Page 30 of Ride

“Kayne’s with your brother, right?”

Amena swallowed the bite of her food down. “Yep.”

“He’s a good kid. You’re a great mom.”

She held hand to her heart. “Thank you. I did something right in my life.” For a change, it wasn’t raining in New York. The sun shined brightly into my suite, against her soft skin.

“Is that how you really feel?” Amena had a lot of doubt in her young days, and me being a sounding board I tried to be there for her, but she needed to figure out on own how to navigate her choices—especially with her parents.

Amena shrugged her shoulders and sighed. “I’m probably the last person you want to hang with on this trip, Laikin, but I do appreciate you getting me the job.”

“You're welcome,” I said as we continued to eat.

“Sometimes, I used to wonder why I chose Virgil over you.”

I tensed at her statement. When he tried to grab his kid, I was ready to put him on his ass, and Brett talked me down. I needed to stay out of it because of my career.

“My parents had an idea about us, but I never confirmed it. In their eyes, I became rebellious and they thought some boy was in my head. Only recently did I tell Brett.” Amena laughed.

“Did he ever get physical with you?”

“A few times I thought it would go in that direction.” Gulping down her drink, she ate another piece of her fish.

Turning my head, I stared off to the ESPN conversation on the upcoming race I had.

“I missed you,” Amena whispered, caught my stare.

Scratching my cheek hesitantly, I wanted to say I missed her as well those first few months, but my ego wouldn’t let up.

“Time is moving fast. We should go over the clothes for the interview before Sarai comes busting in here angry.” Standing up, I drank the rest of my soda, wiped my hands on the napkin, and went to the bedroom to change clothes.

Amena approached, knocking on the bedroom door seconds later, and I tossed the robe on the edge of the bed after slipping into sweats and a t-shirt.

“Try the black shirt and slacks for the interview.” Amena held up both for me to try on.

“Thanks.”

Amena stood off to the side and I strolled into the bathroom putting on the clothes. I came out to her smiling.

“I knew that was the right color.”

“You have an eye for clothes.” I winked as she came behind me, smoothing out the shirt and pants.

“Sarai will be downstairs in an hour. Try another outfit and let me take a picture before we finalize.” Reaching for the next rack of shirts, she passed them to me to try on and we had several talks of what would work for each show.

I was feeling fresh after she got the outfits lined up. I got dressed and ready for the show. Sarai led everybody to the studio offices as paparazzi stood around, calling out names and snapping pictures.

“Laikin Trenton, is it true you and Callie are no longer engaged?” some photographer blurted out. Covering my eyes from the bright lights, I blocked the camera from my face and shoved my way through the crowd.

“Come on! We allegedly got you on a sex tape!” Another lie spewed in my direction.

“Fuck you!” I shouted and loud chatter erupted at my outburst.

“Laikin, let’s go!” Sarai yelled, pushing me to keep walking as security yanked the passageway open for everyone to come inside.

“What were you thinking?” Sarai groaned, hurriedly typing on her phone.

“Shit. My bad, Sarai.”

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