Preseason Love

by Ahyiana Angel

  Kari took pride in his one-bedroom bachelor pad. He had been living there long enough to create a cozy atmosphere complete with a huge, comfy, light-brown sofa sectional, impressive kitchen utensils for a man, and a coordinating color scheme of blacks and browns throughout the apartment’s décor. Early on, I had inquired about the woman who helped him decorate and he insisted that he did it himself.

  Like a typical do-it-yourself man, Kari switched out the original showerhead with a chrome, seven-setting, power-spray handheld showerhead. It was excessive but definitely relaxing so I never complained.

  After my spa-style shower, I downed the glass of wine that I’d brought into the bathroom. It was kicking in while I moisturized my body, sprayed on a light scent, and slipped into a black, lace, boy shorts number.

  Since I could feel the alcohol settling in, my nerves were calmer than they normally would have been under the circumstance. I came out of the bathroom, which was right next to Kari’s bedroom, and ducked behind the door before he could get a whiff of what I was up to. I closed the bedroom door slightly, leaving a little crack. Kari had a stereo system in his room that served as his surround sound when we watched movies. I was sure that he had a little sexy mix CD that we’d made love to before, so I rummaged through the pile of CDs sitting next to the stereo. I hope he does not come in and think that I’m being sneaky and going through his stuff.

  There was a purple CD that had the word “sexy” written on it and I knew I’d hit the jackpot. I quietly put the CD in and turned the volume down before I hit “play.”

  “Babe, can you come here for a second?” I called out.

  He didn’t respond, but I could hear him walking my way so I turned up the music a bit. When he walked in and saw me, his eyes bugged out and he smiled.

  “Well, hello…”

  “I told you that I had a little something for you. Now sit down in this chair and watch me work.”

  I must have appeared confident because Kari sat down with not even so much as a goofy chuckle. He was staring at me.

  I said, “Do you trust me?”

  “Hell yeah.”

  “Then let me be your guide.”

  I instructed Kari to close his eyes. I kissed him on the cheek to calm any anxiety. Then I slid a blindfold out of my bag and placed it on his head. I had to leave him sitting there for a brief moment while I ran to the kitchen. I needed another glass of wine to take straight to the head. I had no intentions of being drunk, but tipsy, yes.

  “Babe! What are you doing?”

  “Be patient, please!”

  I cranked up the music a notch more and started to caress Kari’s upper body, slowly undressing him. I teased him with a few kisses on the lips, but once I had his shirt off, I suckled on his nipples and kissed every inch of his chiseled chest. I played around a bit more before taking off his blindfold. He had to let his eyes adjust, as I was now topless and standing in between his legs.

  Kari smiled. “Damn, baby, you look good.”

  I winked, spun around, and dropped my ass to the floor before snaking back up between his legs. His facial expression said that he was impressed by my moves and that hyped me up even more. Kari tried to grab me, but I gave him a stern look. “No touching.”

  He smiled and whispered his compliance.

  In my “come fuck me” stilettos, I strutted my sexy walk around his chair with my hand on his head. I loosened his belt, slid it off and used it as a prop. Our instructor taught us how to move while sensually touching our bodies, so I did just that. Of course I improvised a bit, adding my own personal touch. But so far, I could tell that my improv routine was a hit. Kari was practically drooling.

  When I spun him in the direction facing the wall, he looked at me, but he did not utter a word. He understood that it was my show. We had learned how to use the wall in class to help exude your sexy.

  I spread my legs open slightly and caressed my boobs, butt and, pussycat before dropping into a revealing squat. When I came back up, I decided that it was time to strip off what was left.

  After I was completely naked, I moved to undo his pants and his penis popped straight out. When I went down on Kari, I did it like I had never done it before. It was like something came over me during that whole performance and I played the role of a true temptress.

  He picked me up, pinned me against the wall and whispered in my ear that it was his turn to take complete control, and that he did. We continued our fun off and on into the next morning.

  Chapter 15

  Intensity of Young

  Britney always played with her fried, white, bleached-blonde, stringy hair when she talked. It drove me crazy. She was the only coworker that I could not stand. She exuded bad vibes, plus Lydia had already warned me about her. I liked to give people a chance, but when you showed me who you were, I paid attention.

  I despised the sarcastic and arrogant tone that she used when speaking to people around the office, almost as if she thought that she was better than everyone else. She seemed like the type of woman who was miserable internally. Ironically, she appeared to have a select few senior-level executives wrapped right around her finger. However, it wasn’t relevant to me whom she had in her corner. I wasn’t feeling her. I made it a point to keep my distance.

  When I would pass her in the hallway, she’d look me up and down as if to size me up and see what I was wearing. I stayed fly so she could look until her eyes hurt. But she never spoke.

  I was asked to work the night of The League’s draft for new players, and I willingly signed up since it would be a new experience. Those of us working were instructed to arrive at the draft center at five o’clock. The actual draft did not begin until seven o’clock, but we were to be there early for the walk-through.

