“Oh, my bad. I didn’t know. I mean that’s not what people are saying online.”
My brows hiked up my forehead. “Online? Have you been Googling me?”
“No, I mean yes. But only because I was trying to check out your home in Kansas City. For research.”
She was full of shit.
“So your research led you to my past girlfriends?” The side of my mouth ticked upward.
“No, not all of them. I mean I didn’t come up. Look my bad, I didn’t know Ashley was a sore subject.”
I hated it when people put twenty on ten. At no time did I hint at being upset about my split from Ashley because I wasn’t, and any suggestion to the contrary only pissed me off. “Who the fuck said that?”
“You’re getting defensive.”
“Yeah, because I don’t like people making assumptions. Sometimes relationships end and it turns out to bethe best thingfor all parties involved.”
Her eyes quickly landed on me with irritation. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know Danessa. You broke up with me and claimed it was for the best. Do you remember that?”
“I’m not doing this with you.” She turned her attention back to the road ahead.
“Doing what?”
“Relitigating the past.”
“I didn’t bring up the past you did. With Ashley this and Ashley that.”
“I was just trying to make conversation.”
“Well don’t.”
Danessa’s features turned sour as she turned up the music to drown out the awkward silence. Leaning back, I focused on the billboards zooming by me. If I was ever in need of a lawyer, Vegas has me covered. My favorite sign was for Big Greg Esquire“Call me before your ex does.” A lawyer who went by the name Big Greg would never see a dime of my money.
Glancing at Danessa, whose mouth was in a tight wad, I turned back to the window. I was on one tonight. But you can’t have shit both ways. We’d been over for a long time so she didn’t get to ask me questions about who I was dating, fucking, or entertaining. And why did she care? One of the last things she said to me was, “This has been fun, but you can’t seriously think it’s a forever thing.” Maybe I was dimwitted because I didn’t see any of the signs that our relationship had run its course. Loving Danessa was my endgame. It was the ace in my back pocket. No matter how hectic our lives would get with her in law school and me playing in the NBA, we would always have each other to keep us grounded.
A T-Pain song came on and I couldn’t help but tap my fingers against the center console. When he started singing about the bartender, Danessa joined him and in spite of myself, I couldn’t help but sing too. Do you know how hard you have to be to stay mad when a T-Pain song comes on? It’s impossible.
Danessa’s body grooved from side to side. “You’re an idiot,” she casually said in between shoulder shakes.
“Yep,” I agreed as we belted out the chorus at the top of our lungs.
After exiting the freeway, Danessa took a back street I didn’t even know existed to avoid the traffic on the Strip. Pulling into the hotel valet and drop-off area, she placed her car in park.
“Thanks for the ride.”
“My pleasure. I love pretending to be a taxi driver on a busy weekend.”
“Well if you want I can give you some gas money like we did back in college.”
“Back then you didn’t have a car.”
“And gas money was my way of paying it forward.”
“It’s on the house. I might not have signed a multi-year contract for millions of dollars, but I’m doing alright for myself.”
Exiting the car, I squatted down so I could see her through the passenger window. “Text me when you get home so I know you made it there in one piece.”
