Serving Time (The Valentine Law Series Book 1)

by Bailey West

  “We are looking at calling up one of the shortstops who has had a phenomenal couple of seasons. We are in negotiations with Wesley Phillips and his people on a new contract.”

  “Is Phillips worth the money?” Orville, one of the other owners, asked.

  Clearly, he hadn’t been keeping up with the team. Which is another reason why I was planning on buying them out. Wesley Phillips was arguably one of the best center fielders to ever play the game. His batting average has stayed above a .300 which was almost unheard of. He was a team leader and motivator. I was willing to offer him whatever he wanted to remain on the team. Losing him would be detrimental.

  “I feel like Phillips, and his agent are stalling,” Theodore stated.

  “Would you like for me to speak with him?” I’ve had an excellent rapport with Wesley. I could probably find out why his is holding out.”

  “I would appreciate it a lot, Samuel. He’s not really giving us a reason for his hesitancy, so maybe he will let you in.”

  “I will see what I can do.”

  I typed out a text to Raymond:

  I need a face to face with Wesley as soon as he is available. Preferably before I leave town tomorrow

  On it – Ray

  I received a text back from Ray about fifteen minutes later.

  Tonight. 7pm. Lucy’s – Ray

  I didn’t announce my meeting with Wesley to the group. I would let them know if something came of it.

  I arrived at Lucy’s, a local restaurant, ten minutes early. The hostess led me to a private dining room where Wesley was already seated.

  “What up, El,” Wesley stood to embrace me.

  “You got it, Wes.”

  Wesley and I were introduced by a colleague of mine who represented him at the time. I was impressed by Wesley’s business acuity and of his plans after he finished playing baseball. We discussed investments and commercial property. He told me he grew up in construction because his Dad owned a construction company in his hometown of Ragston, Michigan. We had discussed partnering on some business ventures in the future.

  “Can I bring you something to drink?” the waitress asked.

  “What top shelf bourbons do you have?”

  “We have a ten, sixteen or twenty-year aged bourbon.”

  “Twenty-year?”

  “Yes, some people like it, and some don’t. It’s about fifty-fifty as far as people who think it’s the best thing ever and those who say it’s too old, too bitter and lacks the tastes the younger bourbons have,” she explained.

  “Humph, I guess it’s worth trying. Bring a glass for my friend and me, neat please.”

  “How about I bring you a sample. If you like it, I will bring you a glass. If not the sixteen year is a favorite around here.”

  “Thank you.”

  The waitress left the room.

  “How are Momma V and Torrey?”

  “They both are well.”

  “Tell them I said, hello.”

  “I will let them know. I didn’t plan on seeing you while I was in town. I thought you would have been down in Florida preparing for the season.”

  The waitress returned with our samples of the twenty-year whiskey. We both took the shot and agreed it was too old and bitter. She already had two glasses of the sixteen year on her tray. The sixteen year was much better.

  “Would you like to order, or should I come back,” the waitress asked.

  We both ordered the prime rib and the seasonal vegetables. She left the room, and we continued our conversation.

  “I haven’t signed the contract yet, so I won’t go until the business is settled.”

  “That’s what I wanted to discuss with you. What is going on with that? Is the amount being offered not fair?”

  “It’s more than fair. Honestly, El, I think I have fallen out of love with baseball. At one point in my life, I ate, slept, and lived the game. Now, not so much. I think about all of the things I have given up or missed in pursuit of this career. I used to think it was worth it. Now, I don’t think so.”

  “What brought about this change?”

  “Age, I guess. I will be celebrating my fifteen-year high school reunion soon. I know to a lot of people, to most people, my life is a fairy tale but what do I have to show for it? Nothing. I mean nothing that will outlive me. I want a family, a wife, and kids but I can’t have that and still have this career. Not the way I would want to have it.”

  “Are you not still dating the model? I thought that was working out.”

  “Man,” he sat back in his chair. “She is a great person, but she is so superficial. She is so surface and shallow. I thought it was something I could get past, but I need someone who won’t doze off when I talk about my business plans. Someone who doesn’t think it’s strange that I don’t always want to be in front of a camera or posting on Instagram. I need someone who wants the space of the country but not live too far from the city. I can’t have that with Diamond. She’s not built for it.”

  “Do you think the person you are looking for is out there?”

  “I know she is. I left her behind for this.” He used his hands to motion around him.

  “I don’t believe you’ve ever mentioned her before.”

  “That’s because she is not available. She’s married and living her life, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting some stability. I’m tired.”

  “So, what are you saying?”

  “I’m saying I don’t want to sign a contract longer than a year because that’s about how long I am going to be able to hold on. I don’t want to just walk away without helping the team fill my spot.”

  I moved in closer to the table even though we were in a private dining room.

  “Check this out, what if I told you I was making a move to secure majority ownership of the team?”

  “Word?”

  He sat up in his chair.

