6. Sage #2
“Work.” He held his hand out as I passed him my cash. “And if I win, pleasure.”
“In that case…” He grinned. “I hope you win.”
“Yeah, me too.”
I looked past his tent, observing the huge crowd.
As usual, Ball is Lyfe tournaments knew how to bring the people out, including scouts looking to fill their rosters.
Diamond Falls had lots of ballers ready to shine and the tournaments provided a way for them to be seen and showcase their talent.
Exceptional athletes had the opportunity to win scholarships.
It was weird being without Kaiser. I was used to looking at my side and seeing him there.
I found myself doing it often, reminded that he was down at home, with my granny acting as his caretaker.
She just wanted a reason to come over and watch her stories without the extra noise, since my grandaddy kept his TV loud due to his bad hearing.
Mr. Dave chuckled when I told him I’d be first in line to collect my money as I stepped away to do what the city paid me for.
I made my presence known from one side of the park to the other, walking back and forth, looking for anything suspicious.
The smokers stayed a respectable distance away, so I left them alone, even though the smell made it obvious what they were doing.
I made my way back to the court as the crowd went wild watching the D-Ville Ballerz show out. Every basket scored came with pure pandemonium.
Several DPs littered the crowd with their signature black and white, blending in amongst the others in attendance.
I found Cauvey almost instantly, sitting on the bleachers.
His light skin and sandy brown hair gave him away, surrounded on all sides by people more melanated than him.
To the left was Lanique, with her arm looped around his.
Sage was next to her, following the game back and forth up the court.
She looked beautiful as always with her hair pulled back from her face.
Usually, she kept it big with her natural curls doing their own thing.
I liked it either way.
While staring, I felt a tap on my shoulder.
“Who we looking at?”
Kyree and his random pop-ups.
“Nobody.”
He laughed. “Yeah, a’ight.”
I think he knew. And when he called Cauvey across the court while the game was going on, it felt intentional. Lots of eyes turned towards Kyree’s vocal outburst, three in particular.
Kyree threw his hands up. “Where’s my seat?”
Cauvey waved him over. “We’ll make room.”
The row started shuffling, creating space for Kyree’s impending arrival. Sage abandoned her seat altogether, sliding past those still seated to depart the bleachers. She walked my way. Realizing I was her destination, I saved her a few steps by meeting up with her.
“So you like animals and streetball.”
“I love animals,” she corrected. “And I tolerate streetball.” She shrugged. “It’s okay, I guess. This is the second one I been to?—”
I cut her off with, “You look nice,” finding it hard to take my eyes off of her.
The more time we spent together, the more I enjoyed being around her.
I found myself anticipating the next time we’d be in the same space.
For three nights straight, she came over after work to check on Kaiser.
After leaving last night she told me he was on the path to recovery and didn’t need the daily checkups.
Honestly, the home visits were just an excuse for me to see her anyway. Kaiser would be good whether or not she came by. At least, that was what I believed since the original option was for him to go home on vitamin K pills.
“Thank you,” she finally said, looking back at her former seat. Lanique was watching with a big ass smile on her face. Sage turned away, eyes rolling up to the sky. “Can you walk me to my car?”
I gave the area one last scan. “Yeah, let’s go.”
It became apparent Sage just needed to get away when she opened the door and sat in the driver’s seat. She became more vocal when we got to her car.
“She’s so annoying.”
“Family’s supposed to be annoying.”
“Yeah, well…I’m not used to having people all up in my business.”
“Be happy somebody loves you enough to care about your business.” Her eyes cut over to me. “Some people don’t have nobody.”
“They can have Lanique for the day. I’ll give her up. She can bother them and leave me alone.”
“What’s going on with you and Lanique?” I asked, because I genuinely wanted to know and it was obviously on her mind.
“I don’t know.”
That wasn’t what I expected.
“It gotta be something.”
She sighed. “It’s just… never mind. It’s nothing.” Her flustered words made me want to press the issue. I backed off though when she said, “I’m just frustrated right now. I’m hungry. I’m on my period?—”
“Whoa. Okay. I get it. You ain’t yourself.”
“Exactly.”
She looked up at me, arm resting on her car’s open door.
“I can help with two out of the three.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t do nothing about you bleeding, but I can feed you and get you unfrustrated.”
She blushed. “Is that even a word?”
“Yep. And even if it ain’t, it is.”
Sage was quiet for a long moment; much longer than I expected.
“What do you have in mind?”
Shit…nothing.
“I don’t know yet. But I got time to figure it out. I’m still on the clock.”
Sage sighed again, this time longer and more labored as she slowly stepped out of the car. “I didn’t know you were working. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I took you away from your job.” We started walking back toward the game. “You’re supposed to be protecting and defending the good people of Diamond Falls.” I watched a smile spread across her face.
“I am protecting and defending. And feeding. What do you want?” We bypassed the sitting area for a row of parked food trucks.
“Whatever you get.”
We walked up to the first one, positioning ourselves behind a couple looking over the menu at different subs. Sage scanned the one on the other side.
“And what about later?”
Her brows furrowed. “What’s happening later?”
“You tell me. I’m free. Keturah’s with her mom?—”
“What about Kaiser?”
“He’s being tended to.”
She turned back to the menu, pretending to look it over. “Is this your way of asking me out, Officer Green?”
“Only if it’s a yes.”
The couple moved out of the way after placing their order. We moved up to the window. “I’ll take a club sandwich.”
“What size?” the woman behind the counter asked.
“Small.”
“Is that it?”
She turned to me.
“I’m good. But…are you? You can get whatever you want.”
“This is fine…for now.” I reached past her, handing cash through the window. “I’m saving room for our date tonight.”
“So it’s a yes?”
She wasted no time confirming, “It’s a yes, Keyoni.”