I open my mouth to breathe because Ace isn’t sober enough to save me if I go flailing down the rows of seats below us. He’s fucked up, just like Blake wants.
“It took some time for me to connect the dots of this saga and remind myself thatThe Kidis human—flawed but human. I mean, we all make fucked up mistakes. I don’t know if they’re all as serious as raping a good friend’s girlfriend on your Mom’s birthday on a superyacht during a drunk tirade because alcohol is another one of your vices but hey, a mistake is a mistake. Am I right? Now, she gets to sit pretty along the courtside with her future sister-in-law while the world tries to decide whether they should still like you for your talents or hate you for the rest of your life for doing something so detestable to the most protected species in America—a fucking white girl. Word is, Javier’s supposed to propose any day now to solidify his new family-man image to go with that eleven million dollar rookie contract the Lakers threw at him thanks to Ace’sdaddy.”
This is it. This is the worst part about my obsession with men I hate and like. It’s those deep, heart pounding, stomach twisting, dry heaving panic attacks that no one told me about.
“Shit, ifThe Kidwould’ve done something like that to a girl like you, all would’ve been forgiven and he would’ve been balling in the league right now. Kinda' fucked up, huh?”
I choke out a dry heave that makes Blake’s eyes grow.
“Are you okay—”
I jump up and push past him, climbing the steps back into the suite two at a time, but even while drunk, Ace still has an imaginary rope tied to me. His droopy eyes land on my face while my body tries to decide if it should run home or back to that parking garage.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, reaching for my arm.
It slips between his fingers as I search for a way out of this everyday life shit he has me involved in. I need to tell Mama that my relationship with a grown man was short-lived. I need to go back to boys without vices and closets full of dirty blonde skeletons.
All it takes is for the announcer to belt out one last monotonous nod to the visiting team’s standout, Javier Quinones, for my body to make its final decision.
I take off outside the suite and back to Charese in her elevator. Her cheeks drop as soon as she sees me power walking toward the doors with Ace on my heels.
I glide inside and slam my shaking hand against the button to close the doors before she can.
“You a’ight, girl?” she asks, frowning.
I check my wild reflection in the elevator’s doors and plaster a smile on my face. “Yeah... yeah. I left something in the car. He just tripping because he don’t like me wandering around by myself.”
Her eyebrows crinkle while she nods, and I don’t take in any of the words we say as the elevator shoots down to the floor that leads out into the parking garage.
We exchange goodbyes and I stumble past the staff members whose faces were a blur while I was under Ace’s arm. I dig my phone out of my purse while pushing outside into the empty garage, but I don’t get far before I hear him behind me.
“Lourdes!” His voice echoes and I pick up my pace. “Come here!”
It’s that rope again. It has my feet contemplating how smart it is for us to stumble back home, because Ace hates when we don’t listen to him.
“Baby...” he slurs, making my head whip around. “Tell me what’s going on. Do I need to go talk to that ni—”
“No!” I squeeze my eyes shut and then fling them back open.
He’s only a foot away, holding an empty glass in his hand, and my feet keep inching toward him when they shouldn’t. His smile is missing again and his red eyes tug me closer to him while I try to shake the thought of him and hisvictimout of my head.
“B—baby...”
Hearing about the accusations when we’re miles and galaxies apart on two different planets is different from hearing them after I’ve lived on Planet Ace for two months. Now I know all about Cheyenne. Shit, I know more than I ever wanted to know about a girl I was sure I hated until I realized she’s more than just a headline or a tweet. She’s real.
“Why you ain’t tell me?” I choke out.
“Tell you what?”
“Tha—that she was here. Th—that she’s friends with Cree. That you knew-herknew-her. That she was Javier’s girl. That she was there on that boat on your mama’s birthday! That it happenedthatnight! Tha—that you were drunk when it happened.”
The glass slips from his hand and shatters against the ground. It’s the perfect representation of the obliteration of the shield surrounding Planet Ace. Our home is in jeopardy, and I don’t understand why he made it that way.
He shakes his head, stepping forward and reaching out to me. “How the fuck was I supposed to tell you all that? Huh?”
“I don’t know! But I would’ve preferred to hear it from you than some man who looks at you like a walking dollar sign.” I glance at his trembling fingers grasping for my shirt.
“He wasn’t supposed to tell you any of that. He was just supposed to talk to you about—about...”
