Anthony #2
“You’re the one who let this nigga take your spot.
You’re the one who thought that because you got drafted and he didn’t that you didn’t need to put in work.
Fontaine, you thought that since he had a break in playing that his skills and his talent would suffer so you ain’t grind.
You looked at Anthony as a pity hire or some shit which ain’t how we work here.
Everything we do is based on performance and merit.
And real talk, if that nigga would’ve kept his head on straight back at LSU you wouldn’t have even been a Desperado .
We had our eyes on him since high school.
But you want to sit here and act like you run shit?
Questioning us? You were a consolation pick.
I don’t appreciate anyone trying to undermine the authority of their coach or erode the confidence of a teammate.
That ain’t what we do here. This shit ain’t all sunshine and roses, but we’re supposed to work as a unit.
One thing for sure: if I see you fucking up everything we’ve built, I’ll put you in your gotdamn place quicker than I used to put a QB on his fucking back.
And we all know I was the record holder until Goldilocks upstaged me.
He’s lucky my ass can’t suit up again. Now, does anybody have anything else left to say or are we going to act like men?
Fontaine you want your spot back? Earn that shit.
Just like the man who took it from you. And let me find out you're trying to hold a grudge about this shit. You’ll be riding the bench and up on waivers faster than you can blink.
We don’t do that divisive prima donna bullshit.
Even the folks here who got rings, accolades and reasons to brag come here everyday willing to put in the work.
I ain’t never seen somebody bitch because they weren’t handed something.
You make me want to suit up so we can square off at practice today. ”
“That isn’t necessary, Stew.” Fontaine’s ass was far more humble than when I stepped to his ass and that was his mistake. It was clear I was gonna keep busting my ass so this nigga never saw a start again.
Stew was looking around the room at the rest of us like he was daring someone to say something else. “Let’s hope not. And let this be a lesson to the rest of y’all. On this team, you eat what you kill. If you're hungry you better get your asses in the game cause there ain’t no handouts.”
Every man in the room responded to him in unison. “Yes, Coach!”
“Now, like I was saying Ant, good job. We see you putting in the work. Continue to handle your business, bruh. I’ll see y’all on the field in ten.”
“AP, you want me to follow you to the airport so that we can leave a car for you in the parking garage?” I stuck my head in the bedroom door in the condo waiting on her to answer me.
She looked up from where she was putting the rest of her items in her bag confused. “I thought you were okay with dropping me off.”
Billy had arranged for her to do a brand shoot that was going to have her gone for two days but thankfully back before the next home game. I hated the thought of not being able to go with her but Billy had Isis traveling with her.
“I am but I also don’t know for sure where I’ll be when you get back. I don’t like the idea of somebody we don’t know having to come out and get you. And the only people I’d trust with you are gonna be with me or have kids.”
She shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “I can always find a ride share, baby. I appreciate the fact that you want me to be safe, but I’m good.”
“Okay, so we're gone have a guard come get you then.” I pulled out my phone to text my brother to get the number for the bodyguard service he used. It was wild to me that she didn’t have one to begin with.
“A bodyguard? Anthony are you okay? I don’t need that. I never let people get too close like that. They are normally respectable.”
“Right, because you’re used to dealing with tennis fans. And people might know you but besides being a beautiful woman you can go relatively incognito in the airport.”
She looked even more confused than when I started. “Okay, so what’s the issue?”
“On top of your having swept the majors this year, you’re also now dealing with football fans. I ain’t a star or no shit like that—”
“Shit, if not it’s definitely on the rise.”
I grinned cause she was gone get her pussy ate from the back gassin’ me up.
“Thank you, baby. But like I said, you haven’t dealt with the way football fans can be.
Especially not with the Desperados . I used to get people following me around talking shit if Choo didn’t play the way they thought he should.
People got real crazy online, too. That’s why I’m saying you need to let me follow you so that you can have a car waiting.
