Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
NAZ
“So let me get this straight,” August says, leaning against the rail and looking out over the turquoise water of the Mediterranean.
“You meet this girl Takira…what? Twice? And somehow persuade Lotus to invite her on Kenan’s birthday cruise as your plus one, but you never actually asked Takira to be your plus one? ”
“That’s about right, yeah.” I lean on the rail, too, between him and Jared Foster, my agent’s husband.
“I like it,” August’s brother Jared says, crunching ice between his teeth and swirling the drink in his glass.
“You would,” August shoots back.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jared frowns.
“Dude, you’re intense,” I offer wryly, not sure how I feel about the comparison to Jared who is known around the League as a shark. “Especially about Banner and your daughter.”
“I think that’s what they call being a family man,” Jared defends himself.
“Or sociopath,” August counters. “I’ve heard both.”
Two brothers couldn’t be more different.
Technically, they’re stepbrothers, which accounts for their physical differences—August with dark, curly hair and golden-brown skin juxtaposed against Jared’s blond hair and blue eyes.
It’s the differences in temperament that are most striking.
August is a fierce competitor on the court.
He has to be as the Waves’ team captain once Kenan retired, but he’s patient and has a well-earned reputation as one of the nicest guys in the League.
Jared Foster? Different story. One of the most cutthroat agents in the business, he’s your classic alpha male.
But the dude met his match in my agent, Banner.
She’s one of the best around, but kind with it.
Her reputation as the rookie whisperer was in part what led me to sign with her when I entered the League.
Jared was definitely on my list. It worked out, though, because now they own an agency together.
“I’m just saying,” Jared continues, the light, warm breeze lifting his hair. “When something or someone is worth wanting, like for real, you go after it…after her. I have a lot of regrets.”
He closes one eye and squints up at the cerulean sky for a second.
“Actually. Scratch that. I don’t have many regrets,” he corrects. “That shit’s a waste of time, but of the few regrets I do have, going after Banner with every breath in my body is not one of them. And look what you get.”
He pulls out his phone and flips through pics of him and Banner with their daughter, Angela, who is the spitting image of her mother. The three of them are in a swimming pool, and Jared has a giggling Angela hoisted up in the air above his head.
“Thank God Banner had mercy on you and married your ass.” August laughs. “No one else would put up with your shit.”
Jared’s smile fades, but the chiseled lines of his face soften as he stares down at the phone. “Yeah, she was pretty much my one shot.”
He angles a look up at me, the softness gone and the usual determined set of his mouth locking in place. “Moral of the story,” he says. “When you really want something, pursue.”
“Hearing the word ‘moral’ coming from your mouth,” August says, “just feels wrong somehow.”
“Fuck you,” Jared retorts, slipping the phone back into his pocket.
“That’s more like it.” August whacks the back of Jared’s head and, with an eye roll, Jared yields a grin.
Yeah, they’re brothers.
“She’s flying in with Kenan and Lotus?” August asks, looking out over the startlingly blue water and the boats of varying sizes bobbing along its surface.
“Yeah.” I glance at my watch. “Their plane was supposed to land like thirty minutes ago. They should be boarding soon.”
“When I turn forty,” August says, flipping around to prop his elbows on the rail and survey the huge deck we’re standing on, “remind me to do it on a super yacht with all my friends.”
“This thing is massive,” I agree. The sun suspended in a cloudless sky glints off the abundance of chrome and the polished wood of the upper deck. “The captain told me it’s three hundred-feet long, has six decks, a hammam spa, a twenty-foot pool, and a hot tub.”
“There’s a helideck,” Jared chimes in. “And a screening room. This isn’t the first yacht I’ve been on, but it’s for damn sure the best.”
“It’s like a million a week to charter,” August adds. “But Kenan says you only turn forty once.”
“He’s setting the bar high,” I say, taking in the musical fountain on the deck below.
“Yeah, he is.” Jared glances at his phone. “Hey, I gotta go. Banner needs me. Probably for sex.”
“That’s my agent,” I grimace. “I don’t need to know that shit.”
“I fuck your agent all the time.” His grin is proud. “And this is totally normal. It’s baby hormones. Women get really horny sometimes when they’re pregnant.”
“Banner’s pregnant again?” August asks, mouth dropped open.
“Aw, hell.” Jared scrunches up his face. “She wanted to wait and tell you guys at Dad’s birthday party next month. Can you pretend to be surprised?”
