Chapter 10
The week flew by too fast, and before I was ready, it was time for me to drop Jaxxon off at training camp.
After Travis’s get-together, Jaxxon and I spent most of the rest of the week laid up together.
When we weren’t trying to crawl into each other’s skin, we were putting our place together and making it a home that reflected both of our styles.
“It’s two weeks, Home.” He took my chin in his hand as the two of us stood outside of my sky-blue Mustang.
We were in front of the facility owned by the Chicago Coyotes that was used for practice and training camp.
“I can see your mind racing. Stop overthinking. By the time you even start to miss me, I’ll be back. ”
“Lies, because I already miss you.”
He bent down and kissed my lips. “Two weeks.”
“No weeks.” I pouted.
He chuckled. “I love you. I’ll video chat once I get settled in.”
“I hate this.” I pouted some more.
“I know, but it’s the sacrifice we make for me getting to do something I love for a living.”
I straightened my posture and fixed my face. “You’re right. This is your job . . . your livelihood, and I support it.”
He kissed my lips again. “What’s on your agenda for today when you leave here?”
I wanted to tell him that I’d scheduled two hours of ugly crying over his absence, but I didn’t want him to feel like I resented the fact that he needed to fulfill his contract obligations. Instead, I said, “I’ve been neglecting my own obligations.”
And it was true. With the wedding, the honeymoon, and just wanting to spend uninterrupted time with him before this moment, I had dropped a lot of my responsibilities on Paris and Adam. It was time for me to reclaim my athletes and get back to business as usual.
The start of football training camp also signaled that the start of both basketball and hockey seasons was right around the corner. It also signaled that baseball, NASCAR, and soccer were winding down. It was one of my busier times of the year.
“One of my athletes was traded last week. He’s heading to Virginia to start training camp with the Rebels. The wife is staying behind to sell the house and stuff. I’m meeting with her and the realtor. I’m researching pediatricians for a player who’s coming in next week.”
He stared at me with admiration. “Look at my shorty out here like Olivia Pope, being the fixer.”
I roared with laughter. “You’re so crazy. I’m really gonna miss you.” I wrapped my arms around his middle.
He kissed the top of my head. “I’m gonna miss you, too. But I’m hoping these two weeks will pass quickly. Let’s pray so I can get in here.”
I gave him my hands then we bowed our heads, and Jaxxon began to pray.
I really didn’t like being without Jaxxon. I didn’t like waking up to cold, empty sheets. I didn’t like being in the house alone. I didn’t like any of it.
“I hate this,” I told myself as I stood in our walk-in closet, sniffing some of his clothes. “You’re insane.” I chastised myself, but that didn’t stop me from taking a big inhale of his things.
Once I was finally dressed for the day, I drove to the Engineered Excellence offices.
Player liaisons didn’t spend much time in the building, though we had offices there.
Ours was a “field” job. You couldn’t take clients to visit potential homes, schools, doctor offices, or barber shops from inside the office.
You needed to be out there. I spent a lot of my time vetting vendors and service providers to see if they were worthy of being recommended to my players or their families. I had to see places in person.
But Paris, Adam, and I had been called into the office.
I knew that wasn’t good. The only time the entire staff got called into the office was when the shit was about to hit the fan.
Typically, it took a major fuck-up from a player for us to get called in.
Usually, there was going to be a press conference or a major announcement, and we would all be given instructions on how to handle the fallout.
I got to work super early. There was no way I wanted to be sliding into the conference room once Ayana Truesdale or one of her trusted colleagues started speaking.
I slipped into my office and had barely put my purse down when a text came through.
Paris:
We’ve been waiting for you to get here! Meet us in that office nobody uses next to the copy room.
Me:
OMW
I slipped inside the office a few minutes later. Adam was sitting at the desk. Paris sat in one of the chairs facing it. I took the empty seat.
“What’s going on?”
“Phoenix Avondale was arrested last night,” Adam said. Phoenix was his client.
My eyes ballooned. “What? Isn’t he supposed to be at training camp?”
“He never reported.”
