Page 122 of In the Safety's Zone
When I got the message that I needed to leave practice immediately to head up to the executive level my heart dropped to the floor. I was worried that Parker’s people had found something wrong with the house that would delay our moving into it. Since he was replacing the roof and adding new gutters we had the closet space upgraded and some of the carpet ripped out. Aphrodite had been working with a company that was clearing the land beyond the pool to put in her tennis court. She was building her team and her life out here with me and showed no ill-effects of having her life basically uprooted.
The minute I carried her across the threshold in July I promised I would do everything I could so she never wanted to leave and now she was here permanently. She’d gotten her permit and was working with her driving instructor to make sure she could pass her road exam. Whenever we were together she convinced me to let her drive so she could get her practice hours in. She didn’t need anymore help but I knew nerves were keeping her from just going for it.
The elevator opened and I was trying to keep my mind from racing. When I saw my brother in the hall getting ready to walk into the conference room I knew this wasn’t about the house at all.
“Fuck is up?”
Choo’s head snapped to me, and his confusion mirrored mine. He dapped me up and pulled me into a hug before he stepped back.
This floor was elaborate as hell but normally no one ever came up here unless they were in some shit. I hadn’t done anything and the league hadn’t fined me for that chest kick to Carter two days ago so I didn’t know why I was here. When you added my brother into the mix none of it made sense.
“I don’t know man but they pulled my ass out of meetings to come up here. The fuck can be going on?” We were both in shorts and Desperados shirts with the sleeves cut off. Team issued slides covered our feet and Choo still had his gloves on his hands. He clearly didn’t expect to be here long but now I wasn’t so damn sure.
The door opened while we were waiting and shit got even more real when we saw it was Steph from media. But she wasn’t alone. Billy, Bryan, Bobby, Parker, Stew and several other members of the business office were sitting inside the meeting room with troubled faces.
Billy and Bryan got up to greet us but there wasn’t the normal smile and laughing about how much bread they’d made us. The seriousness on other faces had me wanting somebody to hurt and speak up now before my brain exploded.
“We've got a situation.”
Bryan stuck out his hand to shake ours, and we obliged but that shit was tense. Billy was offering smiles but the sympathetic look on her face was disturbing. Right now she was in business mode so I wanted her to have the same no bullshit attitude she normally did. Softness while she was at work was throwing me off.
“And it involves both of us?” Antwan was scanning the room and I did the same, trying to see a tell on anyone’s face. They were all clenched jaws but concerned eyes and the contrast in those two emotions was throwing me.
“Y’all come in and have a seat.”
Stew waved toward two seats at the table but I shook my head.
“We’ll stand. This looks too serious for me to stay seated.” I had to let them know that I might act up in here.
“Whatever y’all break y’all replace.” That was the only thing Parker said and it was odd that he seemed the calmest person in the room.
Choo looked at Parker, and now his face was serious. “It’s that bad?”
“Probably worse.”
“Say, our people good? His family? My girl? Didn’t nothing happen to them, right?”
Choo’s body went rigid, the thought of his family being in trouble never crossed his mind. “Are they?”
Billy waved her hands to calm us down and I relaxed slightly. “If something happened to the family do you think I’d be here this composed? This has nothing to do with the family you chose. It’s your original family.”
Of course it was about Jillana. “What? What the fuck they did now?”
“It’s what they’ve accused y’all of doing.” Bryan’s words hung in the air because it didn’t seem anyone actually wanted to give us all the information.
“They in jail?” Antwan was trying to find the most innocuous reason we were here, but it felt far heavier than that.
“No.”
“Billy, come on now. We got practice and shit we gotta get to. What’s wrong?” Choo’s frustration came out then because he never talked to her like that.
Bryan interjected before Billy could speak. “There’s been accusations made by your parents that you all are betting on games.”
“WHAT?”
Choo’s anger was as loud as his personality but I was stunned silent. I see why they offered us the seat. My legs felt like they were about to give out from beneath me. It felt like déjà vu only I hadn’t done shit this time.
“We didn’t do this.”
