“I second that,” Stacey said. “I’ll text Malik and we can go get something to eat.”
“I’m fine with that,” I said.
“I need to go change, and we’ll swing back over here to pick you two up. How much time do you need?” Zeke asked.
Stacey and I looked at each other. “Come back to get us at seven at the earliest,” Stacey said.
“Any earlier and you’ll be waiting on the couch while we finish getting ready,” I added.
“We’ll be back in an hour. We don’t mind waiting here,” Zeke said.
Stacey bounced up and hung up her jacket before heading back to her bedroom. Zeke and I stood as well.
“I’m happy for you, Ace,” Zeke said. “I can’t wait to read this book. Just don’t make the character you model after me too much of a dick.”
I giggled. “Right, I’ll try my best not to do that.”
He leaned down to kiss me and then smacked my ass. “Go get ready. I’m going to be hungry in exactly an hour and a half.”
I rolled my eyes but did as he suggested. I told him to make sure to lock the bottom knob when he left. I went to get a quick shower before I decided what to wear for the night.
“Why the fuck do I always forget my hatred for rompers until I'm already out and have to use the restroom?” I groused from the stall.
“The cuteness of them ruin your short-term memory and make you think it’s a good idea,” Stacey said from the stall right beside mine.
I groaned. I was happy that I’d at least worn a bra, or I would have been completely naked while I sat on this toilet in a public bathroom. I finished up as quickly as I could and pulled my romper back up, reaching back to zip it and connect the clasp. Stacey was already checking her makeup in the mirror.
“You do look cute and sexy tonight,” she said, looking at my reflection.
I could second that claim. The jumpsuit was all white with a lace overlay that formed a mock high neck. It had long sheer sleeves with the same lace overlay that made up the top of the jumper. There was a cloth belt cinched at the waist and it had wide legs. And to finish it off there was a keyhole design in the back where it clasped. It was extremely cute and classy.
“Thanks,” I said. “I hate sitting on that toilet feeling naked from the neck down. Luckily, I had a bra on. I’ve done that before.”
“So, you were basically naked in a public bathroom.”
“Yes!”
“I’ll try to remind you next time we’re out shopping and you’re on the verge of buying another romper.”
“That’s all I ask from my best friend,” I said.
I washed my hands. Stacey had kept her outfit simple with wide-legged lavender dressy pants, a black blouse, and pumps. She looked amazing since the clothes clung to her curves and accentuated her exotic beauty. She didn’t have to try hard to look good in anything she wore.
We headed back to the table where Zeke and Malik were waiting for us.
“We took care of the check, so we’re ready when you are,” Malik told both of us.
“Then I see no reason to sit down,” I said. “Let’s blow this popsicle stand.”
The cousins laughed as they gained their feet. Malik took Stacey’s hand and Zeke put an arm around my waist.
“Where do you come up with the things you say?” Zeke asked.
“I heard it somewhere at some point and liked it, so I say it.”
“That was a lot of information, Ace,” he said sarcastically.
“I can’t remember every source of my favorite phrases.”
He was chuckling as he kissed the top of my head. I guess it was nice that I amused him so much. We piled into Zeke’s truck with Stacey and Malik in the back and me in the passenger seat. We'd all decided before we left that we’d be ending the night at Malik and Zeke’s place. Stacey even brought an overnight bag so she’d have something to change into tomorrow morning for work.
“Ror chooses the music,” Stacey announced.
“I’m the one driving,” Zeke protested.
“If you’re serious, then go ahead and put some on before we leave,” I said to Zeke.
“You took the fun out of it,” he huffed but had a half-smile on his lips. “Go ahead.”
I connected my phone to the Bluetooth in his truck. I put the playlist on shuffle and “My Main” by Mila J featuring Ty Dolla Sign started. Stacey and I cheered since this was our theme song. I turned it up while the guys shook their heads. Stacey and I were singing along as Zeke put the car in drive and we left the restaurant parking lot.
Stacey and I had never been in a relationship at the same time. Mainly because of me, since I didn’t date much, but I liked this, double dating with her and Malik. The fact that we liked cousins made it that much better.
I was happy. I was still writing; this story was the one I probably should have started with. At the pace I was going, I would finish the first draft in a few weeks. Things with me and Zeke were perfect. I loved spending time with him, and he was so damn sweet and thoughtful. I was still talking to Coby online, who I finally told Zeke about. Our friendship hadn’t taken a hit from us not talking for a couple of weeks. Things were going so well that I was ignoring that pessimistic thought in the back of my mind trying to warn me that something had to give soon.
24
Zeke
I increased the speed on the treadmill. It felt good to be able to jog again. This past year had been filled with difficulties. It started when I rolled my ankle at the end of the regular season last year in Sydney, and then the first pre-season game, I tore the meniscus in my right knee. I’d been hobbled for some time. It’d been years since I’d been fully healthy. To not have any lingering aches or have to compensate when I was working out or walking was an amazing feeling. Living with pain daily took its toll on your mental health, and it was hard not to become depressed. It was hard not to become despondent and think it was never going to end, but it had. I was the healthiest I’d been since I was a teen.
