“I need to understand what’s going on here so that I can warn my parents.”
“Sit down, Chanel.”
She did what I ordered, heeding the dark warning in my tone. “What?”
“How much of that call did you overhear?”
“Enough to know that she has been flashing photos of me getting in your car outside of my parents’ place, you told herto look out her window, and then you made a call to someone named Salvatore. What the hell is going on, Ash?”
“Salvatore is my cousin on my father’s side. You know that I’m biracial, and my father is Italian. Well, Sal is my father’s brother’s son. He’s a soldier in the mafia, and he’s no joke. Chanel knows that I have family in the mafia, but we’re not that close to that side. She’s never met them, and she doesn’t know much about them. But she knows not to fuck with them, and now she knows not to fuck with you.”
“This is crazy. Are you kidding me? We cannot play with the mafia, Ashton.”
“Nobody’s playing with shit, but I also don’t play about a damn thing connected to me. You’re now connected to me, baby girl.”
“Oh my gosh. What have I gotten myself into?”
“You’re not into anything. You’re protected. The cops weren’t doing a good enough job, so I did what needed to be done. I just wanted to make sure your folks are good. You’re okay, because you’re with me.”
“I need to call them.”
“Go ahead.”
I hadn’t meant for her to overhear that conversation. She had been upstairs taking a nap when I saw the latest post on Sociogram about me being a cheating bastard who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants. I could’ve let it go, but when I saw the picture of Chanel climbing into my car and her parents’ house in the background, I couldn’t let it go.
I headed outside, and Titan followed me. I needed to blow off some steam, but I didn’t feel like working out. I grabbed an old football from the back porch and threw it. Titan took off to fetch it and came running back. We did that a few times before I kneeled and patted his head.
“You’re a good boy. You’re about the only person in this gahdamn world I can truly depend on not to judge me about shit. Mama and Papà would have a fit if they knew I called Sal. Chanel’s in there freaking out, and Amé would shit an entire brick. Coach would probably bench me or beg them to pay out my contract so the team would no longer be associated with me.”
I looked into Titan’s soulful hazel eyes as he stared up at me. It was ironic how much our eye color matched at times. The green in his hazel eyes were deeper than the amber, and his color was almost the same as my green eyes.
“Hey.”
I turned to look over my shoulder and saw Chanel stepping out of the back door.
“You good?”
She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest.
“I have a game in a couple of days.”
“I know.”
“It’s a home game. Are you going to your parents’ house while I’m there?”
“No. I’ll be just fine staying here. It will give me time to start on your article.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I’ll be comfortable by myself.”
“I’ll leave Titan here with you.”
“I think Titan is starting to like me a lot.”
Smirking, I replied, “He’s not the only one.”
She hung her head and tucked her bottom lip into her mouth. “Ash, we barely know each other. You can’t possibly like me that much. All you know of me is that I’ve been all in your face and in your business the last few weeks.”
