Page 38

Jamil

“He broke into your home and cleaned your safe out?” Derek asked as he came back from his kitchen with three beers. He passed one to Tommy and then the other to me.

“That’s what it seems like,” I told him. The facility had called me earlier to confirm that Jordan was once again no longer there.

“Why would he do that?” Tommy asked me as he took a sip from his beer.

As soon as Harper left for the game, I texted Derek and asked if I could come over.

I needed some time in a neutral space where I wasn’t reminded of Harper and her feature story or my brother.

Tommy came as soon as the game was over.

They’d managed to scrape out a win to keep us in the lead for our league, but worrying about our standings was the farthest thing from my mind.

“He texted me about a month ago that he was in some trouble with a bookie. I don’t know if they came to collect or what. But he asked me for money, and I’d told him no. I think he took matters into his own hands this time.”

Derek blew a breath out between his lips.

“And he knew where your safe was?” Tommy asked.

I nodded my head, a sweeping wave of disappointment washing over me.

“He helped me move in when we first came to Chicago and lived with me for a few months. When he came over to visit with me last week, I think he was scoping out if it was still there and if it still had anything in it. I’m just surprised he remembered the code.”

It was difficult to say why Jordan was doing this. His back was against a wall, and he’d lashed out, hoping to solve his problems without having to face himself in the mirror.

“You’re less distraught over this than I thought you would be,” Derek noted, his eyes tracking every time I brought the bottle of beer up to my lips.

“I’ve already spent too long worrying about him or trying to help him without getting any gratitude in return. I can’t do it any longer.”

Tommy and Derek exchanged a look, clearly worried over my aloof point of view on all of this.

“If that’s how you feel about your brother, then what else is bothering you?” Tommy studied me with the eyes of someone who knew me like the back of his own hand.

“You think that I’m upset about something other than my brother?

” Tommy and Derek continued to stare at me with the kind of worry that made me want to crawl out of my skin.

When the silence began to stretch on past the point of uncomfortable, I let out a sigh.

For the first time, I hated having friends that knew me so well. “It’s Harper.”

“What could possibly be wrong between the two of you?” Tommy asked. “You seemed closer than ever at the gala last Tuesday.”

“I thought the two of you were moving toward something more serious,” Derek added. “You work so well together. I could see it at my interview with her. The support you gave her and how she fed off that was like watching a couple that had been together for years.”

If the sharp sting of betrayal wasn’t still present, I would have even agreed with him.

From the first moment I met Harper, we had an instant connection.

Conversation had always been easy between us and spending time with her felt like spending time with someone I’d known forever.

I had thought after the gala that Harper needed to build more trust between the two of us when she’d hesitated to confirm if she wanted to pursue a relationship with me.

But now I was beginning to wonder if her hesitation was born from something else entirely.

“I found out that she’s writing a feature story on me,” I told them as I downed the rest of my beer.

My phone vibrated on the arm of my chair. The screen lighting up with a text message.

Harper: Just got back from the game. Wanted to check in to see if you were staying here again tonight. Would love to talk with you before we have to take off for the next bout of away series games in a few days.

“And that’s a bad thing?” Derek asked me.

My eyes were locked on the message, and I had to force myself to turn the phone over before replying.

“You know how I feel about all the extra media attention I’ve gotten after last year.

I thought she understood that, and we were under a mutual understanding that she wouldn’t cover me.

She was going to cover other people to give me some time out of the tabloids. ”

“But Harper’s interviews aren’t like typical tabloid fodder.

” Tommy’s response was cautious, like he was trying to avoid poking a bear.

“She has always ended up positively highlighting everyone she’s interviewed between Derek, Nolan, and Adam.

Even the average sports fans have come to enjoy her pre- and postgame interviews because of the light she frames those she’s interviewing in.

How can that be bad for you? Maybe it’ll be a good thing for a change? ”

“Why does everyone think I need to respond to the media attention with more media attention? That’s bullshit.”

Derek offered me a small smile. Especially after the way the attention from the Bobcats’ fanbase swung from Nolan to him. “Because for the first time the world would get to see you the way we see you.”

“Harper didn’t tell you she was going to do a feature story?” Tommy asked. He was the most sensible between the three of us, always trying to make sense of something that seemed nonsensical.

