Chapter 19
“Hello?”
“Hey, Ashton. Where are you?”
Amélie wasn’t a worrier by nature. If you asked anyone who knew her, they would swear she always had things under control. But I could hear the worry in her voice, and I knew that something wasn’t right. I wasn’t sure what it was or if I needed to worry or not.
“You know I’m not telling you that, Amé. What’s up?”
“Can you at least tell me if you’re driving or sitting down?”
“I’m sitting on my ass chilling and watching TV.
Now what’s up?” I grumbled. Chanel was sitting beside me on the couch in my master suite.
We were watching a comedy show, and she had her arm behind me on the couch as she twirled one of my braids around her finger.
Yesterday, she refused to go back outside after spending the prior night camping.
Instead, we spent the day inside with her braiding my hair, once I realized that she could braid.
She had made some lame joke about exchanging services, my pedicures for her braiding services. We both decided if the sports industry didn’t work out, we could always open a salon where I did pedicures, and she braided. We thought we had a real shot at it.
“There’s been an accident, Ash.”
“What happened?”
She sighed. “Zoe. She uhm, had a car accident tonight on a back road, but the police don’t believe it’s an accident.”
I sat up. “Is she okay?”
“We don’t know. She’s in ICU at New Mercy,” she stated, referring to a hospital in Atlanta.
“Shit. What was she doing in Atlanta?”
“Visiting her parents. Ash, she was beaten badly before the accident. They were able to see her on cameras not too far from a restaurant she had met with some friends at, and she was beaten with a bat. She ran from her attacker, and while she did escape and made it to her car, it seems they chased after her and ran her off the road. They don’t think this was a random incident, but that she was a target. ”
“Gahdamn!”
“What? Is everything okay?” Chanel asked, sitting up and staring at me.
I held my finger up and shook my head.
“Who is that, Ash?” Amélie asked.
“I’ll have Shaniece send flowers and a card. I can head up there in the morning.”
“Maybe you should stay where you are.”
“I can’t, Amé. Despite the fact that she’s been attacking me and shitting on me these last few years, I spent eighteen years with that woman, and I loved her. I want to see her and make sure she’s okay, and if she’s not . . .”
“You want to say your goodbyes.”
“Exactly.”
“Fine. Just be safe on your drive up.”
“I’m not driving. I want to catch a quick flight up there.”
“Okay. I’ll call Gabriel and see if you can use his helicopter,” she stated, referring to one of my business partners.
“Cool. Shoot me the details when you get them.”
“I will. Where do you need them to pick you up at?”
“Laramie Falls, at the winery and restaurant.”
“Ahh, you’re at your cabin.”
“That’s not for the world to know, Amé.”
“This is me, Ash. Your secret’s safe with me. I’ll get on it right away and send you the details as soon as I have them.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Oh, and another thing. Please avoid the media.”
“I’ll do my best.” I ended the call and turned to see Chanel staring at me. She was so beautiful, turned sideways with her elbow resting on her thigh and her head in her palm.
“Is she okay? What happened?”
I didn’t have to tell her that it was Zoe. She knew. But I did give her the details along with the option to fly to Atlanta with me.
“I think this is something you should do on your own.”
“I would prefer to have you at my side, Chanel.”
“Things are heated right now. It’s bad enough that there are allegations about you and me. I think it might be seen as disrespectful for me to show up by your side. I’m certain that if you were to ask Zoe, her answer might be no.”
I nodded because she was right. I cupped her chin and stared into her eyes. “I don’t want you to feel like I was trying to disrespect you.”
“I know you weren’t. I understand that you just wanted me to feel included and not like you’re running from your lover’s side to be by your ex-wife’s side.”
“Damn.”
She smiled, and it was her turn to cup my face with her hands.
“Seriously. Go. It’s like you said, you spent several years with that woman.
She deserves to have you there. I’m not worried about you having some last-minute moral debate and going back to her.
If you do, . . . then you do. But I trust you to take care of my heart,” she stated before she kissed me sweetly.
I nodded and dialed Shaniece next.
“Hello?”
“Hey, uhm, . . . I need your help.”
“Sure, Ash. Anything.”
“I need a car reserved for tomorrow.”
“Pick up where? In Cherokee Springs?”
“No. In Atlanta.”
“What’s going on in Atlanta?”
“Zoe had an accident. I need to head up there and check on her.”
“Oh my God. Is she okay?”
“I don’t know. That’s what I’m going to find out.”
“I’m sorry. Let her know she’s in my thoughts, and keep me posted on her status. What time will you be picking up the car?”
“First thing in the morning. I’d like an early reservation if you can get one. I’m thinking about six in the morning.”
“Are you flying in? Where are you landing? And when will you be returning the car?”
“Yeah, I’m flying into Peachtree. I’m not sure when I’ll be returning the car, but let’s reserve it for two days. If I need it any longer than that, I’ll let you know. But I’ll be returning it to Laramie Falls.”
“Oh. Okay. I’ll send you the details shortly.”
“Thanks, Shaniece.”
“No problem. Have a safe flight, and Ash?”
“Yes?”
“I know this isn’t easy for you. I know that she hurt you, but I pray that she’s going to be okay. Be safe and keep me posted.”
“I will. On both accounts. Thanks, Shaniece.”
“You’re welcome, hon. Goodbye.” She rushed off the phone.
Both Shaniece and Amélie, along with Coach and my family, had seen how badly Zoe had treated me over the years, and all of them were opposed to any type of reconciliation between us.
Whereas Amélie was like my big sister, Shaniece was like my little one.
Both ladies were just as protective as my real sister, Corinna.
“You okay, baby?” Chanel asked, twirling one of my braids again.
