Homecourt Advantage (18 page)

Steve was almost ready to leave, but the possibility of Diamond truly being ill kept him waiting. Finally Kelly came to the door. Regardless of the little girl’s parentage, he still loved her and would always hold a special place for her in his heart.

“Where’s Diamond?” Steve said as Kelly flung the door open.

“Why didn’t you just use your key?” Kelly said, closing the door after him.

Steve looked around the room suspiciously. Kelly had something up her sleeve. All of the downstairs blinds were shut and the lights were dimmed, making it seem much later than four o’clock in the afternoon.

“Is Diamond in her room?” Steve said, rushing toward the stairs, trying to ignore Kelly in her tight, ankle-length skirt.

“She finally got to sleep. Her temperature dropped back almost to normal. I think she’s gonna be all right. How about you? Are you all right?” Kelly said, leaning against the vestibule wall, revealing a generous slit in the front of her skirt.

“Kelly, no more games. Diamond wasn’t even sick, was she? This needs to stop.” Steve was actually talking to himself. He felt flushed just looking at the long, long, perfect legs.

Kelly slowly moved away from the wall and sashayed into the living room. He caught himself staring at her taut rear end through the clingy material. No matter how many beautiful women Steve encountered in his travels, no one could push his buttons like Kelly, not even Stephanie. He had learned that the passion wasn’t healthy—that it was more like a drug than an expression of affection. Still, he was aroused just looking at her.

When Kelly reached the white baby grand piano, she hesitated, keeping her back to Steve.

“You used to like my games, Steve,” Kelly said, placing both of her hands on the piano.

“Yeah, well, that’s just it. I’m tired of playing them.”

“Ahh. I don’t know about that. I think we can get things back on track.”

How could he break her hold on him? She was even more dangerous when she was sober.

“Look, Kelly …” Steve began.

“Wouldn’t you rather do the looking?” Kelly said, unzipping her skirt and peeling it to the plush cream carpeting.

Steve’s eyes were glued to Kelly as she leaned over to step out of her skirt.

“Kelly, put your skirt back on. That’s the last reason why I’m here,” Steve stammered as he neared her as if she were a magnet and he a flimsy paper clip—his worst fear.

“Then why can’t you talk straight, Steve?” Kelly said as she faced him and removed her black silk blouse, revealing full, overflowing breasts resting in a black silk push-up bra.

“Kelly, this is foolish; you know it’s over between us,” Steve said, wiping his sweating brow.

“Don’t you know by now? It’s never going to be over with us. You were my first love and I was yours. Now, it’s been much too long since we’ve been together. Why don’t you just come over here and fuck the shit out of me like I know you want to do.”

Kelly began rubbing herself between her legs under her G-string underwear. Steve hated the fact that she knew all of his weaknesses.

“Kelly, you’re way out of line. How can you be like this when your baby is right upstairs? Now that I see Diamond isn’t really sick, I want to tell you … I want you out of my house. I’m giving you a month to get your things together and leave.”

“ ‘Kelly, you’re way out of line. I want you out of here right away,’ “
Kelly said, mocking him as she turned her back to him once again and unfastened her bra.

Damn. Her voluptuous ass always seemed to be perked to attention, Steve thought. Kelly then bent over, touched her toes, and tauntingly looked at Steve upside down between her legs.

“You’re making a fool of yourself, Kelly. I don’t want … any part … of you. Not now, not ever,” Steve said, not breaking his gaze from her body. He realized that he was completely hard and gingerly shifted his weight, so Kelly wouldn’t notice.

Suddenly Kelly spread her legs and dropped into the splits, a move that always brought Steve to his knees. She had worked briefly as a dancer in a little club back home, and the graceful moves of an animal untouched by civilization remained in her sexual repertoire. Steve felt all control leave his body as he dropped down on the floor, rock-hard and horny. Even as he beckoned to her, a victim of his own raw desire, his mind was fighting, telling him any second the need would pass. But his intellect lost. How could it not? He spread his legs almost involuntarily as Kelly slithered toward him on all fours, licking her lips as she glided closer to him.