  “Yes, I’ve been tossing the idea around in my head for quite some time. I sat at the owners meeting today and thought about it some more. After listening to you, I know it’s time. I have some things in motion, but I will start working diligently to make this a reality by the time this season is over. What would you think about having a front office job? It would afford you the ability to stay closer to home, create the family you were talking about and honor your contract. I can have the lawyers throw in a clause which would allow you to move from player to executive. Would that be something you would be interested in?”

  “What! Hell yeah, I would be interested.”

  “Good. I will have a contract drawn up for you, and I will also add a clause that gives you an out if something were to go wrong with this deal I am crafting. I don’t foresee a problem, but you can never be too careful.”

  The change in his mood was palatable. I knew my words had hit their mark.

  “You draw up that contract for me, and I will sign it tomorrow.”

  “I told you we would be doing business together in some capacity. It looks as though we will be making history as the first black majority owner of an MLB team and the former player finishing up his contract working in the front office.”

  “Aye, let’s toast to that!”

  “Roc and Coco are in the conference room. Ms. Patterson is on her way up the elevator now. Xavier and Morris are waiting to escort her to the conference room,” Gretchen said as she stood in the doorway of my office.

  “Okay, thanks.”

  I collected my notebook, cell phone, and my tablet and walked the short distance to the conference room. I met Xavier and Morris along with Ms. Patterson at the door of the conference room.

  “Good morning, Ms. Patterson,” I extended my hand.

  She accepted it, and we shook. She was wearing a dark pink suit with a shirt that had a mixture of bright colors underneath the jacket. She looked good. Very good. I tried to take in her whole outfit without giving her the once over I so badly wanted to do.

  “Good morning, Mr. Valentine,” she smiled, but she
was in business mode. She was not nearly as relaxed as she was in her home the other night.

  I opened the door to the conference room, and she stepped in first allowing me to give her the once-over from behind I couldn’t do while she was watching. She walked expertly in her red high heels.

  Roc and Coco were both sitting at the conference table. I pulled out Ms. Patterson’s chair as we occupied the seats on the opposite side of the table.

  “Good morning, this is Ms. Averie Patterson. She will be my co-counsel on your trial. Ms. Patterson, this is my brother, Princeton Elkanah and his girlfriend, Deyshonda Jenkins, we call them Roc and Coco. We asked Ms. Patterson to join the team because she is well versed in the law, particularly as it pertains to women. Ms. Patterson.” I gave her the floor.

  “Good morning, Mr. Elkanah and Ms. Jenkins. As Mr. Valentine stated, my law practice is geared more towards women. I am here, Ms. Jenkins to make sure you get the best representation possible. It was a brilliant idea to bring on a female co-counsel. Having me at the table will play well with the jury. I am a little late to the party, but one of the first things we will need to focus on is your image. By image, I mean how people, more importantly, the jury will perceive you. You will have to tone down the way you look from this point forward. This is a high visibility case, so that means you will need to tone down your look all the time, not just during court. Your image can’t read, ‘I only shop at the most expensive places on earth.’ It needs to say, ‘I am just the girlfriend who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught up.’ So, when we meet the next time, I will need to see less Chanel and more INC from Macy’s.”

  “I wish I would wear some crap from Macy’s,” Coco said vehemently.

  “Coco you should listen to Ms. Patterson. I think this is good information.”

  “Fuck you, Roc, for getting me into this mess. And no, I’m not listening to you or her. Why should I have to tone down myself for some white ass people on a jury? Fuck them. I ain’t listening to some bougie ass wanna be white girl telling me how I am supposed to dress and look.”

  “Coc…”

  Ms. Patterson put her hand on top of mine, turned to me and said, “No, let her finish.”

  Just as quickly as she placed her hand on top of mine, she moved it away, but she didn’t move it fast enough for me to miss how comfortable I was with her placing it there.

  “I don’t need some bitch who ain’t never had a hard day in her life tell me what I need to do to beat this case. You grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth, and I was using my fingers to eat, but now I eat with platinum spoons and I ain’t gone let nobody, ‘specially some Oreo ass bitch tell me to dull my shine! Fuck dat!”

  “Baby, come on don’t do that…” Roc tried.

  “Mr. Elkanah, it’s okay. Let her finish,” Ms. Patterson instructed.

  “Besides El, you always preaching about family taking care of family, and then you bring in some outsider to work on this case? Naw, I don’t agree, and I’m not down with that.”

  Coco sat back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. I wanted to respond, but I was trying to be respectful of Ms. Patterson’s request for me to let Coco speak. I would deal with her later.

  “Are you finished?” Ms. Patterson asked.

  “I’m done!” Coco rolled her eyes.

  Ms. Patterson sat up straight in her chair and moved the paperwork in front of her to the side.

  “Now you’ve had your chance to speak, I will have mine. Let’s start with my name. My name is Ms. Patterson, Attorney Patterson, Counsellor Patterson, you take your pick but what you won’t ever call me again is bitch. Yes, you may have grown up hard, but you don’t know me to assume what my life was like. We both had choices. I chose to be on this side of the table, and you decided to be on that side. Shine, Ms. Jenkins is not wearing designer labels and eating with expensive cutlery. Shine is staying from behind bars. That’s what I am offering you. I’m offering you the ability to shine; to move forward from here and make better choices. I’m offering you the ability to not be locked away like an animal. To be clear, I am not on your team, you are on mine. I am the shot caller. Not you. You come to me to find out your next play, and you don’t make a play without my approval.

