Basketball Jones (28 page)

The depths of Maurice’s desperate envy truly shocked me. Sure, he had kidded me about living large, but never would I have guessed that he’d held all this resentment inside.

“You remember that time when I came to see you and you got so mad at me for coming to your house unannounced? Well, I was through with your ass then. I was done. But a bitch like me always got a plan for queens like you. I knew you were most likely sleeping with somebody’s husband and I made it my business to find out. I learned about you and Dray almost a week later by camping out a little ways from your condo. I saw who was coming and going. I guess they didn’t teach you in North Carolina to never cross a real dirty-south diva because we will cut you, and I mean deep! You sissies think you just hurt somebody and move on to the next victim. But Maurice will never be a victim. Never again, bitches.”

Maurice’s tirade grew louder and louder in a crescendo of jealousy and resentment. I didn’t move, because I was stunned by what I was witnessing but also because I wanted to see how much more of his plan he’d reveal.

“And then you were stupid enough to leave with me all your sleazy little love journals with even more secrets, like how you once had a crush on one of your mother’s boyfriends. Do you think she’d be so accepting of you if she knew you wanted to get with her trade? I don’t think so.” He smiled. “Yes, honey, I found Ms. Judi right before the wedding and we became good girlfriends fast. So she’s known about you for a long time. We were both just waiting for the right moment to get back from you what you’d taken from her: her husband! My little film project at the Ritz in D.C. took care of that.”

I’d never witnessed such viciousness up close and it was frightening. I felt like I was listening to a stranger who’d been eaten up by malice. This wasn’t the world I lived in. We had nothing more to argue about.

“Okay, you win. I’m done,” I said as I started toward the door. I was going to tell him that I had all the money he’d left in the closet but he’d find out soon enough. I was going to take the money and donate a portion of it to Brad Pitt’s organization back in New Orleans.

“And don’t you dare come anywhere near my party. I will have your ass arrested. Do I make myself clear?”

“Wasn’t coming anyway,” I said firmly.

“Yes, you are done,” he called after me. “Now Judi and her little family can live happily ever after thanks to me. Who knows, she might even ask me to be godfather to the new baby.”

It hit me right then that there might be a way to get back at
both Judi and Maurice. I stopped in the foyer and turned to face Maurice for one last time.

“So I guess you know the baby’s not Drayton’s. I’m sure Judi told you, since the two of you are so tight, that she’s pregnant by one of his teammates.”

“What are you talking about?” Maurice asked.

I simply smiled and walked out the door. My work there was done. If I knew the real Maurice, Ms. Judi would soon feel the sting of blackmail herself.

I had one more thing to do before I could start my new life. So on the second Thursday in January, I sat in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead waiting for the Hornets team bus to arrive. I needed to talk with Dray and I knew they would most likely arrive, as they usually did, between two and three
P.M.

The weather in Atlanta, like the rest of the country, was unseasonably warm but cool enough for me to get away with black straight-cut jeans and a thin white V-neck sweater and black boots.

For me this was a very bold move and something I’d never even contemplated. It had been two months since I’d last seen Dray and I was extremely nervous, yet confident that I was doing the right thing. After years of hiding out and covering up, I was finally closing the door on all that and opening a new one for just me.

Around half past two, the first tall African American man walked into the lobby dressed in an exquisitely tailored suit. He was followed by several men around his height and several
shorter white guys carrying bags. The team had arrived and so I put the magazines I was reading back into my briefcase. I stood up and tucked my sweater into my pants, and the few wrinkles on my sweater disappeared.

A few minutes later, Dray walked in. Seeing him so suddenly felt like the time I saw him in college after his first training camp. And I was just as nervously excited now as then. Dray’s head was down and he had headphones on. The first thing I noticed was that Dray was wearing the gray pinstripe Armani suit, with a pink shirt and light blue tie, that I had bought him almost a year ago.

I was about to call out his name to see if he could hear me above the iPod, but instead I just stood there. He passed by without noticing me and joined his teammates at the reservation desk.

After ten minutes Dray had finally reached the front desk, and a few minutes later he turned and started walking in my direction. He still looked as if his mind was somewhere else when he suddenly glanced up and saw me. At first he looked upset, his brow wrinkled in confusion or anger, I couldn’t tell, but then his face softened almost immediately. Dray looked around, I guess to see if any of his teammates were close by, and then moved toward me.

“AJ! Where the hell have you been? I have been going crazy not being able to get in touch with you,” Dray said in a low hushed tone.

“It’s good to see you, Dray. How have you been?” I spoke so calmly that I surprised myself.

He moved closer to me, as if he were afraid I might disappear like a ghost. “I thought something bad might have happened to you. You might have been dead for all I knew. I called
all the numbers I had for you, even old numbers. I can’t tell you how many times I went by the place. You got some serious explaining to do, sir.”

“Yes, we need to talk, Dray, but not in the lobby of the hotel,” I said.

“Are you staying here?”

“Yes, and I’m listed under my name. Call me when you have time. But if we don’t talk before you leave to go back to New Orleans … well, I can’t be certain we will get another chance.”