Things were looking up on the professional front, and things were going great in my personal life as well. I spent almost every free moment I had outside of training, rehabbing, and meetings with my agent and publicist with Mallory. I couldn’t get enough of her, and I always wanted to be with her, even if we were just sitting at the Bean or her house while she worked. The sex was out-of-this-world good. The best I’d ever had, and we seemed to connect.
When we weren’t together, I was chatting with her as Coby. After she shut me out a few weeks ago, I realized she still wasn’t in a place to tell me things that she told my online persona. I also noticed that she seemed to rely on him, and I couldn’t take that away from her. But my motives were also selfish. I liked the insight talking to her gave me to how she was feeling about me and other things she didn’t discuss with me. I didn’t like that she still didn’t think she could talk to me about how she was feeling about us, but I didn’t have a lot of room to feel anything except guilt. I felt guilty for deceiving her and not telling her I was Coby. And using what I learned as him to help me when dealing with her made that guilt worse. I knew I needed to tell Mallory the truth, but the thought of losing her always made my stomach knot up and my anxiety spike. Until I figured out how to tell her the truth, I was going to keep talking to her online.
“Okay, Zeke,” Cedric said. “That’s good for today.”
I stood on the sides of the treadmill, shutting it off. He handed me a towel, and I climbed off the machine once it’d slowed down enough to do so.
“You’re only a couple of weeks from being cleared for contact,” he said.
“I’m excited about that,” I stated. “I’m ready to get out there and prove myself. Getting on the court is one more step towards that.”
“It is, and I know you have what it takes to get onto a team. Even if you’re a backup, you’ll work your way to a prominent role. You’re talented.”
“Thanks, man. I just hope a team sees what you see and gives
me a shot.”
“They will. We’re done for the day. Get home to your girl,” Cedric said.
I laughed and thanked him again before heading to the locker room to shower and get my stuff. Mallory and I were solid besides that one thing hanging over us. If I could go back in time and had the opportunity to change only one thing about my life, it’d be to tell Mallory from the start that I was Coby. I would have just dealt with the fallout and worked hard like I had done to get her to give me a chance.
I knew it seemed like I should have wished I could go back to when we were kids and change how that all happened, but I didn’t want to do that. There was no telling what would have happened with me and Mallory if I hadn’t fucked up. We may have stayed friends, and even started dating, but who’s to say we would have lasted, being that young. I felt that if I would have come clean to her about the dating app, I could have used the time after to get her to see it wasn’t a prank or something like that. And admitting the truth that early would have only gone in my favor.
I grabbed a towel before heading to the empty showers. I was going to have to figure this out. Every week that passed made this worse and worse. I let out a growl as the hot water cascaded over my head. I didn’t know what the hell to do. All I knew was that, although my time in Colebury was temporary, I was having permanent, long-term thoughts about my relationship with Mallory.
25
Mallory
“Do you think your dad will remember me?” I asked Zeke.
He took his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at me. “He knows I’m seeing you, and he remembers who you are.”
“Will he still like me?”
“I’m sure he’ll love you, Ror,” Zeke answered.
I didn’t know if that was true. I hadn’t seen Zeke’s father in years. He liked me when we were kids and friends, but something could've changed in that time. When Zeke had invited me to join him for his bi-monthly dinner with his father and his father’s girlfriend, I’d said yes. I was nervous about what it meant for our relationship that I was meeting one of his parents, but I wasn’t letting that stop me. Zeke had done nothing but show me that he was all in for as long as this relationship lasted for us. He was an attentive, sweet, and considerate boyfriend who was always there for me and willing to sit with me for hours while I was working. He took the time to plan dates and outings around the things he knew I liked.
“My Person” by Spencer Crandall filled the cab of the truck, and I hummed along. That was another example of how amazing he was. He never acted as if it bothered him when I listened to my music in his truck. I told him he could listen to whatever he wanted, but he told me music wasn’t that important to him. He could listen to anything or nothing at all. I hummed the lyrics about a man who found the one for him and looked out the window. It was a beautiful spring day with the sun shining and the weather cool but not frigid.
“Don’t be nervous, Ace,” Zeke said, glancing at me. “It’s going to go well.”
“If you say so.”
He knew better than I did how his father would react to me. Zeke told me that, like me, he’d never been in a committed relationship. He’d never brought anyone home to meet his parents. I was the first, and while that made me feel good, it also made me a little anxious. I pulled my phone out of my purse. A message from Coby was waiting for me like I knew it would be. I hadn’t responded to him in a couple of days. Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I felt guilty every time I got a message from him and how happy it made me to talk to him. I meant for things to stay friendly between me and Coby, but the more we talked, the more I could tell that my feelings were leaning toward romantic. Zeke was so amazing and here I was having feelings for someone I’d never met in person and who was only supposed to be my friend. I stuffed my phone back in my purse, leaving the message unopened.
