Rocko
Iwoke up this morning confused about where I was.
Why did the ceiling look different, and why weren’t the sheets as soft?
When I saw Leah sitting on the edge of the bed, it took me a minute to realize that I had asked her to spend the night with me.
Between busting my ass at practice yesterday and Leah giving me the best sex that I ever had, I had been knocked out.
When I say Leah’s shit was the best I ever had, that’s not me just talking because she was sitting five feet away from me. There’s a difference between good sex and something that would make a man question his priorities.
But now I see why it’s so good. She is crazy as hell.
We had been talking enough for me to know that her mouth could be reckless.
She said what was on her mind and sometimes didn’t think twice about how it came out.
I could respect it, though. I dealt with way too many people who told me what they thought I wanted to hear.
This side of her that I had just seen? That was different than telling me what was on her mind.
Although I didn’t like it, it definitely wasn’t anything that I couldn’t handle.
I’m a grown-ass man; I don’t lose my cool easily.
I had coaches screaming in my face, reporters baiting me, and hecklers from other teams sending me death threats daily.
A five-foot-five woman pouting because she thought that I didn’t want to have breakfast with her wasn’t enough to ruin my morning.
Though I wouldn’t tolerate disrespect from anyone, her attitude didn’t shake me.
If anything, it told me she cared, which I knew would happen but wanted to avoid.
Even as she sat across from me, trying to talk but still pouting, I knew that she was still in her feelings but trying to play it cool.
“You aren’t hungry?” She asked, breaking me out of my thoughts as she took a bite of the fruit on her plate, noticing I only had some eggs and toast.
“I don’t have a big breakfast; I normally drink a shake in the morning. I don’t eat until later.” I admitted.
She had a strawberry in her mouth. I took it from her hand and bit it. Then I ate the fruit on my plate.
We sat in silence for a while before she spoke again.
“Look, I apologize for earlier. I didn’t mean to be a bitch about it. I know you said that you don’t want anything serious. I didn’t think breakfast was serious. I guess my ego just didn’t take kindly to being fucked and dismissed.” She laughed as she swiped her hair away from her face.
“Chill, that’s not what I was trying to do.” That was the truth. I didn’t mean to brush her off; I just had a full day ahead of me, and my schedule didn’t give a damn who I had lying in my bed.
“I know you have a meeting, but that’s what it felt— like- ah!” She yelled as she dropped the container of syrup into her lap.
She kissed her teeth, stood, and took off the robe, letting it fall to the ground.
“Perfect,” she mumbled.
“You good?” I asked.
“Do I look good? She snapped back.
My eyes roamed her body, then dropped.
“Yeah.”
She rolled her eyes playfully.
“I need to shower; I’ll make it quick.” She disappeared into the bathroom, and a few seconds later I heard the shower running.
While she was in the bathroom, I picked up my phone and checked my messages. A message from my agent reminded me about the meeting. Then I responded to one from my trainer.
“Rocko,” Leah called out.
“What’s up?” I answered, putting my phone back on the nightstand.
“Come here, please.”
I slid off the side of the bed and stood in the bathroom doorway. Her eyes met mine through the steam of the glass, and then she slid the door back.
“What?” I asked.
“Are you going to join me?” She asked, biting her lip.
I stared at her.
This woman was going to be the reason Greg had a stroke at forty.
“You know I have somewhere to be.”
“I didn't ask you that.”
She smiled and kept staring at me.
I knew I should have turned around, gone back into the room, and waited for her to finish.
Instead, I stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind me.
If the way she sucked my shit was an apology for how she just tripped on me, then I accept it.
As soon as I slid the door closed, she dropped to her knees.
Afterward, I held her up against the wall, slid inside her, and got lost there.
By the time that we came out of the shower, another hour had passed, and I didn’t have much time to make it to my meeting.
“Fuck.” I said, looking at the clock.
I went to the closet, grateful I'd had enough sense to prepare the night before. I pulled out the clothes I had packed and started getting dressed. I hurried to throw on the clothes so that I could get on the road.
Once I was finished, Leah had already put on her dress, fixed her hair, and was waiting for me in the living room.
We walked out the door, through the garden, to my truck.
