Read Online Love In the Red Zone (Connecticut Kings Book 1) by Love Belvin - Free Book Online Page B

late night “quick bite”  at DiFillippo’s in Hackensack, near Garden State Plaza Mall, which was close to thirty minutes from East Orange, where the team practiced. This was why I still struggled with this benevolence thing. The more I did, the more questions could be derived from my actions. She was now asking for my identity, which she deserved, but answering about the restaurant was a different matter. There was no way I was prepared to tell her I was part owner of it. She was smart enough to know we were five steps up from the dozen or so of mom-and-pop diners we passed to get here. They were more appropriate for the occasion than this. But here is where I was guaranteed privacy. I’d already risked enough by being out with this stranger in a heavily populated neck of the woods.
    “Yeah, I do!” Kyree shrilled. “It’s Coach TB!”
    “TB?” she cocked her head to the side, questioning him. Then she shared that amber hued scowl with me. I offered a closed mouth smile with a shrug. “Honey, what is a TB?” she asked him.
    Kyree yawned and went for his juice. His shrug followed after he took a sip. “I ‘on’t kno w… like Trent Bailey.” He smiled smartly at her.
    I almost choked on my damn spit. My kids on the team didn’t know my name. I made sure of it. The other coaches made sure of it. And here, this kid randomly shot a renowned name so casually, not knowing he was spot on. I didn’t have a response for that. I froze in my chair, unable to say shit.
    “Who is Trent Bailey, Ky?” Then her neck jerked back again, this time with recognition. “Is that the guy your father told you about on the phone last time you two spoke?”
    Kyree nodded with a half committed smirk. The kid may not have known who I was, but the fact that he could accurately pull names from letters further impressed me. Kyree was smart.
    “I should make you do a report on him.” She smacked her lips, turning to me.
    “Ready?” I asked, not wanting to stretch the conversation.
    “Yeah,” she answered. “How much for the burger? Thirty dollars?” She scanned the digs of the restaurant from the corner of her eyes.
    I could smell her anxiety over the bill. I didn’t want her to freak out again. It took a minute to get her to even speak after we took off from the field.
    “No worries. I chose the restaurant. I got it.” But then my eyes went to her half empty mug. She only ordered coffee. This was her third cup. “You sure you don’t want food? We can order something to go.”
    Now that we knew who was paying, maybe she’d order something. I understood not having the bread to do what you wanted. Apparently, she was willing to shell out for her son. It was as though she chose for him to eat over herself. Something about that simple maternal act trumped my recent regret of helping out tonight.
    “No. I’m fine. I have a long night ahead after putting him down. I’ll need the caffeine.” She fingered through her long silky hair, amber eyes dancing all around while her nicely manicured chocolate covered finger nails crossed over each other over the table.
    “Cool.” I prepared to stand. “You good, Kyree?”
    “Yes!” his mom quickly answered for him. “Let’s go, Ky.”
    “Hang on.” I asked a passing waiter for his pen and a piece of paper. “Let me write down my number for you, seeing that it’s my man that has your car and you don’t know him.”
    As we waited, I could see there was something playing in the back of her mind. It could have been the car issue, or that she had her son out so late, or that they were with a stranger. I mean, she clearly had cash flow issues, something I could understand, but she was brooding.
    “You live by here, Coach?” Kyree asked.
    “Ky!” his mother chided.
    There was that beam in his eyes that I hadn’t seen in a while. He was either focused on the field or brooding similar to what his mother had been doing since we arrived here. I could see where he snatched his