“I think it’s from me. We vibe off each other’s energy, and I’m certain they felt my energy.”
“Do you carry the responsibility of the world on those broad shoulders?”
He looked up at me with his eyebrows dipped into a frown. “Whatcha talking ’bout?”
“If no one around you has to take responsibility for what they do, maybe they shouldn’t be around. It seems like you take the blame for everything that goes wrong around you or every challenge or complication that arises, even when others create the problem.”
“Nah, I just know when I could have prevented a situation from occurring, or I could have made it better.”
“Yeah, I understand. But some of the people around you need to learn to do the same. It was up to Angelo and Neal to play the game they always play, not you. Neal let them score on his ass repeatedly, and I’ve seen him do that a few other times. Had nothing to do with you,” I reaffirmed, swiping my hand sideways.
Titan loped into the room and came and sat on Ashton’s feet. I reached over and rubbed his head. He let out a contented sigh, and I looked at Ashton. “Your twin is so loyal.”
He chuckled and nodded before he reached down and scratched his dog behind the ears. “He’s ’bout the only loyal muthafucka I know.”
“I guess that makes two for me then.”
“What’s that?”
“Loyal muthafuckas I know.”
A slow smile graced his handsome face and made my heart squeeze. I knew that I was playing with fire, not only being at the cabin with him, but taking the chance to stare into his eyes as long as I did, never mind sitting as close to each other as we were.
He broke the tension by reaching forward and grabbing the remote. He pulled up the replays on his phone for tonight’s game from the link that his coach had sent earlier and cast it to his TV. We sat and watched it in silence.
Every now and then, one of us would point out a play that should have been run differently or something that was executed flawlessly. He saw my point about Neal’s lack of defense and how Angelo’s shooting was off. I saw his point about the lag in his energy based on the faces and body language he exhibited.
As he switched over to previous games, my attention strayed to thoughts about who had vandalized my car and apartment. I didn’t always give off warm, cozy feelings to people, especially to the people in my interview subjects’ inner circle. They becamepissed if I pushed an athlete too far on touchy subjects. Then there were the women connected to the male athletes.
Because I was a daddy’s girl and a grandaddy’s girl on both sides, I naturally got along well with men. I was good at helping them let their guards down, but when they were more defensive or naturally guarded, I wasn’t afraid to use my feminine wiles to get what I wanted. Women grew anxious when their men connected with me or seemed a little too comfortable.
It could have been anyone targeting me, but I knew that it was connected to Ashton rather than me. Too many of the text messages were specific to him and me leaving him alone. Whereas he didn’t think his ex-wife had anything to do with it, I wasn’t so sure. I knew how it felt to be blindsided by a divorce when you thought everything was good.
Although Muffin had been cheating on him, Ashton had been letting a lot go for a while. He was a protective man who could become aggressive, but there was a sweet side to him also, as long as he was handled properly. I believed Muffin knew just how to handle her man when she pushed too far. I believed that she knew how to pull his collar and rein him back in.
But he was smart, too, because he clearly had allowed her to have just enough rope to hang herself. We had spoken a lot about his marriage, and he had let it slip that his mother had made sure that they had a prenuptial agreement in place before marriage, to his wife’s dismay. But he had made sure that she had a certain amount set aside for her, to ensure that she would be okay in the event something happened to him or their marriage.
I sighed and sank further into the couch as I closed my eyes. My head was hurting from all the things that had occurred over the course of the day and from all the thoughts that I had been thinking.
Ashton squeezed my knee. “Hey, everything’s going to be okay. I promise. I know it seems overwhelming right now, but this will all come to a head soon.”
“Ashton, you don’t have to stay overnight with me.”
“I had planned to be up here for the next few days until our next game anyway.”
“I just don’t want to inconvenience you. Not that I’m trying to have you make that drive back, but if you wanted to, I just don’t want you to feel pressured to stay.”
“Hey, I don’t do anything that I don’t want to do. Even when people see all the bullshit going on in my life, trust me, it’s only happening because I’m allowing it to. I never feel forced about anything, and you’re no inconvenience for me. I do appreciate you putting things in perspective about the game earlier and my attitude toward other people in my life though.”
“You’re welcome. You’re a great man, and I just want to see you get the best. You’ve done a lot for your community throughout your career and used your platform to bless others. If you think about the tool library and the tech center, it will be great for some community too.”
“I’ve not only been thinking about it, but plans are in action to make it come to fruition. I took your idea and ran with it. My family and my best friend and his wife are involved. Everyone has a role to play to bring it to life. I already have someone looking at the best communities to serve, land to build on, and demographics. I have someone on marketing, someone pulling together the volunteers, and someone else getting the construction firm lined up. I’ve got my parents on funding and donors, and I have someone developing and overseeing the budget.”
My heart leapt in my chest. I knew that I had suggested it to him, and he seemed to have been excited about it, but I wasn’t sure if it was just for the moment and that it would fall at thewayside later. But he had genuinely taken it to heart and was moving forward on it.
“I love this for you, Ash,” I declared, not realizing I had shortened his name until he winked at me.
“I like hearing you call me that.”
