Chapter 9
Hollis
The ride home from BJ’s was brutal and uncomfortable as hell.
I hated how I responded but it was only day two and I had been flowing down Luke’s and mine rollercoaster of a relationship.
I was extremely nauseous at this point and wanted off.
While he stared at the road, I sat there watching the world going on as I wondered what the hell I had committed myself to.
We weren’t even a week in and I was already thinking about packing up all my shit and going home.
You can’t, Holli. Remember this is for Jimmy and the house he promised Luke.
Apologize so y’all can get past this.
I fidgeted with my hands before I got the urge to speak.
“Look, my bad for tripping. I take the blame for that because we never set up those very important and needed rules and boundaries to make this transaction run smoothly. Should we do it now so we can move as a unit tonight?”
“Okay.” That was all he gave me so I continued.
“Rule number one, absolutely no sex. Two, kisses only in public, in camera views, and no tongue, ever. Umm.. what else…” I tapped my chin, pretending to think while trying to read Luke’s face to gauge his reaction.
When I noticed it was blank and unmoved, I continued.
“Oh yeah, three, no sharing a bed ever. Date nights will be planned and in a very open setting, always. No bringing up old shit that doesn’t mean anything to anyone anymore. ”
“Okay.”
His tone was dry as fuck. Luke had shut down on me after trying to start us off right and here I was still letting my emotions run the show.
Shit, Hollis. And he was hella nice to you all morning. Not to mention he carried your ass to bed and tucked you in last night. Stop being so mean to him, please, girl, or else this won’t work.
“Anything else?” he asked as he pulled into the garage.
Now it was my turn to be quiet as I shook my head. I was still producing a real apology beyond my lame ass words.
“So basically, strangers inside of a loveless marriage playing the part, got it,” he said.
I looked at him and saw something in his eyes I wasn’t familiar with. I didn’t know how to respond so I told the truth.
“We are strangers, Luke, and this marriage hasn’t had love in it since we said I do,” I said, hoping to end the conversation.
“Only for you, Holls,” he whispered as he got out the truck first, grabbing my bags and leaving me there to ponder his words. Wondering which part was only me. It had to be the strangers part, because if Luke loved me, he would’ve never let me go.
“Ugh, I thought we said a custom jersey for the games. What is this shirt you have on?” Callie asked over the video call she and the girls were on.
They were still out of town and I was officially hating it but understood.
Callie was still at the shop braiding and airing all my business to the older lady in the chair.
“It’s coming, but I had to get something.
Plus, it’s the first game. I had to let these other wives and girlfriends know how I’m coming,” I said as I admired the skintight, cut up jean shorts that had every dip and curve my thighs had to offer on display, leading down to the tennis shoes that matched the basic edition of Luke’s jersey.
I had it open with a crop top underneath.
I didn’t have to worry about doing my hair since Luke threw in a hat with my fit.
“I think you look cute, Hollis,” Mickey said with Minnie nodding her approval with a wide smile.
“Thank you. And I promise, you ain’t beating my Minnie’s confirmation that I look good. Besides, you act like it still ain’t his jersey. How much of this man do you want me to wear, damn?”
“All of it!” they said in unison which had me kissing my teeth as I rolled my eyes, putting on the hat to seal the deal.
“Well, I’m sure he doesn’t feel the same. Now, final comments and sweet words of affirmation. I have to go. I never ordered lunch and I have to eat before I get there.”
“Why are you ordering lunch? Don’t y’all have food for you to cook?” Johnni asked. I preferred to cook over going out, unless I was spending a man’s money on a fine dining meal.
“That’s his food and I haven’t planned a trip to the grocery store yet. Can we focus on the important things right now, like hyping me the hell up.”
“Conceited ass. You look good. Now go have fun and be nice because I know you cussed his ass out a couple times today,” Callie said, which had me cringing a bit at myself at BJ’s.
I hadn’t told her, but she knew. We had this weird connection.
We could sense each other’s mood’s sometimes, which was a gift and a fucking curse, especially right now.
“No, I didn’t.” The sound of my alarm going off on my phone let me know I was out of time and it was perfect.
“Lies. Anyways, I have to go, love y’all,” Callie said, with us all sending our love back before she hung up.
When Johnni got ready to speak, I cut her off. “Wait, before I forget, we need statements from y’all saying we’ve been married and living in love all this time.”
Mickey playfully rolled her eyes.
