“When is Jaxxon getting here?” Kelcie asked, taking me up on my offer to change the subject.
Jaxxon was a talented and successful wide receiver. When his contract expired and free agency kicked in, he immediately started campaigning to play for the Coyotes. I knew he and Travis wanted to play together. They were best friends who alsohappened to make magic on the field. But I also knew that he was trying to get to me.
I wasn’t being arrogant or conceited. I was being honest. Jaxxon was making it his business to get to me so that I could fulfill the terms of our agreement.
“Four days,” I admitted. “I spoke to him this morning. He just has a few more things to wrap up in Oregon, and he’ll be here.”
“Did you find him a place?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
She eyed me suspiciously. “Is it near you? Because if it’s not?—”
“Kinda, sorta.” I squinted my eyes. “He wanted a house, views of Lake Michigan, not too far from the stadium.”
I didn’t know how I expected her to react, but it wasn’t necessarily with applause.
“Yes.” She cheered, clapping her hands. “That house is for you. Just like the house in the Caribbean. He keeps buying you houses.”
“And what does Travis keep buying you?”
“Shut up.” She pushed my shoulder lightly. “Travis is my husband, though. Jaxxon is your . . .” She let her thoughts trail off, waiting for me to fill in the blank.
I didn’t. I couldn’t. How exactly would I describe Jaxxon’s presence in my life?
We were both caught up in our own thoughts for a moment.
“Are you gonna do it?” she probed after a few minutes of silence.
“I kinda have to, don’t I? I need to be a woman of my word. I’ve never lied to Jay before. I’m not about to start.”
She clapped some more; this time, it was demure. “He loves you, Skyy. This is a good thing. Y’all have been . . . well, you have been playing with that man’s emotions since puberty.”
“I haven’t been playing with his emotions, Kels. He knows how I feel about him and why I’ve never let things go there. I love him too much.”
“Excuses. Excuses. Baby girl, you know I love you. You’re my bestie, north westie. But you can’t keep hiding behind your excuses.”
“I’m not.” I fought against letting my annoyance come through in my tone.
Kelcie didn’t live inside my body, she didn’t feel what I felt. She didn’t know all my secrets . . . hell, nobody did. I wasn’t about to tell her the whole story. I did love Jaxxon too much. I loved him too much to put our relationship on the line. He was more than just my friend. She was my friend, and I valued her. But ItreasuredJaxxon.
There were levels to my loyalty and trust.
There was nobody outside of my mama that I trusted more than Jaxxon. And that was saying something, because gaining my trust was difficult as hell.
“What about Mario? You still seeing him?” She must’ve felt my resistance, because she jumped subjects again.
I fake gagged. “Clown nukka.” I left it at that.
Kelcie laughed. “What was his infraction, Skyy? Other than not being Jaxxon.”
“It’s not Jaxxon’s fault that dude was giving big shoes and a red nose.” I sighed. Like, I really didn’t want to tell the story, but honestly, I didn’t care. “So, I kept waiting for him to ask me for a proper date. Instead, he kept inviting me to the gym. Since I enjoy working out, I didn’t have a problem with meeting him at the gym. We met up at the gym a few times to work out. Cool. So, the first infraction happened when he invited me to his house after the workout one day. I go, not having any plans of anything jumping off. I’m trying to see if it’s worth my time to pursue something with this guy.”
“Right. Right.” She co-signed my thought process.
“I get there, and girl . . .”
“What?” Her eyes were bright with intrigue.
