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)
“Is this why you came here? For me to admit that we’re sleeping together?”
“No,” she said, and she steeled her jaw, glowering. “I came here to tell you that Deke is not who you think he is. He’s a user and a manipulator. He makes you believe that he cares because he’s so nice and charming and always has the right things to say, but it is all false. The truth is that he is a loner who will only hurt you because he knows he’s a shitty human inside. Being with him is a mistake.”
Her words made my heart stutter. Deke wasn’t perfect, I knew this, but there was no way he was a manipulator, a user. Why would he use me when he had everything?
I swallowed thickly. “Is that all?” I asked.
“You don’t belong in his world, Davina Klein. Or should I say Davina Klein-Roberts. Didn’t your husband die last year? It’s none of my business, but how are you even okay with this? Sneaking around with a basketball player, knowing people will find out more about you and start sniffing around your husband’s grave. Because you know they will do that, right? These people, they don’t care. I’m not sure what he’s using you for, but I’ll tell you now. When I was with him, there was no love inside him, no romance—nothing. He’s empty inside. Everything is just a game to him, and right now you’re no different than the ball he dribbles. Whatever it is you’re looking for in him, you won’t find it. He’ll let you down before you even get the chance to ask why.”
I blinked quickly, fighting the stupid urge to cry. I didn’t have the urge because I was sad to hear this but because I was angry and trying to swallow it all down and hold my ground. Lew was a sensitive subject for me, and I was pissed she knew about it.
“If that’s the case, why do you care?” I asked. “Why do you want him back? Because that’s what you’re implying, right? That you want me to leave him alone so you can have him to yourself again?”
She looked me all over. “I’m used to men like him. And though he’s a shitty person and a lousy date, I made a great living by having him in my back pocket. My career blew up.”
“So, remind me again who the user is?”
At that, her mouth pinched tight, and her nostrils flared. It was shocking, really, how the whole world thought she was this beautiful, ethnic, untouchable woman, yet up close she wasn’t all they made her out to be. Hell, I thought she was stunning in the photos, but up close, behind the heavy makeup, designer clothes, polished hair, and filters, she was just a regular woman. A bitter, ladder-climbing woman.
I dropped my arms and walked to the door, pulling it open wider. “Thank you for the knowledge, Giselle, but I’m a grown woman who can make decisions for herself. You can leave now.”
I remained by the door as she glared at me. Then she lifted her expensive leather purse and walked to me with a sheet of paper in hand. When she was closer, I realized it was a check made out to me for $60,000.
“I will give you this if you stop seeing him,” she said in a lowered voice. I looked from the paper to her face, and her glossed bottom lip was slightly trembling.
Sixty grand? Was she serious? My company made twice that in two weeks. Many people would’ve been grateful for a check that size, but I didn’t want or need her damn money, and this was clearly an insult—not only to me, because she thought I’d be shallow enough to take it, but to Deke as well.
I gently pushed her hand down. “Is that really all he’s worth to you?” I asked in an even lower voice.
I know she heard me clearly, because her eyes expanded and she yanked her hand back. Stepping away, she whirled around and slammed the check on my desk.
“When you come to your senses, cash the check and walk away. Leave him where he belongs.” She stormed out of my office, the click-clack of her heels growing faint the farther she was away from me.
When she was gone, my shoulders sagged, and I released the shaky breath trapped inside me.
FORTY-SIX
DEKE
Jacobi Bennet, one of the Ravens’ power forwards, passed me the ball, and when the rock hit my hands, I positioned myself to shoot.
The ball sank into the net, and the nine other men on the court hollered at the tops of their lungs.
“Let’s go!”
“Hell yeah, that’s game, baby!”
“That’s what I’m talking about, Bishop!”
A hand clapped my shoulder as I placed my hands on my hips to catch my breath. We were in the stadium where all the magic happened. Training camp wasn’t starting for another week, but Coach Harrison gave us the green light to scrimmage with some of the rookies.