“Starting your marriage on lies gon’ have you looking like me.”
“Or me,” Johnni added, making me smirk as I hustled downstairs.
“Neither, it’s for the will.”
“We got you. Now go. I have to feed CJ. Love y’all.”
“I’ll call y’all tomorrow morning. Wait, no, y’all need to be bringing y’all’s asses the hell home. I feel like you’re missing out on my life and I’m missing my babies.”
“We fly back tomorrow afternoon. I promise my first touchdown is to see your new house,” Mickey said with Johnni co-signing.
“Me too, especially since I’ll be in the area to drop CJ off to Mama Steph.”
“It’s not my new house, but sure. Love y’all.”
I waited long enough to hear their responses then I hung up as I rushed down the steps.
Since I wasn’t driving, I pulled out my phone to call for an iDrive while I made my way into the kitchen for a bottle of water to save me from buying a soda I didn’t need.
Then I noticed the food on the counter with a Post-It bearing my name.
It was my same order from BJ’s with a note that said the shake was in the freezer.
“Fuck!” I pulled out my phone to text him a simple thank you when I noticed he’d texted me. I frowned, trying to make sense of how I missed it until I noticed I was still on DND with only the girls and Lacy able to get through.
Deke: Hershey, I hope you get to enjoy this one in peace, even if your husband did pay for it. See you tonight.
As bad as I wanted to ignore it and throw it away, my stomach growling had me snatching the bag up, going to the microwave then to the freezer to get my shake.
Yes, it was a sweet gesture, but I hated it because he did it. I didn’t want Luke being nice and doing stuff like this. I wanted us to be strangers, or enemies that we needed to be, to keep this strictly transactional and not involve emotional interactions that no longer existed in our space.
Hollis, but y’all aren’t enemies.
An hour later I made it to the game, making it to the WAGs section and immediately wanting to go home.
This hadn’t been my crowd, even when I was actively married to Luke.
Typically I sat in the stands with the general population, enjoying the game with the people who came to be more than just seen.
At first I walked in unnoticed by anyone until I went to the bar for a drink when someone called out to me.
“Um… excuse me, this section is for the family and wives of the players.” I turned to see Shepherd Rowe’s wife Angie. I recognized her from the pictures I had of her in my phone.
“Oh yes, hi. I’m Hollis, Deacon’s wife.” I went to flash my ring finger until I realized it was bare. We’d skipped that step. Hurriedly I tucked my hand into the back of my shorts.
“Oh hey, he did mention to Shep that you were coming and asked if I could welcome you. Well come on, let me introduce you to the ladies. I promise we don’t bite.”
“He did?” My voice went up a few octaves as I grabbed my drink, following her to the blue bleachers.
“Of course. He said you might be overwhelmed since you don’t really come to the games. I will admit, I was surprised to hear that he’s been married for a long time now.”
“Yeah, feels like it just happened yesterday.” We shared a chuckle as we approached the other ladies.
“Trust me I get it. Anyhow, this is Kim, she’s married to Rando. Ciara is married to Diaz, Lani is with Walter, and Joy is married to Kordell, the general manager. Y’all, this is Deacon’s wife, Hollis. Be nice and say hi.”
All the ladies turned to greet me, waving, with me doing the same. I noticed it was a diverse group of ladies.
“Hi, welcome!” one of them said.
I looked around, wondering why Angie hadn’t done the whole section, but didn’t say anything as I took my seat.
“And before you say anything, yes, I’m aware there’s more of us, but this is who I fuck with.
These are the cool ladies. The other ones get catty and talk too much about shit they don’t know.
” She raised her voice slightly, letting it be known that she was, in fact, talking about them. I smirked. I liked her style.
“Oh trust, I get it. That’s probably why I never entertained this box. When I attend, I’m typically in the crowd blending in.” I snorted, thinking back to the last game I came to, doing just that.
“I bet that is peaceful. Why the change?” she asked.
“Girl, that husband of mine. He said it was time to mingle. He said people think we’re single because I’m antisocial.”
“I mean, we definitely thought he was, especially after the Talisa Storm incident came and went,” Kim said before she jumped up and yelled, “go baby.” I looked down at the field and noticed a player in the midst of stealing third base.
I took a sip of my drink as I tried to remain calm at the mention of a bitch who left a nasty ass taste in my mouth.
“A minor lapse in our story by an irrelevant groupie ass hoe who tried lying on dick.” My smile was wide.