by Andrea Rose
But I also had a team and its fans relying on me tomorrow.
I had to stay coolheaded. I didn’t need Gavin’s greasy fucking nose sniffing into my personal business.
“Yuri Kissinger, for some goddamned reason, is taking you on her books. You wanna tell me why? You fucked her? Yuri’s always been a little soft on appropriate client relations.”
“What?”
“You fucked her. Crusty bitch like her’d do anything for a slice of you.”
“I ain’t you, Gav.”
“What’d you just say?”
In the elevator, Gavin watched me.
“What do you mean y’ain’t me?”
“Nothin’.”
“Nothin’?” He stepped to stand toe-to-toe below me, finger pressed into my chest. I laughed him off and rested back against the metal bar behind me.
“Why did she take you on all a’sudden?”
“Quit wasting my time. Why would Yuri Kissinger go near me?”
“Exactly what I’m thinking. What shady shit you working here?” Gavin exited out the elevator and scanned the hotel lobby. “You trying to find a way to squeeze me out, is that it? Yuri told you she can manage you now too she’s seen you’ve made a comeback? What game you playin’? Because if she’s up to something, she knows what I can do. Tell her that for me.”
“You’re paranoid, old man. Tell her yourself.”
I strode out the elevator towards the hotel lounge.
Some of the boys woke in time for breakfast and I waved.
Weird looks back.
Obviously made an ass of myself last night.
Lost in teammates’ mixed expressions, I hadn’t noticed someone at my side.
“Let’s do this.” Yuri Kissinger stood below me with a Bloody Mary in one hand and Ari’s binder in the other.
Her bug-eyed sunglasses lifted to me. I checked back to the exit out to the parking building.
Gavin stood opposite side of the glass smoking a cigarillo, Lightning team security at his side. He tilted his head and let me on my way.
“Come on.” Yuri looped her hand under my arm to lead me up the hotel lobby stairs to an empty room above the pool.
I fell onto the windowsill, unable to be near Ari’s binder without her nearby. She’d left me, personally and professionally. I knew that might be an option in this but I never thought it’d end in silence.
Someone else in the room.
My head spun.
Phoebe, Jacquie and Chrissy sat in a large table in the corner.
I glared at them then inspected Yuri.
“Think we all probably celebrated a little too hard last night, babe?” Phoebe said to me, her eyes puffy, skin dull but her snaggletoothed smile as beautiful as ever.
“What happened now?” I asked.
“You forgot? Well, you were a pretty happy drunk last night, mate, for the first time. I forced you all to celebrate for the last time I’d ever show my face in public again, remember?” She spun a screen at me and I unwillingly stared once more at Phoebe’s scandalous photo.
“You really don’t remember yesterday?” Chrissy asked.
“Do any of you have a Xanax? I’m too old to have a hangover like this,” Yuri whined.
Phoebe filed through her purse and slipped something back to her.
Yuri pursed her lips. “I always liked you.”
“Woah,” I said, arm extended to stop the transaction.
A guilty Phoebe handed me the orange bottle which I threw in the trash for safe keeping.
“Ooh, tight leash he’s got you on,” Yuri said and swallowed her pills with a sip of tomato juice.
“To clarify,” I said as we all moved to hunched over a large debrief table. “We are all hungover?” I said, admiring the girls’ disheveled faces.
A quiet Jacquie in her off-grey Hilary Clinton suit raised her hand. “Not me. Sorry I couldn’t make it in time. Flights were cancelled everywhere due to the storms. Hi Tyler.”
With space to think, yesterday became clear…
“Of course,” I said standing to shake Jacquie’s hand. “The Plan.”
38
I shivered in the air-conditioning of my Rent-A-Dent Tahoe. I never noticed the hot setting blowing ice cold since I’d left New York and saw the Baltimore City Limits sign.
I parked in the driveway of a house I once lived in— My parents’ home. I’d lived there a summer of high school. So it wasn’t a home more than a place I lived once. Prior to that, my cozy family of three bounced around the world wherever the military needed Dad. That suited this live-wire child fine until this moment.
The engine purred off.
I waited in the fading light for motivation to open the door of the truck.
Home shouldn’t be a place you hesitate to walk into. I wished I could feel a sense of returning home—somewhere safe, full of love, where I was wanted and missed.
My fingertips turned redder around the steering wheel.
Day faded to a deeper blue.
Deeper…
Deeper…
D e e p e r…
My knuckles were doused in twilight. Breeze whipped the dead trees, casting haunting shadows on the hood of the truck and the garage door ahead.
Tink!
I gasped, spun round and relaxed seeing a chestnut in the truck bed beside my small, black weekender.
I don’t even know which pre-packed bag I’d grabbed—The summer, the winter or the business trip. I needed to get as far away from Braydon, Tyler, and that city as fast as possible so packed the first one I laid my hand on and ran.
A flash of headlights hit my face. Van Morrison’s Just Like Greta played over the low hum of a classic Corvette.
“Here we go,” I looked at my eyes in the rearview.
It was hard to keep my breath calm as his car pulled in beside me. His grey stubbly face squinted, eyes adjusting to the muddy glow of the security light.
