Ryland #2
I grinned. “True, but with everything going on, I figured it was best. No cameras grabbing pictures of us that will hit the blogs with stories about my secret lovechild.”
With the lingering reputation of how I ran through women, a lovechild would be the first assumption.
One picture with the three of us and everyone would assume Somee was Rylee’s mother and I was the unsuspecting father who’d just found out about the child she’d kept from me.
She and I had no history, so there was no connection to be made other than that.
The media loved a good scandal, so factual or not, they would run with it.
She grinned. “Right. I keep forgetting who you are.”
I was the first one off the golf cart and lifted Rylee from the seat. As soon as she was on her feet, her little hands were moving. “Is this our plane?”
Even if Somee wasn’t happy, my sister was. I decided to work with that. “It is. You like it?”
She nodded with a smile. “Can I go see inside?”
“Yes. Let’s go.” I reached for her hand and she accepted, skipping along beside me as we made our way to the stairs.
“Welcome, M-R P-A-R-K-S. We’re honored to have you flying with us today. M-S C-O-L-E, I’m A-N-N-A. I’ll be in flight with you today,” the attendant signed as she addressed me and Somee.
“Thank you.”
She kneeled toward Rylee. “And you, pretty lady, must be R-Y-L-E-E.” Rylee nodded and offered her arbitrary name, signing an R with her index and middle finger waving near her shoulder, as if flapping wings.
“Nice to meet you, Rylee. I’m A-N-N-A.” She spoke the words and signed also. “Would you like a tour?”
“Yes,” Rylee signed, grinning giddily.
The two of them climbed the stairs and Somee turned toward me. “You arranged to have A-N-N-A?”
“Yes, figured it might help. I want both of you to feel comfortable whenever possible.”
“That was sweet. Thank you.”
“See, I’m not the bad guy.”
“I never said you were.”
“But you thought it,” I signed and she shrugged.
“Maybe.”
Somee went first and I followed, shamelessly admiring her ass in her jeans. I was a guy with eyes and she was a woman with a body worth using them on.
As soon as we were on board, Rylee came running down the center of the plane with her hands in motion. “Somee, this is like our house. They have two bedrooms and a bathroom.”
She had a big grin, making me appreciate that I’d bypassed the first class seats to fly private.
“Oh that’s exciting,” Somee signed enthusiastically.
“And there are no people. A-N-N-A said we’re the only ones. We get the whole thing to ourselves and she has snacks. Come see,” she signed and grabbed Somee’s hand, dragging her to the back of the plane.
“You have about twenty minutes before you have to be seated for takeoff, Mr. Parks,” Anna said as she approached. She signed the words as she spoke. I wasn’t sure if that was out of habit but I didn’t sign when I responded.
“’Preciate that.”
“If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask. By the way, your sister is adorable.”
She left the main cabin and closed us in. I dropped into a seat, removing my phone to check my messages. I had several from multiple people but none I wanted to talk to right now. The only reason I didn’t have notifications from my Skroll account was because I’d deleted the app from my phone.
Everything was crazy right now and the last thing I needed was to see someone dragging my name.
The clip of a reporter shoving a mic into my face after we’d lost the game because of a bad call was already circulating and Vanessa was not happy about it.
I was sure the only reason I was still on her roster was because she was giving me grace considering Rylee.
That was only going to get me so far. I had to figure things out, but for the next couple of days, everything would be on pause. I shot Omiri a text to let him know I would hit him later, once I got my sister and Somee settled.
After the text was sent, I felt a presence and looked up to find Rylee standing in front of me. She pointed to my hat and signed, “I had the Sharks on yesterday when I watched the game.”
I grinned. “I know. I saw the pictures, see.” I held my phone up so she could see the screensaver.
I changed it to a picture of her and Somee after the text came through with them.
And yeah, I should have just saved Rylee, but fuck it, I wanted Somee’s pretty ass on my screen too. “You had my number on.”
She nodded and signed, “You lost but I still cheered for you. I think it made Somee sad that I cheered for you because she likes the Tigers not the Sharks, but she told me it was okay to cheer for you.”
“I’m glad you did.”
Her nose wrinkled. “But you still lost.”
“Yeah I did.”
“Are you sad that you lost?”
I signed, “A little bit.”
She smiled. “Do you want a hug? Somee gives me hugs when I’m sad and they make me feel better.”