“I’ll see you later,” I said, leaned down, kissed her quickly, and got in the truck.
“Will you?” she asked.
I gave her a look that made her laugh.
“See you later. Don’t drive like a psychopath,” She finally said before turning, and I waited for her to get in her car.
“I got it,” I said before pulling out of the resort like a bat out of hell.
In a sense, this is what I meant by not wanting the distraction. I can’t blame Leah because again, I’m a grown-ass man. Nobody asked me to invite her, nobody made me have breakfast, nobody forced me into the shower. Those were all my decisions.
But decisions come with consequences. One of mine was that I spent the night in Napa Valley, so I wasn’t late to the meeting and was somehow still going to be late to the meeting.
I sped down the road to make it on time.
My agent had gotten me so many deals that I could barely keep up with them all.
It was the abundance that I had been working for, so I couldn’t complain.
Too many players would kill to be in my position, and I knew that.
Because just one year ago, I wasn’t here.
That’s why I took the business side seriously. None of it was guaranteed. One injury, one ball, could change everything. The business would last for years after I took off a uniform.
I made it there without a minute to spare, hopped out of the truck, and went inside.
“Hello, Mr. Sanders. We’ve been expecting you.” The receptionist said as she stood.
“Rocko is fine,” I said.
She smiled, then walked me down to the meeting room, where Greg and the brand representatives stood waiting for me.
Greg looked like he wanted to curse.
He looked at the time.
“You’re late.” He mumbled as I walked past him to shake the hands of the people at the round table.
I didn’t respond because I still had a minute to spare before meeting time. I know that he preferred me to be early, but it’s not the same as being late. That’s why I hate to feel rushed. I understand the value of being on time, especially in this space.
After we shook hands, I took the seat they offered me next to G.
He leaned over.
“You smell like a fucking hotel.” He gritted.
The meeting started with introductions. As they talked about themselves, I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket.
I touched the screen and saw three messages from Leah.
I slid it out just enough to look at the screen and silence it, then slid it back into my pocket.
I listened to their speech about when they were founded, who they helped, and what their goals were as a company—all the while forcing my mind to be off Leah.
I’ve lived long enough not to be blindsided by sex. But I couldn’t help but think about how everything seemed to move at a hundred miles an hour with her. Either she was laughing, pissed off, or she was doing that thing with her tongue that had me groaning. It was never a calm moment.
And somehow, I still wanted to see what it was about.
I tried to focus once they started saying what they required of me. The image that they wanted me to maintain.
“We see a lot of you without seeing too much.”
That statement brought my head back into the room. “You have built quite a reputation for what an athlete should embody. We see discipline and dedication. Your skill is unmatched. We love that.” She praised as she continued to talk.
“We want this partnership to feel authentic. We aren't interested in changing who you are. We want to make sure what our brand represents aligns with what Rocko Sanders represents.”
I nodded as Greg shifted beside me.
Then she went into the numbers, and that got his attention.
The money on the line was decent. The scheduled events she started pitching all sounded simple enough until I started hearing their locations and realized I would be spending a lot of time on planes.
Way more than my current schedule would allow.
I looked at Greg. He didn’t even look my way. His ass already knew this.
With the way she was calling out cities. Between practice, games, and traveling, I wasn’t going to have time to blink. But it’s whatever. How can I cry about the problems I prayed for?
This was just another reason I had to keep pushing, and another reason I didn’t need to add anything to what I already had going on. Or anybody.
The meeting ran for three hours or more. By the time that it was over, I had verbally committed to the partnership, as long as my attorney could look over the contract.
Greg’s attitude had changed because sealing the deal meant a hefty six-figure payout if everything went well.
I stood up from the table and headed toward the door, with G right behind me. I pulled out my phone to check my messages.
Leah: Made it?
Leah: Rock
Leah: Lord, I hope you didn’t crash trying to get away from me
The last message made me laugh, and I replied.
Me: Nah, I didn’t. I just left.
When I looked up from the phone, G was looking me dead in the face.
“Who’s the girl?” He asked.
“What girl?” I asked, confused.
“The fucking girl that’s got you out here smiling like a teenager and being late for work.” He scoffed.
“I wasn’t late; I walked in with a minute to spare.”