  You can choose to be on my team and stay your ass out of jail, or you can spend the next twenty plus years watching your kids grow up through Plexiglas. That’s up to you. I can be your most prominent advocate or your biggest enemy. You choose, Ms. Jenkins.”

  Ms. Patterson had the room’s full attention.

  “Do you understand the gravity of what the DA is trying to do to you? Do you understand what happened in court the other day? They are trying to put you away for the rest of your life! This isn’t a game, Ms. Jenkins. We are not in high school trying to see whose outfit is the cutest. This is real life and real-life consequences if you are found guilty. A sentence on these charges will keep you behind bars until you die. They will never let you out.”

  Coco sat up and looked at me then at Roc.

  “Regarding your comment about family taking care of family; if you were not my brother’s girl and my family, you would be looking for another lawyer. You will not disrespect anyone I bring to the table. Do you understand me? I wouldn’t bring someone in that wouldn’t work hard for you. I suggest you fix your attitude and listen to what Ms. Patterson has to say. This is your one and only chance. If you even motion to disrespect her, or anyone else in this room again, you are out. You’ve been around me long enough to know I’m not playing with you.”

  “I hear you,” Coco said while looking down examining her nails.

  “Ms. Patterson,” Roc began. “First let me apologize for Coco.” He sat up straight in his chair. “I’m a street nigga despite my brother’s best efforts. I was raised in the streets; I learned in the streets, I earned my money in the streets. I figured I would die in the streets, but I didn’t. I created an escape plan through hard work and education, and I got out. They are coming for me based off some old stuff. The drugs they say they found in my house had to have been planted. We didn’t keep anything in the house even when we were still working, ever. So, we need your help. We’ve been out of the game for two years, and we don’t plan on going back. We are using our money to invest in legal and lucrative businesses. I can’t say it wouldn’t be karma if we did go to jail but this crime,” he stabbed the table with his finger. “We didn’t do.”

  “You have the best there is in this room. We are going to get this figured out for you. Now let’s start from the moment the police knocked on the door with the warrant. Oh, and before you begin, from this point until this case is over, we all will refer to our clients and our clients will refer to each other by their government names and not their nicknames. We don’t want anyone associating Princeton and Deyshonda with Roc and Coco,” Ms. Patterson finished.

  Averie

  I didn’t make the connection between Samuel and Princeton until Princeton was introduced as Samuel’s brother. I wasn’t told if they shared the same mother or father, but the familial resemblance wasn’t immediately recognized.

  Princeton wore a short temple fade with skinny sideburns and a neatly trimmed mustache. His skin was lighter than Samuel’s and showed some acne scarring and healed wounds. His eyes, the only feature he and Samuel shared, were much more welcoming than Samuel’s. He smiled with his entire face the same way his brother frowned with his whole face. He was articulate and comprehended our legal vernacular well.

  Deyshonda seemed to be his opposite at first. She sat at the conference table in her waist long, human hair wig, with a crisp part. That’s how you know wigs are well-made, when the part is crisp and natural looking. She had on a Fendi sweater dress with Fendi tights and Fendi shoes. Her extra-large Chanel bag sat on the table next to her. She looked like she was uncomfortable and out of her element, while Princeton seemed relaxed. I realized that they weren’t so different. Princeton had the luxury of being around people who w
ere legally successful. He knew how to pretend to be something that he wasn’t. He knew how to act in front of company. Deyshonda hadn’t been afforded the same luxury. All she knew was where she came from. She didn’t know how to act like anyone except herself. She was a fish out of water and used her attitude to conceal what she perceived as her short comings, when in actuality they weren’t short comings, she just didn’t know. She appeared to be tough and have it all together until I outlined exactly what the DA was attempting to do to her. She had no idea how much jail time she was actually facing.

  The meeting progressed well after our roles were established and tantrums had concluded. Princeton and Deyshonda explained the situation to me in detail, holding nothing back. After our meeting, I realized that they both wanted a better life and were working towards it before the DA came after them. I didn’t feel that way before the meeting. I’d painted them both with a broad stroke, and I was wrong for that. I plan on working hard to win this case for them.

  “Ms. Patterson.”

  I was still in the conference room collecting my things when I looked up to see Xavier approaching me.

  “Averie, please.”

  “Averie, you handled yourself well. Thanks for joining the team,” he smiled.

  His dimpled smile and beautiful teeth have probably coaxed off hundreds of pairs of panties.

  “Thank you and thanks for recommending me. I believe this case will be hard, but I think we can win it.”

  “After we got our asses handed to us the other day, we can’t do anything but come up,” he laughed.

  “Yeah, I heard about that. I did a short stint with the DA’s office and got very familiar with their tactics. Piling the charges is something they save for the big cases to get someone to flip. You would be surprised at how often it works.”