“Yeah, I guess.” He brings Jared in for a quick hug. “Congrats, brother. You caught up with me.”
“If Banner gets her way,” he says, tilting a rueful smile, “and she always does, we’ll pass you soon.”
“I’m gonna go check on Iris, too,” August tells me once Jared has gone. “It’s not her first time being away from Sarai and Michael, and they’re with my mom, but she gets antsy.”
“Yeah, I’ll head to my room, too. Hanging over the side of the boat waiting and watching for them to arrive ain’t helping much.”
“Also kinda gives off a stalker vibe.”
I level a glare at him.
“You’re really this into her after seeing her just a couple times?” he asks, smirking. “I mean, I fell for Iris fast, but it’s unusual for you.”
We walk along the deck toward the bank of stairs leading down to our rooms.
“It’s a little more complicated than that. I’ve kind of been tracking with her off and on through social media for years.”
“Jared would approve.” August chuckles.
“Not all the time—just checking on her every once in a while. It’s hard to explain, but we had this one night together.”
“Like a hook-up?”
“Nah, we were kids. Seniors in high school. We had this conversation on the roof of her house the night before the championship. We kissed, and I just knew we were supposed to be something to each other. I wasn’t sure what, but I believed that.
” I shoot him a sheepish look as we take the stairs. “That probably sounds crazy, huh?”
“Not really.” August’s expression sobers. “I had that kind of conversation with Iris the night before the NCAA championship, and it changed the course of my life. I knew it would, even though I didn’t know how. So I get it.”
I absorb that information, not feeling quite as ridiculous knowing he experienced something similar. We continue down the passageway, the high-gloss wall paneling and plush carpet underfoot breathing luxury.
“You ever heard of Cliff Fletcher?” I ask, flicking him a sideways glance.
“Where do I know that name from?” August’s brows pinch into a frown. “Who’s he?”
“He was the biggest thing coming out of Texas high school basketball when I graduated.”
“Oh, hell. Yeah. Wasn’t he in that SportsCo documentary on flops and fails not too long ago?” August asks. “I remember because they highlighted Len Bias, and if his story ain’t a cautionary tale, I don’t know what is.”
Bias, who many pundits speculate would have been the only true rival to Jordan in that era, overdosed on cocaine two days after being drafted number two overall to the Celtics, becoming the highest draft pick to never play an NBA game.
I can’t help but draw parallels between the fallen superstar and Cliff, considering the troubles with drugs Takira’s brother has experienced.
“That was some bullshit,” I say tightly. “Apparently that trash documentary sent Cliff into a spiral and…it was bad.”
“They said Fletcher’s been in and out of rehab. I remember Avery was pissed. Said that piece was bad journalism and tasteless.”
Avery, the wife of our president of basketball operations, is also a lead reporter on SportsCo, one of the biggest sports stations in the world.
“His fall was kind of my rise,” I say.
“Damn! That’s right. Now I remember. The punch.”
“Takira’s his sister.”
August releases a low whistle, eyes wide and bright with interest.
“That punch gave me my shot,” I continue, “and he resents me for every good thing that happened for me after. It’s obviously misplaced, but it makes Takira hesitant about giving me a chance. He’s been pretty vocal about his disapproval.”
“She can’t live for her brother.”
“Nah, but he’s coming off a really bad spiral.” I lower my voice even though we’re the only ones in the dimly-lit passageway. “After that SportsCo doc, he overdosed and almost died.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, so she doesn’t want to set him off by getting involved with the guy he apparently hates more than anyone, even if it’s baseless.”
“Hey, there were times I thought being with the girl I wanted was impossible.” August tips his heard toward the door again. “But guess where she is now?”
He grins and fist-bumps me.
“You got her here. That’s half the battle. See what two weeks trapped on a ship together gets you.”
I laugh and try to shake off any apprehension about the coming meeting.
August enters the cabin he shares with Iris, and I continue down the hall toward my room.
Takira should be here soon, if not already.
My stomach knots at the thought of seeing her again, kissing her again.
Talking to her. Finally getting to know her beyond one night on a roof and what I could glean from social media posts.
“It’s not that serious,” I mutter to myself. “I’m not like in love. I just…”
The words dry up on my tongue because, no. I’m not in love with Takira after so little time and contact, but watching her enter the room beside mine—braids twisted into a crown, a dress the color of tangerines drawn onto her voluptuous body—my heart climbs up my chest and lodges in my throat.
I may not be in love with this girl, but I’m in something.
And I’m in deep.