“There you go with that shit. I never said that.”
I scoffed. “Close enough.”
“Your ass stay on the defense.”
“So?”
“So, chill. All I wanted was the fuckin’ menu. If you don’t know where that’s at then that’s all your miserable ass had to say,” he barked before leaving me standing in the middle of the floor.
six
. . .
Hendrix
I’d had just about all I could take of Cassidy, and we’d only been sharing a space for less than forty-eight hours. I was already on ten about my agent ghosting me and dodging my calls like the plague, and I didn’t need her shit added to it. As pretty as it was, Cassidy’s mouth was the type to make a nigga turn to Jesus or want to send her head flying off her freckled shoulders.
I found the menu without her help and took it into the living room with me and turned on the TV. Of course, one of the first things I saw when I put it on ESPN was my name across the screen as the two on-air commentators discussed my injury, my trade, and the fate of my career.
“Count him out if you want to, but he’s not called The Tomb Raider for nothing. Hendrix Croft gets busy on the court, okay? Anyone can see that he loves the game. He’s true to it and although his season didn’t end on a high note, he had an amazing start to his season. I think he’ll be back on top.”
“I’ll have to agree to disagree with you, Samantha. It’s sad to say, but the guy just may be old news. Let’s be honest, here. He’s a great player, but he’sno Lebron. He’s been traded to one of the historically worst teams in the league. We all know that’s where players go when their careers are on life support. This just isn’t a good look for him, especially with all the new hot talent that some of these new players have.”
“Let me tell you one thing, Kansas City broke the bank to get The Tomb Raider, so I’m not going to be surprised if he gets in there and does just what he did with the Sin City Mambas. He’ll be looking at another championship ring soon, John, just wait.”
I quickly changed the channel when I heard the slight tap of footsteps across the floor and mentally braced myself for the drama that I was sure would soon ensue.
“I see you found the menu,” she stated.
“Yup,” I said, without bothering to turn and face her.
“Hey, um…I just wanted to apologize again about the whole dribbling a ball thing I said. I—I didn’t know about the trade.”
I huffed. “Everybody in the whole word knows about the shit by now, I’m just tryna deal with it.”
“And how’s that going?” she inquired.
I scoffed as I finally turned my head to look at her. “Like you care.”
“For the millionth time, I’m sorry. I didn’t know your situation before I said anything.”
I nodded. “Sometimes, I sit back and think about how different my life was a year ago, shit, even three months ago. I was at the top of my game. I had respect, or at least I thought I did. I bled black and red for the past four years. I made that team a whole fuckin’ franchise and they traded me? Me!”
“And you didn’t see this coming at all? Like, there were no warning signs?”
“Don’t you know it’s all about the all-mighty dollar to these greedy mothafuckas? They own sports teams because they want to work us until one of these million-dollar body parts fail. The moment it does, they start working to replace you, because you’re a liability and no longer an asset.”
“You don’t know if that’s the reason,” she rebutted.
“Shit, everything was all good. Mothafuckas were smiling in my face, talking about renegotiating contracts with my agent, new endorsement deals, and boom, I get a grade two partial tear of my MCL in my left knee in game six of the finals, and two months later, I get hit with the news I’m being traded like I’m a piece of trash. They don’t need any other reason than that to try and kill my career. I know they blamed that loss on me.”
Her lips flattened into a hard line. “Who? How? You put half the points on the board that night.”
“Nobody said it to my face, but what other explanation could there be? I put that team on my back and built them up to where they are now, and they did me like that? I’m pushing thirty, Cassidy. I should be writing my own ticket by now, and yet I’m being passed around like a slut at a frat party, and to be honest, I don’t want new teammates or to make new friends.”
It was no secret that I’d had a rough time finding a home when I first entered the league. Either my attitude didn’t mesh with the other teammates, or they just didn’t have the work ethic to match mine. I’d gone from team to team until finding my groove in Las Vegas, and I was scared to have to start all over again.
She folded her arms across her chest. “You know what you sound like right now?”