Dray looked at me like he was trying to figure out who he was talking to, as if a take-no-shit stranger had taken over my body. He just stared at me in wonder and moved his neck back as if he were really seeing me for the first time. “I will call you as soon as I get into my room,” he said. “Whatever you do, don’t leave without us talking. Please. I can’t stand to lose you like that again. I was in a living hell.” One of the players called his name, asking if he was coming upstairs. Dray nodded, then headed for the bank of elevators. I waited a few minutes and did the same.

About an hour later, the phone in my hotel rang. “What room are you in?”

“What?” I asked, not really understanding what Dray was asking me.

“What room are you in? I got about forty-five minutes before I have to get ready to leave for the arena. I want to see you.”

“I’m in sixteen forty-eight.”

“That’s the club floor. You haven’t seen any of my teammates in the private lobby, have you?”

“I haven’t been there, but my room is at the end of the hall. So we should be cool,” I said.

“Okay. See you in a few.”

I hung up the phone and took a deep breath. Why was I so worried? I had clarity about myself and my relationship with Dray more than ever before. I guess I was concerned that Dray might not appreciate this new self-assurance that I would make it on my own.

I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth, held my hairbrush under cold water, and then pulled it across my head. I looked in the mirror to see if my teeth were clean, if my face was okay. I ran a cold washcloth over my face. I spread some moisturizer over it just as I heard a knock on the door.

I peered out the privacy hole and saw Dray looking down the hallway apprehensively. I pulled the door open.

“Come in,” I said.

Dray walked in and wasted no time shooting questions at me.

“Where have you been? What happened to all your phones? Where you been staying? How could you just leave and not tell me? Man, this shit ain’t cool. I’ve been worried shitless. I thought maybe something bad had happened to you. Damn, what are you trying to do to me?”

“Let’s sit down and talk,” I said, pointing to a pair of chairs. “Let me try to explain.” I took Dray’s hand and led him to the seats. But instead Dray pulled me close to him and hugged me as if his life depended on it. I inhaled the scent of his cologne as he began kissing me. It brought a load of memories rushing back, which I struggled not to let overtake me. His kisses were deep, like he was making love to me, and I couldn’t help but think that maybe I was about to do the wrong thing.

Dray started to go for my zipper and unbutton my shirt when I suddenly stepped back from his embrace and told him to stop.

“What? You don’t think we have enough time? I have forty-five minutes,” Dray said, checking his watch.

I thought about giving it just one last time, but convinced myself that that was not why I’d come to this hotel. He studied my face and then he smiled.

“Dray, I can’t do this anymore,” I said.

“What? Meet like this?”

“No, I need to be on my own. What we are doing is wrong and I can’t live like this anymore.”

“What are you talking about, Aldridge? Have you met someone else?”

“No. It’s not about anyone else. This about me and what I need.”

“I thought you needed me? Let’s not lose what we got.”

I didn’t answer, but instead stared at Dray for a moment, my heart still on the fence. It would have been the easiest thing to run into his arms right there.

“Answer me,” he demanded softly. “Why can’t I be with you?”

“Dray, you know I love you more than anyone in the world, but I think it’s best if I just get on with my own life.” Speaking those words, I realized that I had hardly ever told him I loved him. I think Dray had said he loved me maybe five times during our entire relationship. Somehow those words felt superfluous when we both knew what we felt in our hearts. Dray looked like he was on the verge of tears, but he didn’t cry.

“We’re not going out like that,” Dray said, his voice quavering with emotion. “You mean too much to me. You’re the only guy I ever had feelings for and it can’t be over just like that. I won’t let it.”

“Then you have to make a choice. I can’t share you any
longer. You have to choose between me and Judi.” I hadn’t come there to give him an ultimatum and quickly regretted it. What he wanted was no longer my concern. I’d come to tell him what I needed to do.

“You can’t ask me to make that decision. I’m getting ready to be a father. I can’t just leave Judi now. Give me some time. Let’s not do anything until after the baby is born. After that we can talk.” He reached out and took my hand. “I’ll make things right for you. Haven’t I always?”

This was the time I thought I should tell him the truth behind his wife’s pregnancy, but I didn’t. If I was going to have Dray for myself, it had to be because of how he felt about me, not because he’d married a liar and a tramp.

“There’s no time left to talk, Dray. You’ve made a choice. I wish you well.”

“You ain’t leaving me. I’m your first and only love. We’ll talk about this some more tonight after my game. We’ll work something out, AJ, where everybody will be happy. But you can’t leave me,” he pleaded. “I need you.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah, more than anything.”

Dray pulled me into him and gave me a small kiss. “I really love you,” he whispered. I looked up and saw his private, dreamy smile softening his face.

“I know you do, Dray. Listen, man, it’s getting late and you’ve got to get ready for the game. Why don’t we get together afterward?”

“Okay.” He smiled as if he’d scored. “We’ll order room service and have some great make-up sex.”

“Great, babe. Have a good game.”

“I know I will, now that I know you’re all right.” He kissed
me again, then headed out of the room. I sat there on the edge of the bed by myself, realizing that I’d be gone by the time the game was over. I felt a good cry coming on, but somehow this time the tears would feel as if they were washing away my old life. I had a whole new future ahead.