“Yeah, I think a hug would make me feel better.” She smiled widely and took off running, dragging Somee to me before she signed, “Can you give Ryland a hug? He’s sad because he lost the game.”
Somee delivered a death glare which she paired with a scowl and my smile stretched wider. Her eyes narrowed a little more. I signed, “Her idea, not mine” before I stood and opened my arms.
Somee stepped into my embrace and attempted a quick hug that I extended when I held her longer than necessary.
She smelled so damn good and the feel of her fitting perfectly into a spot I was more than willing to hand over ownership for had my mind considering possibilities that shouldn’t have been circulating.
Once freed from my embrace, she shot me an evil glare, then signed, “We sit anywhere we want?”
“Yes.”
She nodded and signed to Rylee. “You get to pick. Where are you sitting?”
“Can I sit by the window?”
“You sure can,” Somee signed and motioned across the aisle after I was seated.
I watched the two get settled. Rylee by the window and Somee taking the seat next to her.
Everything about how she handled Rylee was so caring and attentive.
If anyone saw the two together, they would likely assume Rylee was Somee’s child.
No matter how I felt about any of this, I appreciated that my sister had someone who cared about her in my absence.
Not long after Somee and Rylee took their seats, we were alerted to settle in for takeoff.
Since the two of them were in their own world, I decided now would be a great time to catch up on some sleep.
Spending the night on a bean bag did very little for my neck and back, but the minute I slouched to get cozy, locked my arms over my chest, and my head met the back of the seat, my phone was vibrating.
Under any other circumstances, I would have hit ignore, but with trade talks lingering, I checked to make sure it wasn’t anything I needed to address immediately.
My mood didn’t get any better when I realized Sovoya was the one calling.
Sovoya Lanier had been my agent for the past year.
After seeing how well she managed Omiri’s career when he cut ties with his first agent, I knew exactly who I wanted on my team when my agent’s firm was bought out by a larger one.
I refused to be represented by someone simply on board just to take my money which was what I would’ve faced if I’d stayed with Noble Elite after they consumed my old agency.
The past year of having Sovoya on my team proved to be one of the best decisions I could have made. She was about business and earned every penny. My income from brand deals increased by thirty percent within the first six months.
“Yeah…”
“Where are you?” was the first thing she asked.
I glanced at the two people traveling with me before I dropped my head back and yanked my hat lower on my head. “In the air. I’ll be home in a couple hours.”
“Shit, I forgot you had that flight to Chicago. You’re trending. I’m sure you’ve seen the worst of it.”
“I saw that bullshit.”
“It’s bad, Land,” she said through a sigh.
“The fucking call was bad,” I argued. “We’re out of the playoffs because of a bullshit call.”
“I’m aware, but your reaction didn’t help.”
“Come on, Sov. I have the right to be upset. Hell the entire team, including the owners, should be pissed and supporting me.”
Not trying to trade me…
“They reached out this morning.”
My jaw locked. “About what?”
“You’re not in a good place with the team, Land. Front office is getting pressure from Karl because of his wife.”
I sat up frowning. “What does she have to do with this?”
“She’s the reason her husband is pushing for you to get traded.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“No and I’m not supposed to be privy to that information but I have people in the front office who don’t mind delivering a heads up with things like this. With the way y’all are always trying to test my patience, it’s a good thing I do.”
“You have a spy on the Sharks payroll?”
“A connection, not a spy. Now focus. You’re in the middle of some serious shit right now, Land.”
“She came on to me, invited me to her room, and I turned her down because I know better than to sleep with my boss’s wife. Hell, even if I didn’t give a damn about that, I do not sleep with married women. That’s not how I get down, Sov.”
I had no problem fucking women. I slept with a lot of them.
They were accessible and I loved the thrill, but I didn’t do entanglements with married women.
That was one line I refused to cross, which was the main reason I’d turned Mia down.
Also because of who she was married to. That shit would have been messy as hell.
“Doesn’t matter. No one cares about the details.
How it potentially happened isn’t relevant, only that Karl’s wife wanted to have sex with you and you turned her down.
Of course Karl won’t come out and express what the real issue is.
He’s arguing there’s a pattern of behavior tarnishing the team’s image and your performance hasn’t been great… ”
“I had a gotdamn phenomenal game, Sov. One of the best this season. The fuck?”