Page 121 of Free Agent

Monty's bitch ass was all smiles as he came out to excited cheers from the kids who recognized him, and the others too, who were just clapping because everybody else was clapping, me included.

I was more than capable of being cool, especially considering why we were there.

I was handing out towels when I felt eyes on me, and looked up to find Monty staring me down.

Here we go.

I didn’t have the time or energy for that shit though. I was just a little more than a week removed from that flare-up but was still kind of recovering from it. There was a dull hum of discomfort radiating through my shoulders, even now, and I didn’t have extra mental energy for whatever the fuck he had going on.

We played different positions, different sides of the ball, so it was easy enough to just work with my group and then send them to the next station.

Work with my group, send them to the next station.

On and on like that.

Just there doing what I was supposed to be doing.

Until the lunch break was called, and I looked up to find Monty heading in my direction.

“Hey Wilder, let me holler at you for a bit,” he called from a few feet away.

“I’ll pass,” I told him, shaking my head. “You ain’t talking about shit.”

He stopped in front of me, jaw clenched. “Just a quick chat. I need to holler at you about something. Something you need to know.”

Now, obviously, I was aware he could be full of shit.

He was probably full of shit.

But there was a chance, however small, he did actually have something important I needed to know related to Rori. Or something she needed to know.

Shit.

“Back there, away from these kids,” I said, then turned and started walking, trusting he would follow me around to the side of the fieldhouse, out of view of the crowd.

I crossed my arms, waiting. “What do you want?”

“You and Rori are getting pretty close, huh?”

I shrugged. “What does that have to do with you?”

“It’s got everything to do with me,” he shot back. “If it wasn’t for me, she would have never given you the time of day. You caught her with her heart broken.”

My eyebrows went up. “And you… what, you think that’s a flex? That you fucked her over so bad that... she was... feeling reckless and emotional when we met?”

"I ain't saying it's a flex. I'm saying it's what happened. So, you're welcome."

"Aiight, I don’t have time for this,” I said, waving him off as I moved to leave.

"Nah, you gonna make time," he said, stepping around in front of me, basically blocking me from moving on.

I scoffed. "I don't know what the fuck you think this is. But it ain't game time, nigga. I will rock your shit."

"No need to even take it there. I'm trying to warn you."

"Warn me about what?”

“Rori. Look, I get it. She’s fine. Got her own business, her own money. She's fun in bed. Dream girl, right? But I’m telling you. She's never gonna actually lock in. We've been engaged six fucking years. She wouldn't plan a wedding. Six fucking years. She swore she wanted kids. But she's so scared about what happened to her sister, she's never gonna have a baby. You're wasting your fucking time."

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