Chapter 40 Actions Differed
ACTIONS DIFFERED
The more people who came to the table that night, the more Farrah struggled to keep her giddiness in check.
The last to arrive were Nino Meyers and his wife. Archer was going to be through the roof.
“It’s so nice to meet you,” she said. “It was my son who Jayce asked you to sign the jersey and birthday card for. He’s not going to believe me when I tell him I had dinner with you tonight.”
“We’ll make him believe,” Nino said. “Jayce, snap a picture with my arm around your woman fast before mine gets jealous.”
She moved closer to Nino when he dropped his arm around her shoulder, Nino’s wife, Brianna, smiling on as if this was an old joke between them. Her grin was huge, Jayce took a few shots and then she sat back down.
There were ten couples at the table including them.
Two coaches and their significant others, someone from the office who worked with Jayce, and two players.
Nino being the most notable, then someone who she knew the name of but didn’t play often, Brice being new to the team two years ago but only playing for the first time last year.
“Tell us what you’ve been up to,” DeVone said. “I know I’m not alone when I say we were all shocked to hear you left.”
Which just went back to the fact that these people who said they were his friends or close with him didn’t notice he might not be well. That he was burned out, stressed, exhausted and even ill.
Did he always put on such a front for everyone?
She hated to think he did it with her. Could he be and she was blind to it?
Nah, he didn’t. Not after that fight they’d had weeks ago. She’d seen that he could be open and raw. That he wasn’t holding it in. That he accepted her and Archer into his life as much as she had him into theirs.
There would be ups and downs like everything else, but he’d proven that he didn’t shy away from anything. That he wouldn’t give up on her and she wouldn’t on him.
“I’m working for my parents’ firm. Handling all the marketing, advertising, communication, even stepping in to manage some projects and dealing with clients.”
“We know you can kiss ass like the best of them,” Brice said. “Probably how you got Farrah.”
There was some laughter to that statement by the guys at the table. She didn’t think Jayce was much of an ass kisser, but she didn’t know adult-Jayce like she had school-aged one.
“Jayce and I were friends for years in high school.”
“And we dated for two months, but she broke my heart and gave me the boot our senior year.”
He pulled her close to his side and planted a smooch on her cheek.
“I hardly broke his heart and you know it. Seventeen-year-olds rarely love like that and we were leaving for college. I knew enough to let Jayce have his wings to spread. We came back around.”
“That’s really sweet,” Brianna said. “Nino and I were high school sweethearts. It was hard to watch him go off to another college without me, but I was close enough to drive and see him on the weekends. I had to make sure no one else was catching his eye. You know, lay the law down to not mess with me.”
“And Brianna was scary in her own right,” Nino said. “She played ball too.”
Being five foot nine, Farrah was used to being one of the tallest women in the room, but Brianna was close to six-foot so she wasn’t surprised to hear Nino’s wife was an athlete herself.
“Farrah is mean on the court,” Jayce said. “Don’t let her sweet looks fool you. Between basketball and volleyball, she was out for blood.”
“Did you play in college?” DeVone asked.
“No. I wasn’t that good and it’s not something I was interested in. I’m a physician assistant and school was more important.”
“Did you want to be a doctor and just didn’t make it?” Molly, Brice’s girlfriend, asked. If she found that rude, she’d just brush it off. Molly might have bigger boobs than brains at the moment, and she was putting it out for everyone to see.
“I never wanted to be a doctor. I’m doing exactly what I always planned. Six years of college and then certifications after and those to maintain have been more than enough.”
“What certifications?” Stephanie, the wife of the other coach asked. “I always wanted to be a nurse, but I sucked in science.”
“I’ve been in several departments over the years.
I started in orthopedics, so that’s my first, then family medicine, which gives me a wide range of departments to work in from family practice to pediatrics, to obgyn.
I’m in family practice right now. It helps to patch up Jayce when Archer gives him a run for his money and he’s sore and beaten up. ”
“She’s not lying,” Jayce said, his eyes wide in mock horror. “I never thought age would catch up to me until I had to entertain a kid for a week who has more energy than I ever thought I had.”
“Kids will do that to you,” Brianna said. “Nino is going to learn that soon enough.”
