“I’m taking your word for it. Now, give my keys and get the hell off my property before I call the police.”
“Say no more.”
Relic tossed a chuckling Mr. Newman the keys before he chucked his chin and tapped Los on the arm, signaling his folks toward his car he’d parked by the entrance. Just as he neared it, Mr. Newman whistled to get his attention. Relic spun around.
“What you want me to do about those checks you had me cutting and mailing?” he quizzed. Relic thought about it before cracking a smile.
“Send next month’s and then stop them. I think I can handle the rest of the payments from here.”
“Wooo! Go, Jah!”Kennedy screamed, bouncing in her foldable chair after Jahleel got an interception and took off across the field.
The nearby parents chuckled at her enthusiasm, and she shot them a quick smile before lowering her attention to her phone, hoping to refrain from garnering unwanted gazes from the male eyes. It seemed like once the weather began breaking, the mothers she was used to seeing were slowly being replaced with dads, who’d gone from eyeing her as if she were an outsider to ogling her like fresh meat. She made sure to keep any conversations short and sweet since she didn’t want problems for them or her. Relic may not have been there physically, but Kennedy wasn’t dumb enough to believe he didn’t keep tabs on his son.
“You know, this is just practice, right?”
Her eyes flitted up at the deep baritone and tall frame towering over her, intruding on her space. The older man who looked more Relic’s age than hers grinned, exposing a dimple in his cheek that reminded her of Lomar, sending her mouth curling downward.
“Yes, I know. Am I not allowed to cheer here?”
“You can do whatever you’d like, but I’m just letting you know that you can save that energy for the real game. It doesn’t make a difference right now.”
“You don’t think so?” she challenged. Her eyes rolled before landing on the field where the young boys got into position at the line of scrimmage before the snap. She used her hands like a megaphone to holler, “Let’s go, Jah! Show ‘em how it’s done, Mr. Gridiron Bully!”
He didn’t react to her since he was locked in, but she knew he’d heard her when the play started, and the center hiked the ball back to him. Jahleel shot off at the speed of light, spinning around one opponent before he stiff-armed another, sending the boy crashing to the ground asoohhhsresounded throughout the parent section. Kennedy burst into laughter after Jahleel dived over the fake endzone line and then stood, flexing his arm with a chuck of his chin in her direction.
“Big Bully!” she boasted, hitting the same flex move before her stare lifted to the man beside her. He raised his hands in the air.
“I stand corrected, but I hope he has that same energy during their real games. They need some wins.”
“Tell that to his teammates. As you can see, mine does what needs to be done. One person can’t carry the team. I noticed a lot of them don’t attend every practice either, or they aren’t giving it their full potential when they’re here. Jahleel is dedicated. He really loves it, so I’m going to do the most every time if that’s what it takes to help his drive stay where it is.”
“I hear you, but they’re kids. He’s what? Nine or ten. It’s good to support him, but don’t put too much pressure on him. He’ll have off days. You don’t want to push him to—”
“Greatness?” she finished with a freshly waxed brow peaking. “Because that’s where he’s going. I appreciate the advice, though.”
Kennedy ended their conversation with a curt smile, and he took the hint to head back to the dads group where he had come from. Once ensuring no one else was coming over to bother her, she checked her phone and smirked at Sonny asking if it was fine for him to call her.
It didn’t take her old best friend long to peep that she messaged him at random times during the day and odder hours of the night. Returning or picking up his phone calls was even more sporadic because Kennedy knew Relic was probably eavesdropping from his surveillance footage, so she only answered while at Jahleel’s practice or if she had time on her lunch breaks at the salon. She had taken a few calls in the bathroom, but that stopped just as fast as she’d started, since she didn’t put it past Relic’s anal ass to count the time and notice she took longer to piss or shower than usual. Kennedy snorted at the thoughts of his compulsive behavior while she thumbed Sonny’s name to call him.
“At this point, I feel like a side bitch, so whoever else you’re fucking that got you hiding me, let them know it’s over ‘cause I can’t do it anymore.”
Kennedy sucked her teeth at his dramatics before she threatened, “I’m about to hang up on your ass.”
“Seriously, Kenn! What the hell do you have going on that you can’t pick up for me? If you aren’t screening calls, the damn phone is going to voicemail. Then, you text back like you’re fucking light skin when that’s my job! I do the ignoring, I don’t get ignored.”
“I told you, I have a hectic schedule here. My life isn’t like it used to be where we shopped, partied, and spent up our brothers’ money. I have big girl responsibilities now.”
“That sounds horrible, Kennedy. I’ll send a prayer up for you.”
Kennedy cackled. “It’s called being an adult, Sonny. I have a business to run and others to help with, so there is little time for me to sit around and chit chat.”
“Which is why I called to give you a great solution to our problem. How about I stay with you for a while? It’ll give us time to really catch up without playing phone tag. Plus, I need a change of scenery, Kenn. Maybe it’ll do me some good like it did you.”
If Sonny was in her face, he would’ve taken offense to how fast Kennedy’s features balled at the mere notion. She had love for her once best friend, but Sonny was messy as hell, and drama was his middle name. He was the epitome of the bullshit that Kennedy had moved away from, so she couldn’t see herself willingly bringing it to her doorstep or her home. When an honest excuse popped in her head, she relaxed in her chair and placed her eyes on Jahleel.
“Now isn’t the best time, Sonny. I’m sort of between places at the moment.”
“Bitch, you’re telling me after all this bragging you do about running a business, you don’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of?”
