Aldrich
“MONEY, I CAN’T help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.
You’re furious. You were so happy-go-lucky, full of life.
And now…I don’t see that man anymore. You’re angry, you’re unfocused, and this ain’t even about the team.
You had plans for the off-season that you haven’t touched.
Goals you wanted to hit as far as your organization and I haven’t seen any plans.
I’m worried about my little brother. We’re family so talk to me. What’s going on?”
It had been two weeks since I got the news and too much had gone on in my life.
Rachelle moved quickly and found me a house that had been sitting on the market because it was overpriced.
With quick maneuvering and a cash offer after Billy’s father-in-law had his team check it out for me, I was moved within twelve days.
I’d donated just about everything I owned to charity.
The only things I’d purchased for my place were a sofa and the bed for my room.
Now that we had that squared away, I needed to focus on dealing with the reality of this situation.
I had a kid coming. Not only that, but I had to co-parent with a woman I knew was going to give me hell.
She’d been flashing the paternity test all over social media, which only blew up my mentions even more.
Fans were nosy, haters were being messy and she was sitting back lapping up all the attention.
I guess she thought it was going to put more pressure on me to contact her, but I’d been advised to keep all contact through my lawyers until after the kid was born.
I wasn’t sure if that was to give me time to get used to what was going on or if this was just how stuff was done when the co-parenting situation was tense.
No one in my circle had ever dealt with baby mama drama despite the number of hos I knew on the team.
“I don’t know how that’s my kid, Billy. She's been out here saying all this shit about me. And I let it go for so long because I've been playing ball since I was eleven. I knew what was up by the time I was in high school. But now this test is saying the kid is mine and I promise you, Billy, I ain’t got to lie on my dick. I haven’t ever slept with that girl. ”
“Have you seen her before?” Billy was more relaxed than I thought she would’ve been given this situation. She had been begging for weeks for me to stop by and see her. Finally, she tired of being nice and told me I needed to show up today or else.
Knowing I needed to leave my place for the first time since I moved in, I agreed.
“Nah. I mean she looks like a lot of girls that hang around us, you know?” She gave me a nod because she knew what I was getting at. “I’m not even sure if I’d ever been in the same room as the girl until I realized she was a fucking stalker.”
Billy’s brows shot up and I knew she was smelling blood in the water. “Hold up, what do you mean she’s a stalker?”
“According to her iSnaps she is. Appeared in my old neighborhood—”
“Is that why you just moved?”
Her eyes narrowed as I hesitated but I just nodded my head not wanting to give her any information right now. “Yeah. I didn’t know what else to do. Her ass was creepy as fuck but again, I know how shit goes. I just don’t understand how that kid is mine.”
“You still don’t think she got someone to help her get some sperm from you?”
“Not to be crass, Billy but I know to wrap my shit up. And I flush every condom I use just to prevent stuff like this from happening.” I wasn’t uncomfortable talking about this with Billy but it was still weird.
“Then I’m at a loss for words. You think she broke in your house or something?”
I was looking at her, and she stared back at me, waiting on me to answer.
I didn’t want to give voice to the shit that I’d been experiencing last year came back to me.
My feeling like I was being watched. Stuff in my house being moved around.
Food in my fridge going missing. I’d gotten so paranoid I’d started avoiding going home and laying up in hotels because I was so creeped out.
It only got worse when I was moving sluggish but then everything stopped and I got better.
“I thought I was going crazy. I got the complex to up security for around my place when I thought shit was weird but they never reported anything. I’m still not sure how this shit happened.” My voice broke slightly and Billy’s body tensed.
“How what could’ve happened, Money? You’re scaring me with what you’re about to say.” Her beautiful face was filled with apprehension and her voice sounded as strained as mine.
“She’s been in my house, B. Tampering with all kinds of shit. I’ve seen her on film wearing my clothes, messing with my food. I ran the tapes back and I don’t know if the girl is some kind of tech whiz or got my passwords but every day I thought something had been moved. I saw she’d been in there.”