“She didn’t. I found out because of my mother.

Her boss showed up at the last home game I played in and mentioned the feature story that Harper is to write on me to my mother.

I had meant to talk to her about it after the interview yesterday with Nolan and Adam, but then we rolled up on my ransacked home and any thoughts about talking through it went out the window.

This morning, I walked out to her typing up a document and when I asked her about it, she fully admitted it was a feature story on me that she was working on. ”

“But she admitted it directly when you asked her?” Derek pressed.

Since when did he become the reasonable one?

“She did, but it doesn’t make me feel any better about it right now.” I could still see the desperation in Harper’s eyes from this morning every time I closed my eyes.

“Harper doesn’t have bad intentions, J,” Derek continued.

“All of us have seen the way she treats you and the way you treat her. We’ve seen a completely new Jamil these past couple months.

You’re happier and you’re coming around to hang out more.

You’re willing to go out. You and I both know the reason for all of that.

Maybe this is all a misunderstanding that you just need to listen to her more clearly on.

You don’t walk away from a good woman like that, even if the path to happily ever after is riddled with detours. ”

Tommy and I both stared at Derek slack jawed. Where was this sage advice coming from? And why was it coming from Derek Allen of all people? He was the happy-go-lucky one out of all of us and now he sounded like he was hung up over someone. Someone that Tommy and I both could guess.

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience,” I noted casually, thankful for the attention to be taken off me, even for just a moment.

Derek narrowed his eyes. As Tommy sat forward with interest, Derek knew he wasn’t going to dodge this one.

“I’m just saying that when you find a woman who cares about you, understands you, and excites you all at once, you find a way to keep her.”

Tommy chuckled under his breath as he stood up to dispose of our beer bottles.

“And you’ve found someone like that?” I pressed, enjoying watching Derek roll his eyes at me.

Everyone knew that Derek had developed a crush on Olivia Thompson. But even though Derek was clearly smitten with her, Olivia seemed to be oblivious of Derek’s feelings.

He’d been, for lack of a better term, friend zoned.

“He’s found someone, but she doesn’t know it yet!” Tommy called from Derek’s kitchen. Derek turned a deep shade of red.

“This isn’t about me, J.” This time I let Derek deflect the attention back to me. I’d poked enough fun at him for the day. “What are you going to do about Harper?”

Despite the hurt that I felt, part of me knew the emptiness I’d feel with Harper no longer in my life would be so much worse.

“I think I will figure out a way to get over it eventually, but I need some space. Tomorrow is a new day.”

Tommy came back from the kitchen with a bowl of chips that he poached from Derek’s pantry. “Have you asked her to be something more? The two of you have been dancing around each other for a couple months now.”

“I did at the gala, actually,” I told him as I swiped some chips from the bowl. “I told her what I wanted and she .?.?. didn’t really say anything.”

Derek raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Do you think it’s because of the story?”

I rubbed at my chest, thinking that it would make the pain there go away. “I’m not sure. But I could be jumping to conclusions. I know her and I have more to talk about after what we already covered this morning, but I just need to give myself some space tonight.”

Because the thought of lying on the other side of a wall from her again after everything that had happened would only cloud my judgment. When it came to Harper, just the mere thought of her had me second-guessing everything.

“You’re going to crash on my couch then?” Derek joked.

I gave him a smirk and watched his face pale. “It’s not getting used for much else, is it?”

Tommy nearly choked on a handful of chips.

“You’re such an ass,” Derek mumbled as he picked up a chip and threw it at me. I dodged it just in time before it smacked me in the middle of my forehead.

When our laughter died down, Tommy gave me one of his sincerest looks. “There’s a reason Harper was brought into your life this year, J. I know that it wasn’t to add more chaos onto a year where you’re already dealing with so much.”

“And you aren’t really upset at Harper. What Harper is doing isn’t really anything out of the ordinary,” Derek added. “You’re misplacing your anger. Your relationship with the media has changed because of someone else in your life. Maybe you should consider that.”

Long after Tommy left and Derek had gone to sleep, I lay awake on the couch thinking about our conversation.

Between dealing with the newfound attention and my brother’s worsening condition, I had thought Harper was a breath of fresh air.

She was the one person I could be with where everything finally slowed down. But reality never stayed away for long.