Page 5 of Sliding into Love
“What the hell, Kenny!?”Lyle Gillies, pitcher of the Bellport Blue Jays, and my best friend, storms into my office. “You could have mentioned this any of the hundreds of times I’ve seen you this week.”
I lean back in my chair. “Chill out, Gil. Nothing was finalized then. The lawyers made it clear I had to keep it a secret until the press release. You know I would have told you otherwise.”
“Yeah, but it’s me. Who the fuck am I going to tell?” He throws his hands up.
“You really want to go with that line? How about the time I told you my parents were getting a divorce, and it was a secret? Or how about the time you convinced me to sneak out when we were teenagers and then blamed me when we got busted? Or how about?—?”
He cuts me off with a growl. “Ok, fine. I’m not the best at secret keeping and sneaking around.”
“No, you’re not. Which is why you found out when everyone else did. It’s also because I’m not supposed to show you favoritism. You know this.”
At my words, he scoffs. “Everyone on the team knows we’re bros. They’re fine with it. Half of them ask for favors, and the other half wonders if we’re fucking.”
I reel back at the mention of sleeping with him. Not for any other reason than he is absolutely like a brother to me. A biological one. Same mother and father. That’s how familial he is in my head, despite us not sharing a single ounce of DNA.
“Why do they think we’re fucking?”
He gives me an all too familiar grin. I’m reminded just how long we’ve been friends. “Could be all the times we get spotted together. I’m also spotted with a lot of chicks too, so they’re going with bi for my status.”
“I don’t know why they’re even speculating about who I'm sleeping with.”
“Or who you’re not. Aren’t you still in a dry spell?”
Dry spell? Yeah, sure. That’s what we call not having sex in over a decade. I’ve pretended to. When I was younger, my female friends would help cover for me. People assumed we dated, so they didn’t look any further.
When I reached adulthood, and my parents started talking about ‘extending the Meyer family tree’, I began paying actresses to stand by my side at events. It stopped the chatter for a bit, though I know it’s only a matter of time before it returns with a vengeance. There's nothing more important to them than our family name.
Which is why me owning the Bellport Blue Jays is such a sticking point for them. I’d fought for ages to keep the team as an act of rebellion, but when an offer came in from the other biggest affluent family in town, I couldn’t hold off any longer.
Not because I’m relenting to my upper-crust responsibilities. It’s that I simply can’t say no to the Bellport family.
“We’re not discussing my sex life. You’re supposed to be down at practice, not up here in my office. I need better security if they just let anyone past.”
“You need better security, period. And possibly a new best friend,” he grumbles as he stalks over to the window that gives a view of the field.
I know what he sees when he takes it all in. The empty seats. The dirt. The fresh-cut grass. The chalk diamond that has ruled our lives for as long as we’ve been friends. Back then, it was sneaking off to play baseball with some of the other kids our age. I did it to get away from my family duty while Gillies was in it for other reasons—like the escaping his fucked-up family kind of reason.
“How about I work on the security, and you keep the role of bestie?”
“Give me a good reason I should stick around. You’re not even sharing the juicy gossip with me anymore,” he replies, arms crossing as his brow furrows.
I sigh, then move to stand beside him. I keep my voice low when I speak because despite us being behind a closed door, I can’t know who might be listening in.
“A good reason, huh? How about the real purpose of Bellport buying this team from underneath me?”
He turns to face me, his scowl deepening. "Is there another reason than power? They already own the hockey team, and Bellamy is the king of football. Gathering this one is like their sports holy trinity.”
I snort at the description. He’s not wrong really. Bellamy Bellport, the new owner of the Bellport Blue Jays and the namesake of the city, is the star player for our football team and has been for a while. His brother Jake decided he wanted hockey here for some reason, so a while back, he bought, built, and branded a new team from scratch.
The Bellport Blue Jays have been the last sports holdout in the area. I didn’t think they’d want to try to take it from me since the only people left to get involved in sports were the two siblings who wanted nothing to do with athletic pursuits.
Carmen, the first of the two and the eldest sister, is a doctor with a flourishing practice, an adoring husband, and a cute baby. Aside from her, there’s Royce, the second youngest and co-middle child with Bellamy. But I can’t think of them now. I won’t be getting any more work done if I do.
“There’s more to it than that. You can’t say a word about this though. I’m only privy to it because Bellamy was willing to share his vision with me.”
“What vision? We’re the Bellport Blue Jays, a mediocre team with a group of misfits that other teams don’t want.”
I’d have to correct his train of thought eventually, but now wasn’t the time. He needs to get back down to the field before Coach Nyxsin notices and reams his ass out again for being up here to talk to me. I’ve only got a little bit of time left before my whole ‘I’m the owner and I’m covering for him’ power dries up.
