That was odd. Who the hell had gotten access to my room? It must have been one of the guys playing tricks. When we returned to the hotel after the game, my room smelled like a woman’s perfume, and I found a pair of thongs on the bathroom floor.
I immediately assumed it was Muffin. I didn’t know why, because she stopped doing surprise visits to me on the road a while ago. It just didn’t make sense for it to be anyone else.
“Hey, Ashton. Surprised to see you still here. The rest of the team headed out about an hour ago,” Chanel stated, walking up to me in the hotel lobby as I exited the elevators.
I jerked my head up from my phone.
“Uh, . . . yeah, I know. I was just coming down to grab a drink at the bar.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I replied, stuffing my phone in my pocket. “You want to get a drink?”
“Sure.”
“I didn’t realize you were staying here. What floor are you on?” I asked.
“The third. Of course, not on your floor.”
“You know which floor I’m on?”
“Everyone knows that you guys occupy the twenty-ninth and thirtieth floors.”
I knew that it couldn’t be her. Sure, she had come on to me, but that made no sense. This woman had no reason to play those types of games. If she wanted me, she could just come out and say it. Besides, we had cleared that up anyway.
“You didn’t want to go out with them?” Chanel asked, distracting me from my thoughts.
“Nah. They’re going to the strip club. There isn’t anything there that I haven’t already seen.”
“Sure it isn’t because you’re trying to keep the peace between you and the other teammates?”
“Nah. I’m good. They know what’s going on. I gave Coach permission to share with them so we could be a cohesive team and get our shit out there. Angelo, Wade, and Christian wanted me to come with them, but I was good on that. I’ve got a lot on my mind, and watching naked women dance isn’t at the top of my list of things to relax me.”
“Mm . . . said no man ever,” she stated with a chuckle that hit me down low.
We took a seat at the dimly lit bar and ordered our drinks. Chanel wore a pair of jeans that looked like she had to be poured into them. They hugged her hips, thighs, and ass nicely, as if they were made specifically for her. She wore an ecru off-the-shoulder crop top sweater and a pair of heels the same color.
“You traveling by yourself?”
“I am.”
“Do you get out when you go to some of the cities and check out what they have to offer?”
“Absolutely. I love to travel alone so I don’t owe anyone an explanation about my time. I can move of my own accord, when and how I want to, and switch up if I desire.”
“I’ve always traveled with my wife in the past, or with family and friends. I’ve traveled alone a few times. I love checking shit out with other people or seeing things through their eyes for the first time.”
“That’s cool, too, I guess. Uhm, . . . about the game earlier. What was going on with you?”
“Still struggling with this shit between Alex and Zoe, and some other stuff. I mean, don’t get me wrong, we’re over, and she’s gon’ do what she’s gon’ do anyway. I just don’t get him. He’s my boy, and I thought we were better than that. You know?”
“No, I get it. If you can’t trust the people around you in this world, who the hell can you trust?” she asked, sipping her drink while her eyes started dipping a little lower.
“Exactly.”
“But here’s the thing, Ashton. You’ve got to getthat shit out of your head and get your head in the game. If you knew your wife was cheating all these years and put up with it, now is not the time to be in a space about that. You were able to make itthrough and put on stellar performances all this time, and you should expect nothing less from yourself in this last season.”
“I know,” I admitted. I didn’t want to talk about the bombshell about Muffin not being able to have a kid or the other people I learned she had fucked. That wasn’t Chanel’s business. “Let’s go grab a table.” I noticed a few other people joining us at the bar, and I didn’t want to talk about personal shit where folks could ear hustle.
