Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
To: Davina Klein-Roberts
July 18
Truth is I think you’re bullshitting me and for someone who always wants honesty and truths, I find it ironic that you can’t return the favor. So tell me what I did wrong, D.
TWENTY-SIX
DEKE
It’d been a whole day since my last email to Davina, and it was taking everything in me not to send another one.
She’d stressed the just friends thing every time we talked, and I accepted it for what it was, because I liked talking to her any way I could.
I couldn’t explain it, but emailing felt limited—like there was a barrier between us. Clearly I’d overstepped by asking to break through that barrier.
I only gave her my number so I could hear her voice before I broke something. After hearing about Mama and my piece-of-shit dad, it seemed like talking to her would calm me down. That was my bad for relying on a woman so wounded, though.
Because I was pissed, I ended up launching a water glass from my hotel room at the wall and breaking it to deal with the frustrations. I paid for it when I checked out.
“Bishop!” Javier chucked the basketball my way with furrowed brows. I caught it before it could hit me in the face, and the leather slammed into my palms. “Come on, man! Ken gave us the drill. What are you doing?”
Right. I was supposed to be training.
We were practicing in Element Recreation Center, the members-only gym I co-owned with Javier. We often left it open to members after we did our workouts and training, which was usually four times a week from six to eleven in the morning.
Some of the money made from memberships went into the gym for our employees or for repairs, but nearly all of it was used as donations for our nonprofit charity, Kids in Element. Sometimes we brought the kids in and would shoot hoops with them.
During Christmas, we made sure the kids had gifts they could unwrap, and if a utility or medical bill was brought to our attention, we took care of it for the parents. I was damn proud of our charity and wouldn’t have co-owned it with anyone else but Javier.
It was easy to get lost in time at Element, surrounded by basketball goals and the scent of sweet orange leather. This was the perfect place for me to sweat out all the stress. That was what I wanted to do that day—work out all my frustrations and focus on getting better for the next season—but it just wasn’t happening for me.
I chucked the ball back at Javier. He caught my equally hard throw, tucking the ball under his arm and resting it on his waist. “What the hell is going on with you, eh? You have been off all morning. It is like your head is not in the game.”
“Yeah, well, maybe it’s not,” I muttered.
Javier blew an irritated breath as I turned away to grab my water bottle. “You asked me to come and train with you, Deke. You made me put up money for this time with Ken. If you are not in the mood to train, then why the hell am I here?”
“I asked you to join me two weeks ago,” I said over my shoulder. “A lot of shit changes in two weeks.”
“Even so, you never let whatever is bothering you interfere with training.”
I glanced over my shoulder, and Javier’s forehead was wrinkled with concern. Some of his black hair was glued to his forehead, and sweat stained the upper half of his shirt. I turned completely as Ken made his way back to us in his tracksuit. He’d run off to call his wife.
I sat on one of the chairs on the sidelines and guzzled down more water. Javier walked my way, lifting the bottom half of his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face. I never understood why he did that. We had clean towels in literally every corner of the basketball gym and even in the strength training and conditioning rooms.
With a sigh, Javier sat next to me and lifted his water bottle, giving it a squeeze as he held it above his mouth. After guzzling a few sips down, he said, “I know you, Deke.” His gaze was ahead, focused on Ken, who was setting cones up for another drill. “You are in your head.” Through my peripheral vision, I saw his head turn to look at me. “What is really going on with you?”
I stared at the white lines on the glazed wooden floors. “You’re gonna think it’s stupid.”
“I don’t think anything you say can be more stupid than whatever comes out of EJ’s mouth.”
I huffed a laugh. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s not that stupid.”
Javier leaned forward, resting his elbows on top of his thighs. When he crossed his fingers, he said, “Tell me what’s up.”