We idled there long enough to see her enter her floral shop and be embraced by her parents. When we pulled away, so did my thoughts. I pushed everything out of my head except for what I was going to face.
“I just don’t understand why they pushed the arbitration up. We haven’t had a chance to finish our research. This can’t be good,” I mumbled, running my hands over my head as my elbows rested on my knees.
My stomach was in knots, and my head was hurting in the worst way. Everything was at stake over this one decision. My career, my dreams, my future, and my ass were all on the line over the outcome.
“Reigh, chill out, man. You got this,” Noah Washington, my best friend, advised.
“Everything will work out the way that it’s supposed to,” Tank Donovan, my head coach, reassured me with a squeeze to my shoulder.
“Yeah, I keep telling myself the same thing, but this is bullshit,” I replied, dropping my hands from my head to rub them together as I looked down the hallway.
Passion Franklin, my attorney, was heading in my direction. She was walking fast like her feet were on fire. She was barely taller than five feet, but she was finer than a muthafucka. Shorty was a baddie with rich, dark chocolate skin, tilted gray eyes, full, heart-shaped lips, and a short blonde pixie cut. She was thick in all the right places and intelligent as hell.
I respected her, though, and as bad as she was, I wasn’t trying to get up on that. It was ironic how women threw themselves at me these days. When I was a kid, people shunned me because of the scars that I had from a house fire I had been in when I was twelve. That was when my mother lost permanent custody of us.
We had initially gone to different foster families, but when my foster family grew tired of the back-to-back surgeries, hospitalizations, and everything that came with my care, they contacted my social worker, who contacted the Reeds. Not only did they take me in, but they fought like hell to get my sister and brother too.
The night of the fire, Paloma was spending the weekend with a friend. Wryn, who was a junior, was at work, and Mama had taken off somewhere and left me home alone asleep. She had forgotten that she was cooking something on the stove. By the time I woke up, the house was engulfed in flames. No one could reach her for almost two weeks, and she had gone off her meds again.
“Listen, we were able to get this arbitration pushed up because of some new evidence that has come to light. They’re ready to hear us now. Reighvyn, I need you to follow my leadand trust me on this one. Yes, there will be allegations about you being on drugs, but it’s true. There will be revelations that may be upsetting. That’s not what I want you to focus on, and please keep your temper under control. Do you understand?”
I had several explosive arguments with people since the allegations of doping came to light. Passion had struggled to keep me calm, and I knew she was worried now.
“Yes,” I mumbled, standing.
Noah and Tank stood with us, and we followed Passion down the hallway to the conference room. I had requested three arbitrators be present, and all of them were in the conference room, along with a medical expert, a member of my science team, and a few other witnesses.
My jaw clenched when I saw Mama Alma, Papa Larry, Paloma, and Wryn seated at the back of the room. I was clear that I didn’t want them involved in this process. I wasn’t sure who had given them the information about the hearing, but I was furious.
I took a seat with my attorney beside me, and Noah and Tank sat behind me.
“Who called my family in?” I whispered angrily to Passion.
“Tank.”
I glanced around at him with a mug in place, and he simply shrugged. I would deal with his bullshit later. I turned my attention back to the front as the proceedings started. I listened to one expert after another get up to testify about their findings, and I struggled through one of the witness statements. He was someone else’s sparring partner, and he claimed he overheard me bragging about a supplement that was a game changer.
When I explained to Passion through a whispered but heated exchange what that meant, she dismissed me. I was growing angry until the final witness was called, Kaimera Slope, the girlfriend of my nutritionist, Kevin Beasley.
I couldn’t understand why she was there. What did she have to do with anything?
“Ms. Slope, would you please tell us how you know Mr. Bloom?”
“My boyfriend, Kevin Beasley, is his nutritionist and friend.”
“What brings you here today?”
“I have witnessed actions taken by my boyfriend, Kevin, as it relates to the food products and beverages he prepares for Mr. Bloom. On several occasions, my boyfriend has brought me to Mr. Bloom’s home, and he has brought products he prepared for Mr. Bloom into my home.”
I listened in disbelief as she explained how Kevin had been tampering with the juices he made for me, along with my water. My chest tightened as she explained that he was paid by Norrell Kidd, the head of an illegal gambling ring, so that the odds would be in his favor. Most people bet on me, not against me, but Norrell knew that I would eventually start losing my fights as the drugs took impact on my system.
Luckily for me, someone reported it long before I consumed too much. I watched as my attorney presented pictures, taped conversations, bank records, and video footage of the meeting, the arrangement, deposits and payment, along with video of Kevin tampering with the juices and waters.
She expressed that she didn’t feel right about it, because she genuinely liked and respected me. When she confronted Kevin, he downplayed it, told her to mind her business, and that they deserved a little something more for all their hard work with the millions I made.
A nigga might have been waiting for the truth to be revealed, but I couldn’t anticipate how devastating the truth would be. My head was all fucked up because Kevin was a part of my inner circle, one of the few I trusted.
“Hey, I know this ain’t what you expected, but at least the truth’s out,” Tank reasoned after the arbitration ended.
