All Star

by KB Winters

  “Wait. Wasn’t that what you were about to say? The whole me and Trey thing?” Heat rushed up to my cheeks and I wished for a big hole to open up under my table and swallow me.

  “No. I mean, everyone knows about that, obviously—”

  “Great,” I groaned.

  Hallie ducked her chin for a second. “I was actually talking about Christy’s baby. She went into labor right there on air!”

  “What?” I straightened in my chair.

  “Yeah! I mean, her water broke on air and everything! It was a big, ole’ mess right there in front of the green screen.”

  A laugh slipped from my lips and I quickly slapped two fingers to suppress it. “Oh my goodness!”

  “Yeah, it wasn’t pretty.” Hallie giggled and then went to grab her coffee and half a sandwich. She returned and took a long drink. “I’m surprised you didn’t hear about that.”

  “Well, I didn’t stick around long. I’ve been camped out here most of the day. Because of…well…the other thing.”

  Hallie waved her hand. “Girl, that’s old news! You can thank Christy!”

  I laughed softly and nodded. “Good to know. I just felt a little fishbowl-ish.”

  “I get it. My department handled most of it. I think we got the pics pulled from a few of the sites. It wasn’t too much of a stresser. You know how fast gossip moves.”

  I shrugged. “I guess. It’s a different feeling when it’s your picture being blasted everywhere. I didn’t even know about it until I landed yesterday afternoon. I’m surprised my daddy hasn’t called to chew my ass.”

  Hallie nodded. “I promise, it’s not a big deal. But…since we’re talkin’ about it…spill! How on earth did that even happen?”

  I groaned.

  “Okay, sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t have asked,” Hallie said, her own cheeks going pink.

  “No, no. It’s fine,” I hurried to add, waving my hand at her. “It’s fine. I mean, there’s not much to tell…” Hallie arched an eyebrow and I laughed. “Okay, you’re right. Obviously, there’s a story here.”

  “I’ll say! Damn! Trey Delgado is the hottest ball player ever!”

  “Yeah, he is pretty hot—and he knows it.”

  I reached for the last of my croissant and popped it into my mouth. When it was gone, I started the story, telling her about the first time Trey and I met, on the tarmac, right after I was assigned to getting an interview with him. Then the story about seeing him at the hotel bar. I left out the sexy details but told her we’d hit it off and got close after that on a few occasions.

  When I was done, Hallie’s eyes were practically sparkling. “So, what now? You saw him yesterday at the airport?”

  I nodded. “Yeah…he was waiting for me. With flowers, actually.”

  Hallie whimpered. “Aww!”

  I was smiling like an idiot, despite my internal demands to myself that I can it. “I don’t know what will happen next. I mean, I’m off the sports gig. So, I don’t think we’ll cross paths again.”

  Hallie frowned. “Don’t you have his number or something?”

  I started. “Actually, no. We never really did that…”

  She laughed. “Too busy with other things, I guess.”

  My cheeks flushed again and I busied myself with polishing off my latte. “Something like that.”

  “Well, it’s not like you couldn’t get his number. You’re a reporter after all.”

  I scoffed. “Hardly. I’m more of a professional coffee orderer. Although, come to think of it, I have no memory of taking Starbucks 101 in college.”

  Hallie laughed softly and patted the back of my hand. “You’ll get there.”

  I glanced down at the closed laptop, thinking of the dirt I’d been digging up on Mr. Arlington and the senator. Would it take me to the top? All I could do was hope. And work my ass off.

  I sighed and my smile faded, twisting slightly, into a bittersweet smile. The kind of faraway look people get when thinking about a long passed away relative, lost love, or sweet memory from another life. “I don’t know, Hallie. Guys like Trey aren’t the type to do commitments or anything long term. Right?”

  She considered my question for a moment but then shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never really been around guys like that before. I tend to fall for the geeky, engineering type who talk numbers and mathematical formulas in their sleep.”

  “That’s hot,” I teased.

  She giggled. “What can I say, I just love it when they talk nerdy to me.”