“Wow. What happened? I was just at a prayer kickback with him.”
“A prayer kickback?” Paris frowned her face. “Those two words don’t even go together, Skyy. What the hell is a prayer kickback?”
“You don’t know that every year before the start of the season, the Coyotes quarterback, Travis Woodson, invites players to his house for food and prayer?
” Adam asked Paris. “He’s done it every year that he’s been in the league, and he’s been in the league for eight years. I’m sure some of your players attend.”
Paris rolled her eyes. “I’d be surprised if any of my players even know Jesus. I feel like I get assigned all the heathens.”
I chuckled but still managed to bring us back around to the point. “What did he get arrested for?”
“Oh, yeah.” Adam came back to the matter at hand. “He was having one of his Wednesday night orgies at The Excelsior Grand, and one of the paid escorts drowned in the in-room hot tub.”
“What?” I shrieked. “His Wednesday night orgy? Is this a regular thing?”
Paris eyed me. “I didn’t know that Travis Woodson hosted a Holy Ghost Ho-Down every year, and Skyy didn’t know that Phoenix Avondale hosts an orgy on Wednesday nights.”
“Is he suspected of . . . unaliving her? The escort, I mean,” I questioned.
“Well, first of all, the escort was a man,” Paris shared.
“What? Phoenix Avondale swings both ways? Does his wife know?”
“If she didn’t, she does now.”
Adam cut his eyes at Paris. “There were always rumors. The news of his . . . proclivities was always about to break. His team does an excellent job of never letting things get out.”
“I heard that he and his wife have a discretionary fund set aside to pay people off. I heard that they use money to make all of their problems”—She waved her hand dismissively to demonstrate—“just go away.”
“That might be accurate,” Adam allowed. “Anyway, Phoenix isn’t a suspect. The escort had copious amounts of drugs in his system. The best guess is that he passed out, then slipped under water and drowned. The problem . . . well, there are multiple problems.”
“Right.” Paris agreed. “The main one being the drugs that were found in the room when the cops arrived.”
“Who called them?” I probed.
“That’s another issue,” Adam admitted. “The mistress freaked out and called them. She?—”
“The mistress?” I interrupted.
“Yes, he has a mistress.” Adam was nonplussed.
“And get this,” Paris told me. “Allegedly she’s pregnant.”
“I don’t want to hear any more.” I put my hands over my ears and shook my head.
“Every time I’ve ever run into them, they seem so much like the ideal couple.
He’s always holding her hand and hugging her up.
She told me that they’ve been together since high school.
You know we hear rumors about everything.
I’ve never heard anything about them. I’ve never heard about Phoenix and his orgies.
I’ve never heard about a mistress or a secret life where he pays male escorts to meet him at hotels. ”
Paris shrugged her shoulders. “These nig?—”
Adam held up his hand. “I’mma stop you right there, P. Whatever you were about to say, you need to change it. Phoenix is out here on his white man privilege. It ain’t got nothing to do with nig?—”
I tuned them out. My head was swimming. I’d just told Jaxxon that the Avondales were marriage goals. And in actuality, their marriage was currently in its train wreck era. This man had a whole pregnant mistress.
All I could think was what if Jaxxon cheated on me?
I wasn’t worried about him being with a man.
Jaxxon was straight. But a mistress? That could actually happen.
Jaxxon really liked dick worship and being a dominant.
I was good at submitting, but it was new and exciting to me.
Would I still want to submit when we were ten years in?
Would Jaxxon replace me with a woman who was more . . . eager?
I literally shook my head to brush the thought away. Jaxxon loved me and had loved me for decades.
But hell, it wasn’t like Phoenix didn’t love Sage at some point. And they had been together for over a decade.
I probably need to protect myself , one of the voices in my head told me.
First, I needed to relock up at least a little bit of my heart so if he did come out of a bag, I wouldn’t be completely destroyed. Second, I needed to get on some kind of birth control. No sense adding a baby to the mix, if he was just going to end up cheating on me.
Lord, please don’t ever let Jaxxon pull nothing like this on me. Please !