  When I walked into the office at the draft center, I saw Britney’s frumpy, pale, shapeless figure in the corner looking like she was gossiping. I headed toward the table filled with snacks and goodies to grab bottled water.

  • • •

  As I was chatting with a colleague, Britney walked up and per her usual, she did not say anything to either of us. We continued to talk and I acted as though she wasn’t there, though I could tell that she was eavesdropping.

  Soon after, it was time for the draft festivities to begin. I headed to my post, which was right next to the stage. The audience was made up of die-hard fans that could not wait to hear the pick selected for their team. They were wearing team paraphernalia and yelling recklessly in anticipation for what was to come. I had been assigned to escort the number four pick through the media circuit once his name was announced.

  While I was standing next to the stage waiting for the number four pick to be declared, I felt apprehensive, like they were about to call my name and I had to walk up on that stage in front of the hundreds of people in the audience and the millions watching on TV. My stomach had butterflies. I was attentively listening to the names as they were announced. The entire production was complicated, and I did not want to be the chink in the chain of events.

  “With the first pick,” The League commissioner began, “the Cincinnati Rangers select…Marion Chambers.”

  It’s starting. Oh goodness, Scottie, get ready.

  It was all going so fast. The first name was called. Marion walked up on the stage, he put on his new team’s gear, his photo was taken, and then he was handed off to his PR escort to do the media circuit. The media circuit was essentially a press conference, television interviews, radio interviews, online interviews, and a photo shoot all crammed into a couple of hours. Each draftee was required to participate. It was like a promotional tour on steroids.

  Security detail was assigned to each PR escort walking players through the media circuit. After the third pick, I gave my assigned security agent a quick head nod. He was a huge man sporting a low-cut fade with an all-black suit that he could have only purchased from the big and tall store. He reminded me of an extra-large version of Blade.

  “With the fourth
pick, the Portland Pythons select…Rusty Danonbrook.”

  Since we had no inside track as to who would get picked at what number, I researched the top ten potential draftees so that I would be relatively familiar with whoever came in at number four. Now the suspense was over and I knew that I would be escorting Rusty. He was young enough to be my little brother but nonetheless handsome. Now the young, handsome millionaire with the nicely tailored, navy blue suit was headed my way.

  “Congratulations. I’m Scottie Malveaux with The League PR, and I’ll be guiding you through the media circuit.”

  It was obvious that he was still in shock and riding on an understandable high. His dreams had come true. He had been drafted into The League. Life as he knew it was about to change dramatically and this was only the first step on his new journey.

  I was pretty sure that he heard my introduction as he responded to what I said to him. But I was positive that he had no clue what I was talking about when I mentioned the media circuit, and quite honestly, I was as clueless as to what to expect. We had run through the circuit during the walk-through earlier in the day. But now the test run was over and things were moving fast. People were buzzing about everywhere you turned, which made it challenging to concentrate.

  I instructed Rusty to follow me up the pathway, and we headed toward the jungle that was the media circuit. The security officer led the way and kept the throngs of fans that were calling out to Rusty at bay. The first stop was the press conference room.

  “Rusty,” I said, pointing. “Go and take a seat at the podium.”

  I sound like his mother. Oh well, he followed my direction and that’s all that matters.

  After all of the print reporters asked him a slew of questions—How do you feel about being in The League? Are you excited to play for the Portland Pythons? How will you celebrate tonight?—the moderator wrapped up the press conference and it was time to move on.

  The press conference was a warm-up for the live interviews that were about to take place. As we walked over to the live shots area, Rusty became a bit more comfortable with me.

  “Man, this is all so crazy and surreal,” Rusty said.

  “I know. Dreams do come true, right?”

  “Man, you have no idea,” he said, shaking his head. “When do I get to see my family?”

  “They’ll meet you after all of your media interviews. So pretty much about an hour and a half from now.”

  As we were talking we walked into the live shots area which was set up like a bunch of cubbies sectioned off by black drapes to give each television crew their relative privacy.

  Rusty asked, “So what do I have to do now?”

  I fixed my lips to respond. However, before I could answer, I heard an annoying, high-pitched squeal over my shoulder chiming in.

  “I’ll take him through this part of the circuit,” Britney said in a snide tone. “You’ve never done this before.”

  I spoke up with authority in my voice to make sure that she made no mistake about what I was about to say. “Actually, I can handle it. I’m sure that you have other responsibilities to tend to.”

  I gave her a half-ass, fake smile and walked away telling Rusty to follow me. I could tell that he recognized the tension in the exchange.

  “Y’all got beef?”

  “No, I don’t have patience for busybodies that are always doing too much.”

  “Well, you definitely shut her down,” Rusty said, seemingly impressed. “I don’t want to mess with you, Miss Lady.”

  I glanced up and shot him a look of confirmation.

  “Are you from New York?” he asked.

  I quickly responded, “No,” figuring that he was trying to size me up.

  I knew it was time to change the subject. “Let’s start over there with ABC.” I pointed in their direction. “They will connect you to the local Portland ABC station, and you’ll do the interview with the sportscasters via satellite.”

  “Okay, cool.”

