“Shit!” Dre scoffed. “Anywhere on that bitch would be fire. Just say the word. I’ll cover liquor and plants for the whole week.”
“Damn, that sounds like fun!” Karmen breathed wistfully. “I hope so. They book up fast in the winter. Christmas is impossible.”
“Please, woobie,” Aivery gave her baby point, but kept it sexy.
I had no intention of spending my winter break with Aivery and her friends this year. But I would never say that. I kissed her on the cheek as a sweet gesture to back the hell off. It worked because Aivery turned again, her shoulders leaning into my chest. And I continued my countdown to when I’d blow this wack ass post up.
“She looks like she reeks,” Karmen snarled. “And those sneakers are just as hideous as her hair.”
“Where?” Andrea asked, twisting the end of one of her long braids around her index finger.
“Passing the pinball machine right now,” ShawnNicole assisted. “I wish I could run my comb through that fucked up so-called ‘installment.’”
Not knowing what the hell an installment was, my eyes raced in that direction, knowing the target before they landed. Tori trekked the student center with her palms fisted around her stained red book bag. She wore black cropped running pants, a BSU jacket, and those busted ass sneakers that I now knew for a fact held an odor. Her head was down, baseball cap low on her face. A flash of anger bolted through me.
Why does she make herself such a damn target?
The girl gassed herself before doing a slow walk into the fire. A few people tapped a friend on the low, drawing attention to the spectacle on the lower level of the student center. I’d seen countless cases of this in my tenure here, but usually with corny ass guys.
“So fucking diseased,” Aivery hissed, little body tensing beneath me. “I swear. They just let anybody in now. This place was so much more exclusive when my grandfather and great-grandfather attended. Scholarships are such a Dems handout to the fucking poor. And now we’ve got to smell and endure the sight of this trash.”
I flinched and immediately hoped she didn’t sense it. That shit was harsh. McNabb’s existence annoyed me, but she was a human being. Hell, even though I ripped her ass a new one two nights ago, it was still clear to me she had feelings, a voice, and a damn pulse. Her comment reminded me of the funk I was in. Why was I here in this populated ass student center when there were a whole three hundred plus ass acres of this campus, and I likely had access to, at least, eighty-five percent of them?
As I watched Tori step onto the elevator, I thought to myself, ‘this shit is wack.’ I needed more. This shit was boring.
“Spence,” Dre called over. When he had my attention, he flicked his chin in the opposite direction.
Byron Jones, the BSU Athletic Director, was standing in the doorway looking like a damn NARC. He tossed his head, summonsing me. I checked my wrist for the time, hoping I wasn’t late.
“I’m out,” I murmured to the crew and took off.
As I approached him across the busy room, he backed out of the doorway.
“What’s up, chief?” I greeted, following him down the pathway. “I was shook at first, thinking I was late for our meeting.”
“Nah.” He swung his arm in the air, dismissing the notion. “I was down, getting a sandwich from the cafe and thought you’d be in there with your crew. I drove a cart down and figured you’d appreciate the lift.” We made it down to the end of the walkway, where a golf cart awaited. Jones tossed me the keys. “Do an old man the honors.”
I dropped my bag in the backseat and hopped in. We pulled off quietly and I drove us down the narrow pathways, rounding the few bodies we passed on the way.
“How’re you making out, son?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve been on campus for five weeks now, started classes three weeks ago, and I hear your crazy ass is tutoring again this semester. I wanna know how you’re balancing it all.”
“Too early to say, sir.” Today wasn’t the best day to ask.
“You sure? You don’t seem like a young man starting out the end of his collegiate career where he’s about to take the world by storm and declare for the League’s draft. The world is your oyster right now. I need you to live in that.”
I considered that for a minute. “To keep it real, sir, I’m wondering if I should have declared last year.”
“Last year?” he echoed as we arrived at the blockades of the athletic facilities. Crossing over to this side of the campus was never anything short of a prideful experience. It was an athlete’s haven. With state-of-the-art equipment, a full-service sports spa, showers, break beds, and a small cafeteria, you could practically live here. “What’s going on?”
When I pulled into an available park, I cut the engine and sat back. “Lackluster.”
Jones laughed, covering his face. “You and these words. I swear, you may be a better wordsmith than you are anything else.”
I shook my head. “Nah, sir. I’m a better lover than I am anything else.” He knew I was fucking with him and cracked the hell up.
I needed to infuse humor. Talking about something I couldn’t quite define wasn’t easy.
“Is that what it is?” he asked. “You need more time to…clear your pores? You and Aivery…”
Shaking my head cut him off. “This has nothing to do with her.” Per se. “As a matter of fact,” I hopped out of the cart. “let’s forget I even brought it up. The semester hasn’t truly gotten started yet. Maybe getting back on my normal schedule’s got me buggin’.” I shook my head while grabbing my book bag.
Jones left the cart and started for the building, his face tight. “Before we meet, I have another matter to bring to your attention.”
“What’s that?” I followed him inside.
“In my office.”
We took the elevator and rounded several halls before arriving at likely the largest office in the building. One wall of his office was floor-to-ceiling glass overseeing the main gym floor. When Jones wanted privacy, he’d frost the glass so no one could peer up into his massive office, though he still had full view.
“Have a seat,” he ordered me.
As he ambled behind his desk and dropped the bag of food down, there was a knock on the opened door. Trisha Gaskin craned her neck inside.
“Come on in, Gaskin.” He waved her inside. “Ashton and I just got here.”
Trisha closed the door behind herself and my hackles shot in the air. She claimed the chair next to me facing her boss. My eyes swung from her to my A.D.
Jones began unwrapping his sandwich. “Ashton, Trisha here, as you know, is an A.A.D. She’s coached soccer for a couple of years and recently moved into boxing. BSU is expanding its repertoire into female boxing, something Gaskin has professional experience in. She took the lead on recruiting Tori McNabb. I believe you’re familiar with her.” His eyes rose to meet my own.
“Yes,” I answered.
Jones unscrewed his water then set it next to his sandwich that began to scent the room. That’s when it dawned on me. Jones’ tuna could have been purchased from the small bistro downstairs. He didn’t have to come down to the campus unless it was for another reason. Me. This meeting was just arranged today. Had to be. I’d already had one with him that was supposed to begin in twenty minutes: enough time for him to scarf down his sandwich and be prepared.