Bread sucks his teeth. “Man, how is this fair?”
“No one told you to stay out late,” I point out. “And if you do, get your ass up. I didn’t get home until this morning. You work hard to play hard, and this is work. Take a few pictures and play a few games. Act like Ms. Henrietta raised you before I call her.”
It wouldn’t be the first time I tap in Bread’s mama.
“Fine,” the twenty-four-year-old mumbles. “I smell eggs.” He storms off, his nostrils wide, beard tipped to the ceiling. His black tracksuit disappears into what I assume is the kitchen.
“This MLK celebration in Marcela’s council district wouldn’t have anything to do with us being here, right?” Kendrick gives me a pointed look. “You never jump to do events that require us to get out of bed before ten.”
“Don’t start. It’s good publicity.”
“Right.” He exaggerates the word with a chuckle. “I’ll get someone to tell us where to go, Cap.” He pats my shoulder and bops away in a thermal hoodie and jeans.
The team gives me shit for my calls with Miriam. Kendrick found me knocked out with the phone on my forehead more times than I can remember. Is it my fault that he and the rest of my snack-stealing teammates don’t have a friend worth staying up for? Sounds like jealousy to me.
Outside of Julian, Miriam is my closest friend. I hate texting or talking on the phone, but I make an effort for her. Not that she requests it.
Getting her number was a joke at first. I didn’t expect her to speak to me again after our New Year’s Eve in the hospital. Since we were in a packed ER, I used the hours we waited to get to know her.
That was the first night we talked alone, outside of a group setting. Well, as grown people who pay taxes. The time before that, Miriam was telling me to read my social studies book, as if I were five and not in middle school.
I didn’t want our time to end once we left the ER, but she tossed me back into the friend zone faster than she pounced on me after sharing chicken and soliciting a one-night stand. The reality of getting with my first crush would stay a fantasy. I went home with a confirmed broken nose, a splitting headache, and cum-stained drawers.
Nursing my ego back to life would take a sick day or two. That, I could get over. What I didn’t want to lose was whatever version of Miriam she felt comfortable sharing with me. So I asked around and got her number to remind her that she’s my emergency contact.
It took a medical report to prove I didn’t have brain damage for her to answer my calls, but she did. Three years later, she’s my longest nonsexual relationship with a woman—my mother excluded, for obvious reasons.
The crush is still here. I’ve been feeling Miriam since I was a kid, and I don’t expect the attraction to disappear overnight. The more I learned about her and the quirks I studied from afar, the more I was hooked. Every conversation drew me back to her giggles and her failed attempts at humor.
I care for her, more than I have any other woman.
My phone buzzes.
Mike
Cap, tell Jordan it’s okay to warm up food in the microwave with tinfoil if you keep the heat on low.
The hell?
Please tell me you didn’t. We talked about this.
Mike
My bad. Would you mind grabbing some milk on your way back? And a new microwave for the community kitchen?
Coach Washington had to be high the day he called me into his office to tell me I was captain of our rugby team.
Me.
The same guy who risked arrest years ago for running naked on the National Mall to helicopter my dick in the sun after a win. Now I’m lucky if I can hold it in peace or leave the house without someone trying to blow it up.
Steel House is a ten-unit building I purchased after my first year on the team. It was a real estate investment at the time, to generate revenue. Now it’s a childcare facility for toddlers with muscles.
Unlike international teams, rugby players in the US aren’t busting it wide open dripped in diamonds with seven-figure deals. The salary cap for our league compared to other sports is low, and that seven figures is more like five—as in, $50,000 on the high end. My investment portfolio earns more in my sleep, and that lets me focus on the game I’ve played since I was a kid. I can afford not to squeeze in a job between daylong practices and training. Thus, Steel House was born to pay it forward, and I’ve been risking premature gray hairs ever since.
At twenty-nine, I’m the oldest in a house of five starters and four reserves, which says a lot about the maturity level.
It wasn’t long ago that I was tasting my way through Chocolate City. Every serving size in every position. I was young with an MBA, making money hand over fist with no responsibilities. Days were for business, Saturdays for rugby, and nights for my pleasure.
