“Ramsey… what are you doing here? We clown rookies when they get in trouble for not following the rules of training camp. What are you doing out past curfew?”
I frowned at the way she leaned in the doorframe, with a thick, fluffy robe pulled tight around her, obviously not intending to let me in. “I came to check on you, Champ. Chloe said you seemed… out of sorts.”
Wil scoffed. “Out of sorts? Hm. That’s one way to put it.”
“Okay, so, let’s talk about it.”
“What is there to talk about?”
“How about I come in and tell you?”
She pushed out a sigh like I was asking for a big ass sacrifice, then stepped aside to let me in. As soon as the door was locked behind me, she turned, arms crossed, and stared me down. Everything she was feeling was on her face – the hurt, the shame, and for some reason… anger, seemingly directed at me.
“Hey… talk to me,” I said, stepping toward her to wrap her in my arms, but she eased back, holding up her hands to keep me away. I frowned. “Yo… what’s up with you?”
“What’s up with me, is that I have no interest in being embarrassed again. I went through it with Darius, having another woman telling me about what was supposed to be mine. I’m not going to do that again.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What are you talking about, Wil?”
“I’m talking about Kelli, and Milly, and now Shauna, all on twitter, in my mentions, talking to me about your dick. Kelli and Milly, fine, they spoke about you like it was in the past, but the Shauna chick? You can’t tell me she’s not recent!”
My frown deepened. “Wil, me being here right now, to see you, is jeopardizing my career, and you want to talk to me about some chicks on twitter?”
“So you’re not denying that it was recent?” She propped her hands on her hips. “How recent? Since the show ended? Since you and I got involved? Since you got the call from the Kings?”
“I could’ve fucked her yesterday and it wouldn’t matter, because you were the one who was all on this “not ready for anything serious”, “let’s just be friends” shit!”
She jerked her head back, eyes wide, and instantly glossy about something I knew I shouldn’t have said. “Well how about this – I’m off all of this shit, and you can get the fuck out of my home, how about that?” she spat, then turned to stomp down the hall, with me right behind her.
“Hey,” I said, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her to face me. “That’s not how this is about to work. How about we back up and you tell me what the actual problem is?”
She snatched away from me. “Apparently, it’s that I dared to need a little bit of time before getting serious with someone else after an eight year relationship!”
“Nobody has a problem with that, Wil.”
“Then why the hell did it come out of your mouth?!” she snapped, glaring at me.
“Because I’m pointing out that it’s not fair for you to pull this jealous shit on me about some casual flings that were months ago, when you aren’t even trying to be serious! You don’t get to claim ownership if your ass isn’t… claiming ownership.”
She scoffed. “Oh please, Ramsey. You weren’t complaining about whether or not possession was determined yet when you were knee deep in my pussy in Bali, getting all kinds of “man” privileges without the title.”
“Right, and I wasn’t in your goddamn face about who you might or might not be fucking either!”
“Okay, cool, so since you “could’ve fucked her yesterday and it wouldn’t matter”, I guess I have those same liberties then. Cool. Terrence Grant was giving me the eye when I was at the Kings’ offices the other day, maybe I’ll give him a call.”
“The hell you will,” I growled, surprising both of us, but fuck it. “That’s some more shit we aren’t about to do.”
“Oh, because you decided?!”
“You’re goddamned right because I decided. If you think I’m with that sharing shit, you’ve lost your damn mind. I know you’re upset about the pictures and all of that, but what the hell is wrong with you?!”
“If refusing to let you have me out here looking stupid is wrong, then a helluva lot, asshole,” she said, through gritted teeth, obviously trying not to let emotion overtake her words. “If you’re going to be screwing other people, just fucking tell me, so I can opt out of this shit before I… Ramsey, please,” she half-said, half-sobbed, as she lost her battle with the tears she was trying to hold back. “Chloe McKenna wants to tell people we’re in love, that you’re supposed to be my Prince Charming, but I swear I’d rather people think I’m evil, a homewrecker, whatever, than to push this story only for you to make a damned fool of me.”
