“I’m pretty sure I can handle billiards.”
“Darren!” I was already worried because of the sex. He wasn’t even supposed to start working his lower body, yet I’d ridden him like a cowboy.
As if he could read my thoughts, Darren cocked a brow I could read clearly: I fucked you but can’t play billiards?
“I’m serious. Just for a little longer. I emailed your doctor after your appointment. He said we could if we had questions, and I wanted a list of activities you could do and what you should avoid. I can add pool to my next one.”
He smiled, maybe the biggest smile I’d ever gotten from him. It lit up the damn room. It lit me up. He always did.
“Listen to your boyfriend,” Jada said, and it was my turn to glow. “He’s a smart guy. I like him.”
Darren had been right. I hadn’t said those things to get on her good side, but she would care about anyone who loved her son. My being there for him connected us because Jada loved her kids so damn much.
“I used to like him,” Darren replied, making everyone laugh.
Just like that, my nerves loosened their hold on me.
We had fun after that, talking, playing games, and watching SportsCenter. Darren had turned it on, something he did at home too, hanging on any word they said about him, his injury, and his future—which they talked about quite a bit, wondering if he’d stay in Atlanta, if he’d go to another team, how his injury might affect his free agency. I sort of wanted to blow the TV up, but I wasn’t sure Jada would like that.
I beat Mia in air hockey. It was clear she didn’t lose often, and she challenged me again. I took three games out of five before she looked at Darren and said, “Rein your man in.”
“First of all, I wouldn’t even if I could. It’s fun to see someone beat the Edwards family air-hockey champion. Second, he’s a badass motherfucker. I can’t control anything.”
If that wasn’t the sweetest thing in the whole world, I didn’t know what was. “Thank you. I’ve worked hard on my game over the years until I perfected it for this very moment, to take out the champion of my boyfriend’s family.”
“Uh-oh,” Lee said.
“You know I’ll never stop asking you to play until I consistently beat you, right?” Mia said.
Was it sad that I wanted that? It made me feel…well, like part of the family. Like I would be around. And there was nowhere else I’d rather be.
Seeming to know what I was thinking again, Darren put an arm around me and kissed the top of my head.
It wasn’t much later that we were at the table, eating. Jada had made baked chicken, homemade mac and cheese, cornbread, and collard greens. It was delicious, and I was devouring my food while also helping Darren where I could. The room was full of laughter and conversation, when Darren’s phone rang.
Jada turned to him with a look that said not to answer it at the table.
“I wasn’t going to, Momma.”
Mia’s cell went off next. When she didn’t answer, it immediately started to go off again. A sick feeling turned in my gut, and I knew something was wrong.
She plucked her phone from her pocket, no one telling her not to answer. The joyful sounds from a moment before were already silenced.
“Hello?” She listened, silently cursed. Listened. “I’ll deal with it.” More quiet. “I said I’ll fucking deal with it,” she growled while looking directly at Darren. My heart sank, my limbs beginning to tremble from the pain in her stare.
Darren fumbled with his cell as Mia hung up. “What is it?” he asked as ringing came again. I looked over to see Anson’s name on the screen. He’d missed a call from his coach too.
“There are photos…nothing too damning, but assumptions have definitely been made.” Mia turned and walked out of the room without a word. Darren silenced Anson’s call just as Mia came back with her laptop. She set it on the table beside Darren and looked up his name, everyone squeezing in around us.
I couldn’t bear to look.
“Fuck…fuck! You couldn’t have been a little more goddamned careful, D?” Mia cursed.
“We weren’t even fucking doing anything when half of these were taken! We were friends! I was spending time with a friend.”
I was the next one to get a call, and I knew it was West.
I couldn’t stop myself from looking, and…damn, there were a lot of them. Photos of us talking at the wedding. Photos of us out to meals, coming and going from the hotel when I stayed during their bye week. Most were of the two of us arriving together in the evening and leaving together in the morning…in a city where Darren lived, where he was clearly spending the night with me. There were some from when I traveled to his away game, wearing his jersey in Atlanta when he was hurt…arriving at the hospital, leaving the hospital, coming and going from his house. Even leaving the goddamned ortho appointment. There were photos of me with Bobby too, kissing him, holding his hand, and headlines talking about my sexuality, which had never been a secret.