Page 39 of Pretty and Loco

“Well, good heifer, you blow up my spot, I blow up yours.”

I spun again to go back toward my car. She grabbed my hand before I could. Daya and I weren’t sentimental or affectionate.

“Love you, sister girl.” She said, then let go and disappeared back into my parents’ home.

“Love you too,” I called out behind her.

I pushed the elastic band of my leggings down below my waist for some relief. Then I backed out of the driveway and started the drive from their house to mine.

Before I could get lost in my thoughts, my phone lit up. When I finally stopped at the red light, I picked it up and saw a message from Daya.

Other Half: Leah, I just wanted to tell you again that I didn’t mean to upset you. We just don’t want you to go backward. You’ve been doing so good.

I finished reading just as the light changed, eased off the brakes, and threw my phone on the passenger seat. They didn’t know how to let go.

I was only moving because I knew that Rocko wasn’t done with me. Our chemistry was so magnetic. It was deeper than what he wanted to pretend. He was no-nonsense with everyone else, but he was so patient with me.

Even when I showed up at his home and rang his doorbell, he never cursed me out, never called the police; he’d just come on the camera and ask me, “Man, why you ain’t home?” When I pulled that stunt at the arena with the bullshit pregnancy announcement, he could’ve gotten me banned from there, and after the scene that I made, I expected him to. He didn’t; he just kept telling me that there was a place for people like me. Little does he know I had already been there.

He tried his damnedest to figure out how I knew everything that I knew. Before he revoked my access to his cameras, I could hear how stressed out I had him as he vented to his teammate and his sister. He told his friend that he thought I was doing magic or had put some spell on him. It was more insulting to me than all the times he’d refer to me as crazy, because how dare he think that I would let anyone else play with him. I’m a foot soldier in real life.

With all the patience he showed, I knew it was wearing thin, though. Especially now that he had hurt himself and was worried about his career. I could see the defeat all over his face, and sometimes it pained me to add to it.

Some nights when I was feeling generous, I would let him sleep. Then I would get an alert that he was up in the middle of the night and blow his phone up. He could have hurt my feelings, picked up the phone, and called me everything but a child of God, but he didn’t. He just ignored me.

I loved that. It solidified what I already knew.

Daya didn’t have to worry about me and this move. I would find a way to make things right with my man, and then I would finally behave and live the soft life.

I promise.

“I’ll have the Lamb Chops and Filet Mignon with truffle butter, truffle mashed potatoes, and a French 75, please,” Priscilla said from the other side of the table before closing her menu and handing it to the waitress, who cradled it in her arm and turned toward me.

I recited my order to the waitress, handed her my menu, then waited for her to walk away before we began to talk again.

“Thank you again for flying out to meet with me this evening,” I said, taking a sip of the water in front of me.

“It’s my pleasure. Thank you for trusting my company to bring your youth sports complex to life. I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful partnership.” She smiled.

“I hope so. You came highly recommended.”

This meeting had been long overdue. With everything in my life finally calming down, it was time for me to get back to business.

The last few weeks had been quiet since I threatened to call the police on Leah. I felt like a bitch doing it, but it was better than me telling her that I would put my hands on her. For weeks I couldn’t focus, wondering how she knew certain things and thinking that she had put a spell on me.

But now that I could be sure that Leah hadn’t mailed any strings of my pubic hair to a random woman on the internet, I was finally eating and sleeping again, especially without all the calls and the pop-ups in the middle of the night. I haven’t had any spells of “bad luck” either, and I was grateful. My shoulder was healing, my pitch was almost back at peak speed, and the plans for building this complex were starting to move forward.

Although I'd updated the security system and changed all the passwords, I still had my realtor looking for another place for me to stay. If she was willing to do that, it was no telling what else she had placed in my house to keep tabs on me. It didn’t bother me, though, because I never intended for the place that I was currently living in to be my permanent home. Finding another one was no pressure.

Hopefully moving will be the last thing that I need to help me put all this shit behind me and get back to my career. This meeting with Priscilla was my first step to making that happen.

“What do you think about this? I met with my architect, and he turned some of my sketches into 3D images for you to view. This is what I imagine for the sports complex.” She smiled, pulled out a folder, and placed a couple of pictures in front of me. I leaned forward to get a better look. I flipped through the seven images. Her vision almost mirrored my own. With a couple of tweaks, I was basically looking at the exact sports complex that I wanted.

“This is almost exactly what I wanted. I like it a lot.” I admitted, handing them back to her. “I’m sure there is room for some additions.”

“Of course.” She smiled.

She asked what things I saw for the facility, and I told her some of the things that I could think of off the bat. Things that only an athlete could see the benefit of.