Shit.
I hated seeing her like this, and I instantly felt bad for pushing this particular button with her. It may have seemed over the top to me, but her betrayal was still relatively fresh, and with this scandal happening at the same time – that negatively affected her more than me – her nerves had to be raw.
Over and over – growing up, and even now – I saw the men around me skirt around commitment, not wanting to be “locked down” to one woman. They did shit that fed insecurity, bred an atmosphere of competition, out of what I’d long ago clocked as immaturity. My cousin – my brother – Reggie… God knows he’d done some things that made him not the first person I’d look to as an example in plenty of categories. But one thing I’d observed, and absorbed, in the way he treated Chloe – he never let another woman believe she might have a chance at Chloe’s spot. He never made Chloe believe another woman had a chance at her spot.
“Nobody but you, Champ,” I said, recalling that lesson as I shook my head. “Nobody but you. I wouldn’t be friends with somebody I planned to embarrass. Wouldn’t fucking… zipline in a foreign country a week after signing an NFL contract for somebody I had any intention of playing like she was stupid. I wouldn’t be in your living room, right now, when my ass is supposed to be across town in bed, if making a fool of you was even an option in my mind. Nobody but you. I need you to understand that.”
I waited for her to respond, and when she didn’t, looking down at her bright yellow painted toes instead, I grabbed her hand again. This time, she didn’t resist, not even when I pulled her up to my chest, then used my free hand to tilt her chin up, making her look at me.
“No one except you,” I told her again, adamantly, wanting to make sure my words got through. Still though, she said nothing, and instead of repeating myself anymore, I tried a different language – I kissed her. And I tried my best to pour enough feeling into it that it would dissolve the insecurity that dealing with the clown had left behind. As soon as she moaned into my mouth, my hands went under her robe, under the hem of her tee to touch her bare skin and pull her closer, against the hardness I didn’t even bother trying to help around her.
“Ramsey,” she whispered, pulling back just enough to look at me. “You know we can’t. You’re already out of bounds, and you have practice in the morning, and—”
“Nah.” I shook my head, then slid a hand between her thighs, pushing a first, then second finger into her. “I need to prove this point real quick.”
She gasped as I pressed a thumb to her clit, working it in circles as I stroked her with my fingers. “Sex won’t prove your point, Ramsey,” she panted.
“Maybe not,” I muttered against her ear, then kissed a trail along her jaw, up to her mouth. “But making you come might get me back on your good side, right?”
That made her laugh, so close that I felt her lips curve up against mine. Pushing my fingers a little deeper turned that laugh into a moan as her knees gave out a little, causing her to lean into me for support.
Relief sank my shoulders as she buried her face into my neck, holding on to my arms. “Stop, so I can talk,” she whispered to me, and I did, waiting for her to speak. When she looked up at me, there were tears in her eyes. “You’re not on my bad side, Ramsey. I’m… scared. The story Chloe wants to tel
l… it’s too close to the truth.”
“Then maybe it’s not a story. Maybe it is… the truth.”
She shook her head. “Ramsey, don’t play with me.”
“Wil, you know I don’t play that type of game. Not ever. Especially not with you. If you need to explicitly hear me say I want you to myself, here it is - I want you to myself. Maybe it’s a bad idea, maybe neither of us is ready, but shit… we’re here now. And I don’t think either of us is confused about what’s happening. I mean, I’m not. Are you?”
“No.”
I shrugged. “Well then… you stop freaking out about whatever was said on twitter, which Chloe probably told you already anyway… and we let her take care of this. And, by the way, since we ended up taking a sharp left – I’m sorry this shit is happening. I don’t like you talking down on yourself, so having all this going on… I’m hot about it. For your sake. I don’t give a shit what they’re saying about me.”
