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As soon as he answered the phone, I started crying with the truth. This shit wouldn’t be hurting so badly if I hadn’t already been in over my head with Orion Knight. My heart wouldn’t feel like it was splitting in two if I hadn’t already dipped my toes into love territory, though my brain said it was too soon.
Yeah, my brain was stupid.
Chapter 23
Orion~
Icouldn’t believe how pissed off I still was. Five days later, and I was still fucking fuming. Though the guys and Nova had done their best to support me, they’d had no wise words of wisdom to ease the anger and hurt that I was still feeling days later. I had also been suspended for two games and fined for a hundred-thousand dollars, a tab that I had no problem paying.
Luckily, I was back on the court tonight, and more importantly than that, the Devils had won their game against the Lancers, so my guilt wasn’t as heavy as it could have been. Nevertheless, I had still apologized to the team, coaches, and anyone else that would listen. I hadn’t made a social media statement, letting the team’s PR group do that for me, but it’d been basic and generic at best, providing no personal insight to what had set me off.
Always having been one of the first players here, the locker room was empty when I walked in, thankful for the momentary silence. I knew that the guys were still curious about what had set me off, but I also knew that they would respect my privacy. Not wanting to put my business out there, I had also left my relationship status as it was, not wanting to send speculation running through the internet.
“Hey, man.” I looked up to see Bernard Tucker walking in, his duffle bag slung over his left shoulder.
“Hey,” I replied, my solitude no more.
“Uhm…” He trailed off, looking uncomfortable.
“What?” I asked, concerned that I might not be forgiven by everyone after all.
Bernard took a seat next to me,reallymaking me wary now. “I know that your personal life is none of my business, but you can’t let that shit with Cap Aldrich get to you,” he said. “He’s a dick. He’s always been a dick.”
“What are you talking about?” No way was I going to spill my secrets.
“Well, I…I mean, I might be wrong, but I figured that shit had to have had something to do with your girl,” he said, surprising me.
“Why would you say that?”
“Well, because Cap used to date Sinclair back in college, and everyone knows that she’s your girl now.”
I felt my heart sink to my toes.
“College?”
Bernard’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Well, yeah. I went to school with both of them.”
“You went to college with Sinclair and Cap Aldrich?” I echoed, dread slithering up my spine.
Bernard nodded. “Yeah, they dated their sophomore and junior year, but then he started being noticed by NBA scouts and all that shit. She caught him cheating on her, and she’d been humiliated when it had come out that he’d been cheating on her the whole time, the whole school knowing about it.” He shook his head. “It’d been a disaster.”
I felt sick.
He shrugged. “Not that it excuses what he’d done to her, but to his credit, the dude had been sorry,” Bernard went on. “He had spent the rest of his junior and senior year trying to get her back.”
“He what?”
Bernard nodded. “Yeah, it was the craziest thing. He had done it all. He had begged, bought out flower shops, had bought her jewelry, had dedicated his wins to her, and almost anything else that you could think of. He had even stopped sleeping with other girls.” Bernard shook his head at the memories. “For a year and a half, Cap had spent every single day begging Sinclair to take him back. Honestly, it bordered on stalking. The only thing that he hadn’t done was give up his NBA career for her. Once we graduated, she’d gone her way, and he’d been drafted.”
“They dated in college?” I echoed.
He nodded again. “I figured that’s what you guys got in a fight over. He was probably saying some stupid shit about her just to needle you. Honestly, I know the dude is married now and all, but I’m not sure that he ever got over her. Cap isn’t used to losing, and he had lost the best thing that had ever happened to him. Sinclair had loved him before the talent, fame, and possibilities. Cap will never know if his wife would still love him without the money and fame, but he’ll always know that Sinclair had.” Bernard let out a thoughtful sigh. “I kind of feel sorry for the dude. Having a woman that loves you for you, then letting her get away…that has to suck.”
I sat there, staring at Benard, wondering what in the fuck did I do. Sinclair had asked me to let her explain, but in the whirlwind of feeling hurt and betrayed, I had shut her down, spewing the most vicious accusations at her. I had accused her of being a liar, a gutter groupie, and even asking which of my teammates had double-teamed her.
“I mean, that’s all that we really want, right?” Bernard asked, clueless of the emotional breakdown I was having. “A woman that will love us without the lights and fanfare. A woman that is just as willing to live in an apartment with us as a penthouse.” He clapped my back. “You’re lucky, Knight. Sinclair is a good apple, so don’t let Cap Aldrich and his regrets get to you. At the end of his bullshit, you’ve got what he can never have, and that’s the girl that he let slip away. Remind him of that the next time that he talks shit. Remind him that it’syourjersey that she’s wearing to bed, not his.”
I felt like I wanted to throw up. I felt like the ground was opening up beneath my feet, ready to swallow me whole, no idea what waited for me down below. Sinclair and Cap had dated in college, he had openly cheated on her, and now I knew why she had refused to date athletes. Now I knew why she had spoken of being humiliated in front of the entire world as the ultimate sin.
