Page 117 of In the Safety's Zone
“You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I mean I have to adult at some point. Nobody ever made a big deal about my learning so I just let it ride. I’m wondering if that was just another way that they kept me under their thumb.”
I didn’t want to agree with her so I just stayed quiet. Her head went up and her eyes went wide before she bust out laughing. “Damn you’re really not even going to say anything?” She pushed me playfully and I wrapped her up in my arms.
Kissing the side of her hair I said, “You figured that shit out without my input, AP. You’re the smartest mouse in the maze round here.”
“Nah you’re the one working on his degrees and shit.Since you know everything.”
Without her parents stressing her out, Aphrodite had a sense of humor that even she was surprised at. A lifetime of being told to be seen and not heard was being undone every time she cracked a joke.
“I’m working on it. But we gone get you right. Ain’t nobody gone hold you back from what you set your mind to.”
“You say that a lot. The encouraging things. I appreciate it.” Aphrodite was smiling softly and I knew it was from her trying not to cry.
“It’s your world, AP, I’m just the man blessed to share it with you.”
“You got them closed?” I looked over at Aphrodite to catch her brows dipping below the blindfold she was wearing.
“Bam, what the hell is this? You put a blindfold on me and your hands over my eyes. I can’t see the back of my eyelids let alone whatever you've got going on.”
“I’m just saying—”
“No, you should be using your Victory Tuesday to chill out, not do whatever this is.”
We’d put another win under our belts and it was a great way to rebound after our first loss of the season the previous week. We were heading into October and I felt like the team was just getting started. When we bought our house, Choo being the brother he was said he’d give me the money. I agreed but only under the condition that he charged me interest and I had the contract to pay him back in writing. It took his ass two days to talk to me and it wasn’t until I threatened to go to a bank that he finally agreed. His ass was petty charging me a quarter of a percent of interest but he had the nerve to tell me I was lucky it was that high. Little did he know once I hit a few more contract bonuses he was getting a check for half of that money back.
“This is how I want to chill so humor me. We didn’t get to celebrate your winning or your birthday as much as I would’ve liked. So we gotta do something big right now. My baybeeh deserves to be celebrated.”
I stopped walking and I knew she could hear our voices echoing inside the building. The staff was just out of view waiting on us to request help when the time was right.
I turned her around to face me before lifting the blindfold.
She blinked rapidly her eyes darting left to right before they landed on me again. “What is this?”
I grinned and waved my hand around the showroom. “Pick what you want.”
Her eyes widened and she looked around again confused. “What?”
“It’s your gift for working on our driving and for winning the US Open and making history. So, I want you to pick which one you want.”
“A car?”
“Yep.”
“You’re buying me a car?”
Her voice did that jumpy thing where it went from normal to high-pitched to express her excitement and her simultaneous disbelief. It was like she was mentally trying to keep her cool because of how she was raised but the realization that she was free kept breaking through her training.
“Technically, I have to buy me a car until you get your license but you’re getting to pick it out. As soon as you get it together we’re going to have it transferred into your name.”
“You like buying me things.”
She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed me to her but it wasn’t like she had room to talk. The weekend I got my first sack at an away game I came home the next day to a bunch of new clothes on the bed. It was items that ranged from dressy to casual and several were custom made. My favorite had to be the knit crewneck sweater she had made that read BAM! on the front in cartoon style font with my number on the side. Ever since she hinted at that name during her acceptance speech when she won in New York, fans started using it. They weren’t calling me that for the same reason as AP, but it stuck.
There were also pieces from a Black-owned luxury men’s brand that had been delivered for me. Billy said they wanted to do a collaboration with me and I’d get to custom design some things that I could wear the last home game of the season. Besides paying me, the clothes they’d sent were part of the PR package no matter what I decided. Of course I said yes to it. That money would be added into the house fund and I was banking every dime I could so I could cut my brother a check for Christmas.
“I do. But more than that, I enjoy ensuring that you have what you need. A roof over your head, the ability to get yourself around independently and the type of love that would burn down the world to keep you warm.”
