Page 67 of Full Court Press

I’d acquired a lot in the last ten years and was proud of my accomplishments, but since leaving True, I had been empty.

The accolades on my wall, winning a Pulitzer for my outstanding journalistic work, and even living lavishly didn’t fulfill me.

There was an insatiable longing inside of me.

Longing for real love.

Longing for a family of my own.

And . . . a longing for the man whom I’d let get away.

I knew if I showed up to that gala tonight, things in my almost-perfect life would shift.

The question was whether I was ready to face the man who stole my heart. How would he react to seeing me? Would he be happy? Surprised? Would he hate me?

I was sure it would be the latter. I’d hurt him. I just didn’t know if we would ever come back from that.

This is stupid.

My heart was galloping out of my chest as I paced my living room, on my third glass of wine. The cream slip dress clung to my curvy frame and was ultimately making me hot since my nerves were frayed.

I fanned myself with my clutch, careful not to perspire too much before I sweat my edges out. This cute spiraled updo I managed to do had to last at least until the end of the night. I looked in the mirror mounted on my wall and fixed the curls that framed my face.

I had no idea why I let Shina convince me to go to this damn gala. I was setting myself up for failure.

That, I knew.

If this was work-related, I could have put my focus on that, but since it wasn’t, my thoughts and feelings were on seeing the man I had caused pain.

“Piper, what the fuck are you tripping for? You reached out after you left. It’s not like you’d forgotten about him,” I scolded myself. “You may have hurt him, but it’s been ten years, and clearly, he’s moved on and is happy. Besides, Shina’s right. I could potentially score some new stories if I go.” I blew out a hefty breath, then drained the rest of my glass. On cue, my phone lit up with Tashina’s name.

“Okay, Piper. This is it.” I shut down the lights, grabbed my phone and keys, then exited the house.

“Yasss, baddie! You are serving beauty and bawdy, honaaay!” Shina exclaimed out of the window. I shook my head as I got inside her 2025 BMW.

“I swear, I don’t know why I let you talk me into this.”

“Because deep down, you know you want to see that gorgeous man.”

“Please don’t make me regret this, Shina. I’m only going because you were right about me scoring some interviews. I haven’t done a piece on any ball players, so this could be interesting, especially if I can get an interview with Isaiah Phantom Walker.”

“Or Khalil Ghost Grey.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

“Okay, first things first. I need you to get rid of the illusion that Khalil and I will be rekindling anything. Too much happened in those few short months between us, and it didn’t end on good terms. I left him. I broke his heart, and he shunned me. So I’m asking you not to go in there with the intention of playing matchmaker. What we had is dead and gone, and I am okay with that.”

I wasn’t okay with it, but she didn’t need to know that.

“So, apparently, you didn’t tell me everything. Here I am, thinking it’s because you had to move back home because of your mom, and it’s because you made the choice to leave him?” she asked in shock. “Why did you leave?”

I looked straight ahead and shook my head. I didn’t want to reveal my selfish truth, but since I’d slipped up and said something, I knew I had to tell her.

“A lot happened outside of our relationship. I wasn’t completely healed from Andre’s Houdini act, and my insecurities outweighed my love for him. Did I love him? Absolutely. Did I trust him? Yes. But when his baby’s mother attacked me, and I had to put paws on her, I knew we would never live a life of peace as long as she was around.”

“Are you serious? Not your feisty behind running away from a little smoke from his baby’s mother. Not the woman who dominates boardrooms like she’s Miranda Priestly ducking wreck from who I’m sure was a nobody if he was with you.” She giggled.

I frowned. “What? What the hell does ducking wreck mean?”

“Meaning you fought her and ran like Natalie Nunn did to Diamond the Body from Baddies.”