“Yeah. Just ready to get up there, make sure she’ll be fine, and bring my black ass home.”
“I tell you what. How about we take a shower, let me give you a massage, and we can call it an early night since you’ve got to get up at the butt crack of dawn?”
“That sounds like a plan, but I need to pack first,” I replied, yawning.
“Come on. I’ll help you pack,” she declared and jumped up from the couch.
She took my hand and led me into my large walk-in closet. I glanced up at the ceiling and said a simple internal prayer of thanks and asked the Lord to please help me not screw this one up. Chanel was everything that I needed in a woman.
I didn’t pack much because I had no intention of staying more than one night, if that was necessary.
But I did want to make sure that I checked in on Zoe.
When I arrived, I saw the media out front.
With all that we had gone through in the last month, it was no surprise that the media wanted to see if the celebrity four-time MVP champ would show up at his ex-wife’s side.
Because she had anticipated it, Amélie arranged for me to enter the hospital from a private entrance. I was signed in under an alternative name, Andrew Malone.
I had been sitting by her side for more than two hours as she slept.
Thankfully, the car accident didn’t do major damage other than a broken leg and bruising to her ribs and chest. The person who beat her had taken a bat to her back, hip, and arms. She had covered her face and head and largely avoided damage there.
The assailant initially hit her in the face with the bat.
But when she had gone down, she immediately covered her face.
The police feared that she might have been killed after the attack, had it not been for a police car coming by at the time. The driver had taken off upon seeing the police cruiser.
When she had finally awakened, I had been escorted out of the room so that first the doctor and then the officers could speak with her. I was allowed in with the warning that I would only be able to stay for a short period.
“You came,” Zoe declared when I walked back into her room. There was some swelling to her face, and her words were slightly slurred, thanks to her swollen lips.
“I did.” I dropped into the chair beside her bed.
“Thanks.”
“Why would you think I wouldn’t? After all we’ve been through, I always come through.”
“We’re divorced,” she whispered, turning her gaze down to her clasped hands over the sheets.
“I still care. Just because we’re not together anymore doesn’t mean that I want something bad to happen to you.”
Her eyes shifted to mine, and she asked, “Are you sure?”
I knew she was referring to Salvatore, but I also knew my cousin didn’t do this. He wouldn’t do anything without a direct order from me, and he wouldn’t have been caught or left evidence.
“One hundred percent. Did you tell the cops about him?”
She shook her head. “It was a woman.”
“Did you see her?”
“She was shorter than me and petite. She tried to disguise her voice, and she wore a hoodie.”
“So you didn’t get a look at her face?”
“Just like I told the police, I was too busy trying to protect mine.”
“How did you get away from her the first time?”
“Some people came out of a bar, and she ran and hid. But as I crossed to the parking lot where my car was, I heard footsteps behind me.”
“Something’s going on. I’m sorry that you got caught up in this, but I have a feeling all this shit surrounds me.”
She grew quiet again and turned her head away.
“I’m sorry too, Ashton. Maybe if I hadn’t allowed our home life to get so out of control, none of this would have happened. I should have—”
“No, it’s not your fault. Whoever did this bullshit is going to pay. Trust me that we’re not going to sit back and watch this happen to you.”
“I was thinking that it might be a fan, but I doubt it. I feel like I knew her.”
“I don’t know who the fuck it could be, but I’ll figure it out. I promise.”
“I don’t doubt it. You’re loyal that way. Even when people don’t deserve it, you still have their back.”
“Yeah,” I replied softly.
“I’m sorry that I hurt you, Ashton.”
“I’m sorry that I didn’t protect you from my mother, Zoe. You deserved better than you got on both accounts, the abortion and the prenuptial agreement.”
“Will you ever hold her accountable or admit that she was wrong?”
I shook my head. “She couldn’t have known what would happen to you, but I still believe she did what she thought was best for both our futures.”
“You don’t regret it?”
“I regret being careless with your heart and with you. I regret that you’re hurt. But our lives have gone down vastly different paths. I’m not about to sit by and live on regrets the rest of my life.”
“Because you’ve gone on. Does she make you happy?”
I wasn’t comfortable with the direction the conversation was taking. I had agreed with Chanel that we didn’t need to tell anyone yet, until we figured out what we were and what we expected from each other. That still held true.
“Listen, whatever you need to get through this, let me know. I’ll pay all your medical bills too. I just . . . I needed to make sure that you were okay.”
“What about . . . her? Is she okay with that?”
“Chanel was the one who encouraged me to come and helped me make arrangements to get here.”
A weak smile trembled on her lips as she stated, “You’re lucky to have her, I guess.”
“Give yourself a chance to be loved.”
She nodded. “Look at your inner circle, Ashton.”
I stood, leaned over her bed, and kissed her forehead. I had been thinking she was behind the physical attacks on Chanel and me, but it was clear to me that she wasn’t. I had a strange feeling that I needed to return to Chanel’s side.
“You be good, and I pray that you’ll get well soon. They’ve got APD’s finest right outside of your room.”
“Yeah, I’ve been told.”
“You also have a personal bodyguard assigned to you until they catch this person.”
“Why?”
“Because I meant it, Zoe. I don’t want anything happening to you.”
“You be careful out there, Ashton.”
“I will, Zoe. Take care.”
I headed out of the room and made the phone call after I departed the elevator. “Hey, Sal.”
“Yeah?”
“I know that I called you back yesterday and told you to let shit go with her. I need you back on her. She’s at New Mercy now. I’ll send you all the details. Can you cover her without being seen?”
“You already know the answer to that. Send me the details, and she’ll be covered.”
I ended the call and headed out to catch a cab back to the airport. I hadn’t planned on leaving as soon as I had, but I couldn’t ignore the sensation that I needed to be at home.