by Liza Brown
“This isn’t an option, Arnold. We have tomorrow off, the guys won’t be doing anything, they’ll be glad to have something to keep them entertained…”
“The elevator company will be there tomorrow to start working on it. I don’t know how long that will take so we will be at your service.”
I watched him talking to Arnold and my eyes were drawn to where the partially unzipped track suit revealed his uniform jersey. I could see inside the jacket and to his armpit. Was it weird that I wanted to inhale his scent right there? What was it about this man’s shoulders and arms that had me completely mesmerized? I couldn’t turn away. I finally reached up and traced the sleeve hole of the jersey from the top of his shoulder to just under his arm. He cinched his arm tight when I got near his pit.
“Are you ticklish?” I said quietly, knowing he was still talking to Arnold.
“Yes, I am,” he smiled, covering the phone as he whispered.
I unzipped his outer layer the rest of the way and guided my arms under his track jacket, around his stomach, squeezed and smiled as I buried my head into his hard chest. I felt his free hand rub down my back gently.
“Ok, Arnold, someone will take you down the steps and drive you to your appointment. I’ll talk to you later.” Elsu handed me back my phone and I looked up at him.
“Ticklish?” I giggled.
“Some places more than others.” he grinned with a naughty look racing across his face.
“How many places?” I begged.
“I guess someday we’ll have to find out.” He kissed my forehead and then my lips.
“Max called,”
“Oh? What did he say?”
“They’re saying it wasn’t Jeremy. Or at least they don’t have enough proof of it being him. He’s out,” I said as I got a whiff of his body.
“Damn, I’m sorry Mae.” He squeezed me even tighter as I felt him bury his face into the top of my head to kiss me.
Suddenly wolf whistles filled the hallway and I turned to see most of the team walking towards the locker room.
“Damn,” I said as I gave him another hug and stepped back. “I’ll see you after the game. Good luck.”
He gave me another kiss and we parted ways. I returned to the court and sat down in my seat. Millard was two seats away from me. I looked at the empty seat beside me and then looked at Millard.
“Am I responsible for filling this?” I asked him.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Usually they want all the seats down here filled for photo ops.”
“So that’s a yes?”
“I’m sure I could find someone to sit there if you want.”
“No, let me see who’s here. I know a few people with season tickets.” I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts looking for someone I could bear to sit with and who might already be at the game. I came to my mom’s information.
Every girl wants the approval of her mom. Even I wanted that. Could I manage a whole game with her? I knew she was there with the Wonder Twins. I then had another idea and looked for my brother Christopher’s number.
“Hello?” I heard on the other end.
“Hey Christopher.”
“Who is this?” It was nice to know my own little brother didn’t recognize my voice or have me programmed into his phone so he would at least know it was me.
“It’s Mae, Christopher. Your sister?” I said as I shook my head.
“Oh, I got a new phone and didn’t transfer the contacts, sorry.”
I hated that I lived a life where I didn’t know if I could believe my own brother. “I have a proposition for you and Candice. I have an extra seat down here. One of you can have it the first half, and one of you can have it the second half.” I could feel my brain going into spasms of disbelief over the fact that those words had even come out of my mouth. I had decided that the best way to make my mother happy was to show her children some amount of decency. Even though they never did the same for me.
“Why can’t we have your seat and the extra seat and you can sit up here with mom?”
“Because this is my seat and it’s where Elsu wants me.”
“Fine. We’ll decide who gets it then and someone will be down,” he said.
Was I insane for doing this?
I looked at Millard who I could tell had listened to the conversation. “Ma’am, I’m going to sit next to your brother and sister for a whole game?” he asked.
“Yes, Milly,” I smiled.
“Grr!” He slapped his knee. “I have this feeling you’re enjoying this.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I giggled.
“Mae!” I turned and saw Candice standing at the gate for the VIP section and signaled to the guard to allow her to pass. She scooted herself between Millard and I and sat down. “Why are you being so nice?” she asked.
