Page 35 of The Way We Dance

Ty

Islammed the door to my apartment, not even happy to finally be home.

Mostly because I saw my brother lounging on my couch and a little bit because I wanted to be back at that stadium, beating the fuck out of the guy that grabbed my face mask and slammed my head down. Funny how the refs didn’t see that part, but the second I defend myself, I get tossed out.

“I thought I told you to leave?”

“I didn’t know when you would be back,” he answered without even looking at me. He lifted the remote to turn the channel and took a drag from his cigarette.

“Doesn't matter when I come home, I told you to leave before I went to camp.” I slammed my bags down and stalked to the fridge, looking for my protein drinks. There was nothing in the fridge but beer so I slammed that shut too. “You can't even replace the shit you drink? You even bother cleaning your shit out of the toilet?”

“Dude, chill out. It isn’t even me you’re mad at,” he laughed but still never looked my way.

I rounded the bar that separated the kitchen and the living room and stalked toward the couch. Mike has switched the TV to the highlights of the game and in big print was, Ty Black In Danger of Suspension. I am sure the commentary that went with it was full of shit they didn’t even know about.

"He could have given you a concussion," Mike said as I sat beside him. "You did what you had to do."

I leaned back and breathed a sigh of frustration. I should have been picking him up and shoving him out the door, but I didn't have the energy. I was going to have to deal with him another day. At least Marcus and Devon weren't here.

"I am so fucking tired," I confessed. "Camp and being attacked in the media. Coach has me doing some extra shit as well. I just need to sleep in my own damn bed."

"Go ahead, little bro. Marcus and Devon are out of town, so it's just me and I swear I won't bother you."

I leaned up and looked over to him, "Out of town?"

"Yeah," he rolled his tongue around in his mouth, an excuse to stall what he wanted to say next. "Just had to take care of some business. You know."

As much as I wanted to be kept in the dark, I knew what their business was. I didn't participate and it was the main reason they needed to move away from Atlanta—away from me. Mike would do anything to use my face for his so-called business. Just like any other company that used athletes to push their products, Mike wanted to use me to push drugs.

"Buy this shit, even Ty Black approves."

Fuck, he would be all over that if I let him. Maybe he already was and I just didn't know about it. Coach would die a very slow and painful death if he thought that was the case.

There my brain went again, worrying about “brother shit” that hadn’t happened yet.

"You gotta leave, bro," I said calmly, hoping it sunk in. "Not just my apartment but Atlanta.” He didn’t need to know that I had lied to Coach about him being there, or that Coach didn’t believe a word I had said. He was letting me deal with things right now, but he wouldn’t let it go forever.

Especially if my game kept sucking.

"No can do. We have things going on here. We need to see it through. Atlanta is a goldmine."

I breathed out hard again and shook my head, accepting the loss. If Mike deemed it a goldmine, he wouldn't ever leave. Not even the love of his little brother would make him leave good money.

"Find a new place to live, then. If it's a goldmine, you can afford your own place."

"Working on it. I swear. I will be out by the end of the week."

I stood up and accepted his word because I was too tired and stalked to my room. It had been two weeks since I had been in there and I took a quick minute to make sure my shit was still in its place. There wasn't much in my apartment. Most of my personal awards and things were in storage but I kept my Super Bowl rings in my drawer and that was the first thing I looked for.

Still there.

For a minute, it hit me how stupid I was to leave them where Mike and his goons could find them. But now that I realized they were safe, I felt bad for thinking he would steal something I coveted.

Mike was bad news but I was his brother. It was why it was so hard to make him leave all summer. My only motivation now was football and I thought it was easily explainable so he wouldn't be upset.

Maybe he did have a new place in the works. I needed to give him more credit where I was concerned because I should know that even though we lived in different worlds now, we came from the same place and he always had my back.

I hopped in the shower, more at ease than I had been ten minutes before. I leaned back and let the water rush over my head and shoulders, letting it wash away the stress. I was content with the realization that Mike was probably holding to his word, I would be out of his realm of bad news soon, I didn't play terribly before I got kicked out of the game, and I got to see Giselle in a couple of days.

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