Somee
Iwas fuming and hurt for how all this was being perceived.
As many times as I had personally indulged in celebrity gossip, never once had I been part of any.
Nor had I ever assumed I would be, but thanks to the greedy, inconsiderate hoe who decided to leak documents about Ryland and his sister, my name and images were circulating all over social media.
They had gone as far as finding pictures from Harrington’s social media page of me and Rylee and others from Areena’s birthday party with the three of us.
In all honesty, I didn’t give a damn about what they were saying about me.
People were mean. I was a deaf woman now attached to one of Crescent Falls’s most eligible bachelors and the world felt it necessary to provide their hot takes on why I shouldn’t be.
I read through a handful of all the think pieces and negative remarks posted to drag me because they were confused about how someone like me managed to lock down a man like Ryland Parks.
With this good ass pussy…
Our attraction was more than just physical, so the thought was childish, but I was annoyed.
The women posting about me were thirsty ass hoes who needed to down me to justify why Ryland hadn’t chosen them.
There was a whole thread on Trendz dedicated to women from his past posting pictures of themselves to prove why I wasn’t his type.
The funny part was they couldn’t touch me.
Being deaf didn’t have shit to do with my looks.
I ate down every single time I showed my face but it wasn’t just about looks.
Their real problem was their belief that a deaf woman shouldn’t be on his radar.
Well, not only was I on his radar, I was on his dick and in his life with a demand from Ryland that I never leave.
A man like Ryland openly claiming me was what bothered them the most. The reality that all these women were so insecure and saw me as less than or unworthy of his attention was incredibly sad.
Rolling my eyes, I swiped out of the thread and moved to an article from Caught Live.
The 2.5 Million Dollar Question.
Okay Honies and Homies. It seems like our boy Ryland Parks dropped some serious bank to secure custody of his baby sister.
2.5 Million, to be exact, which leads me to believe there’s a story there.
Now unlike the vultures over at Tattle Tales, we’re not posting names of the innocent, but I do consider it my civic duty to deliver the facts.
The story is out there, so let’s break it down.
Sharks Left Tackle, Ryland Parks who will not be traded by the way—we were rooting for you, Love and look at God!
—just secured the bag with a very sweet, five-year deal guaranteeing his spot on the Sharks roster.
I know that’s right, but let’s get back to it.
Documents were leaked providing details of a temporary custody order of Ryland’s sister.
No names will be listed on our site because I don’t play about the babies.
Now the man that took the payoff to ensure baby sis remained in Ryland’s custody can get all the smoke because who puts a price on their child’s head? We’ll just consider him a piece of shit until he’s otherwise proven to be a decent human. I have a feeling his name will not be cleared.
Then there’s the brown skinned beauty who has seemingly stolen Ryland’s heart.
Based on those pictures I’ve seen circulating, Ms. Somee Cole has our boy down bad.
I’m rooting for you, sis. For those of you trying to say she’s not deserving, trust and believe you’re showing your hand.
Not too much on my girl. Jealousy and envy don’t look good on you, babes!
Try Jesus, not my girl Somee. Because with the way she has our boy handing over the keys to the castle, I’m willing to bet my girl is very much unbothered.
Let’s give the Parks family the privacy they deserve and mind the business that pays us. We’ll see your fine ass on the field next season, #55. Black love is beautiful and we’re here for it.
I was about to click on the pictures attached to the article but felt eyes on me.
I turned my head to find Ryland with a scowl on his handsome face.
We had both sat down with the admins from the school as soon as we arrived and Nicolette assured us the disruption was more of an inconvenience than a problem.
After multiple apologies, we were back in his truck, first in line for car pickup, waiting for the final bell.
Ryland was annoyed that a problem attached to him had disrupted things at Rylee’s school.
It wasn’t his fault but he still felt terrible that there was a crowd of reporters outside the school.
So while we waited, he was on the phone with his publicist Vanessa, who was making arrangements to send a few guys from the security firm Rich and Des worked for to handle crowd control.
“Why you looking at that shit?”
“It’s my fifteen minutes of fame. I might as well see what they’re saying about me,” I signed to lighten the mood after dropping my phone into my purse.
