Page 172 of On Merit Alone
Calmly, Ira leaned down to the mic and cleared his throat again. He didn’t beg for everyone’s attention, and I think that was the precise reason why he gained it so easily. “I’ll be honest, I don’t want to leave Denver. My family is here, my team is here, my entire life is here. But as I said before, this year I found something that I find irreplaceable. Something that’s been threatened. I'm sorry to my team, to my management, to my family, and to my agent about the position that what I’m about to say may or may not put you in, but some opportunities only come once, and this one’s mine.”
“So, to my team, to the world, and to the Denver Dynamite, Rob Manzinni in particular,” he said. I held my breath at the sound of that name. “Whether it be for an official NBA team or playing in a rec league, I’ve decided that I’ll be taking my next season to wherever Merit Jones goes. And for the rest of my days as a player, I will not compete in a city that she isn’t also.”
The room absolutely erupted.
I lost air completely, my knees going weak. My balance faltering so much that Ryan was the only thing able to hold me up. Quickly, he stretched out an arm toward the stage, glaring at Ira. “King, off the stagenow.”
Ira smiled a boyishly devious smile at the crowd below. “Thank you all for coming. Please exit the way you came in.”
Then he was jogging off the stage and replacing Ryan’s arm around me like a support beam. I melted into him even as my body took over the job of reacting for me.
I didn’t understand what was going on. The only thing I couldbring myself to think about were the facts. The reality that Ira had pinned himself to me. That he had stood up in front of an entire room of people and by way of their occupations, in front of the whole world and said that he and I were a‘we’. And he wasn’t letting us be split up, not even for the largest amount of money in the world.
I whimpered, my knees buckling again. Ira kept me standing, his lips coming up to brace against my temple. “We’ve got to move, sweetheart.”
“Yes, and quickly, please,” Ryan said as he inserted himself between the two of us and the literal mob of people fighting to get Ira’s (and my) attention. “You two are coming with me. Kings, please leave with your family as soon as possible too. I don’t want them hounding you all, either.”
Looking over, I realized that Iris, Lisa, and I were joined by the rest of the Kings, who were now surrounding Ira and me. Lisa and Isaiah looked both shocked and sort of… amused. Isaac and Neil looked put out but unsurprised by the antics as they joined in with Ryan to put their backs to the mob and protect us and the kids from any shoving. Iris and Leah were shuffling through with their babies on their hips as they tried to get away from the craziness while they laughed.
“Let’s go, little idiot brother,” Isaac said with an annoyed expression on his face. When his gaze fell on me, an apologetic look crossed it. I must have looked shocked or just plain terrible because he explained. “He’s always been a troublemaker. You’ll get used to it too. Welcome to the family.”
I didn’t even have time to touch that before we moved out of the room, exiting through a back door near the stage and bustling toward a portion of the station we did not enter from.
My legs were sluggish. My lungs felt both filled and empty at the same time, and a fog had settled over my brain as I let hands and bodies usher me blindly. It wasn’t until we burst through some sortof back service door and I felt the cool of the night air on my misting skin that I finally snapped back to reality.
What the hell?
I think I said it out loud as I ripped away from Ira and turned toward him in search of answers. He turned to me too, unsurprised at my sudden outburst. He was just there. Ready and waiting for me to respond.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
My breath was loud in my ears, my thoughts running rampant as I tried to settle on one thing to say. I hate to admit that my voice was small and a little scared as I asked, “What’s going on, I?”
His face softened. Tender. Understanding. Gentle.
He stepped toward me, eating up the small distance I’d put between us. One hand cupped my cheek, the other coming to my waist and pulling me against him. Around us, others were watching, but for the life of me all I could hold onto was the look of sureness in Ira’s eyes.
“Why all this?” I pleaded, needing to know.
“Because Merit. I’ll be damned if, from here on out when I tell you I love you, your first reaction is to get scared that I’ll someday leave. It’s never going to happen, baby. I’ll give up anything to be right here.”
“Right where?”
He smiled. “Next to you.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Ira
She was freaking out.Even though she was basically silent as we sat in the back of Ryan’s black sedan with my hand on her thigh, I could tell by the tightness of her muscles that she was still freaking out.
She was holding onto my hand, though, so that had to be a good sign.
On the other hand, I had Ryan glaring at me like I was public enemy number one in the rearview. So, after determining that Mer was not going to talk to me right now no matter how intently I stared at her, I decided I’d tackle the next most important thing.
“Go ahead, Ry,” I sighed. “Let me have it.”
He was even scarier than I thought he’d be. His voice was calm. “Do you realize how many calls I'm going to get in response to this farce? How many I’ve already gotten?”