By the time Kelly reached him, his desire to release was overwhelming. She grabbed Steve’s thighs and dove her head in betweenhis legs, taking small bites at his bulk through his slacks. He was so hard, her bites sent tiny quivers up his spine. Steve could not stop himself from groaning as Kelly removed his dick from his pants and placed it all in her mouth in one slow, deliberate swallowing motion. Just as Steve felt himself about to climax, Kelly mounted him and rode him until he exploded into her.

Within seconds of coming, reality hit. Even as he was still panting and sweating, he quickly pulled his pants back up.

Immediately disgusted with himself, he felt instant regret. His body reeked of her scent and he felt dirty. The sexual power that she had over him was unsettling. It had been that way for years. It had to end. It was unhealthy for his relationship with Stephanie, for himself, for Kelly, and most of all, for Diamond.

“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it, baby?” Kelly purred as she slipped on her blouse and pulled up her skirt.

Steve stood up and reached inside his jacket pocket.

“Kelly, that was the last time. I mean it,” Steve said as he removed the papers from his coat.

“Was it now?” Kelly asked.

“Kelly, I’ve been asking you to leave and find your own place, but you obviously haven’t taken me seriously,” Steve said as he quickly tossed the Notice to Vacate document on the coffee table. “So you leave me no other choice.”

“Steve, how can you say that after we just made love? That was beautiful and this is our home, remember?”

“Kelly, get it straight! We
fucked.
I think I’ve been more than fair with you. It’s time for you to go. You’ve got one month.” Steve began walking toward the door.

“Steve! Steve! What the hell is this?” Kelly said, running up behind him, waving the Notice to Vacate document in his face.

“Kelly, don’t make this any more difficult than it has to be.”

“Where are we supposed to go? I’ll be damned if I’m going back to Atlanta with nothing but my baby and a suitcase!” Kelly said, throwing the papers at him.

“Kelly, I don’t care where you go. It’s not my responsibility. Call Daryl now.”

“He’s useless and you know that. You’re Diamond’s real father. You can’t just throw us out like this! I’ll take your ass to court!” Kelly shouted.

“Don’t threaten me, Kelly. I don’t take well to threats. Stop worrying, you’ll figure it out. You always land on your feet,” Steve said with a smirk as he continued trying to leave.

“I won’t let you see Diamond, then.”

Steve stopped in his path. She knew that was a sore subject between them.

“Kelly, I can only hope that you love your daughter enough not to hurt her that way. She’d be the one punished more than me.”

“I love her enough to keep us together as a family.”

“Kelly, you’re only concerned about yourself. Just like you were when you lied to me about Diamond being my daughter in the first place. All you wanted was a baby by a baller. I could have been any number on any team. It wouldn’t have mattered to you.”

“What’s so wrong with wanting to make sure my baby has a good life … a better life than I had?” Kelly cried.

“Kelly, save that act. It’s getting real tired. I’m outta here,” Steve said, shaking his head.

“Don’t you walk out on me, boy! What the hell is wrong with you!” Kelly screeched. Steve heard Kelly’s screaming as he turned around and flung open the front door, but he refused to look back as he headed toward his car.

Steve knew Kelly was outraged, but she had brought it on herself. He hadn’t been too hard on her, had he? But he had just fucked her and then handed down her marching orders. He couldn’t help having the feeling that he screwed her in more ways than one even though she had been manipulating him for years; not that he had behaved much better by just sleeping with her.

Swinging open the door to his Mercedes, Steve made a silent promise to himself that he would never succumb to Kelly again. He only hoped Stephanie didn’t detect the look of guilt on his face. But he had accomplished one of the things he set out to do, he’d reminded himself. Kelly would be forced to vacate the home. Her free ride was over, and so was their relationship.

“What the hell?” Steve said, startled by a loud thud on his windshield.

Looking up, he saw Kelly running toward the car with a boot in her hand and bare feet. Before he knew what was happening, she threw her other high-heeled boot at his windshield. Steve flinched for a second time as it hit the glass with more force than the first boot. Kelly had a maniacal look on her face as she continued to charge toward his car. Had he gone too far by kicking her out or had she finally lost it?

Steve quickly shifted the car into reverse as she continued running toward him with her hands raised to the sky and fists tightly balled. Just as he put the car into drive, he felt a loud thud on the front of the car as Kelly hurled herself onto the hood, screaming bloody murder.