“I honestly don’t know, Candice. Don’t get used to it.” I sat back in the chair and looked out toward the court. The seat I had been in the night before was in front of me and filled by a stuffy looking business-type. I was bummed that I didn’t have an unobstructed view of the floor, but they weren’t overly tall and the VIP section was on a slight incline, so at least I could still see. The teams hadn’t come out to take their practice shots and I realized it would be another fifteen minutes or so before they did. I looked over to the photographers and saw Bart and Jeremy sitting under the basket. I knew Elsu would probably flip his lid when he saw them.
“Millard,” I said as I sat forward to talk to him in front of Candice who was taking selfies of herself in front of the court.
“Yes Miss Mae.” He smiled at remembering.
“Bart and Jeremy are with the photographers. Please, don’t do anything,” I begged.
“Already eyed them, ma’am.” He cringed. “Miss Mae.”
“Why is he calling you ‘Miss Mae’?” asked Candice.
“Because I don’t want him calling me ‘ma’am.’”
“So what was the deal with Bart yesterday? Why did you have him kicked out?” she asked.
“Apparently when Elsu was living in Independence before his house was burned, he was doing business with Bart and the garage where he was working. Bart pissed Elsu off by insulting me. Then, Elsu pissed Bart off by kicking him off his property.”
“I must say big sis, I was quite surprised when I found out he dumped that gorgeous Saraya for you.”
I looked at my sister quietly for a moment. “So what is it you’re implying?”
“NO! I didn’t mean it like that! You must have really knocked him off his socks for him to leave her. That’s all. I wasn’t trying to insult you.”
“Mmm-hmm. Anyway, we’re pretty sure Jeremy destroyed my truck but now they’re saying they don’t have enough evidence to prove it. Plus, someone nearly killed me with the elevator at the apartment,” I said as I pulled out my phone and showed her pictures of the elevator and of my truck, Little José.
“Oh my God, Mae! Mom said the truck was damaged. This…”
“That is not damage, Candice. That’s murdered.”
“I had no idea it was this bad! I’m sorry, Mae, really I am. I know how much you liked that truck!”
I nearly fell out of my chair from shock that she seemed truly upset. “Thanks Candice, that means a lot.”
It really did. Maybe I was right, the way to get my mom to like me was going to have to be getting Candice and Christopher on my side. Something told me my brother wasn’t going to be as easy to turn as my sister.
I watched as Bart smiled quickly at my sister, then handed a cord to Jeremy who was manning the camera.
“Why is he here?” I whined to no one in particular.
Millard leaned forward to look at me and frowned. “Because he and Jeremy have a contract with the local newspaper.”
“The Independent?” asked Candice.
“Yeah, they took over the contract from Scott who was here last night. They will be at all the games. His parole officer conta
cted me while you were gone. He can’t be escorted out again unless he’s doing something wrong.”
“This is horrible! I don’t want to see him at every game.”
“It might not be every game, Mae. They are sharing the job so they might not both be here for every game. They got local rights to do interviews with the players and everything.”
“Elsu is not going to like this.”
“No, he’s not. But unfortunately, we can’t do anything about it.”
“Jeremy wants you,” said Candice as she nodded in his direction. I looked across the court and sure enough he was trying to get my attention.
I looked at the clock, I still had ten minutes. “Ma’am, please stay here,” begged Millard.
“You don’t talk to my sister like that, mister! She can do whatever she damn well pleases!” I looked at Candice in disbelief. Had she really just defended me? She didn’t understand, but her concern seemed to be coming from a good place.
“Milly, it’s in the middle of the floor, what can he do? Besides, Bart must have gone to the bathroom or something. He’s not there. I’ll just go talk to Jeremy real fast and be right back.” I got up and ignored the sound of my name mixed with the sound of the word ‘ma’am’ begging me to return coming from behind me.
“What do you want, Jeremy?” I asked as I glared at him.
