Chapter 2
I tossed my keys on the foyer table and slipped out of my coat. Hanging it in the coat closet, I removed my heels and slipped my feet into the slippers that were for inside before I walked upstairs to my bedroom.
Cleanliness was a priority for me, especially living in a luxury apartment building’s two-story penthouse that was completely white, champagne, and gold in its décor, furniture, and fixtures.
I was obsessive about keeping a clean home, probably because our house was always so junky during my childhood.
Anyone who stepped foot inside of my home had to instantly remove their shoes, place them on the rack, and grab a pair of slippers.
As for me, I removed my shoes and carried them to my bedroom.
I never wore outdoor shoes inside of my home.
That was not only due to keeping my home clean, but also because of the white Calacatta marble tile with its gold veins in some rooms and the white wool carpet in other rooms. The carpet was resistant to stains, but I still wanted to maintain a clean home aside from appearance sake.
I removed my clothing, tossed them into the laundry basket in the en suite, and hopped in the shower. I closed my eyes as I allowed the hot water from four separate showerheads to pound my body into submission.
I was tired, and it wasn’t that I had done a lot, but the exhaustion came from the interview with Ashton.
It had taken a mental toll on me. I was not only embarrassed by his behavior but burdened with what my actions had done to him.
It was wrong, and he hadn’t deserved that.
I wished that I could roll back the hands of time, but I had to live with my decisions.
The manager and a few other staff had rushed to our table to see what the commotion was about.
But by that time, Ashton was long gone. The manager brushed it off when he realized who it was that had created such a disturbance.
Ashton didn’t have a reputation for acting an ass in public, but I also knew how our city was about its athletes.
Everyone was very forgiving of bad behavior, especially when that behavior came from a particular celebrity who seldom showed any negativity.
The same could not be said of me. I was a harsh woman.
I had no choice but to be in my industry if I wanted to make a name for myself.
Shrugging shit off and not becoming emotional was the order of the day.
Men did not respect emotions in my world.
They wanted facts, data, and statistics.
They wanted action, adventure, and wins.
I delivered what I could, in the way they wanted it, with my own flair.
It was no secret that so many women accused me of getting to where I was by having sex with some very important men.
But nothing could be further from the truth.
The men I dated were never in the same industry I worked in.
In fact, I would even say that I went out of my way to make sure they weren’t in my industry.
Standing underneath the shower, I replayed the interview in my head a thousand times.
There were so many other ways that I could have handled it, but I doubted I would have gotten the same reaction.
I needed to know if the information I had gotten about his marriage was true, and the only way to get that from a private man like Ashton was to play my cards right.
But I hadn’t. It had all been a mistake.
I stepped out of the shower and grabbed an Egyptian cotton bath towel and wrapped it around my body.
My phone rang while I oiled myself.
“Hey, Tommi. What are you doing?” I greeted my cousin, Thomasina Goode.
She was my cousin on my mother’s side. Our mothers were sisters, and Tommi and I had grown up close like we were sisters instead of cousins.
We had both chosen to work in male-dominated fields; I went into the sports industry, and she went into law enforcement.
She was a deputy sheriff for our county.
“Just getting off work and heading home. You heard that my mama wants you all to come over for dinner Sunday?”
“No, I haven’t heard. I guess that’s what my mama’s been calling me about.”
“Probably. I think she’s dating again. God, help us all. I do not want to sit through another meal staring at some man’s jacked up toupee, while he ogles the hell out you and me and talking about how much he loves my mama.”
“Girl, you and me both.”
“Why’re you sounding so humdrum? You good?”
“Yeah. I’m just tired, that’s all.”
“Oh yeah, you had an interview with that fine ass Ashton Santoro today. How did it go?”
I faked a yawn. “It went well. Sports. Championships. Retirement. Same old song, same old game.”
“Girl, you act as if you don’t live for that shit. Sing that jingle to someone who buys that brand,” she teased.
“You’re right. I love what I do. I’m just tired. It feels like I’ve been running all week from one interview and game to another.”
“Well, hang in there. I was just calling to make sure that you knew about the dinner.”
