Aphrodite
APHRODITE
“I GOTTA TALK to you.”
Anthony had come in the house looking like the world was ending.
I’d been packing up the clothes and items that I’d been slowly accumulating over the last few months.
My two trophies were in their secure cases and I was going to travel with them in the car and not allow the movers to touch them.
Anthony insisted that we could just have our friends help move and it might’ve been fine if they weren’t busy with work.
If it were the off season I might not have had a problem with it but they had better shit to do.
Nervously, I set down the shirts I’d been folding and focused on him. “Okay, what’s going on?”
He was pacing back and forth and unable to look me in the eye.
I knew this man in a way far deeper than I’d known anyone else in my life so something was wrong.
My stomach was clenched and I felt that I was dripping sweat.
These were the nerves that I didn’t even feel before I played a match.
Something far deeper was at stake besides money or acclaim: my heart was on the line.
“What do we need to talk about, Bam?”
I was digging my nails into my palms the pain a reminder that this wasn’t a nightmare and was my reality. Whatever he said might make me wish I were dreaming.
Anthony’s hands went to the top of his head and I saw him squeeze his braids lightly before he exhaled heavily.
“We need to chill for a min—”
“Hell no.”
His head snapped up and I could see the stress in his eyes. He didn’t want this shit any more than I did but he was still trying to hold whatever line it was he was supposed to be holding.
“Understand that there’s a lot going on.”
Anthony tried to sound strong but his voice was wavering. I was trying not to panic and let my mind wander, so I took a deep breath to focus my brain. He was still dressed for practice but it was too early for him to even be home.
“And your idea is to run away from me? That’s what we do to one another?
Run when shit gets tough? You were right there for me when everything crazy happened over the last few months.
Stood in the gap between me and my dad when he tried to bully me.
But you think I’m going to break up now?
Now that you've got me in love? Nigga, I will Misery you.”
“Misery me?”
“I will tie you to the fucking bed and break your damn ankles. See if you can play zone then, nigga.”
He was fighting a smile but he lost the battle. “That first part was sexy as fuck but you ruined it in the second half.”
We were staring at each other and he was trying to keep whatever this secret was to himself but I wasn’t having that shit.
“Tell me what’s going on, Anthony. There’s nothing in this world that would make you walk away from me unless you're thinking about putting your hands on me or you stick your dick in someone else. Which is it?”
“Neither. You think I’d do some trifling shit like that?”
“I never thought you’d be coming here to tell me you wanted to break up with me but here you are with this.
So either we talk or I get the damn cuffs.
I have gotten all these fly-ass outfits and shit to cheer you on and moved in with you and put my faith in you.
We’re not about to do this secret shit. You don’t get to tell me we need to chill without an explanation.
That’s some major fuckboy shit and I’m not tolerating it. ”
I was willing to pull out all the stops if I needed to.
Uncle Silas gave me his number if I needed to get Anthony together and Grams did the same in case he developed a case of the Ain’t shits.
I was wondering if this was his way of running scared and I can’t lie; it hurt.
He’d been the driver behind everything and now he wanted to pull back?
“You have cuffs?” He looked partially intrigued and wary.
I grinned slyly despite the way I was feeling right now. “Rye got them for me.”
He threw his hands up and took a step back. “I don’t even want to know.”
When he went back to pacing I had to push him to see what the hell was going on.
“Why are you running from me?”
That seemed to shock him into remembering I was there and waiting on an answer. “There’s about to be accusations made about me and—”
“Who is the bitch? Because if she’s crazy like Money’s baby mama we can absolutely run the bitch into the ground.
I’m all about believing women but nobody is going to come at you on some bullshit charges while I’m around.
” I’d seen every part of Anthony and we spent so much time together there was no way he’d done some crazy shit like putting his hands on a woman.
“Nah, not on no rape shit. No, it’s my parents.” The bitterness in his voice couldn’t be masked nor could the sadness on his face.
“Your parents?”
I started to feel warm all over and my stomach felt queasy. Having met Jillana’s ass and heard about their father’s antics I knew this wasn’t heading in a good direction.
Anthony sat down on the edge of the bed taking care not to disturb the piles I’d folded.
“My mother and father have planted a story that Choo and I have been betting on games.”
“What?”
That was something that was absolutely unheard of.
My father was shitty but this was something even he wouldn’t do.
Having the people think that you are throwing games or betting on any of your peers was a career ender.
My heart dropped in my stomach because they were truly trying to sabotage him.
With the way things had happened in his past…
“Yeah, they’re also claiming I got you to drop that set at the US Open in order to keep it interesting. And that my being at Wimbledon was just a photo op. This whole thing between us is apparently fake.”
“The way you make my heart feel and those orgasms sure ain’t.”
He tried to stem the natural reaction to laugh but he couldn’t. “Aphrodite, be serious.”
“Serious? Okay, well, it’s bad enough they were coming for you but now they wanna lump me in it? This is going to be rich.”
Having someone think I threw a game because of betting especially after all I’d accomplished would have every governing body looking into my games. They might try to vacate my wins this year .
My eyes went to his and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was because he was gravely nodding. “That’s why we gotta take a break. It’s easier for you to separate yourself from this even if it is temporary. I’ve lived through this and survived it. By our being broken up—”
“It’ll have people thinking that you’re guilty, which you aren’t.
I’m not about to abandon you when you need me the most. Leaving means I don’t believe you and that I won’t stand beside you.
Or that I got some shit to hide. I might not be as feisty as everyone else but I’ve faced down challenges in my life and overcome them, just like you have. I’m not running away from you.”
“You don’t need me dragging your damn name in the mud!
Cause that’s what's about to happen. They’re going to bring up that shit from college and run with me being guilty because once you’ve done something bad you’re going to always be branded as a bad seed.
My brother ain’t looked at another woman in five years but bitches will swear he was just with them last night and blogs print that shit.
Folks focus on sensationalism, not substance.
You’ve never had that shit touch you, AP.
You’ve always been good. Forgive me for wanting to keep your image clean unadulterated by my parents’ bullshit!
” The vein in the middle of his forehead was thumping displaying the stress his body was under.
This was only the second time I’d ever heard him getting loud and the first time it was with me. I wasn’t scared for myself but I was definitely hurting for the way I knew he was hurting right now. He needed to dial his volume back though, because I didn’t like it.
“Who cares about an image? You want me to live my life for what people outside of our relationship think? They aren’t you.
I have the covering of your love with me wherever I go and even in the darkest hour you have mine.
This is a test, so why the fuck do you think I’m going to leave you?
Swear I’m calling Billy so that she knows you don’t believe in her and her ability to make this shit right.
And Bobby? His ass is going to have a field day after he gets you out of this.
You really doubt the people we have around us.
You’re too used to only having your brother to rely on when you’ve got an entire team LITERALLY behind you.
And you have me. I wouldn’t give a shit what I had to do or say or pay in order to make sure you were good.
We’re in this together and it’s not going to be me running away the moment shit gets hard.
We’re locked in Anthony so get used to it. ”
He smiled but it was faint, not the bright, soul-warming smile I was used to.
“As a man, you gotta understand that the last thing I want is for you to lose your standing because of something I did. For loving me to ever have you out here looking crazy in public. I watched my daddy’s cheating break my mama down to a person who didn’t look out for herself or her seed.
She was labeled a fool for still dealing with him but she didn’t care. I don’t want you to ever be like her.”