  I laughed and felt a weight lift off of my shoulders. Sitting with Hallie, talking about life and relationships and men was a vital reminder that I had built something more than just a fizzling career during my time in Oklahoma City. I’d made friends and connections. I made a mental note to remind myself of that fact the next time I was getting wrapped up in what wasn’t going right in my life. I would probably be much better off if instead of focusing on what I didn’t have—or hadn’t achieved—I’d focus on what I did have. Friends, my nice apartment, my job—even if it was just a coffee runner for people who had better jobs.

  Things I should be grateful for.

  “All right, well then, let me ask you this,” Hallie started, leaning back against her chair. “What do you want to happen? Like, dream case scenario.”

  Her question hit me in the chest like a Mack truck. What did I want? Did I want Trey?

  After a long moment of silence on my part, she giggled and swiped her blond locks behind her ears after a short head shake. “I didn’t realize that was like a million dollar Jeopardy question.”

  “Do they even have a million dollar question?”

  She laughed harder. “I don’t know! Doesn’t everything, these days?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, Hallie. I honestly don’t know what I’d want with Trey. It was a fuck—or two. I didn’t think about what life would be like with a guy like that, mostly because he doesn’t live in the real world like the rest of us do. Or, at least, it didn’t feel like it. It was all beautiful hotel room views, expensive drinks and food, and sex.” I blushed again at the end of my speech, even without giving up all the naughty details, it still embarrassed me a little to be talking about my time with Trey.

  Hallie nodded. “I get it. It’s not like you’d go to the grocery store together or have arguments about who cleans the house or over drafted the checking account or whatever.”

  I laughed. “Exactly! Real people problems. I bet he doesn’t even know what a gallon of milk costs.”

  “Uhm, Josie, do you even know what a gallon of milk cost?”

  I almost spit out the last of my latte and laughed. “Okay, you’re right. I heard it in a movie. Thought it was a great line.”

  “Hell, if I could hit the eject button on real people problems, I totally would. And I know what a gallon of milk costs!” Hallie grinned into her mug.

  “Except then you trade them for superstar problems. Like reporters catching you making out in a hallway or baby mama drama,” I added, my tone turning sour again.

  Hallie wrinkled her nose. “That’s true. I guess at least with my nerds, I don’t have to worry about that stuff.”

  I smiled, not sure what to say next.

  Hallie glanced up at me. “But then again, my nerdy guys don’t look half as good as Trey does in a pair of underwear,” she added with a giggle, instantly filling my mind with Trey’s national underwear campaign, with photos of him in his skivvies on the sides of busses, billboards, and inside glossy magazines.

  “Damn it…”

  Hallie laughed. “Yeah, life’s a bitch sometimes.”

  I smiled at her and lifted my mug in a mock toast. “Preach it.”

  21

  Trey

  In my life, I’d tried a bunch of shit. I’d been drunk off my ass on more than a few occasions, tried pills that I didn’t even know the name of, and had snorted a little coke at a couple of wild parties. But I’d never gotten hooked on anything. I could
always walk away from the bar. Didn’t need pills or injections or powder to keep me going. But, in the two days since Josie walked out of my hotel room, I’d been jonesin’. Big time.

  She was under my skin and living in my head. It didn’t matter what I did or where I went, she was there, naggin’ at the back of my brain. I’d even went out, just grabbing a bite to eat, post practice with Cody, Robby, and a few of the other guys, and thought for sure I’d seen her across the room at the bar. I chased the poor woman down, calling out Josie’s name, only to rear back a few seconds later, realizing it wasn’t her at all. In the end, I signed an autograph, smiled for a picture, and the woman went on her way with one crazy ass story about a psycho ball player for her friends at a corner booth.

  Cody and Robby hadn’t shut up about it since.

  “Hey, Delgado, you wanna go get a bite? Maybe find your mystery reporter again,” Cody teased, grinning over at Robby across the locker room.

  I slammed my locker shut. “Fuck off, Wright. I’m not in the mood.”

  Robby and Cody exchanged looks and Robby sauntered over, a towel wrapped around his waist. He plopped on the bench and slapped his hands together. “All right, Delgado, spill your guts. What’s got your panties in a bunch?”