She reached for her office phone almost out of habit. “Do I need to get team security in here?”
“This isn’t something I can talk to the team about. They’re already trying to get over the bullshit that I’m bringing to them with this stupid girl. I already bothered Stew the other night and I feel bad enough about that.”
She quirked her brow at me as her arms folded across her chest. “You don’t think he includes you as part of his family? He would be offended.”
“I’m sure he would it’s just that…”
“This must be the male pride thing that you have going on.”
“Billy, when I tell you…you gotta understand.”
“Money, I’m calling Doc or I’m calling the police because you got me feeling like one or both are needed.
” She was looking at me with a way that showed me she understood I didn’t want to talk about this, but that I needed to.
I could only hold this shit in so much longer and slid my hands down my face defeated.
“I counted back the months. The weeks. I watched her…having sex with me.”
I could see the sheen of tears form in her eyes making their unique coloring even more vibrant. I knew her heart was hurting for me but I could still feel that twinge of disgust with myself for letting this happen.
She cleared her voice and I knew she was trying to strengthen her voice but it didn’t work. “You just said that you didn’t sleep with her, Money. Do you mean—”
“I was passed out. Knocked out.”
“She raped you.”
I nodded slowly unable to even get the words out because I was a grown-ass man. Not just a grown man, I was a fucking professional football player. No one would believe this shit and if it hadn’t happened to me I doubt I would believe it either. I was a fucking hypocrite and now I was a statistic.
“Seems that way.” I tried to keep my voice calm because the last thing I wanted to do was upset Billy. I knew she was already worried about me anyway, so the last thing I wanted was for her to be even more upset.
“Tell me what you want me to do.” When I glanced up her eyes were hard and I knew she was putting her own heartbreak to the side so that she could handle this for me.
I gripped my hair and squeezed feeling the tug at the scalp soothing me in a way that was almost therapeutic.
It gave my emotional pain a physical outlet.
“I don’t even know Billy. I’m fucking angry all the time.
I feel wrong in my fucking skin. I sat there and watched that shit happen and I have never felt more powerless in my entire life. ”
“Money—”
“I’m angry because I got a kid on the way by a stalking ass, rapist bitch.
And because it’s my kid I got to pay this bitch for how she ASSAULTED ME!
” My voice was raised and I could feel my emotions threatening to clog my throat.
I pushed up out of my seat and paced around Billy’s office.
To her credit, she didn’t flinch. Didn’t call someone else in here to witness this and I appreciated her calm when I had none.
I paced until I felt my heart settle back down to a tolerable level and then I moved my seat back in front of her desk.
She cleared her throat and I knew she was about to soothe me. “You don’t have to—”
“I’m fine. No, I’m not fine, but I’m calm for right now.
This is how this shit goes. I’ll be okay until I’m reminded of what the fuck my life has come to.
I worked so hard, Billy. To put my people in a place where they never had to worry about money.
Grinded so that the last name Dinero meant more than just a moniker my Black and Dominican ancestors used as motivation.
I’m their wildest dreams and now this bitch gets a giant check cut after she did this?
The fucking press treating me like a no-good ass athlete and she is feeding into the narrative.
Of course, since I’m Black I would do something like this: make a baby and not take care of it.
Nobody knows the truth and she thinks I don’t. ”
Billy huffed, the sound drawing my attention to her rage-filled face. “Well, that ends today.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean there’s going to be an immediate cease and desist sent to her people. I already sent out the email to Bobby while you were gathering yourself.” She nodded to her computer to emphasize her words and I was grateful she was thinking more clearly than I was.
“Does that mean she can’t talk about me?”
“I’m your agent but he’s your PR. He has been monitoring the situation waiting on word from you to see what direction you wanted to go in. We do nothing without your permission so we’ve been waiting to see how you wanted things handled.”
“I wish this never happened.”
She sighed heavily and I could see she was just as stressed about this as I was. “Money, I’ve been there. Not to the same extent as you, but my ass was a Jane Doe in a fucking hospital in LA for days because a man and his homeboys thought they were going to try me.”