high school and college—without tipping him off, of course. Shouldn’t be hard to keep Eddie in the dark; the guy was a worker bee but didn’t have the sharpest stinger.
Hara messaged for an Uber. Then, unable to stop herself any longer, she texted Derek. Bad news. Naomi tried to kill herself. It was awful. She’s stable but you should tell Charles. I’ll be at the hotel tonight, if you want to talk. Or maybe I’ll see you at the game tomorrow. Good luck.
Hitting send, she prayed she didn’t sound desperate. Only open to possibilities.
* * *
Derek was just walking into his apartment when his cell pinged. Reading the text, he cringed and slid the phone into his pocket. He’d call Hara later, make sure she was all right, but first he had to deal with Charles. Even through a shut door, Derek could hear him snoring.
Before he made it down the hall, Charles’s phone rang, still on the kitchen counter. Derek jogged over, saw it was O’Donnell. His hand hovered, undecided, until the ringing stopped. But then it immediately started up again. His boss again.
“Hello, sir, this is Derek. Charles can’t come to the phone right now.”
“Unacceptable. You go get him. Now.”
“To be honest, he’s sleeping.”
“Are you telling me you two are a couple?” The old man then made a slurping noise that made every hair on Derek’s body stand up. “By God, that makes sense. Maybe it was you that got this Naomi girl pregnant, during a three—”
“No.” Derek was too shocked by this crazy leap to say more. O’Donnell’s lascivious tone was worse than the implication. The paintings behind the owner’s desk obviously represented a frame of mind. Derek finally kicked out some words: “Besides, you’ll be happy to hear Naomi isn’t pregnant anymore. She miscarried.” He couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice.
“One less abortion to worry about, then—”
Derek cut him off. “However, she did try to kill herself. Sliced her wrists. Pretty bad.” He didn’t know why he was telling O’Donnell, except maybe to pry some empathy from the old bastard.
“But she didn’t die? Too bad. One less whore on Butler’s scoreboard wouldn’t be a bad thing. He’s got enough problems.”
“You don’t mean that.” Derek shouldn’t have been shocked but he was.
“Son, I did not get to where I am by being softhearted. Now, don’t take this the wrong way, but you and your teammates are commodities. I protect my commodities.”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “We are also human beings. Naomi is a human being.”
“Fine, fine. Whatever you say. Get Charles up, tell him to call me. I need to talk to him before the game, make sure he stays away from that reporter Isari. She’s become a problem, obsessed with Butler. If she tries to come to the next game, I might have to do something about it. Let me know if you run into her, Mr. Darcy.”
He wanted off the phone, desperately. “Yes, sir.”
“And you’re ready to be a team player tomorrow? Support Charles? If not, you’ve got a knack for riding the bench.”
“Yes, sir.” Derek spoke like a robot.
“Good night, then.”
“Good night, sir,” he said automatically. He swayed on his feet in his apartment, though his mind whirled and stormed, far away. What in the fuck? I mean, what in the fuck? Am I stuck in a bad cable movie?
Had O’Donnell just threatened Hara?
Derek tried to wake Charles, to get him up so he could go to Naomi. The big drunk only groaned, rolled over, and fell into a deeper stupor. He didn’t bother trying again, not even to tell him that O’Donnell wanted to talk to him. O’Donnell was a douche and Charles could do without him for a while.
However, Derek did text Hara back. I think it best if you don’t come to the game. I think things are too complicated. He knew this would hurt Hara. It hurt him to type it. But what was he supposed to say? That he thought maybe the owner was crazy and might hurt her if she showed up? Who would believe that?
The basketball player hated it when he felt out of control, when the usual rules didn’t seem to apply to his day-to-day life, the one he’d so carefully carved out for himself, away from his family. Yet, here he was, helpless against the wave of events washing over him.
What can I do?
He could stop worrying about himself. He needed to focus on something else, anyone else. Except Hara. Thinking