“Hey…Dad,” I said with a shy lift of a hand.
“Chicken?”
A Maldova never got shocked but Alex Maldova, my stocky, Army-bred father, was in shock.
I took one last inhale and climbed out the truck into Baltimore air. “Surprise.”
Dad slipped his Army baseball cap over his grey ponytail, grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me firmly. His teeth were bared, crow’s feet pinched tight, passion vein popping from his forehead— I didn’t know if he was about to scream at me or cry.
He shook me twice again a little harder
“Chicken…”
Head cocked sideways, Sherlock found signs his daughter’s been up to no good—Unbrushed hair, chewed nails, weight loss? Military dad was good at following clues.
“You forgot your gloves,” he noted after shaking my hand.
I nodded and tucked my hands under my arms. “I…I left in a bit of a hurry.”
The garage light shone beneath the rising roller door. It caught a speckled dazzle in Dad’s eyes.
Tears? A Maldova never cried either.
Ever.
Except about things that mattered.
“Oh, Dad. Come here.”
I slid forward to rest my cheek on his chest. He caught my head and swayed us side-to-side. I didn’t know what to say first. Why might he be so upset? I squeezed him tighter.
“You doing OK, kiddo?”
“I’m fine.” Damn auto-response.
Dad leaned against my truck and inspected me one more time, dabbing at the corner of his eye.
“Chicken,” he said. “How long ya been parked up here for?”
“I dunno. Lost track of time.”
“You know your Mom’s inside. She’ll be awake. Menopause got her on a weird sleep schedule.”
“Menopause?” I said, “I didn’t know she was going through…”
“Well, we text you about it. Emailed you too.”
“Well,” I said. “I remember a time you refused to use those things.”
Dad’s ignored me w
hen his hand lifted up from the hood of the truck. “Engine’s pretty cold, Chicken. Ice cold. Why’re you afraid to enter your own home these days?”
I marched my knees in place, trying to keep warm and fake that I was totally cool and breezy about everything happening here right now.
Nope.
Nope.
Abort, abort.
“Sweetie, did me or your mama do something to hurt you at some point? I mean, I’ve been going over it and over it, where we might’ve done wrong by you to deserve this silence.”
He stayed straight in his words, no need for small talk— Something I admired about him.
“I resented you and Mom both,” I said and wiped my nose. “My whole life, I’ve fought with you guys about my dreams and how I didn’t care if they sounded crazy, they’d work. And they did. Every single one. And a part of me feels you both resent me for making a life of my own and not in the forces.”
I flicked him a sorry smile then moved to get my bag out the truck bed.
“But I’m here now, Dad. Is that OK?”
“You are here now. That you are. Oh, Ari, look Fuck this. This elephant in the room— Sweetie, are you OK? Are you…y’know…clean?”
I curled my lip down. “Clean?”
The blinding porch light came on beside me. Dad instantly dropped the question and carried my bag towards the door.
“Oh, honey, look who’s ho-ome?” he sang for the one and only Grace Maldova.
My mom leaned through the front door, as glamorous as always, long, free-spirited hair waving in the wind and her charcoal facemask on.
I moped behind Dad.
Mom stood in front of me, tongue pressed in her cheek, arms folded.
I swallowed. “Mom…I…I’m sorry it’s been so long.”
“Long, Ari?” she snapped. “Long doesn’t even cut it. We thought we’d lost you. Get inside.”
I stammered something of a comeback but Mom clicked her tongue over me.
“Inside, Ariana. You’re officially on my leash until you’ve explained yourself.”
39
The Plan set into motion.
I’d never had such a clear objective for my future:
Her.
Fuck football, fuck jobs, fuck the rest of our lives because I wanted Ariana and I wasn’t gonna wait a damn second longer to get her.
Chrissy kept lookout by the door of our privately hired functions room—our secret hideout for the next two days.
“Here’s the script,” Yuri said, slipping a packet from her file-case. “Everything’s in motion for tomorrow morning. You’ll need to attend a meeting with the big wigs once you’re back in the city which I’ve set up. With that, I’ve held up my end of the bargain. You hold up yours.”
Something tapped my foot…
Gavin’s phone Chrissy’d slid to me across the carpet.
I wagged it at Yuri and warned, “…I need both ends of your bargain.”
“Once she returns to clear out her desk, I’ll mention it to her.”
“Yuri.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Don’t you dare believe I’d ever go against my word.” She snatched up the phone from my fingers. “Wonderful. Does this fucker have cloud storage?”
She scoured through the camera roll.
“I have his passwords,” Jacquie added cautiously, her hands tucked under the table. “We’ll delete the video from the phone but do save it for your own records, in case.”
“We’re in the same business my dear. I know what I’m doing.”
Yuri caught the phone from tossing it in up in the air triumphantly. “Not a word of that video,” she said to all of us. “Not a word. We all make mistakes. I made the biggest.”
She stared around the tired faces in the room.
“One of the biggest.”
Where she might be, alone without me, thinking I’d given up on her…
“Everything for tomorrow is in this doorstop,” Yuri said to the binder.
Ari’s brick sat in the middle of the desk.
