Love Again Read online

  “I won’t baby boy, I’ll be right outside the door.” She kissed my cheek and smiled at me.

  I took a long hot shower since the water at our apartment was always cold and brushed my teeth twice because the toothpaste tasted like mint and bubble gum. The clothes I put on fit better than what I had at our apartment, they didn’t have holes in them and they didn’t smell like stale cigarette smoke from my dad.

  I pulled the door open just enough I could peek out and make sure mom was still waiting for me. She smiled and waved a hand for me to come out, “Look at you!” I ran over to her and hugged her. “Ohhh baby we’re safe now…safe.” She rocked me back and forth. “Ready for some yummy food?” she released me from the hug.

  Downstairs smelled sweet like sugar and cookies. Sitting at the table was Virginia and Harold. They both smiled at me, “Do you like pancakes?” Virginia asked.

  I nodded my head, “Y…yes ma’am.”

  A lady wearing a black dress with a white apron tied around her waist appeared a few short minutes later with a stack of steaming hot pancakes. She walked around the table and placed two on each plate. “Thank You!” I said excitedly.

  “You’re very welcome young man.” She smiled and patted my shoulder before walking out of the room. Mom helped me put some butter and syrup on my pancakes, my mouth watered from the smell and sight in front of me. I looked up and Virginia was smiling at me.

  “Dig in!” she motioned at my plate.

  I ate a total of four pancakes, “Boy you keep eating that much and you’ll be ready to play football in no time!” Harold said with a laugh.

  “Sorry.” I looked down at my lap.

  “No need to be sorry son, I’m glad to see you have such a healthy appetite. What do you say we go out back and play some catch with your new football or shoot some hoops with your basketball?”

  “I don’t have one. Daddy said I didn’t deserve new toys. If I played with a basketball or a football it was at school.”

  “Sure you do, go look in the foyer by the back door.” He grinned at me.

  I looked at mom, she raised her eyebrows and smiled, “Better go see!”

  I nodded my head excitedly and excused myself from the table. I ran out of the room, through the kitchen and skidded to a stop by the back door. There were brand new toys in a wooden box. “Wow!” I whispered. Hockey sticks, footballs, basketballs, roller skates…”Wow!” I said louder.

  Harold’s laugh startled me, “So, what’ll it be?” He nodded toward the box.

  I picked up the football, “I want to learn how to play football…please?”

  He nodded, “Let’s go then.”

  Harold took his time showing me the proper way to hold the football, how to throw it, and how to kick it. “You’re pretty big for you’re age and you’ve got some speed, I think you’ll be a linebacker.” He told me and patted the top of my head.

  “Is that good?” I asked.

  He laughed, “If it’s what you want to do. Go wash up then we’ll see if we can find a game to watch until lunch is ready. How does that sound?”

  “Awesome!” I sprinted into the house, past a couple of people and upstairs. Mom was sitting on the bed with Virginia.

  “Hey baby, did you have fun?” She asked and wiped at her eyes.

  “So much fun, Harold says I’m big and can play football someday! Why are you crying momma?”

  “I’m just happy, these are tears of joy baby.” She hugged me.

  “Harold and me are going to watch a football game on TV!” I told her and jumped up and down in my spot.

  She smiled, “Good for you, I’ll be down there in a little bit.”

  Harold and I watched the Dallas Cowboys play the San Francisco 49ers. It was after watching that game that I set my own goals, I was going to become a professional football player.

  That night while mom watched TV and gently stroked my back I looked up at her, “Momma, what happened to daddy? Is he dead?”

  Her hand stilled on my back, “No baby, he’s not dead he’s in jail and will be there for a very long time. He got mixed up with the wrong people and hurt the wrong people, we’re safe now.”

  “But…Harold and Virginia are white. Daddy said never to trust white people.”

  “Honey you’re going to be told a whole lot of different things all throughout your life, judging a person by their skin color will be something people hold against each other forever. Just remember, no matter what color their skin is we are all the same inside. Our skin color doesn’t make us who we are.”

  “Okay momma.” I smiled at her and she smiled back. “Night momma I love you.”

