Chapter Aldrich #2
“Nah, that’s your conscience whooping your ass not me.
You know you need to add Sterling’s name right beside AP’s, why are you hesitating?
” When Ant folded his arms like he was gone go to war with me over Ling, I was pissed but it gave me even more respect for him.
Most men our age in the league weren’t trying to do right by themselves let alone anyone else.
My situation had a lot of people looking at me differently but never Anthony.
“That list is too long to speak on quickly.”
“Nigga, we got the time to walk from here to over there, getting to talking.” When he motioned from the middle of the table to the end of it I cracked up laughing. It had to be something in their genes that made him and his brother as funny as they were.
We were cool; he was probably the person closest to me but I was still uncomfortable speaking on my concerns.
They might lead to him asking questions I couldn’t answer without speaking on something I wasn’t ready.
But I needed his advice so I was going to have to take that chance.
“You don’t think she’s going to take this shit the wrong way? ”
Anthony’s brow cocked and I could almost see him questioning if I was too stupid to be his friend.
“What way? That you want her to be more than the nanny? I think she got that hint when you laid that nigga out in the club for talking to her sideways.” He gave me a pointed look like I had done something special, when I knew he would’ve fucked him up too.
Lucky had given us both a wide berth since we got here yesterday and I hoped that shit stayed that way.
“That was over disrespect. I’d have done—”
Ant held up his hand like he wasn’t going to let me finish the lie that was about to roll out of my mouth.
“You might have checked his ass but you wouldn’t have put them paws on him and then sat yo’ happy ass down close enough to her that y’all looked conjoined.
You can’t rewrite history I was there to witness, ya heard me?
” Anthony was laughing like any of this was funny but I was frowning because I was still trying to figure out the best thing to do.
“Maybe…”
“Stop thinking too hard and go with your gut. Your first thought was to put her name down so do that shit and keep it moving. The worst she can do is not go, right?” Anthony looked at me like he wanted me to tighten up.
“Yeah, I guess.” Even that had me feeling some kinda way ‘cause if she didn’t go I was gonna feel some kinda way. But I knew if one of us was going to do it I would. I had no issue with reassuring Sterling despite my own concerns that I wasn’t playing around with her.
I bent down and scrawled Ling’s information onto the form they had for us to fill out.
I could feel Anthony watching me, probably trying to figure out how I knew so much about her and why I had it memorized by heart.
Was I going to share that I’d committed everything about her to memory?
Hell no. I fooled myself into thinking it would be better since she had my daughter for me to know her number in case something happened to my phone but I still needed to reach her.
But as far as knowing her birthdate, shoe size, clothing size and other pertinent information, I clearly felt like a stalker because I could rattle damn near everything off about the girl from memory. Including her favorite color being red.
Damn. The fucking tables have turned in less than a quarter.
“Was it that hard to admit you feeling the girl?” Anthony’s grinning ass clamped his hand on my shoulder and I shrugged it off even though I felt like a weight had been lifted by writing her name down.
“No. But I also don’t want a fucking sexual harassment lawsuit on me if shit goes wrong.” I rubbed the back of my head. The idea of my name being back in the paper for some bullshit caused my stomach to churn.
“Gotta be real with you so you can be real with yourself, Money. Sterling doesn’t strike me as that kinda chick.
And you gotta know that’s the truth; otherwise you wouldn’t have kept her around Ami.
” Again this nigga was making good points but that didn’t mean I was going to go full steam ahead with this trust shit.
She's been living with you and you got her in the house unmonitored, think we’re far past that on trust. Especially since you got her caring for your seed.
“You right. It’s just me trying to be judgmental as fuck because I can’t control myself around her.”
Anthony’s eyes narrowed and I felt like he was going to swing on me. Appropriate response to how I misspoke but damn he should’ve known me better than that. “Fuck you mean, nigga?”
I held my hands up because he was hearing me wrong. “Not like that. Never like that. I’d kill myself before I did that to Ling or anyone else.”
“Bout to say, don’t tell me I misjudged you and you being a fuck nigga out here.
I’d have to tell the line to stop blockin’ for your ass after I drug you out on the field and we jumped you.
” Anthony’s face still bore the look of disgust I’d expect to see when it came to the thought of someone taking advantage of a woman.
I had a little sister and even if I didn’t the thought of someone taking advantage of any woman turned my fucking stomach.
Especially now. The thought of that shit happening to Ling had me fucking murderous though.
I blinked back the haze that seemed to fall over my face before I spoke up again.
“And I’d help you. But you right. I’m hesitant cause I’ve been burned in the past—”
Anthony’s brows shot up and I knew immediately where his mind went. “I ain’t trying to speak ill of the dead—”
I could only chuckle because if only he knew how many times I wanted to drag that bitch out of whatever hole they’d buried her in for all the shit she’d done to me and Ami he wouldn’t feel the need to say that. “But it’s clear you're about to so why are we even going through the preface?”
Anthony looked pensive, almost like he was reflecting over what he was going to say before he spoke. That was the major difference between him and Antwan. “You were dealt a bad hand with a good result.”
I laughed but the situation wasn’t humorous.
It was almost angry but the only appropriate thing to do right now was joke before my mind got too far gone into that subject and I fucked up my camp performance.
Contract or not, they could still trade my ass if I was out here looking unfocused and unskilled.
“Not you saying somebody dying is a good result, Anthony. Gotdamn I would’ve expect that from ‘Twan not you.”
He hit me in the chest with his hand and that look of him questioning our friendship was back on his face.
“I meant Ami, nigga, please keep up. She’s the good result of dealing with that crazy chick.
And yeah, it’s sad she’s gone, but I know I, for one am happy that she’s not around to taint Ami with whatever the fuck was wrong with her.
Ami’s gone have good ass role models especially now that she’s got Sterling, AP, Rye and the rest of them in her corner.
” He was signing people up to look out for my kid like he was their agent and I knew every one of them was down, but it was wild how he was moving like he knew they’d comply without question.
“My mama don’t count?”
He waved me off and handed the paperwork back to the staffer who had been assigned to work the table. “Your mama's still in Cali. We're talking about the core group of folks that’s gonna be looking out for her. Unless your ass trying to get traded to the Stars and shit and we don’t know it yet.”
I frowned because the Stars were the last franchise in the league I’d ever play for. “I’d retire before I had anything to do with them niggas.”
His face lit up and he looked like a big ass kid.
“Good to know. Come on. We've been conditioning all fucking spring for this shit. Let’s knock out this first workout. We've got too many goals to hit this season. Everything is going to work out as long as we take the right steps. You did the first part, it’s only up from here.”