We can have someone from the airport escort you to it. Unless you’re flying private.”
“I’m not about to waste that kind of money flying private.” This girl had just made fourteen million dollars in a day and was still cautious about her spending.
“Okay, I’ll grab the keys.”
“Ant, that’s not about to happen.” Her words had me turning around to look at her and the embarrassed look on her face had me tensing up.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t have a driver’s license.” She was fiddling with the warmup jacket of the lounge set she’d worn to travel in.
AP made that confession as though it were some deep, dark secret and I didn’t see the big deal.
“When you get back we can get your shit switched over from Jersey but I know they’ll let you drive ‘round here until then.” I’d gone through the process when I came a few years ago and I doubt that much had changed since then.
“No, like I can’t drive.” Aphrodite was looking like I was going to judge her but honestly I was more angry than anything. Instead of assuming the worst I did the healthy thing and asked her to explain.
“What you mean?”
She flopped down on the bed before she gave me the information I was looking for.
“I lived in New Jersey. Public transit is a thing and most of the time I was training at home. If I went into the city I took a car. It’s different down here. Everything is so spread out.”
Something hit when she said that, and now I was back to being angry. “AP how the hell have you been getting around when my ass was gone?”
“I had stuff delivered or just called a car. It’s not that deep and we kinda live close to everything so it didn’t cost that much money.” She shrugged and I couldn’t understand how na?ve she was being. Yeah, the condo had great security but still.
“That was then but we’re about to move. You hopping in and out of strange cars ain’t gone work for me. I’m sorry.”
“Well, nothing can be done about it now so.” She humped her shoulder and walked closer to the closet before I held up my hand to stop her.
“I’ll teach you.”
“What?”
“How to drive. I’ll teach you. We’ll start when you get back.”
There was plenty of space out at the new house for her to practice without feeling intimidated. The repairs Parker insisted on doing before we moved in were going to wrap up in the next few weeks so she needed to learn as quickly as possible.
“It’s not that—”
“Yes, it is. Like you said, it’s different down here. The amount of money that you’d spend going back and forth would probably pay for a car in a year. I’m not trying to boss you around so if you’re not comfortable behind the wheel—”
“I wouldn’t even know. I’ve never thought about it.”
“Shit changes.”
Aphrodite pursed her lips as she lifted her brows like she was screaming no shit. “Yeah, I’m seeing that.”
“You've got shit on your plate so I won’t push the issue for now. But I can get you the book to look at while you’ve got downtime.” Her flight was to San Diego so I could download the electronic version for her before takeoff.
“Okay.”
“You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I mean I have to adult at some point. Nobody ever made a big deal about my learning so I just let it ride. I’m wondering if that was just another way that they kept me under their thumb.”
I didn’t want to agree with her so I just stayed quiet. Her head went up and her eyes went wide before she bust out laughing. “Damn you’re really not even going to say anything?” She pushed me playfully and I wrapped her up in my arms.
Kissing the side of her hair I said, “You figured that shit out without my input, AP. You’re the smartest mouse in the maze round here.”
“Nah you’re the one working on his degrees and shit. Since you know everything .”
Without her parents stressing her out, Aphrodite had a sense of humor that even she was surprised at. A lifetime of being told to be seen and not heard was being undone every time she cracked a joke.
“I’m working on it. But we gone get you right. Ain’t nobody gone hold you back from what you set your mind to.”
“You say that a lot. The encouraging things. I appreciate it.” Aphrodite was smiling softly and I knew it was from her trying not to cry.
“It’s your world, AP, I’m just the man blessed to share it with you.”
“You got them closed?” I looked over at Aphrodite to catch her brows dipping below the blindfold she was wearing.
“Bam, what the hell is this? You put a blindfold on me and your hands over my eyes. I can’t see the back of my eyelids let alone whatever you've got going on.”
“I’m just saying—”
“No, you should be using your Victory Tuesday to chill out, not do whatever this is.”