  I went over to the station’s booth with Rusty in tow. A cute little redhead producer informed me that she was ready for him and it was as easy as that. Once Rusty was settled in the chair and conducting his interview, I glanced over in Britney’s direction to see if she had, in fact, found something better to do.

  I zoned out for a minute thinking about the fifty different ways that I wanted to curse her out. Then the side of my stomach started to vibrate. It shook me out of my trance. It was my phone. I had it in my suit jacket pocket since I wasn’t carrying a purse with me. I pulled the phone out of my pocket. It was a text message from Kari. Hey babe, how’s the draft going?

  I started typing a reply when I felt a tall figure standing over me. I looked up from my phone.

  “You’re done?” I asked.

  Rusty shrugged. “Yeah, where do I go next?”

  I guided Rusty through the remainder of the local television interviews and he was pretty sharp on camera. He displayed quick wit and a great personality, which is not typically expected of athletes when they first start out in their professional careers. He also had the fact that he was a sexy young man with a killer smile working in his favor. A nice smile could always make me weak.

  Our next stop on the media circuit was photos.

  Rusty and I were walking side by side with security leading the way when I took out my phone to hit “send” on the message that I started earlier. That must have inspired him to try a little harder with me. “So where are you from?”

  “Excuse me,” I said, as though I had not heard the question, knowing full well that I had.

  “Well, you said that you aren’t from New York. So where are you from?”

  “California.”

  “Okay, Cali is cool. I like Cali.”

  “Uh huh,” I said, looking back at my phone.

  “So do you work for The League or for a team?” he quickly followed up.

  “I work for The League. Would you like a copy of my resume as well?”

  “No. That might be too personal. But I’ll settle for your phone number.”

  Excuse me! You’ll settle for my phone number? The intensity of young, this dude was too precious.

  “That’s cute,” I commented with a slight chuckle. I wasn’t trying to completely dismiss his advance, but I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea either.

  “Cute? Really? You gonna hit me with the ‘cute’ line.”

  “Look, you’re a nice young man. But honestly you’re like my little brother’s age. Plus, you are about to have so many chicks at your disposal. You’ll be fine.”

  “I’m not talking about all that. I’m trying to get this woman right here in front of me to check for me like I’m checking for her. But if you want to miss out on all this,” he said, putting his hands out, palms up, like a presentation, “then that’s your loss.”

  I looked up at Rusty and I couldn’t control the urge to laugh. He laughed with me, likely because he could tell that I had no intentions of letting the conversation continue in that direction—which was a slippery slope. I couldn’t give in and cross that line for jailbait. And more importantly, I had a man.

  To my surprise, my man was waiting up for me after my night finally wrapped. At one-thirty in the morning he couldn’t wait to hear all about my adventures and how my first draft experience went. Sometimes his enthusiasm about my job was so adorable.

  I was exhausted from all of the walking and standing around all night, but I made him a deal that if he would massage my shoulders, I would give him all of the juicy insider details.

  My back and shoulders were throbbing and Kari’s hands worked magic to bring my body parts back to life. In keeping with my promise, while I sat between Kari’s legs, I spilled every detail from the evening that could even remotely be considered juicy to a man who loved sports.

  I did conveniently forget to mention the part about Rusty Danonbrook requesting my phone number for his archives. My better judgment spoke to me loud and clear, and it said that le
tting a piece of information like that slip out of my lips would somehow cause an unpleasant situation. So I shut the hell up.

  “Scottie!”

  “Hunh!”

  “Were you asleep?” he said as he kissed the side of my forehead.

  I was still sitting in between Kari’s legs when I dozed off. The last thing that I remembered was an image of Rusty’s face. I could picture him so vividly: his smile, his caramel complexion, and his dreamy brown eyes. Something was intriguing about him. I had to rid my mind of those images. It couldn’t lead to anything good.

  “I’m sorry, babe. I guess I’m beat.”

  “Let’s go to bed then. Come to Papa. Let me carry my girl since she had such a long day,” Kari said with a sympathy smile.

  I fell into Kari’s arms. “You are too good to me.”

  Chapter 16

  The Great Chase

  “So did you get a dance or did you watch him get grinded on all night?” Dev asked with a concerned look on her face.

  We were hanging out in my room catching up since coming and going was the most that we’d seen of each other in the last few weeks.

  “Honey, please, Kari and I went to the strip club to see the dancers. I had no plans to sit around and watch him get dances all night.”

  Dev laughed loudly. “I heard that!”

  “There was this one chick that was bad, though. You could tell she makes major money. I wanted her to stay far away from Kari. I would have paid her ass to stay away if I had to.”

  Dev doubled over with laughter, but I was halfway serious. I knew that my man was fine. Mama raised a woman who was always a detective and never a fool.

  “Well, that’s good that you guys ventured out of the norm and had a nice time.”

  “Yeah, it was definitely entertaining, but the encore at the house was even better!”

  “Shut up! Let me find out you busted out some of the tricks you learned in class!”

  “Girl, please. I had already tried out a few moves the same night that we took the class!”