Ryland had asked me a million times if I was okay after he realized my pictures and social media profiles were highlighted on most of the posts and articles circulating.
“Fuck them folks. They don’t know a damn thing about you.” His face was tight and the muscles in his neck pulsed.
“Calm down, killer. I’m okay.”
I wanted him to release this anger before Rylee was with us. The last thing we needed was her observing his frustration.
“You didn’t ask to have your name out there.”
“I didn’t, but I’m also not na?ve. I know who you are and what that means for me being in your life.”
“You don’t have to be cool with any of this. It’s fucked up.” His jaw was tight as he spoke and signed the words.
“Oh trust, I’m not cool with any of this, but I’m also well aware that there isn’t much I can do about it. Your team’s working to do damage control, right?”
“Yeah…”
I shrugged. “Then we focus on what we’re going to tell Rylee and deal with the rest later.”
He stared at me for a minute without saying anything. “I’m fucking up your life, but I promise if you ride this out with me, I’ll make it better.”
“You most certainly will. My travel wish list is increasing by the minute. I feel a much needed island vacation surfacing to disconnect from the world and drink my frustrations away with very pretty and expensive tropical drinks. There’s only a month left of school, then our schedule is wide open.”
“May is the start of my on field workouts, but I’ll figure out a way to make sure we’re catching flights.”
My brow inched up slowly. “Oh, I’m sorry, did you assume when I said ‘our’ that included you? Mine and Rylee’s schedules will be wide open.”
Ryland grinned sexily. “You got that. I know a few places that might work, and anything involving the two of you, consider me permanently attached. Our equals me and you, us with baby girl. What I tell you about playing silly games?”
Before I could answer, he turned his head at the same time the back door of the Range was pulled open by one of the carpool monitors. Rylee giddily climbed in.
“We had dancers today. They showed us how to stand on our toes and jump. They have classes and I can go if you sign me up.” She beamed while her hands moved wildly.
After her spiel, she slipped her arms from the straps of her backpack and yanked it into her lap.
While she unzipped the bag and dug through it, Ryland spoke to Rylee’s art teacher.
It must have been her week to work pickup.
They rotated all the teachers to make sure the load was shared across the staff.
“Dance?” He spoke and signed at the same time and she did the same when she responded.
“Liberté Abstraite was here today with several of their dancers to help teach rhythm and movement in music class.”
“I take it Rylee enjoyed having them here?” I signed.
“She did! I think you guys might have a ballerina in training right here.” She smiled proudly at Rylee. “Have a good evening and we’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
“You too, thank you.”
She closed the door and Rylee removed a flyer along with a colorful, postcard-sized advertisement from her backpack and shoved them at me.
The front had multiple beautiful black dancers, male and female.
The back had a list of programs and activities.
While I examined the summer schedules and classes they offered for spring, Ryland motioned for Rylee to put her seatbelt on.
While Ryland pulled away from the car rider line, I leaned between the seats and signed to Rylee. “You want to take dance?”
She nodded wildly while her hands were moving. “They said I could if you sign me up. Will you sign me up?”
“I don’t know, kid, they might not be ready for all your moves,” I teased and a smile blossomed on her pretty face.
“It’s different than our dance parties. They wear pretty skirts and dance on their toes. But the skirts are pink and not purple like the one you got me. I asked if I could wear my purple one and they said I can in class, but not when we do recitals.”
I grinned. “Pink is not that bad.”
She wrinkled her nose. “You like pink. I like purple, but I’ll wear pink if you let me go to the classes.”
Rylee was so distracted with all the details about her day that she hadn’t noticed the crowd of people just outside the gate as we passed through.
Ryland did based on the stiffness in his jaw and shoulders.
There were four men dressed in all black posted up to make sure those who didn’t have access weren’t able to slip through the gates.
I was glad they were there because several of the reporters must have recognized Rylands’ Range and rushed it as soon as we reached the gate.
The security team managed to keep them at bay.
As soon as we turned onto the street in front of the school, I glanced at Ryland and responded to Rylee about signing her up for dance class.