As my relationship with Coby grew, I’d found myself confiding more in him. It was easy to admit some things to him since he wasn’t someone I knew in my real life. Stacey believed in me one hundred percent, so sometimes she didn’t understand my insecurities when it came to my career. She was one of my biggest hype women and that was awesome, but it also made talking to her about my worries hard. Sometimes I needed to vent, and that was where Coby came in. He was also so helpful when it came to Zeke and talking things out about my relationship with him.
I knew I should tell Coby we couldn’t talk anymore, but every time I got up the nerve to do so, I was hit with a wave of unease. Right now, I still needed him as someone to confide in, and I liked talking to him. But I knew eventually I would have to be honest with myself, Zeke, and Coby.
Zeke and I climbed the stairs to the third floor of his father’s condo building. Zeke squeezed my hand before knocking on the door. Butterflies fluttered in my belly, and I took in a deep breath before letting it out. I’d never met a boyfriend’s parents; the fact that I knew Zeke’s father didn’t do anything for how nervous I felt. This was a big step in our relationship. I hoped Mr. Armstrong liked the grown-up version of me.
An older version of Zeke opened the door with a big smile on his weathered face. Zeke got all his features from his father except his eyes, the shape and color, which he inherited from his mother.
“Hi, Mr. Armstrong. How are you?”
“Better than some, worse than others,” he said, and I chuckled. “Please call me Joaquin, Rory.”
Zeke and I stepped inside. He pulled me into a warm hug like he had countless times when I was a kid.
“It’s good to see you, sweetie, and I’m glad my son found you again,” he said for me to hear.
“It’s good to see you again too.”
He released me to greet his son. You could see the bond they had and the mutual respect. Zeke was always closer to his father than he was with his mother.
A tall willowy woman, who looked to be in her late forties, joined us in the living room where we were standing. Her auburn hair was in an elegant bun on top of her head, and she was wearing a cute sundress. Her light brown skin was unblemished, and she had a smile on her pretty face. She was gorgeous.
Zeke hugged her before introducing her to me.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Mallory,” Olivia said.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well,” I said with a smile.
“What’s your drink of choice?” she asked, leading me to the kitchen while Zeke and his father stayed behind in the living room.
I took a glass of red wine from Olivia, leaning against the counter to chat with her while she went back to the pots on the stove. I asked if I could help but she waved me off as I expected. She asked me what I did for a living.
“I’m a writer, freelance editor, and virtual personal assistant,” I told her.
Both of her dark brows rose. “That’s impressive. What genre do you write in?”
“Romance. Everything I’ve published so far has been adult romance, but I’m veering into new adult. I was recently struck with inspiration and started a new project.”
That inspiration was somewhere in the condo with his father. Our history made for an interesting story so far. I was averaging close to five thousand words or more per day, and this project was nothing like the one that had me stalled for weeks. I was excited to work on this story every day and anxious to start the next book.
“That’s always a good feeling,” she said and went on to tell me she was an English professor at Burlington U where Joaquin coached the men’s basketball team.
We conversed as she finished dinner, talking about the latest books we’d read and other interests we had in common. Olivia was easy to talk to and we got along well so far.
“Dinner will be ready in a few minutes,” Olivia said. “Do you mind letting the guys know?”
“Not at all. Where can I find them since they aren’t in the living room?”
“Probably in Joaquin’s study or the balcony of that room,” she told me as she bent to check the roast she had in the oven.
&n
bsp; Olivia pointed me to the door of the study, and I headed down the hall. I found the right door already cracked. As I was about to knock, I heard Zeke’s voice, and he was saying something about me. Even though I knew shouldn’t have, I dropped my hand from the knob and listened to what he had to say next. My mom always called me nosy.
“Rory is one of the best things to happen to me in a long time,” Zeke said.
“I’m glad to hear that, Son, but do you think now is the time to get into a committed relationship? You need to focus on your ultimate goal, and I worry that Rory may be a distraction.”
“I messed things up when we were younger, and I lost her,” Zeke stated. “I refuse to lose her again, Dad. I would give up my basketball career to be with her. But I don’t have to because Ror would never let me do that. She’s already on my ass about going to my PT and training sessions. You don’t have to worry about her being a distraction.”
My heart was hammering in my chest. He was willing to give up basketball for me. I didn’t want him to, but the fact that he was so willing to do so made me swoon. Zeke was always surprising me, but also not. In a lot of ways, he was still that sweet boy who looked out for me when we were kids.
“Mallory,” Olivia called, and I raised my hand to knock on the door.
“Come in,” Joaquin said.
I pushed the door open. “Olivia says dinner is ready.”
Joaquin gave me a closed-mouth smile. I stepped out of the way to let him pass and turned to face Zeke.
“How much did you hear?” he asked.
“Why do you think I heard anything?”
“Your face,” he said. “Don’t ever play poker, Ace.”
I rolled my eyes. “I heard you admit that you’d give up playing pro for me.”
“I would, Ace. I feel like the fact that I’m getting this second chance with you, I could be happy even if basketball doesn’t work out,” Zeke said, walking closer to me.
Doubletalk (The Busy Bean) Page 19