My heart ached again knowing how close she was to being mine. But it meant two more days of staying patient.
“Thank you,” I told her. “I know your a little big league for me but I thank you for your time on this.”
“I’m a lot big league for you, my boy. I’m also not about to see my company fall apart at the hands of two reckless young lovers. How hard is it for you attractive people to just keep your hands off each other and find someone else for Christ’s sake?”
“With her,” I said, “extremely.”
“Cute. Ariana did do a good job with you.” Yuri clapped her hand on my cheek. “No word to anyone about any of my being here. Last night, this poor girl got sucked into too much celebratory nonsense with you lot. I trust you all will never mention a word of it to anyone ever again.”
She stole my hand to shake then looked me directly in the eye, poised with no maliciousness.
A true professional.
“Dare I say, I’ve found some respect for you, Tyler King. You proved to me there are balls under that jockstrap. However, I don’t make excuses for my staff and apologize Ariana conducted herself unprofessionally.”
“You know that’s bullshit.”
“Due to my dedication to my clients, I was obliged to fire her. I hope you’ll understand my choice one day.”
“Trust me, I won’t. You’re lucky she’s got me to catch her this time.”
She put on a brimmed hat on her way out the room.“One last thing, you do love her, right? That’s why I’m sweeping this bullshit under the rug?”
“I think you and I both do, ma’am. Professionally for you, of course. You’ll regret letting her go the same as I did.”
She swirled her hand and backed up, her long nails tapping an iPad.
‘Oh the water…!/Oh the water…!’
Yuri’s top started singing our song. She hung up the caller, paced back toward me and pulled something from her bra.
“Forgot about this.” Ariana’s smartphone lay in my palm, its screen smashed—Her life-force. “She’ll be wanting that back I’m sure. She’s thorough with her security that girl. Tell her well done on listening to that clause of mine, at least.”
“Have a safe flight, Yuri.”
Chrissy tugged my hand to bring me back inside and locked the door.
“Careful. People can’t see Phoebe’s here.”
Phoebe sat closed up in her chair, weepy from a hard day of backlash since leaking her own photo this morning— Her apology gift to me and Ari, for disappearing on us the other week, threatening this whole lie we built.
I’d never’ve asked her to do something this huge.
Alone yesterday, my arm hugged her head when she admitted she’d quit acting altogether, ran to the UK and dropped her LA agency.
“If Ari can’t have her job or me, she at least gets you,” she’d said. “I know I said otherwise but the tricycle will pedal on.” Sniffling, she punched the air.
Me and Phoebe needed a very immediate scandal to shake things up— One where negative attention wasn’t directed on me, right before the Bowl. I had to fade into the background as Phoebe copped the blame and shame—Her words, not mine.
She’d decided it out on her flight over she wanted to regain control of the situation. She told me the second we got in the car. I didn’t know whether to shake her or kiss her. Due to nearby photographers, I kissed her.
But, dammit, the kid didn’t owe us a thing.
“I told you stop reading comments.” I snatched her phone back and slid it over to Chrissy to babysit.
“I can’t stop. I didn’t know people could hate me so quickly for something so…”
“They’re not real people, Feebs. We are. We don’t hate you,” Chrissy said munching on a cookie reading a comic. “I love you.”
“We love you,” I said. “We’ll be here to help you through this. For today, no phones.”
I crouched in
front of her. “Are you regretting it?”
She tipped her head back and forth.
“Don’t. It’s a gesture I won’t let go to waste for you. I promise.”
“I don’t regret it. Doesn’t make the public shaming any easier.
My head felt dizzy from the sun beating down through the window. I fell into a nearby seat.
“I know everything about being hated.”
My hand reached for hers to let her know I’d be there for her.
Waiting for Jacquie to finish her paperwork, my thoughts raced some more. I hadn’t had time to sort through them, to deal with or ignore them.
Most important, I needed to stop doubt bleeding in that this whole thing would be for nothing if Ari pushed him away.
My daydreams weren’t that any longer.
…Ari wrapped in my arms, her head no longer distracted by busy work, but lost in her journalism…
…I’d support her when she asked me to, millions of dollars in the bank I’ll never fucking use…
…Her dogs bounding around the ranch with the horses…
…A night where Braydon would be forced to watch me make feverish love to his ex-fiancee, the love of my life, the way she goddamn deserves…
…She wouldn’t like the last one but a man could dream.
“All done,” Jacquie said.
She slid a slip of paper to my hand with a list.
“You’re kidding,” I said at the sheer length of the thing.
“Some of the them you can prosecute for. Most are my hearsay from the years I’ve known him professionally; they won’t hold up. At least the embezzlement, that can get him booked but that’ll take days to process…”
“Ty,” Chrissy chewed and set her cookie on the table. “You’re getting Gavin arrested?”
“I didn’t tell you?”
She scurried her office chair toward me and slapped her hands on the desk.
“Today? You’re doing it today?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
“Uh—duh—possession?”
Open mouth, tongue pointed out wickedly.
“You don’t think I’ve been plotting ways to get him cuffed since I met the slob,” she said. “Call in a bomb scare, ask a cop to check his pockets tomorrow. I’ll make sure to sneak something in there.”