“I can’t believe you blamed me for your truck!”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. They took me in this morning. Freaked my mom out.”
“Hmm, you were caught on video coming out of the parking garage during the power outage right when they think Little José was damaged.”
“Yeah, I went to my car to grab a charger for my phone.”
“Convenient excuse.”
“You can call it whatever you want. I didn’t touch your butt-ugly truck. I would have needed a tetanus shot from the rust.”
I stared at him for a while. “I don’t trust you.”
“I don’t give a crap what you think of me. And now, you can’t have Bart taken out. I bet that pisses you off. While you’re staring at your new sugar daddy Bart and I will be making fun of you.”
“So you called me over here to make fun of me?”
“Pretty much.”
“Jeremy!” Bart had returned. “What are you doing? Leave her alone!”
“Oh come on, it was just too easy.”
Black hair, dark freckles, lean and kind of tall. Back when we had first started dating I thought he was handsome. Now, seeing him reminded me of his abuse and I quickly stepped away without a word. Before I could start heading to my seat I felt a thud against the back of my head and white flashes appeared in front of my eyes. I turned around to see a basketball falling to my feet. I started rubbing my head when my vision filled with bright colors and large eyes. I felt my body leaving the floor and I thought I was having some sort of out-of-body experience. I soon realized I was being picked up by the Whoopsters’ Owl. “I am so sorry!” I heard in a muffled tone through the oversized head. “Elsu is going to shoot me.”
“I’m fine, I think,” I said as I rubbed my head. I could just imagine the whole arena looking at me as I was being carried across the court. A number of familiar players surrounded us and started calling my name.
Elsu’s handsome face appeared before me and I was quickly transferred to his warm arms. “You ok?” I nodded. He carefully set me down in my seat and kissed the back of my head. “We’ll talk later,” he whispered before returning to the court. Damn, was he angry?
Millard sat forward and looked at me when a woman from the arena handed me a bag of ice and asked if I was ok. I briefly wondered if the arena was this on-the-ball for non-player-girlfriend incidents. I wanted to say ‘no, I need a lot more ice to dump on top of me so I can hide’ but all I did was nod and thank her.
I looked at Millard and scowled. “If you say ‘I told you so,’ I’m going to hurt you.”
The stenchiest stench I’d ever smelled poked me in my nose a good five seconds before one of the most vile men I’d met in a long time appeared at my side. Carl Wickerman.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him.
“Mae!” The chubby, greasy middle-aged man was leaning on the back of the seat in front of me so he could get his putrid-smelling breath straight into my nostrils.
“What?” I hissed at him.
“Do you remember what we talked about last week? You are a liability to Elsu!”
I didn’t respond. I just pretended to watch the court. The week before, Carl had made it clear that I wasn’t wanted and that my presence would be a problem for the team’s bottom line. He was the team’s main PR guy and I was apparently his worst nightmare. He had tried to get me to sign two contracts declaring my agreement to follow rules set forth by someone. One covered my behavior, attire, and overall appearance. The other was a list telling me where I could and couldn’t shop and products I should and shouldn’t buy. Elsu told me not to sign it. So I didn’t. This made Carl very angry.
My phone promptly rang and I saw it was Max. “What Max?” I said as I applied the ice to the back of my head and glared at Carl.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I sighed and just hung up on my brother. I wasn’t in the mood.
I sat forward and looked at Carl. “Do you want liability?”
I turned to my phone again and brought up the pictures of the bruises I had received the previous week from Elsu’s teammate Casper, and Carl. “You really took pictures of the bruises? I…I thought you were bluffing.”
“I don’t bluff.”
“Whose handprints are those?” asked Candice.
“Those handprints belong to Carl and Casper. Carl here thought he could use his brute force to get me to leave the dinner last week and Casper attacked me after we ate.”
“Casper?” asked Candice as she snatched my phone from my hand.
“Yes, Casper. What is Casper to the team?” I asked Carl.
