Page 61 of In the Safety's Zone
“Simple as that?”
I nodded to her without hesitation. “Yep.”
“I think it’s her hamstring.” He was talking to Terri like AP wasn’t lying right here. We were having a conversation but these muhfuckas invented manners but were acting like they ain’t know how to use them.
“She’s right here, you know.” I glared at his ass and his face flushed but he nodded his head like he understood his mistake.
“How bad is it?” Aphrodite spoke up, her hand gingerly touching her thigh.
“You’re going to need to rest it. How long depends on your body.” I could feel her confidence fall and the air in the room seemed to be sucked completely out.
“Dammit, Aphrodite this could set you back. You might not make the US Open this year.” And this why this spike-haired bitch couldn’t get anything from me.
“I know.”
Shit was getting too heated and I wanted to point out the obvious to everybody. “I get that game planning needs to happen, but is anyone going to let her enjoy the win she just got?” I looked at her coach with a death glare because she was pissin’ me off like her daddy.
Terri’s ass seemed to realize she was being as bad as Aphrodite’s daddy and she backed off.
“We’ll get her leg wrapped but she’s only got a few minutes before she has to be back out there. There were multiple people from the network at the door trying to get a rundown on when they could expect to have her back out on the court.
“Cool. Phro you want a wheelchair or crutches?” She was taking a minute to answer me and I moved to pick her up again.
She smiled but held her hand out to stop me. “Crutches are fine.”
“You sure?”
She nodded but smiled at me so I knew we were good. “As much as I enjoyed the ride, we’ve given folks enough to talk about for now.”
Aphrodite gave me the same wondrous look like she couldn’t believe I was doing all of this and I just stared right back at her. I wasn’t sure if I knew how to move when it came to a relationship, but I wasn’t about to fuck her over on some bullshit. I cared about her and I needed her to know that. My brother had already warned me about the pitfalls he and Rye had gone through. Especially when it came to the media being in your shit. Those two couldn’t stay out of blogs and I was sure the word was being spread around right now that I was here.
“I feel you. Go get that hardware and collect that check, AP. We gotta celebrate.”
APHRODITE
I KNEW THE press was going to have a field day.
Between the injury and the unexpected appearance of Anthony on the courts to help me out, I was sure this press conference was about to devolve into a shitshow. My father was pre-angry, a state he seemed to live his life in when it came to me, and I had a feeling he was going to say or do something to temper the excitement of this.
Despite my being injured, I’d just won another Grand Slam title. My opponent had been talking shit like she got my soft spots from my father all week. To have taken her down after such a challenging set felt good. That prize money would feel even better because it was the last thing I needed to make the changes in my life I’d grown weary of. But now it was more than time.
After that first set, I could hear him taunting me about losing start to play in a real in my head. One glance toward where I knew they were sitting and I could already see the disappointment on his face and my mother’s sour disposition. They would try to play it off as keeping me focused but I lived with them all my life: I knew what those expressionless faces meant.
I’d closed my eyes and instead of going on my phone or listening to music for the slight break we had, I thought about Anthony. How I knew he was somewhere screaming at the TV for me to show everybody I had this and he was the best mental hype man I could ever have. Little did I know he was in the stadium cheering me on. Even when I was walking into thestadium his voice was in my headphones. He’d called and left me a voicemail telling me how much he believed in me and I played it on repeat until it was time to play.
And damn if his selflessness didn’t make me feel like a queen.
I maneuvered the crutches to meet my opponent center stage. They’d had to delay the award ceremony because of my injury but now I waited patiently to receive my trophy.
After the regular ceremonial traditions, I hoisted the Venus rosewater dish over my head for the first time. This one had me closer to my impossible goal and I was even more determined to get to it now.
“And your women’s Wimbledon singles winner is Aphrodite Harper!”
I lifted the large plaque over my head again with a smile as best I could while trying to balance on crutches. The tradition was to spin around and show all angles of the trophy to each area of the crowd but I wasn’t about to stress myself since I couldn’t follow tradition today.
“Now, Ms. Harper, do you have anything you want to say to the world?” A correspondent fromSports News Networkhad his mic in my face barely giving me a chance to collect myself.
“I want to say that I’m so thankful to everyone on my team who has helped me reach this achievement. Things have been going so well, and I won’t let this minor setback keep me down.” The sweat had cooled on my forehead and I was sure I looked a mess but none of that mattered to me when I saw the grin on Anthony’s face on the sideline.