  Cody nodded, slipped a team tee shirt on, and sat beside Robby, careful to put a few inches between them. “No kidding. You fuckin’ sucked ass in practice today. If you don’t watch yourself, Coach is gonna pull you into his office and rip ya a new one. Trust me, man, you do not wanna go there.”

  Robby chuckled and scrubbed a small hand towel over his wet hair. When he finished, he shook off the last of the water and Cody punched him in the ribs for splattering on him.

  “You two are one stooge short of a good time,” I commented, my voice dry and humorless. “I don’t need Dr. Phil, all right? Just leave me alone.”

  I started to turn away and was surprised when a strong hand wrapped around my arm. I craned around and saw Cody had stood up in time to nab me. “What the fuck, man?” I growled, shaking him off.

  His eyes went wide. “Come on, dude. We’re friends, aren’t we? Why can’t you tell us what’s eating you? You’re fucking up the game.”

  “Dude, we’re not gonna sell you out to Coach or the media or whatever the fuck it is you’re worried about. Hell, I won’t even tell Paris if you’re that worried about it going viral.”

  Cody waited a beat until I sighed and turned back to face them, then he sank back down beside Robby. “We’re serious, man, what the fuck’s going on?” he added.

  I heaved another sigh and scrubbed a hand over my face. “It’s all this shit with the she-devil.”

  “She-devil?”

  “Yeah, Kimberly, she’s the devil. Like, for real. She’s this crazy bitch who claims that she had my baby.”

  “Huh?” They both said in unison. I figured they’d heard the gossip online or through the Warriors wives and girlfriends’ grapevine. Apparently, they hadn’t.

  “Some dumb bitch who claims she had my baby. She’s got my lawyers running in circles, constantly having to shut shit down. She’s spreading lies all over the internet about me. Basically any news channel that’ll give her ten seconds of fame, she’s there. It’s fuckin’ exhausting.”

  “And the kid isn’t yours?” Cody asked, cringing slightly, as though he hated to even ask.

  I shrugged. “Hell, I guess he could be, but we used protection both times. She’d fucked her way through half of my old team before I even knew she was knocked up. I don’t know why the hell she’s targeting me. She’s fuckin’ evil. She’s blocked attempts to get a DNA test, says it will hurt the baby or some shit.” I paused and shook my head. It was all so stupid. “She just wants my money. I think she’s hoping if she makes enough noise, I’ll just sign over my rights, agree to a settlement and child support, and agree to whatever she says just to get her to go away.”

  Robby scoffed. “Gold digging bitch.”

  “Yeah. Like she could teach classes to all the other hoes. I don’t get it…fuckin’ pointless.”

  “So, just forget about it, man.” Cody shook his head, glancing from Robby to me and back again. “I mean, she’s just fuckin’ with your head. You can’t let her screw up your performance and get you down.”

  I flexed my jaw but gave a short nod. “I know. I mean, it’s not just that, but yeah. I just got a call from my lawyer and my agent before practice and it wasn’t good news. That’s why I was shit today.”

  Cody and Robby each glanced down at their hands. Another beat later, Cody hopped up and slapped me on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s go BBQ or something. Chelsea has some steaks at the house. We can grill, drink some beer, watch some football and just chill the fuck out.”

  “Oh! I have some Cubans, my cousin’s friends—” he paused and waved it off. “Nevermind. Point is, I got the good shit! I’m down. Paris and Chelsea can go shop or whatever the hell they wanna do.”

  Cody chuckled. “Yeah. Good luck, Paris. Chelsea’s back to being locked in her office twelve hours a day.”

  Robby pulled a face and Cody laughed. I had no idea what they were talking about but it didn’t matter. They were probably right. A night out would do me some good and if we were at Cody and Chelsea’s place, I couldn’t get all screwed up, thinking I’d seen Josie when there wasn’t anyone there.

  “You in?” Robby asked, stripping off his towel.

  Cody and I groaned as he waved his fuckin’ junk around, and Cody snapped him with his own discarded towel. I chuckled. “Yeah, I’m in. I’ll meet you guys there in half an hour.”

