenties and shaking ass and have you worried before New York.”
She had too much on her plate with being one grand slam away from making history. I wasn’t going to allow her desire to celebrate to put more pressure on her when she was out living life. I’d be happy to celebrate with her after she had that last trophy on the shelf.
“Why do you say it like that?” Money was looking between the two of us and even Sterling was staring at us funny.
“Like what?”
“Like she’s been locked in a tower or sum.” He was looking at Aphrodite like he wanted her to blink twice if she was in danger. Might have to rock his shit at training camp a few times just to prove a point.
“I mean, I kinda have. My season differs from y’all’s and while your games are weekly with one break, I basically play all year from January to September. My father is very strict so I was always in the house. This is probably the most fun I’ve had in years.”
Money tapped his chest and I could see he felt bad for knocking that nigga on his ass and stopping that part of the night.
“My fault about that.”
“No need to apologize. A father that’s going to stick up for his daughter is never going to be anything but good in my book.
” Some of the hurt that she still carried when it came to Ashe’s bitch ass slipped out but she kept a smile on her face.
If they noticed it, they were cool enough not to say anything to her about it.
“Okay so no wings from the strip club. Where else can we go that is open ale but won’t have folks bothering us or trying to invade our space?”
“You know that food hall that opened up? I know there’s gotta be something open over there this time of night.”
“Ummm, when three-fourths of your party are professional athletes, that doesn’t seem like the best place for y’all to pull up if you’re trying to be inconspicuous.” Sterling motioned between all of us and she had a point.
I had no problem ending the night early so I could dip back in my girl but since I’d be leaving her soon I’d feel better if she had someone that she could hang with while I wasn’t around besides Billy.
“We can get that shit to go and hang out. You drove your truck, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool, we finna do a little dine-in situation and relax. That’s good with you superstars?” I was glancing at Phro and Money, and she rolled her eyes at me.
“Ant, shut the hell up and let’s go get this food before I gotta hit another teammate today.”
Eating with Money, or Aldrich as Sterling loved to call him, and Sterling was cool.
Money had always been a cool nigga to hang out with but we had more often throughout the off season.
He’d been going through shit and after we worked out together that first time we’d trained almost consistently together the rest of the spring.
Marcel normally hung out with us but he declined to come last night when he learned we were both bringing dates.
Sterling and Phro cut up like they were old friends and I was sure it was because of the connection they had by both being from the same area.
Phro was working class rich and Sterling’s people were from the Hamptons.
They were already talking about linking up and going shopping and trying to figure out if they’d ever crossed paths before.
We’d made plans to get together again before we had to travel out of town.
I was finishing up breakfast, which was more like brunch since it was damn near noon.
“Not to stress you, but I was wondering about what you were going to wear to the game.”
I scraped the scrambled eggs onto our plates next to the bacon and biscuits I’d made. Phro’s ass couldn’t cook for shit and she hovered over my shoulder whenever I made food for us. I wasn’t about to trust her with a whole meal yet. She wasn’t there yet.
“I…” Her mouth opened and closed like she hadn’t thought that far ahead.
“You hadn’t thought about it? I know it’s right after your last final but—”
I sat the plate down in front of her and she couldn’t look me in the eye.
“I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to go.”
“Why wouldn’t I want you to go, AP?” She grinned like she always did when I called her that and now I was fighting my own.
“Because we hadn’t discussed anything like being official or making this public.”
“I think that was done for us after the way I was throwing bows at security trying to keep me from you. That picture of us made the front page internationally. I don’t give a fuck what people say but I want you there. There’s no limit—”
Her head fell back and I knew she was annoyed with me. “Nobody needs you to buy anything Ant—”
“You think I’ll allow you to pay for something for an event that I want you to attend? I know my money ain’t as long—”
Her hand went up and I closed my mouth because she looked angry with me. “Stop. Stop that right there. What are you trying to say? Because have I ever said anything about money to you?”
“No, but—”
“And I never will. I don’t care about how much money you have and I need you to get that through your head. What is your love language?”
“My what?” I talked around the grits I’d put in a separate bowl next to the rest of my food. She didn’t want to waste her carbs on grits when she just wanted to eat biscuits.
“Your love language. How you feel seen and appreciated.” She pulled a biscuit apart and shoved it in her mouth like she was afraid I was going to snatch it away from her or something.
“Gifts.”
“Is it gifts or is that just what you were told so that the people around you’s shortcomings could be masked cause they could point to something tangible as proof of all that they’d done for you.”
