Page 36 of In the Safety's Zone
“You’re not giving me the information I need, Aphrodite.” Billy sat back in her seat and crossed her arms. I’d seen this move done plenty of times when she was at the negotiating table and I never thought I’d be on the other side of it.
“He’s in the league.” I was fiddling with my flatware because I didn’t know whether she would approve of that bit of information or not.
“Girl, which one?”
Her exasperation lightened the mood for a moment until I answered her. “Football.”
She sat up but I could see the shift in her body language. Billy’s eyes fluttered slightly as she studied my face.
“I have a lot of questions but I want to hear what you have to say.”
“He’s not very famous. You know him.”
“Wait, are you talking to Anthony?” Her eyes were wide but it wasn’t with disapproval. Shock, yes and maybe hope?
“Yeah. How did you put that together so fast?”
“Because you’ve been calling me less and less so I assumed you were going to talk to me about some friend that you were hanging with but to hear it’s Anthony has me shocked.”
“Why, is he not a good guy?” I hadn’t seen anything crazy from him but now the way she was talking made me feel like I hadn’t judged him correctly.
She picked up her water glass as she shook her head at me. “No, actually, Anthony is a really good guy. He’s gotten his shit together and put his head on straight. I know how you are about having relationships in the public eye so how are you going to make that work?”
Her lack of questions about the why and straight to theoh cool y’all go together let’s figure out the logisticshad my head spinning.
“Ummm, just chill in private I guess, I don’t know. A lot of people don’t really pay attention to me when I’m off the court.”
Billy gave me a look like I was being naïve and I wondered what she knew that I didn’t. “Yeah but you have to understand the legacy that comes with Anthony. You know why he didn’t finish at LSU?”
“Yeah, I know all about the money he took.”
Anthony hadn’t held anything back from me because he wanted to discuss the situation with me before I heard it from someone else. I appreciated that he was being transparent and it made me sad for him. Especially since kids in college were getting paid way more now than the little money he’d received.
Billy’s brows rose in surprised appreciation and she was nodding like she approved. “Damn he’s going hard for you if you know something that embarrasses him like that.”
“We’ve gotten closer. A lot closer. I like him a lot.”
“Well, folks are always going to be focused on Anthony because his brother has settled down. Even after he got with Rye they were infamous for making scenes: getting caught fucking in places they shouldn’t, my girl going after groupies. The press loved to go after them. Add in that shit with their crazy ass mama means drama follows them. Now they’re going to be looking to fill that void because he doesn’t act out the way he used to. My goddaughter calmed them all down for the time being. And Anthony is definitely fair game. His past plus the fact that you’re famous, and a good girl? When they find out they will do whatever they can to keep y’all in the mix.”
“I hadn’t thought about that.”
I started to get nervous because the only time I made the news was when I won. Otherwise, I made a few appearancesand slunk back into oblivion. It was how I could move around so freely: I didn’t live my life in a way that would have people wanting to know more about me. I was deliberately boring because my private life was stressful enough without a bunch of people sticking their noses in it.
“You want to do the impossible this year, can you do that with him around?”
“It was a pipe dream when he wasn’t around and I’m not thinking about not having him around if that’s what you mean.”
“You’re serious about this. I’m sure he’s serious about you so what is the issue?”
“I’m blind when it comes to the relationship stuff. The one relationship I had was basically staged; only I didn’t know that. I really want to go into this and not mess it up. You know I don’t have a good example in my life on what to do.”
Billy had witnessed my parents’ bullshit firsthand when my father tried to hook up with her after she became my agent. She wasted no time cussin’ him out and since then she hadn’t been in the room with him since. With the way her husband was crazy about her, my dad would be in traction if he tried that now.
Billy looked sympathetic and I knew she’d been so career-driven that she hadn’t dealt with many people on a personal level before her husband.
“The best thing I can tell you is to go with the flow. You have nothing to press for. You’re solid enough as a person on your own, you only need a man to enhance what you already have.”
I nodded my agreement since Billy’s words only solidified how I’d been feeling. “I’m not already changing my last name and doodling it on notebooks but he feels…”