  “Love you to baby.” She kissed the top of my head and hummed until I could no longer stay awake.

  ~~~~~~

  “Earth to Dominique!” My assistant Tiffany snapped her fingers in front of me. “Did you go out and drink too much last night or what?” She laughed.

  I shook my head, “Nope, just another childhood flashback is all.” I told her.

  She looked at me with sad eyes, “I’m sorry.” She said and looked at the floor.

  “None of that, what’s up? Sorry I spaced out there for a minute.” I said.

  “Well, I thought you might be interested in this newly listed house.” She laid a stack of papers down in front of her and pushed them across my desk. I gave her a skeptical look, the last house she tried to get me to buy was, “In need of a little TLC” which meant it needed to be torn down. Rather than pay for it to be tore down, I bought it and renovated it so it could be a safe place for abused women and children to go to in the middle of the night…no questions asked.

  I picked the stack up and flipped it over, the first page listed the price, “Fourteen million?!” I said and looked up at her. She nodded her head and bit back a smile, I shook my head then flipped to the next page. The floor plan looked familiar and so did the kitchen, I flipped to the next page and my mouth fell open. “The Wilson place is up for sale?” I said and about jumped out of my office chair.

  Tiffany laughed, “Do you want me to schedule a showing? There’s an open house next week if you just want to wait.”

  I walked around the desk and hugged her until she complained that she couldn’t breathe, “You’re the best fucking assistant ever! I’ll personally handle this call.” I told her.

  “Okay, that way when nosey Ava comes in here I can honestly tell her that I don’t know where you are or what you are doing.”

  Ava—was supposed to be my wife by now. When a private investigator showed me proof that she was cheating on me, I moved out of our high-rise apartment and was currently renting an apartment in the same building as one of my best friends and teammate, Trevor. Ava had been trying to get me back for almost a year now and I wanted no part of her or any relationship for that matter. I had loved her and trusted her and she did nothing but rip my heart out and shred it to pieces. I think she might have even set the pieces on fire. I hadn’t dated in that year and had no desire to; I had random hook ups and that was it. They never stayed the night and I usually didn’t call them the next day—or ever again. Well except for one that was okay with a no strings attached random booty call. She was cool.

  “Let me know if you need me to help with anything.” Tiffany interrupted my thoughts…again.

  “You know I will.” I told Tiffany. She nodded then walked out of my office.

  Obviously it was one of those days that I couldn’t keep my attention on something for longer than a minute. It meant that I needed to do one of two things; I either needed to go to the gym and work out my frustrations or call Chrissy and fuck out my frustrations. I opted for going to the gym, Chrissy had been over two nights ago—I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea about me and think I had feelings for her.

  I picked up the stack of papers and found the realtors number, I tried to call it but was sent to a voicemail; “Hey this is Lennie, leave your name and number and I’ll call you back. If you’re calling about a listi
ng I have please leave the listing number as well. Thank you and have a wonderful day!”

  I left a short message and hung up then called Trevor to see if he had some free time to go to the gym. He said he did so we agreed to meet there in an hour.

  Trevor and I met when we were both entered the Bears team as undrafted free agents. Our third season everything changed for me, being a wide receiver I took numerous hits but was always able to jump right back up. The game against the Redskins was what ended my career, I was tackled and the very second my back hit the turf--red hot lightning shot up my spine. I about pissed myself from the pain. I bit down on my mouth guard and tried not to scream, Trevor was knelt down next to me. “The medical staff is coming, don’t move. I’ve never seen your back twist like that.” He said. I laid there for what seemed like thirty minutes until I was carted out on a backboard in the back of an ATV.

  When the ex-rays results showed a herniated disk, the string of cuss words that left my mouth echoed throughout the hospital.

  “Listen Dominique I don’t think you understand the severity of this, one more hit and you’re done…you’ll be paralyzed!” my coach yelled at me. He knew I was getting ready to argue that with some physical rehab, I would be fine. He took his hat off, “You’re young, you’ve made a hell of a name for yourself, Destroyer, you can’t play this game for the rest of your life. Walk away while you still can, we can get you in for some physical therapy and you can stand on the sidelines. You’re like a son to me and I’m telling you…hang up your cleats. Hell you can help inner city kids learn the sport!” I knew there was no arguing with him or the doctors, that was my last game on the field.

  It was also the last time I hugged Harold and Virginia before they left to fly home to Chicago. The frantic call from mom when she got the news would forever be burned into my memory. Two of the most loving and caring people I had ever met, were gone in the blink of an eye.

  Going through physical therapy sucked, standing on the sidelines sucked even more but I did it to show my support to the team. Numerous athletic apparel companies and some modeling agencies approached me. Since I had nothing better to do I contracted with an underwear company, a top name athletic company and a top name nutrition company.