Can’t lie she about knocked my Black ass over with that one.
Money was always a sore spot for me. From the time when we were kids and didn’t have any to the moment where I knew ‘Twan lavished me with things to make up for other people’s shortcomings.
Money was the way my mother said love was shown.
She never gave me any of hers directly but encouraged me to get it from ‘Twan when it was needed.
“You really said something there.” I wasn’t going to act like she hadn’t hit a nerve with me because now I was trying to peel back the layers of my own bullshit to give her a good answer.
“I hate to get all deep on a subject that wasn’t supposed to be—”
“Nah, get deep with me AP, it’s necessary. We doing this shit the right way.”
She grinned at me before she continued talking. “All I’m saying is think back to a time when you felt loved and protected. What did that look like?”
“All those times involved my brother or my uncle Silas.” I didn’t even have to think hard about my answer because they were the only two people I knew who had my back without question.
“And what was the focus?”
“Them trying to clean up one of my messes or trying to lead me in the right direction.” I ran my hand down my braids nervously the shame trying to fuck with the good mood I’d been in.
“So that’s words of affirmation when you don’t put a negative spin on it. I can see that. I thought it might be acts of service but with the way you check in when we’re having sex you probably have a lil praise kink.”
She winked at me and had me blushing like I was a fucking newbie.
“What’s yours?”
“Acts of service. I never had time with my people. Like, ever. They would be off in their own little worlds and it only became a thing for them to think of me when it was time for my lessons. Or when it was necessary for me to be trotted out to play for the cameras. So people who do things selflessly for me, like you have, it speaks directly to my soul.”
“Damn, AP, I ain’t even do nothing.”
She pointed at me with a biscuit half and I playfully reached for it before she snatched it away like fucking Gollum and that ring before shoving it in her mouth. When she finally got it down and I stopped laughing she responded to what I said.
“And that’s the part that gets me. You don’t realize what you’re doing because you just do it. I know you said your situation with your father was tenuous but whatever male role models you have in your life be it your uncle or your brother did a good job with you.”
“I don’t know if they’d say that.”
“They say that with their actions. They are proud of you. Happy to be seen with you. They aren’t going to shy away from their support. That man took you in as an adult by choice. That doesn’t sound like he’s just going through the motions.”
“Nah it doesn’t. Crazy thing is when I look back at film, my brother…my brother is always on the sidelines during the defensive plays I’m in during practice. I thought it might have just been something that he always did, but I noticed that when I’m not playing, he’s resting.”
The realization of my brother’s silent devotion was something that I hadn’t realized. I’d kept my head down for so long out of embarrassment that I didn’t know what to do.
“I rest my case. And about the clothes thing, I’ll get on it.
I’ve been distracted but now you’ve given me a friend to help me navigate this stuff.
No offense to Rye and Billy but they are married now so they do the whole low key sophisticated look.
I’ll do that sometime but I also want to leave no room for people to wonder what we are to each other. ”
“I just want you to have whatever you feel you need to go out there and be comfortable. People get really wild about some of the outfits. Have you ever been on WAGS social media? They hire full glam teams just to go to the game. I know you’ll already be glammed up though cause you’re going to be the US Open champion and shit.
Matter of fact we probably need to get somebody lined up for you. ”
“I’m sure Billy knows someone but damn, glammed up for the game?” I could tell she was rethinking the way she had approached all of this so I would put a call into Rye to give her some guidance.
“We’ll be coming from a press conference or something so that won’t be a big deal. I already told Antwan you’d need a ticket.”
“This we thing is really a part of your vocabulary.” She was trying to sound like she was teasing but the smile spoke volumes. “You’re making these plans when I’m not even a part of the family officially yet. What I look like representing you and you never asked me to be your girl?”
She was real saucy when she said that shit and I had a trick for her ass sassin’ me.
I put down my fork and went back in the spare bedroom and grabbed a piece of paper.
Scribbling on it quickly I walked back out as she looked at me curiously.
I held it out to her and watched nervously as she unwrapped it.
Her eyes flittered over the piece of loose-leaf paper and her face broke into a grin.
“You want me to mark it or you want me to say it?” The gleam in her eye from such a simple gesture would always have me going the extra mile for her.
I was showing all 32 of my fucking teeth grinning at this girl, waiting for her to give me her answer. “I mean we gotta memorialize this moment don’t we? I told you I’m all about preserving every part of our history.”
Her smile got wider and her eyes damn near disappeared. “You right. You got a pen?”