“Girl, I don’t know nothing about nothing. I’ll be in my bed knocked out while y’all having dinner.”
“Heffa, you’d better not leave me all alone at that dinner with that man and my mama.”
“You won’t be. You’ll have my mama and daddy with you.”
“That’s easy for your ass to say. After that first dinner, you don’t have to attend any others.”
“What’s wrong? You worried Daddy Ralph or Frank or Greg is gonna be licking that gravy off his lips like it was your coochie juices?” I hollered laughing.
“Bye, basic bitch.” My cousin hung up the phone, and I laughed even harder.
It felt good to laugh after what I had done for the day. But by the time I was reclined on my couch drinking a glass of Shiraz and relishing the bold, full-bodied flavor and the dark-berry licorice and pepper notes, my laughter had ceased.
All I could think about was Ashton’s demeanor during the interview versus when I showed him those pictures.
It was cruel if I were to be honest. I hated that shit with a passion.
No one deserved to have their pain put on display for the world to see.
Nobody deserved to be humiliated like that in public.
I shouldn’t have done that shit, no matter what my editor asked of me. Marriages ending aren’t exactly a celebratory moment in life. Tears pricked my eyes as I considered my failed marriage.
I understood how difficult it was to admit when the relationship was finally over, but unlike Ashton, I doubted I would have had the courage to have ever pulled the plug on my dying marriage. The option wasn’t given to me anyway. I took another sip of my wine, just as the doorbell rang.
“Shit.” I placed the wine on the coaster and headed to the front door.
I had forgotten all about Collier Maxwell.
He had made plans last night to come over today, and he had called me earlier this afternoon to confirm again.
I told him that I couldn’t wait to see him, but that was before I had met up with Ashton.
Leaving out of the restaurant after Ashton’s temper tantrum, the last thing that had been on my mind was boring ass Collier.
I had meant to call him and cancel, but I had completely forgotten because I felt so guilty about how I had handled Ashton.
Collier was a payroll executive for some branding company, and all he wanted to talk about was his boring job.
I pulled the door open and plastered a fake smile on my face. He stood at the door with dessert and a bottle of wine.
He had wanted to take me out to dinner tonight, but I declined, because I knew I was having dinner at Dawson Castle’s. If I had known how Ashton would react, I probably would have finished dinner first and shown him those pictures later.
“Hey, baby. I brought your favorite: tiramisu cheesecake and Merlot.”
“You’re so sweet,” I replied, kissing his lips and closing the door behind him.
I already knew he wasn’t the one for me, which was why he would be gone from my life in no time. I would have no regrets either. The man simply didn’t pay attention. Tiramisu cheesecake was not my favorite dessert. I had no idea whose in the hell it was, but it wasn’t mine.
“How was your day?” I asked after we had settled down with the cheesecake and poured the wine.
“God, you wouldn’t believe what a bunch of idiots we have working for us. We had thousands of employees contacting us this morning, because they didn’t receive their payroll deposits at midnight. Who in the hell stays up all night to check to see if their pay will hit their accounts at midnight?”
Rolling my eyes, I forked a piece of cheesecake in my mouth and muttered, “People who desperately need their money.”
“I guess,” he replied dismissively and shoved a huge bite into his mouth.
Collier rambled on about the payroll snafu. I half listened and half ate my cheesecake. My thoughts were not in the here and now. I was still stuck at that restaurant, trying to make amends for some shit that I shouldn’t have done in the first place.
By the time he finished talking and realized that I was barely responding, we had polished off the bottle of wine.
“Baby, what’s on your mind?”
I released a long, drawn-out sigh. “I did something I didn’t want to do today.”
“Like what? You know I’m a great listener.”
“In order to protect the magazine, my source, and my story, you know that I cannot reveal the details. I will say that I had to inform someone of something happening in their life that they were unaware of. I felt horrible, Collier. I didn’t want to from the jump, but the editor at LSM insisted on it.
He’s been pushing me to get the story done. ”
I had two careers. The first was my role as a sports journalist for Legendary Sports Magazine, where I got my start. The other was as a sideline reporter for Bolton Sports, my dream job.