  “Sounds good, man. I’ll text you the directions.”

  “Got it!” I waved and headed out of the locker room.

  As soon as I got into my rental car, my phone rang through the Bluetooth on the dashboard. I’d had it turned off during practice, after the nasty calls from my lawyer and Mason, and hadn’t turned the sound back up again. I tugged it free from the pocket of my duffel bag and groaned. “Speak of the fuckin’ devil…”

  She’d been calling me all day. Each time from a different number. She went through burner phones like most people went through underwear. It was annoying as all hell. I didn’t want to talk to her. I’d made that fact implicitly known several times over the last year since this nightmare ended. I rubbed a hand through my hair, tugging at it slightly. Fuck. It was never gonna end. She was never going to leave me alone.

  Something inside of me snapped. All my resolve and self-control vanished in a flash. I grabbed my phone, slammed the tip of my finger against the damn button, and growled, “What the fuck do you want?”

  “Some way to answer your phone…” she drawled, her tone oh-so-innocent.

  That was another infuriating thing about Kimberly. She always had this wide-eyed kitten look on her face which made me look like a crazy asshole anytime I raised my voice at her in public. Over the past year she’d popped up at baseball games, outside the locker rooms, the mall, my front porch, my favorite coffee shop back in LA. She didn’t work and apparently had nothing better to do with her time than stalk me all over California. I hadn’t seen her since moving to Oklahoma City—one of the only good things about leaving my home—but her shadow followed me wherever I went. I was always aware of the fact that she could pop out from nowhere. Or worry that she would call me. On top of all that shit, I also had to see her friggin’ face plastered all over the tabloids at airport shops, grocery stores, kiosks at the mall. Whatever. She’d sold her sad little tale of the poor, used woman, and claimed all manner of crazy things about me and her and our alleged relationship. And those damn kitten eyes sold it to perfection.

  No one ever gave me a chance to explain who she really was.

  Not that they’d probably believe me even if I got someone to listen for more than a sound bite.

  “Kimberly, I swear to—”

  “Okay! Okay! Trey…” She made a clucking sound with her tongue, like an impatient mother dealing with a tantrum
. “I want to talk. That’s it.”

  I scowled out the windshield. She wanted to talk. Yeah. Sure. My ass that’s all she wanted. Nailed to a post outside her house for all the world to see and throw rocks at. “Talk.”

  “When are you going to come meet Trey Jr?” she asked, her voice too sweet.

  I scoffed. “You know that’s never happening. What do you really want to talk about? You have two minutes.”

  “That’s all you have time for, huh? Big, important baseball man can’t give the mother of his child more than two fucking minutes?”

  I tossed my head back. Yup, there she was. Ladies and gents, the real Kimberly.

  “I keep forgetting that you’re a heartless monster who doesn’t care about anything, or anyone, but himself,” she raged, her voice angry and raw.

  “Kimberly, I never gave two shits about you and I certainly don’t give two shits about your kid. He’s not mine. You know it just as well as I do. That’s why you won’t take the fucking test. You know it will come back negative and all those fucking people who love you right now, they’ll all turn their backs on you, and then you’ll be the heartless monster for dragging me and said child through this shit for over a fuckin’ year!”

  She let out a cold laugh. “Is that what you think? Wow…Trey…baby…I knew you weren’t in genius territory, but that’s sad, even for you. The media loves me. My phone rings off the hook, all day, every day, begging for interviews and pictures of me and your son.”

  “He’s not my son,” I argued through gritted teeth. My hand wrapped around the steering wheel to keep from punching it. “Let’s go back to my original question, what do you want?”

  Kimberly sighed. “I need a new car. Something sporty but safe for Trey Jr.”

  “Stop calling him that.”

  “I was thinking of the new Mercedes crossover…” she prattled on, debating different cars, each one with a higher price tag than the last.

  “Then use your money from selling your soul to the media. Surely you didn’t walk away empty handed. Or are you really just so desperate for your fifteen minutes of fame, that you did all those press things for free?”