Page 14 of Crossing the Lines for Love

I would need the strength of Jesus and all his disciples to keep my attraction to him at bay, so I would only allow myself to be in his presence when it was required of me, and never alone.

When my phone connected to my car, I called Montrell because he was my only real friend.

“Wassup?” he answered.

“Ugh. I just came from a meeting with the team captain.”

“I take it didn’t go well.”

“No, it went fine… today, but yesterday was a different story.”

“Oh shit! I forgot you met the team yesterday. I meant to call you, but the basketball game went to double overtime, and by the time I got home, I was tired as hell. Did it not go well?”

“Overall, it went fine. However, you wouldn’t believe who the star player and team captain is.”

“Umm, I don’t have a clue.”

“The rude guy from the other day.”

“The one you bumped into?”

“He bumped into me, but yeah.”

“No shit? What a coincidence.”

“You telling me. I didn’t notice him amongst the other players at first. I’m sure he was just as surprised, if not more, to see me as I was to see him.”

“What happened?”

I told him about my interaction with Niko the previous day and about our meeting today.

“Niko is lucky I covered his ass, but the last thing I need is for Coach Crawford to think there’s friction between me and the star player.”

“I don’t blame you, but at least he realized the error of his ways and apologized.”

“He did, and he seemed genuine.”

“Why do I sense there’s still a problem?”

I sighed. “The nigga is fine as hell, okay. I don’t mean like regular fine. He’s like… a nineties kinda fine. His skin is the color of peanut butter and I swear I saw not one blemish. His cocaine white teeth are encased in lips that I could kiss for days. When was the last time you saw a man with a Caesar cut and waves?”

“Oh, damn. That kinda fine?”

“Yeah. I don’t even wanna talk about his thick eyebrows, sexy, dark eyes, and tattoos. My stomach fluttered during our entire meeting today. Trell, I cannot be attracted to him.”

“You can’t help who you’re attracted to, but I understand. Aside from you being his coach, he’s a few years younger than you too.”

“Actually, we’re about the same age. He’s a senior and served four years in the Navy before attending Black Elm.”

“Oh, so he’s a nontraditional student. Interesting.”

“This is a dream job. Please pray I don’t fuck it up by lusting after one of my players.”

“Look at the bright side… He’s a senior, and soon it won’t matter.”

“True, but it would still be kinda scandalous. People would assume we messed around while he was on the team. Wait! What am I saying? I cannot hook up with Niko. He’s off limits, and that’s that.”

“I don’t know, Randi. We’ve been close for a while, and this is the first man you’ve talked about.”

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