Page 1 of In the Safety's Zone
CHAPTER ONE
Changes
APHRODITE
“I DON’T UNDERSTAND why you got this lesbian hairstyle.”
I looked up at my mother and could only sigh at her words. But I kept it silent enough so that I didn’t let her know her jab bothered me. This was her way of doing things—nitpick. Try to punch at you until you caved into whatever it was she wanted. For some reason, my hair being in locs and then two-strand twisted irked her soul.
Lesbian hairstyle was new, though.
“I got this hairstyle because I am a professional athlete and all I do is sweat eighty percent of the year. And as for the lesbian thing, I’m not a lesbian. Not that there’s anything wrong with being one, I’m just not. Not confused and never will be. So please understand that these digs aren’t going to work on me. Not today or ever. I like my hair, it’s been this way for so long I thought you’d be used to it by now.”
You’d think that a mother’s job would be to support her kids and in her odd way she thought this was supportive. Damn shame fame went to her head the way it did. My mother wouldn’t take a deep breath when she was out of the house because she was always sure someone might catch her bad side.
“Your hair had such a good texture for you to tangle it all up in those things.”
She made a move to reach over and touch my hair but I didn’t want the vibes of her disapproval to seep into my body somehow. Energy transfer was real and I didn’t want to get anything she was feeling. I timed my inner thigh stretch so I was shifting in the opposite direction of her hand and she paused.
“Things…okay mother.” I chuckled and kept on with the cool down I insisted on doing despite how cold it actually was outside.
I don’t know why I came up here to train when I had a perfectly good facility to go to. I was being lazy and the cost of it was having to deal with her. It would’ve been better for me to stay in my basement apartment but I thought it would be better for me not to be antisocial for a change and actually hang around the house I’d sacrificed so much for.See what you get when you try to be nice to people?
Instead of allowing her to shift my mood I picked up my racket and the balls I’d been hitting before heading back toward the house. She’d wisely kept quiet because she knew I was all too well versed in keeping her on an info diet with me. It was born from years of having my secrets used against me by the one parent I assumed was an ally.
But the only person my mother cared about truly was my father. I was a distance second and she placed herself third. I was still struggling to understand how we were related.
We walked carefully up the deck steps because they were still icy from the last snowfall. Although I never played in inhospitable environments, I often trained in all weather just so I never got comfortable with perfect conditions. Real-life matches weren’t perfect and the different tournaments meant I played on different surfaces. I didn’t know if playing in the cold gave me any advantage besides a mental one, but that was good enough for me.
We entered the back door without another word being spoken and I dropped my bags by the door to the basement before walking to the fridge. I chugged the water I’d gotten from inside and watched the way my mother was eyeing me. She was either plotting or getting ready to deliver bad news and I franklywanted her to reveal which one it was so I could get the hell on with my day.
“Is something wrong?”
She carefully removed the floor-length goose down jacket she’d bundled herself up in to come bother me on the courts and folded it on a chair. I’m sure one of the staff would have the job of actually putting it back where it belonged since she couldn’t be bothered. When that was done she smoothed out the silk Natori caftan she wore that I’m sure cost a ridiculous amount of money.
Who wore silk in January in New Jersey?
“I’m just trying to understand when you’re going to give up on this career of yours and settle down.”
It was crazy to think but I knew my mother was being serious. Despite the enormous success I received in my career, she never thought it was something I should continue. She went far past trad wife and straight to the lobotomized ones. She didn’t take a breath before she contemplated the potential ramifications it had on him.
“Give up my career to settle down? I won’t ever do that. I’m still young and I have a lot more to prove.” I pulled the wool hat off my head and bound my locs up in a top bun. She wasn’t going to stress me out so the best course of action was to speak my feelings and keep it moving.
Her disapproval was obvious and I was glad she didn’t hide it. I worked better knowing where I stood with people and it was crazy that I had to view my parents as opponents to battle.
“Aphrodite, the men who already fall at your feet and want to take care of you—”
This conversation was redundant but she wasn’t letting this go. It made me wonder if she truly thought I was going to be a spinster as if she didn’t know me well enough to realize I wouldn’t give a shit if I was.
There was flesh-eating bacteria in the dating pool and I wasn’t about to finance a man’s life just because I had money. I was already the family bank; I wasn’t going to deal with someone else who couldn’t pull their weight.
“Since we all know I can take care of myself I don’t want a man who wants to put me on a shelf. The person I deal with and potentially date is going to have to understand my lifestyle.”
“I don’t even understand your lifestyle. Your only focus is training.”
My mother’s honey-brown face would’ve been frowned up if she hadn’t religiously trained herself not to. She refused to mess up her tox schedule by having breakthrough muscle movements. Her eyes were hazel and her long hair was dyed the perfect shade of icy brown with the obligatory blonde highlights to hide her gray. She was a glimpse into the future of the life she wanted me to live and I would rather sell ass in Atlantic City before I turned into her.
“You have been married to a professional athlete since you were twenty-three, but you don’t understand my lifestyle? You’ve lived it.”
