Page 140 of His Reckless Freshman

“But what if he posts the videos before he can be arrested?”

Jimmy scrubs a hand down his face. “That’s the tricky part. I still say you need to involve the cops and ask them to investigate it quietly.”

“Yeah, I know.” I sigh. “I just don’t want them to fuck it up.”

“You’d think you could trust them to get it right.”

“Yeah.” I snicker. “You’d think.”

Jimmy goes quiet, and we both sit there stewing. I finish the tea, my body slowly starting to relax but my mind still racing. I’ll do anything for a distraction right now, so it’s easy to ask, “You all good? You need to talk about anything?”

He lets out a rough laugh, and now that my eyes have fully adjusted, I can see him shaking his head.

“Come on, man. What is it?”

“Just sitting here trying to figure out what to do with my future.”

“Your future? You thinking about changing majors or something?”

“No, man. I’m… thinking about basketball.”

My lips start to rise, and I shuffle forward in my seat. “What about basketball?”

“New coach thinks I might have what it takes.”

“That’s awesome, man.” He doesn’t agree with me, and I frown. “Do you… not want to play?”

“It’s all I want, but…”

“But?” I prompt him after a pause that’s way too long.

“I have big expectations hanging over me. Pursuing that will cause a lot of angst and friction in my life, and I’m just not sure I can handle it.”

I nod, thinking I understand. I’ve heard that his parents are overbearing to the extreme.

Mac’s made a few comments, and I’ve read between the lines. I think they hate that Jimmy moved into this place. And I’ve also heard they want him to join the family business after college. NBA is not in the cards for their son.

“I’m sorry, man. That sucks. But… I say follow your heart, you know? You don’t want to spend your life living someone else’s dreams. You have to chase after the things that make you happy.”

“What if the things that make me happy will also cause me pain?”

I shrug, wishing I had a good answer. “I guess you just need to decide which pain you can live with.”

He lets out a soft groan, dipping his chin. “They’ll never forgive me.”

“Or… they’ll realize that they love you enough not to lose you.”

He scoffs at that, shaking his head and obviously not feeling any better than when we started this conversation.

I guess neither of us really do.

We’ve talked, but we haven’t come up with any solid solutions.

With a sigh, I stand from the table. If I’m going to be awake, I might as well be curled up next to my woman.

“Thanks for the tea.” I pat his shoulder as I walk past him. “Hope you manage to get some sleep.”

“You too, man. Thanks for listening.”