What the hell had gotten into her this time? Steve quickly lowered the window and leaned his head out. “Kelly, get the fuck off of my car. You’re makin’ a damn fool—”

Before he knew what hit him, Kelly reached into the car and slashed her long, jagged fingernails at him, narrowly missing his face but catching his hand. She had lost her mind! Steve fended her off with his wounded hand as she continued to claw at him.

“You can’t kick me out, boy! This is my motherfuckin’ house!” Kelly howled as she thrashed at Steve with one hand and held fast to the hood of the car with the other.

It was obvious to Steve that she was going for blood and the only way to get her off the front of his car was to speed up and hope that the momentum would throw her crazy ass to the ground. As he pressed his foot on the accelerator and simultaneously raised the window, Kelly snatched her hand from inside the car. She then held on to the hood with both hands as he began to pick up speed. But Kelly didn’t budge. Switching tactics, Steve slammed on the brakes. She lost her grip and toppled onto the street. Steve continued moving forward but slowed down just long enough to see her stand up and brush herself off. She was all right. Thank God.

Speeding off, Steve knew he was finished with her—once and for all. They had both passed the point of no return.

“That bastard made me break my nail!” Kelly said as she ambled her way back to her front door, picking up her new boots off the driveway in the process. “Damn! He broke one of my heels too!”

Kelly held the tan stiletto boots up in the air and looked at the tire tracks on the leather. She felt like her boots, broken and run-down. Steve had a lot of fuckin’ nerve thinking he could just drop her from his life like a bad habit. He couldn’t brush her aside with a snap of the finger or with some legal document. She had stuck by him over the years. He’d still have yellow, crooked teeth if it weren’t for her making him get them fixed so he could do some commercials. She and Diamond were not going to be living on the streets just because he got himself a new and improved hoochie.

Steve was trying to play hardball with her. He just didn’t realize that he was way out of his league, Kelly thought as she entered the kitchen she had decorated. She would not go down without a fight. And she would be smart about it this time. Steve was going to get hit where it really hurt.

Kelly thought about the burly redheaded man who had approached her on three separate occasions over the past month. What was his name? Rock, Stone. Mr. Stone, that was it. He seemed to know an awful lot about the Flyers, Steve, and her. He’d done some research.

Spotting her purse on the desk in the kitchen, Kelly sat down and snatched it up. She remembered exactly where she’d put his business card—in a tiny compartment in her Louis Vuitton wallet. Finding the card, Kelly pulled it out. She’d even done some research of her own on the redhead’s boss. Not that she had to delve too far. Leonard Hightower was on a different magazine cover every other week. She had discovered enough to realize that he was a real player.

Kelly dialed the number on the card, which read “Hightower Enterprises.” Mr. Stone was the man she was looking for. He had told her that the two of them could enter into a mutually beneficial arrangement. Mr. Stone had told her to feel free to call when she was ready—the sooner the better, though, because the

clock was ticking. She was ready now. Steve had left her no choice.

“Hightower Enterprises,” the receptionist on the phone said into Kelly’s ear.

“Mr. Stone, please.”

Two can play at this game, Steve, but I’m better than you at it. I always have been.

“Where the hell could he be? Casey asked, irritated
as she clicked her cellular phone shut.

“Who?” Remy asked, peering at her image in the passenger-side overhead mirror. She puckered her lips and skillfully reapplied a layer of metallic Chanel lip gloss.

“My husband, that’s who.” Casey turned the volume down on the car radio and turned around to reach for her purse. She yanked it up from the floor behind the driver’s seat and fished around inside her bag looking for her compact mirror. “I swear, Remy, sometimes I think Brent has the hotel put a ‘Do not disturb’ on his phone just to irritate me. He knows I hate that shit. It’s not like we haven’t talked about it before either.”

Casey became more agitated with each passing second. “I’m his wife, damn it! I shouldn’t have to listen to some hotel operator tell me my husband doesn’t wish to be disturbed. I’ve asked him to at least leave my name with them so that my calls could go through, and thisis what I get? For all I know, he could have some woman in his room,” Casey said, swearing under her breath as she noticed a crack in her new purse-sized mirror.