Page 22 of Play Hard
“Like I said, we’ll make it work,” I told them.
“Shit, just pisses me off,” Jeret added.
“Pisses us all off,” I replied. “But we’re not gonna let it stop us.”
“He’s right,” Rock agreed, “fuck them!”
“We got this,” Del extended his arm, fist formed toward the center of the table we’d all gathered around for Gayla’s announcement.
Ethan immediately joined with his fist. “Yeah, we do.”
I followed, touching my fist to my brothers’. When Jeret and Rock followed, we all nodded. We weren’t big on words back when we were at the House. This was our show of solidarity and strength. It was enough said for us back then and now.
CHAPTER 10
Serra
“Don’t come back with more bite marks on your neck,” Michaela said before our call ended two hours ago.
It was Saturday afternoon and she’d called to let me know that Adrian’s PR team had made an official statement claiming his innocence in the gambling ring. A move that wasn’t unexpected, which Zora mentioned when she’d sent me an email attaching said statement. Our game plan was to remain silent until we absolutely had to speak. So far, neither the NBA Commissioner nor the FBI had made an official statement that they were looking at my involvement, but my attorney was on standby just in case. Just as Zora was ready to go into full damage control mode the minute my name was publicly mentioned. Aside from the initial letter informing the agency of the preliminary accusations against Adrian and the possibility that I might also be involved, there was radio silence where I was concerned. I was grateful for that fact, but also waiting for the other shoe to drop at any moment.
During our initial meeting, Zora advised me to delete all the social media apps from my phone and stay away from any of the sports networks on television. She wanted all news about the investigation to come from either her or my attorney. I obliged,even though I hated not being able to keep up with my current or anticipated clients on social media. As a part of protecting them in legal negotiations, I also tried to be on the lookout for any problematic behavior that we could nip in the bud early on. It would’ve been great if I had the wherewithal to do the same where Adrian was concerned. Maybe then I would’ve seen the signs of him cheating—in the game and with other women.
I blushed and silently cursed myself for getting onto another FaceTime call with Michaela. Our last one had been two weeks ago, the morning after my apology visit to Noah and she’d immediately noticed the red mark he’d left on my neck. To be fair, the mark was big as shit, so I was partially thankful that she had been the first one to see it on the call that had come before I’d even made my way out of bed. If I’d gone downstairs for breakfast without any coverage, Pop Pop definitely would’ve seen it. Not to mention anyone I encountered once I decided to go out. But after her questions about who had tried to literally eat me up, I’d decided on a stylish scarf around my neck for the next few days.
Leave it to her to bring that incident up again tonight. “I told you that was a one-time thing,” I replied.
“Yeah, but you liked that shit, so I don’t believe that one-time nonsense.” Michaela had laughed. “To prove my point, I’m calling you first thing tomorrow morning and you’d better answer. Neck inspection at seven. Byeeee!”
She disconnected the call before I could offer a rebuttal, which was actually only a chuckle anyway.
Now, I was walking into Game Changers knowing I would see Noah and feeling more than a little excited about the prospect. He’d been abnormally quiet on our run yesterday morning. And that was after almost kissing me again after our workout on Thursday but agreeing to buy me breakfast at Margie’s Diner instead. Aside from Pop Pop’s restaurant, the quaint little dinerand its boisterous owner, Margie, had quickly become my next favorite spot to eat in Providence.
In truth, the town was a lot more like city-life than the Hallmark movie vibes I got during my childhood summer vacations. I’d shopped in a lot of the shops around the Main Street corridor, visited the really nice library and stopped in a couple of coffee shops. There was no Starbucks in town, but the hand-sized apple turnovers at Callie’s Café which I favored with my large caramel coffee as an afternoon treat were to die for. They also had excellent internet reception which I worried about the first day I’d taken my laptop in with me and tried to get some work done.
Even though I was on a leave of absence, I didn’t want to get behind on my emails. My clients would always be my priority and no back-up agent was going to know more about them than me.
“Hey!” Camy yelled the moment she saw me approaching the table they’d snagged near the stage. “We weren’t sure you were still coming.”
Frowning, I turned my phone over in my hand so I could swipe it and look at the time. When I parked, I grabbed it off the holder, but I hadn’t dropped it in my bag while I walked inside. “It’s five after seven,” I said. “You counted me out after just five minutes?”
While I’d only known this group of ladies for two weeks and this was just our second time hanging out, we’d instantly clicked. Or better yet, Camy Greer was insistent that we were going to be good friends as evidenced by the Wednesday night last week when the trio showed up at the lake house to kidnap me. Okay, kidnap might’ve been a little over the top. They announced that it was all-you-can-eat shrimp at Lakeside, which I’d already known but hadn’t felt like being in a crowded restaurant. Camy did not take that as a good excuse, and before I could think ofanother one, I’d grabbed my bag and headed out the door with them.
“Nope,” Camy said. “Not I. Portia’s the one who said you might prefer to stay in tonight. You know, since you’re trending on social media.”
“What?” I asked.
“I didn’t say it like that,” Portia interjected, interrupting my question. “I just said that I’d seen some of the posts and they didn’t seem to be slowing down. If it were me, I’d be ready to hide out for a while.”
“But she’s already hiding out,” Camy added.
“Damn, Cam!” Rylan yelled, and Camy’s eyes widened in question.
Overall, I liked the three women. Camy’s twin brothers were close friends with Noah and co-owned the bar with him. She seemed to be the leader of this pack with her lively personality and video vixen body. I’d craved curves like Camy’s, but under my mother’s strict health regiment I dared not think about gaining a pound over what those BMI charts stated was appropriate. Even after my mother’s death I continued eating healthy and being so self-conscious about my weight the stress directly attributed to my anxiety diagnosis.
Rylan was the down-to-earth one, the tomboy who morphed into a beautiful woman who introduced herself as the one who preferred oil changes to eyeliner. She was dating Camy’s brother, Del. And Portia, the intimacy coach and writer, with the bomb ass pixie cut, was one of the most interesting people I’d ever met. She was married to Ethan. I tried not to think too deeply into the fact that they’d sought me out and I actually enjoyed our first outing together. It didn’t mean that I was destined to be with Noah or anything like that. After all, Camy wasn’t paired with any of the guys in Noah’s crew.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, trying like hell not to overreact, as I eased onto the high-boy chair and hung my bag on the back rung.