“I know you don’t,” she whispered, bringing her hands up to my face. “I know.”
I took the softness of her voice as my cue to pick up where I’d left off earlier. She was still wet, still so warm, still so… welcoming. She gasped, then buried her face in my neck again as I stroked her into that orgasm, then picked her up, carrying her down the hall to her room.
I’d just have to drink a red bull or something before practice.
I took a deep breath before I rang the doorbell. The Baileys were expecting me, but… still. After the way this week had started, I was on edge, and wasn’t really sure what to expect.
I put that aside though, choosing to ring the bell anyway – as if I had a real choice. If Chloe’s plan was going to work, I needed to do this interview. And more importantly, if I had any interest in preserving whatever credibility I had left… it had to happen.
I offered a polite smile when the door swung open, trying not to appear surprised that Jade herself – Trent’s wife – had been the one to answer the door. Immediately, my brain went wild – what if she thinks I’m here to pull some sort of crap with Trent? I’m already working on negative points if I have the woman of the house on the defensive with my personal shit – but Jade returned my smile, and welcomed me inside.
She and Trent had a beautiful home, which wasn’t surprising at all, if I judged from her appearance. Jade wasn’t just attractive – she was polished – even in simple, designer lounge attire that accented the perfect roundness of her pregnant belly. The sight set off a pang of something that wasn’t exactly jealousy, but… it wasn’t not jealousy either. From my outside perspective, Jade had a lot of things to be envious of, but that baby bump – something I’d spent years wanting – made my throat hurt a little.
She placed a protective hand over her belly and I tore my gaze away, plastering a smile on my face and hoping I didn’t look insane. I quickly realized it was just a subconscious thing for her – as quickly as she’d placed it there, she moved it away as she led me down the hall, making small talk as we approached the gorgeously decorated living room, where we would be doing the interview.
I wasn’t surprised at all to see Cole there – she’d already told me she would be – and I was glad to see her and Trent laughing like old friends. I hoped that her presence – and her vouching for me – would put the him at ease, if there was any discomfort in his mind about this whole thing. There was no way he – or anyone else in the sports world, for that matter, hadn’t heard.
Before he left the other night, to sneak back into the training facility, Ramsey had done his best to try to convince me Trent would be cool. After all, Trent had faced scandals of his own, in the not-so-distant past, so he knew how that privacy violation felt.
I understood that, I really did. And when Trent greeted me, he seemed perfectly cool, just as Ramsey said.
But still.
Because of the feeling I wanted for this interview, I didn’t bring along a camera person, or any crew. It was just me, setting up a couple of cameras and mics. Creative editing would pull it all together later. All I needed was the words.
So I didn’t waste time.
I got right to it, with Jade and Cole hovering close by as I asked Trent ice-breaking questions about his love of dancing, listening while he told me about his dearly departed Uncle Shank and his battle with AIDS, which led into a – rather lovely – few moments spent speaking in very high regard of his uncle’s wife, his Aunt April. I had to bite the inside of my lip to keep myself from squirming with excitement – this was something I’d never heard him talk about in depth in any interviews, which made it journalistic gold. He wasn’t answering a question anymore – he was just talking to me, with no regard for the cameras, which was the goal. Still, I made a note that for this segment, at least, I needed to let him review this to make sure he was comfortable with all of this being viewed publicly.
Because we were on the subject of family – something that, again, Trent didn’t talk about very much, at least in any interview I’d read or seen – I went to my mental checklist of questions and asked about his parents, and their influence on the man he was today.
The whole mood in the room changed.
Trent shifted in his place on the couch, lifting a hand to rub the back of his neck, in clear discomfort.
Shit.
I’d tried to research, but had hit a dead end in publicly available information out there about his parents. I didn’t realize asking about them would be stepping into a minefield.
“Next question,” Jade called sharply, from the doorway. Trent and I turned to her at the same time, to find her with folded arms. He got sympathetic eyes – I got a look of warning, which I was experienced enough to heed. If I got on her bad side, I knew this whole thing would go down the tubes quickly, which was the opposite of what I needed.
