Page 31 of Spending Forever With You

She kissed her teeth and rolled her eyes.

“You know what I mean, Luke. Like for real. Just us. Even if we have to fake this shit to make it work.”

Fake it?

I didn’t appreciate the harsh ass truth behind her words. I mean, technically, we were faking a relationship in our marriage.

Nigga, you about to fake date your wife.

Even thinking that didn’t sit right with me.

“Just us.” I reached my hand out, hoping for hers.

“Uht uht, I ain’t shaking shit. Do better. You earned your first strike, Mr. Deacon.”

I smirked at her baseball reference.

“Meaning what?”

“You get paid to play the game, you already know how the rules go. Two more and I’m out. Back to my life and sending those lovely papers fresh off the printer.”

“Well, let me fix some shit because I’m only hitting home runs from this point on.”

“I don’t know about all that. I ain’t seen your game to confirm or deny those allegations, and two, you are a catcher. So just make sure to not drop the damn ball again.”

“Girl, you stay lying. Anyways, when can I expect you to come to a game? Remember, the sooner the better.” She rolled her eyes.

“Ugh, I don’t know. Are you playing tonight?”

“Yes, Hershey. I’m not off no time soon.”

She groaned. “I wrote us a piece to help us come out to the public, and my boss ate that shit up, so they are running it in a couple weeks. I told him to push it back a few weeks to give us time together. Dropping it right after the meeting with the lawyer would’ve been messy as hell. So… um… I guess, tonight then, to get a head start to better sell the story. It’ll look good for us to be out and about a couple times outside of the games before it drops to help remind hoes like Talisa Storms you’re a taken man.”

I snorted at her sly jealousy sneaking out at the mention of Talisa.

“C’mon, Hershey, 'member nothing happened with that girl. She ain’t gotta be all that. We both have a past outside of us. You don’t see me talking shit about the bum ass niggas you were fucking with when you left me.”

“You’re working on your second strike, Luke. Defending another woman you claim you did nothing with isn’t a good move now is it? And you just did, but this isn’t about me. None of my hoes can be identified, so it only looks like you stepped out on your fine ass wife.”

“Who said you fine? You average at best.” I joked with her as I finished my bottle of water.

Hollis snapped her fingers. “I keep forgetting that old people’s eyes be fucked up for real. Don’t worry though, when I go shopping today, I’m sure a couple of your teammates will help you see how fine your wife is once I make my presence known.”

And not one of them fools better open their mouths to say anything slick.

The thought of anyone on the team playing with me like that had me over this conversation real quick.

“Anyways, is shopping the only thing on your list for this morning?”

She nodded as she typed away on one of the phones.

“If you don’t take all day, I can be your chauffeur if you want,” I offered. She was moving out of my space and I wasn’t ready. I didn’t want to be a creeper trying to carry on a conversation.

She looked me up and down as she squinted.

“Fine, only because like you and Kay said, public appearances need to happen now more than ever. It’s only a few stops, no more than two hours tops. You have ten minutes or you’re getting left.”

“Girl you ain’t leaving me,” I said as I pushed off the counter, tossing my empty water bottle in the trash, heading toward the garage with Hollis following.