“Are you serious?” asked Candice who seemed to be in her own world.
“Answer my question,” I said to Carl. “What is Casper to the team?”
“Casper is second only to Elsu, Mae. Keep your voice down!” Carl pulled new copies of the contracts from the inside of his sport coat. “Mae, please take these and look them over again. If you’re insisting on staying, you need to sign them.”
I took the contracts and quickly glanced at them before I ripped them into shreds and threw the pieces at him. “Come at me again with those things and I can promise you these pictures will be everywhere!”
“Mae!” said Candice as she smacked my leg.
“I’m not backing down to these idiots, Candice. I like Elsu. He likes me. Call me selfish, but I deserve this as much as anyone else. I’m not here for his money, Carl. I have my own!”
“So when Casper didn’t play last night,” said Candice.
“You can imagine how Elsu reacted when he got his hands on Casper last Thursday. He’s lucky he could walk after Elsu got done with him.”
Carl quickly grabbed the shreds of paper from the floor and fled with his tail between his legs. He was definitely not happy.
After Carl had been gone for a few moments, Candice looked at me. “Why did you go over to Jeremy?” she asked. “After the horrible things his brother did to you I don’t know why you would have done that.”
“I wanted to know what he wanted.”
Millard looked at me again. “And?”
“And…he claims he didn’t kill my truck and he was being an asshole.”
I saw Millard shake his head at me and I sat back and watched the warm-up. Even knowing Elsu was upset with me, I still got all tingly watching him. I noticed he wasn’t making shots like he had the night before. Maybe one in five. I started chewing my fingernails. Had I distracted him? Is this what everyone wanted me to not do? “Shit,” I said as I saw him miss a shot from the free throw line.
My phone rang again. “What, Max?”
“You actually hung up on me?”
“Yes, because I’m tired of everyone confirming what I already know. I’m an idiot, ok?”
“You are not an idiot. What did Jeremy want, anyway?”
“He didn’t want anything. He was just being a rude asshole. As always.”
“What did Bart say when he came back?”
“You know? He actually told Jeremy to leave me alone. That’s new.”
“Mae, just stop poking the bears, ok? You’re going to cause more trouble.”
“Fine,” I breathed.
“What did that Carl want?”
“He wants me to sign contracts, Max. Apparently to be a player’s girlfriend there are contracts.”
“I’m your lawyer. I could look at them for you.”
“No. I’m not changing who I am for people who don’t matter. Elsu told me not to sign them. I’m not signing them.”
“Well, you better hope Elsu’s practice shots aren’t a representation of the rest of the game, or you are going to be in trouble.” He hung up without another word, and I watched Elsu miss another shot.
I quickly texted him, knowing he’d be going back to the locker room, and maybe he’d check his phone before he came back to play the game.
I’M SORRY, ELSU. PLEASE DON’T HATE ME. JEREMY WANTED TO TALK TO ME AND I WANTED TO KNOW WHAT HE WANTED. STUPID ME, HE JUST WANTED TO INSULT ME. PLEASE FORGIVE ME. I FEEL HORRIBLE FOR DISAPPOINTING YOU. I CAN’T WAIT TO TALK TO YOU LATER. PLEASE DON’T BE MAD AT ME.
I read and reread my text before I sent it. It sounded desperate, but I was. I hated thinking I had caused conflict between us. Even more, I hated that I might be proving Carl right.
Candice looked at me and quickly dug into her designer purse to extract some tissues. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head as I blotted away a tear. “I don’t know. I’m afraid I’ve upset him too much.”
“Because you talked to Jeremy?” she asked.
I nodded as I blew my nose and a few more tears broke free. I watched Elsu and was bummed to see he was still not on his game. He looked over briefly and I dropped my head quickly hoping he wouldn’t see my puffy face. “If he breaks up with you because of that, Mae, he’s an idiot. We saw him looking at you last night during the game,” she looked at me and smiled. “I think he likes you.”
