No one would think he was a failure, but he internally struggled to admit that maybe it wasn’t what he’d thought it’d be.
Or that he wasn’t strong enough to ride out what most would have.
Did he make a rash decision? Or had he truly had enough and it was a sign?
He’d like to believe it was the second, but he wasn’t sure what to believe about his life.
“I did. It’s not a secret. I made a lot of friends. But budget cuts didn’t extend to the players, rather the office. More was falling on my plate than before, so it was hard to get work done from the road. I was still there doing promotions and setting up media, then I was doing paperwork that others used to do for me. Next thing I know, the past six months, since I’m there, I’m a babysitter for some rookies to keep them out of trouble.”
“That’s a joke. Entry level staff should do that, not you.”
“Exactly. But I took it on the chin because I’m a team player. Most of the rookies were good this year, or listened enough. Older players could step in and deal with it, but one was a bit of a handful.”
“Who, so I can hate him?”
He laughed. Since he could trust his mother, he told her. “Levi. He’s young. Twenty-one and just wants to party. Thinks I’m his personal assistant to get him what he wants. I squashed that misconception quickly enough.”
The first time Levi told him to order him food he laughed in his face and told him to do it himself.
Getting him a dancer for a party, not happening, and he even had to have the coach step in to end that stunt on the road.
“Good for you.”
“Things quieted down for a bit, but then Levi’s girlfriend was always around and causing issues. She was under the assumption I cared about her relationship with her boyfriend.”
“Did you piss her off?” his mother asked.
“No. I was nice to her and shouldn’t have been. I tried to stay out of it. I should have been a dick, but she took my friendliness of not telling her to get out of my face as a way to get back at her boyfriend.”
“Jayce, please don’t tell me you had a relationship with this woman.”
“God no,” he said, his face shrinking back in repulsion. “I’d never do that. Never be with someone who was with someone else and I sure the hell wouldn’t risk my career over it.”
He couldn’t believe his mother had asked him that.
“I’m sorry if you’re insulted, but I just wanted you to verify it.”
“Well, she told everyone we had a thing. One night, she came to my room looking for Levi. She showed up at an away game and knocked at my door. I told her I didn’t know where he was and I was busy, then shut the door.”
“So she lied?”
“She did. No one believed her but Levi.”
“Sounds like that is exactly what she wanted to happen.”
“Yep. He approached me in the hall, shoved me against the wall.”
“I would have reported him,” his mother said. “I know you, you’d never assault another employee, least of all a player.”
“I wouldn’t and I didn’t. I walked away from him and told him he was believing the wrong person. But what could I do to prove it?”
He’d actually been able to prove it to Henry, who didn’t believe the lie anyway. He showed Henry proof of his workingin the hotel room from prior to when McKayla showed until she found Levi. Thank God for all those emails he was answering.
Henry showed that to Levi, but it didn’t make the rookie back down though. He knew there was pride there, but it wasn’t on him.
“So you just quit? You let him have the final word? That’s not like you.”
Which was why he didn’t want to say this part because his parents knew that in the past, he wouldn’t let that shit get to him, but he had.