“Did you make your announcement?” Jayce asked.
“Not yet, but it’s not much of a secret. My contract expired and the offers coming in don’t seem worth it.”
“He promised,” Brianna said. “Right, Nino?”
“It’s got to be hard to give it up,” Brice said. “We’ve worked hard to get here. I’m just starting so can’t even think that.”
“That’s right, and now Jayce doesn’t have to babysit your ass either,” Nino said. “Back in my day, we didn’t need it.”
“Who are you kidding?” Brianna said. “You did your fair share of partying, but you knew your limits and stayed with the right people. The next round isn’t so smart.”
“Are you saying I’m not smart?” Brice asked, frowning.
Oh boy, this wasn’t what she thought the dinner would turn into.
“My wife would never do that,” Nino said. “But what she hears is from me, and you know what I thought of you and your crew. Keep your ass in check along with your buddy Levi and you’ll be fine.”
“He’s too much even for me,” Brice said, letting out a snort.
The second year player turned to Jayce. “He still has his dick in a twist over what went down. No one believed it, but his pride struggled to be made a fool. McKayla won’t stop coming around.
I’m sure you’re glad you’re gone from that nightmare.
I would have been pissed if it were me caught up in that shit, and trust me, some players said the same. ”
There were some heads that went down at the table, and Farrah turned to look at Jayce, his face slightly flushed, but DeVone jumped in, “I’m trying to talk Nino into coaching.
Gives him something to do without the wear and tear on his body.
Then he can put Brice in his place when he runs his mouth. ”
“Coaching isn’t for me,” Nino said. The talk turned to the game and she sat there and listened more than contributed.
It was great to see Jayce at ease, laughing with some old colleagues who seemed to be more friends than she realized. His actions differed from normal too.
After a few hours of food and drink, they left the private room they’d been in in the back. She could see where he would have loved living like that, as it was all the things he’d always boasted he wanted and appeared to have.
“That was fun,” she said when they let themselves into the hotel room.
“It was,” he said. “Nice to see everyone too. I think they tried to get more but last minute is rough.”
“That was more than enough for me,” she said. “And nice to see so many coming out to see you. Can I ask what Brice’s comment was about Levi and you?”
“I figured you’d want to know. It’s nothing major.”
“Then why did everyone get quiet and your face turn red?” If no one reacted that way, she might have just shrugged it off.
“Sit,” he said.
“This isn’t going to be good, is it?”
“It’s not horrible, just not something I like to talk about. The short version is, Levi is a hothead who liked to party and I was tasked with keeping him and Brice in line half the time. I wasn’t their watchdog, but I was called to come get them or know where they were.”
“Which you would have hated if you were doing other work on the road.”
“I did. It played a part in why I left.”
“Watching them outside of games?” she asked.
“Yes. I told you that more was being dumped on me and that was something that never should have happened.”
“There has to be more to it.”
Just the way everyone reacted when Brice said it.
“There was. McKayla, Levi’s girlfriend, was jealous and everyone knew. It happens. You heard Brianna.”
“I’ve got to imagine it’s hard to trust someone when they are out drinking and surrounded by women nonstop.”
“Exactly. Did I do that early on when I worked there? Sure. I’m not going to lie, but it got tiring and I didn’t like doing it anymore. McKayla was always dramatic and around more than she should be.”
“So she made a nuisance of herself?”
He snorted. “In more ways than one. One night when we were out of town, she showed up looking for him. She couldn’t find him and came knocking on my door.
Not sure how she found out which room was mine, but she always had a way to get information.
I told her I didn’t know where he was, shut the door and went back to work. ”
“Then what happened? Because there is no way it was as simple as that.”
“It was that simple. I had proof to back it up, but she still ran her mouth to Levi that she came in and we spent some... time together that night. She wanted to make him jealous and it worked.”
“She said you slept with her?”
“She said it, but it was a lie. One of many that she told. Levi and I had some words, I tried to walk away as the bigger man and told him she was lying and he shoved me into the wall.”
Her jaw dropped. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this? That you were accused of sleeping with a player’s girlfriend on top of it. You know how I feel about those things. I’ve said it multiple times that even the whiff of cheating is enough to put my walls up.”