“Of course,” I said, nodding. “We can move on. Let’s shift focus. When you came to the Kings, you were something of a breakout star. Talented, handsome, charismatic – you had that magic combination that creates the “It factor” a player needs to dominate professional sports, and you were well on your way to becoming one of our biggest stars… and you jeopardized that. Ended up in prison. What lessons do you feel you learned from that experience? Would you give up that knowledge in exchange for your time back?”
“Okay, you know what?” Jade interjected as she stalked into the living room, before Trent could answer. “I wasn’t going to say anything about this interview, because at the wedding you seemed cool, but I see now it was just an act. You’ve had it out for Trent – don’t think we didn’t see your comments about him on that little show you got kicked off of, and now you come into our home asking questions that he’s already answered for people like you, over and over, already. Who the hell are you to question him about his past?”
“Jade,” Cole said, putting a comforting hand on Jade’s shoulder, at the same time Trent did too. “Wil doesn’t mean any harm.”
“I really don’t,” I added, hoping I wasn’t making things worse as I wracked my brain for what I’d said in the past that had caused offense. She turned to me wearing a bit of a scowl, and something about that jogged my memory. “To answer your question – who the hell am I to question him? – I’m a fan. A huge Trent Bailey fan, from the first day I saw him on my father’s big screen TV and said “Damn, he’s fine, who is that?!” and my daddy almost blew a gasket about me cursing in front of him.”
I kept my tone light, hoping she wouldn’t take my comment about Trent’s attractiveness the wrong way, and to my relief, she smirked, so I continued.
“Jade, I care about every interview I do, and every player I talk to. It’s always my goal to be fair, and nuanced, to give the viewer, or listener, a look into the heart of a real person, not just a replica of the same questions and answers they’ve done over and over. But sometimes that does mean putting the elephant in the room out there, and not skating around it. I promise you, if we can continue, we’ll have an end product that gives a real gl
impse into the man you love. Yes, his flaws, but his triumphs as well. And, being transparent about the flaws only makes the triumphs shine that much brighter.”
The scowl on Jade’s face relaxed a bit, but then she hardened again. “And why exactly should we trust you, other than Cole’s word, after you went in on him on national TV?”
“Because that should let you know just how passionate I am. Again – I’m a Trent Bailey fan.” I directed myself to him when I added, “And that’s why I was so disappointed when you went to prison. I’m not going to try to make it sound sweet now – yes, I went in, just like I would still on any young player who made the same sort of mistake. Because I want to see us thriving, and a professional football career isn’t a chance that many get, so to see it thrown away… I was mad. But I was also proud as hell when you came back, and turned it around, and I know you saw that too. I sat and filmed a New York local show in rival Connecticut Kings gear for half the season, between you and Jordan Johnson, because I was rooting for you.”
“Oooh,” Cole inserted. “I remember that. You had folks on twitter hot for days that first time you wore a Bailey jersey on the air.”
“And I wore my Kings gear anyway,” I laughed.
“Well, listen,” Trent spoke up, stepping forward. “I’m convinced, and I’m ready to answer whatever you got for me. And Jade is cool too… right?” he asked his wife, wrapping his huge frame around her petite one to say something in her ear.
Whatever he said, she wasn’t very pleased by, but she relaxed enough to let me know the interview was going forward. Internally, I breathed a sigh of relief, but that still wasn’t quite the vibe I wanted to have for the duration.
“Jade… would you be interested in being part of the interview?” I asked, as new inspiration struck me. I was already formulating new questions in my head as Trent basically answered for her, by pulling her down onto the couch beside him.
I took my own seat, and smiled at the two of them, knowing – if my intuition was correct – exactly where to start to get us going in a positive direction.
Determining Possession (Connecticut Kings Book 3) Page 22
