Page 135 of In the Safety's Zone
He leaned over and hugged me, hitting me on the back as he did. Anthony gave me one last squeeze before he turned and walked to his car and pulled out of the long driveway. When he was out of sight I turned and whistled to the two people hiding in the shadows. Their footfalls as they dropped down from the trees were only audible to me because I was listening for them. They came to stand by me both admiring the hole Anthony had put in his sperm donor’s head.
“If football doesn’t work out for him, I’ve got a position for him as an angel.” Jahmir wore an affectionate smile on his face as he watched the direction Anthony drove off in.
I rolled my eyes because he wasn’t about to recruit him for the life. “One in the family is enough.”
“You don’t want to pass your legacy down to one of your boys,Casper?”
He was smiling again but this time it was at me. The name had been given to me when I was recruited years ago. There wasn’t a locked room that I couldn’t get into and the joke was that I could move through the walls like a ghost. I’d needed help to get the location of where Antonio had been hiding out so Jahmir had to be brought in. I hadn’t thought he’d want to leave his wife but when he learned it was for Anthony, he made it his mission to be here.
Pope would’ve been so fucking proud of him.
“He’s lived more lives than most. I think the espionage ends with me.”
Jahmir nodded before he glanced at the body. “Somehow I don’t think he’ll be coming to confess anything to me about this one. I already told him, sometimes you have to put a bitch in the dirt. I didn’t think he would take it so literally so soon.” With theway he grinned, I could see that he was happy his words hit like he’d expected them to.
We all laughed as the third person with us finally spoke up.
“If e’eryone ‘as ‘ad their say, I need to get on to my the’apy. ‘Avin’ Frankie mad at me isnae what I want if I’m late gettin’ ‘ome from work.”
“Hauld yer whist.You got a private jet. You could harvest what you need before Anthony even makes it back to the airfield.”
Jahmir mimicked his voice as he walked over to the body to grab the rope that went across his back. I walked to the feet and hoisted him up by the ones that bound his feet and Antonio’s corpse was on its way to serve more good in death than it ever did in life.
“I’ve got the barn prepped for everything you need. Whatever we don’t use, the gators will be more than happy to have as a treat.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Victory Laps
APHRODITE
I LOOKED AROUND the room at the dozens of boxes we had scattered around and a feeling of peace had come over me.
“This feels so good.”
The walls were still cream because we didn’t know what color we wanted to put on them. We already discussed that we wanted a house full of Black art and had already had several pieces from the artist Harmonia Rosales ordered to hang in multiple areas of the house.
Anthony looked up from the box he was pulling items out of to see what I was talking about.
“What does?”
“This. You and me.” I motioned around the house and then between the air between the two of us.
That confession brought the sweetest smile to his face and he put down the framed LSU jersey that he’d gotten from his Uncle Silas’ house. After he’d gotten his items that had been stored there so his mother couldn’t sell them, he’d come back home and we’d taken the six-hour drive south to Port Aransas beach. I’d rented us one of the last houses that had direct ocean access so we could relax and not have to be interrupted. Since it was in the middle of the school week the only people that were around were locals, no one paid us any attention when we went down to the beach or swam in the ocean. Most people would’ve wanted to hop a flight but we were finally moving.
It felt even more special that we entered this house with all the parental issues behind us. Anthony’s father was apparently on the run and he and Antwan had to make some type ofstatement to denounce his actions and tell him to turn himself in. Some folks, manly fans from teams that hated ours, tried to call them thugs and the regular bullshit but they paid it no mind. He’d apparently tried to rob a Miller Bank & Trust location but hadn’t been successful.
Life caught up with Jill as well. True to her word Billy started the court proceedings to hold the blogs and stations that had run with the story about their betting without doing due diligence. They’d been so eager not to be behind the news they hadn’t thought to question the source since it was their mother. They were trying to settle and then go after Jill but Billy apparently hadn’t heard a number that would keep her out of court yet.
They really should’ve known better.
It was fortuitous that right when we needed good PR, the magazine spread that we did together all those months ago was released. Not only did they highlight me, but apparently they’d done some follow up questions with Anthony before it came to print. The interview was incredibly sweet but when they got toward the end Anthony sealed that he was never going to shake me.
Interviewer: “What do you think of how your girlfriend made history this year?”
Anthony: “I had no doubt. I’ve seen the work she’s put in, how she trained especially after Wimbledon but stayed focused. We’ve made it a point to keep things positive with us even when the world tris to become negative.”
Interviewer: “How proud of you of Aphrodite?”
