Page 59 of Overtime for Love

“Mom—”

“Obviously you went through a lot of trouble to clean things up where this woman—”

“Angela.”

“Where Angela is concerned. For years, you’ve never walked away from Bridget for any other pretty face that’s crossed your path. Nor have you introduced a woman to the media. If you’re going to be serious about her, then we want to meet her.”

“And you’ll do a background check on her before you come.” He was only half-teasing.

“No. We’ll let you reveal all her dirty secrets to us in person,” his mom said sweetly.

They talked for a few more minutes before saying goodbye. He swore under his breath before going back into the locker room for his stuff. Mark Simmons, one of his teammates who’d been drafted the previous year, stopped him. Isaiah concealed his frustration. He had no problems with Mark, but they weren’t close. Mark was brash, cocky and liked flaunting the money, women and privilege that came with being a professional athlete.

“Isaiah, I saw your girl at Sweethearts last night.” Mark licked his lips. “She’s pretty fine. I might get her to serve me every time I go.” Mark giggled as if he’d just said something funny.

“What did you just say?” Isaiah glared and stepped to Mark.

Mark’s eyes widened but he didn’t back down. “I know you ain’t rolling up on me over that chick.”

Isaiah pointed in Mark’s face. “That’s my girl, not some chick. Don’t talk about her like that.”

“Don’t get mad at me because she’s one of the packages there. Me and a hundred other fellas are checking out all her assets every night.”

Isaiah lunged forward, but Kevin held him back. “Hold up. Not in here. This ain’t worth it.”

Mark shook his head. “Listen to your boy.” He walked out.

Isaiah shook off Kevin’s arm. “I’m good.”

“You sure, man?”

“Yes. He needs to watch his mouth.”

Kevin stepped forward. “And you need to fix your reaction,” he said in a low voice so the other players in the locker room couldn’t hear. “Angela is cool, but she does work in a strip club. Mark won’t be the only guy trying to get under your skin with that. If you’re going to be with her, then you gotta accept that.”

Kevin hit his shoulder, then gave him a look that said, “You good?” Isaiah nodded, but he wasn’t good. He grabbed his stuff and left the arena. Kevin was right. Hell, opponents would try to use Angela to get under his skin. It happened all the time. Just last season Jacobe had almost missed the playoffs because of a personal jab on the court. As long as she worked there, his relationship with her was an open target.

CHAPTER 22

Cory practically skipped next to Angela as she walked into the main office of her apartment complex to pay the rent. Despite getting fired, she focused on the good and kept a bounce to her step. She’d find another job, Cory hadn’t had a teenage meltdown in weeks and things were going really well with her and Isaiah. Life could be a lot worse.

“Are you sad Isaiah has to leave for training camp?” Cory asked.

She glanced at him with a smile. “I’m going to miss him, but I’m not sad. It’s a part of his job.” Even though it was a Saturday and she would have raked in on tips that were desperately needed, she’d asked Z to let her have the night off since Isaiah would leave for training at the end of the week. She didn’t want to spend his last weekend in town serving drinks to strangers.

“I’m surprised you didn’t ask me to hang with Nate tonight.” Cory opened the door to the office for her.

“You’ll miss him as much as I do, plus, he wanted both of us to come over for dinner,” she said. The cool air of the office was welcome after the heat outside. “You two will probably ignore me while you play video games half the night anyway.”

Cory laughed and followed her inside. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

Not that she cared. Cory would pass out from videogame overload and then she and Isaiah would have plenty of alone time. Her lips lifted in a smile and her body shivered in anticipation.

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