Page 94 of In the Safety's Zone
I gave her a high five to hype her up and to get her to loosen up. I thought I’d moved in uptight circles, but some of Sterling’s background made mine look like a free-love hippie commune.
“That’s what I’m talking about. Now come on, let’s get this stuff over with.”
We walked toward the facility together and my eyes were scanning for the people we actually knew and wanted to spend time with. I’d missed family day in camp because of having to train, but I knew several people through Billy.
“Hello ladies, we need to see your IDs, please.” A friendly woman, who clearly worked for the organization was sitting at the table that was blocking the entrance inside the stadium. We did what she needed before she handed us folios with our names engraved on the front covers.
“What are these?”
I’d flipped mine open and saw that there was a tablet on the inside and in the right-hand pocket there was an envelope and packet of information.
“Inside there’s a prepaid gift card so that you all can shop inside the stadium with the vendors we brought in just for you all today. In addition, there’s a list of preferred vendors throughout the city that offer discounts to the players or have worked with the organization. Last, there’s a multitude of food options and we also have an area if you’d like to drop off your little one.”
I had no idea we were walking into something this extreme today. Who knew things like this happened for the partners of the team?
“Thank you; that’s very nice.”
“Mr. Phillips has ensured that whatever you want within reason is on his dime because he realizes, especially since finding his own partner, that you all are the driving force behind ensuring performance in the players. The cards have a fifteen thousand dollar spending limit on them.”
“Fifteen thousand? I’m not sure how much merch I can conceivably get.” I liked t-shirts and team items, but not fifteen thousand dollar’s worth.
The woman in charge of checking us in perked up when she realized my concern.
“Oh, it’s not justDesperadosoutfits. There’s a custom tailor here that will design game day attire, there’s a Texas boot maker here to custom design boots that can be shipped to you. On-sitemanicure and pedicure stations, as well as a station to make your own custom hats. Ms. Tiana helped to ensure this day would be one that made you ladies feel as pampered as the men you love.”
“That is crazy impressive. Thank you all so much.” For the first time since we arrived, Sterling looked excited to be here.
Her smile brightened like people never thanked her and I hated to think these women were walking around entitled. “You’re more than welcome. Please take advantage of everything here Ms. Harper and Ms. Williamson.”
Sterling thanked her too before we walked through the doors of the facility and into a whole new world.
“Hey, my loves!”
“Hey, Billy.” Sterling and I replied at the same time cracking us all up.
She walked over and gave each of us a kiss on the cheek before cooing with baby Ami. I was relieved that we weren’t going to have to navigate this place alone and I waved behind her at Rye who must have left Nia with Grams.
“Y’all come sit with us and grab some food before we check on our custom orders.”
Billy looped her arms through ours, a move that showed we were with her and people needed to leave us alone. I was right to assume there were mean girls in the bunch and I prayed everyone kept it classy. When we got to the table we exchanged greetings with Rye and were introduced to several other women there including Lyric who looked completely different from her rapper persona in the light pink silk dress she wore.
“I hope you guys are going to get your tickets early. Those scalper’s prices can be high as hell and they don’t care who you’re dating. Hell, they might charge you more because of it.”
We’d apparently been included in a conversation that happened before we sat down and I couldn’t fathom why we were being offered this random bit of advice.
I looked at Sterling and saw that she was biting the inside of her lip. I knew she was on the same type of time as I was but was attempting to keep the peace. We’d shopped and gotten a lot of team gear. We’d both custom ordered pieces that were well beyond the limit but neither of us had issues with paying for what we wanted. We’d stopped to grab food before we were going back over to the shops and it was clear we were about to run into our first messy bitch.
“Thanks for the advice, we hadn’t even thought about the tickets.” Sterling was doing her best to be diplomatic but I could tell she didn’t want to be.
The woman’s light tan skin seemed to gleam at being the one to burst our bubble. “Oh well, good luck. You’ll be spending a small fortune on them now.”
“No, they won’t.”
Billy had been sitting back observing what was happening. I wasn’t sure who this chick was but it seemed like she was trying to flex some dominance and didn’t realize who we were to Billy.
“Some trick you learned that we don’t know about?” The question seemed snide and that had me sitting up in my seat.
“They’ll be in the suite. In case you didn’t realize, this is Anthony Phillips’ girlfriend, although she’s famous as fuck without him. He and his brother have a suite atDesperados’Field. And my sister and brother-in-law have opened up their suite for Money and his family. Which of course includes his daughter and his girlfriend.”