  After doing that for just over six months a good friend called me about the sporting line he owned, he asked if I would be interested in buying him out before the lost his ass in the competitive market. So—I did. Within one year Hastings Athletic was one of the top five sporting goods retailers in the world, after two years my company was number two and still growing. I continued to model and run my company, I wasn’t the type that liked being in the office all of the time so I relied heavily on my staff and personal assistant Tiffany. Another investment I made was buying a nightclub, renovating it and turning it into an easygoing yet classy club. ‘The Glo’ generated a good profit for me, Hastings Athletic generated millions for me and my modeling added to it. So I knew that buying Harold and Virginia’s house was a must, I had more than enough money and didn’t want it to be owned by anyone else.

  On the way to the gym I called my mom, I had bought her a house a few months ago even though she insisted that I didn’t need to spend any money on her.

  “Good afternoon sweetie!” She answered.

  “Afternoon momma, did the painters get everything finished inside the house?”

  “They sure did! You need to come see it it’s beautiful! I love my little home, courtesy of my amazing boy.” She said and I could tell she was smiling.

  “I’ll come by this soon then we can go out for supper. I called to tell you I’m going to be purchasing my first home.”

  “Ohhh, do tell!” she was practically squealing with excitement.

  “I’m going to buy the Wilson place.” I said and waited for it to register what house I was talking about. After a short pause she replied.

  “They would be so happy that you are going to live in it, but, it’s huge Dom. You need to find you a nice lady to marry and fill it up with grandbabies for me.”

  I laughed, “I’ll wait on that thank you very much!”

  “You’re not getting any younger Dom…”

  “Mother…”

  “Dominique!”

  We both started laughing, “I’m almost to the gym I’ll come over this weekend, okay?”

  “I can’t wait, love you baby. Oh, don’t forget I’m going on a cruise in a few months!”

  “Love you too. I’ll come see you before you leave.”

  Inside the gym Trevor was casually leaning against the desk visiting with the two receptionists, he was no doubt trying to find his way into the pants of one or both of them.

  “Hey Dom!”

  “Angie, Beth.” I nodded at them both before grabbing Trevor by the back of his shirt and dragging him away. “You’re supposed to come to the gym to work out not hook up, dick face.” I told him.

  “Yeah yeah, I was waiting on your old slow ass!” he said with a laugh.

  I had just loaded the bench press when my cell phone rang, I grabbed it out of my shorts pocket and told Trevor I needed to take the call since it was Lennie calling back.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi Mister Holiday?” Her sweet voice flowed over the line.

  “You can call me Dominique.” I told her.

  “Okay, this is Lennie with Sunrise Realty and I’m returning your call about the Wilson home. Would you like to set up a time to view the property?”

  “Sure even though I’m pretty sure I already want it, but let’s not skip any formalities.” I chuckled. She laughed softly and checked her schedule and we agreed to meet on Friday.

  “Great, I’ll see you in a few days!” There was something about her voice that made me want to try and keep her talking, but I needed to get off the phone before Trevor started pestering me.

  “See you Friday, thanks.” I told her then we hung up.

  Trevor and I worked out for two and a half hours, even though I was the one that had a previous back injury, he was always the first one to start complaining on shoulder and back day.

  “You’re never going to get a woman. Why are you such a pussy?” I ran the towel over my face to hide my laugh.

  “Screw you, not all of us are built like Bubba Smith!”

  “Actually he’s bigger than me, I’m only six foot four and a half. He’s six foot seven.”

  He rolled his eyes, “What was the important phone call about earlier?” He asked changing the subject.

  “Looking at buying a house so I had to schedule a showing. The Wilson place is finally on the market.”

  His eyes got big, “No shit?” He was one of the few that knew about my childhood and had the pleasure of meeting Harold and Virginia. “Want me to tag along?”

  “Nah, I already know I’m buying it.” I shrugged.

  “Cool, we’ll have to throw one hell of a banging house warming party!” he wiggled his eyebrows.

  “You have two things on your mind all the time, Sex and Parties.”

  “You have absolutely no room to talk.” He stated matter-of-factly. I wasn’t going to argue with the truth.

  After we each showered and dressed we decided to go have a late lunch.

  “So…what do you suppose Ava is going to say when she finds out you bought a place?” Trevor asked.

  I shrugged, “I could give two shits less, eventually she’ll get the point that I’m done with her and that there’s not a chance in hell I’m going to take her back.” I told him.

  He shook his head and laughed, “That’s wishful thinking on your part brother.”

  We talked about camp schedules for the youth program and discussed some of the scholarship programs we had available. Our lives were busy but we both loved helping the less fortunate out and helping youth get their lives on track for the future.

  After lunch we parted ways, Trevor went back to his place and I went back to the office. Tiffany informed me that Ava had been there over lunch and left
numerous messages, I didn’t bother calling her back. Each phone call to her she misinterpreted as me wanting to get back with her…and that just wasn’t going to happen—ever.

  ~~~~~~

  The next couple of days I stayed busy with clients, setting up fundraiser events, and calling players to volunteer for the upcoming football camps.

  I couldn’t wait for my appointment with Lennie; I hadn’t been in Harold and Virginia’s house in years.

  “Tiff I’m headed out if anybody important needs to get ahold of me have them call my cell.” I told her.

  She laughed, “Ava falls in the…”

  “She can fuck off category!” I interrupted her with my own laughing response.

  “Sounds good Dominique I can’ wait to see your new place!”

  Normally I would have my driver take me places but I decided that today I wanted to go by myself. The drive would take about forty-five minutes provided that the traffic wasn’t chaotic. On the drive there I thought back to when mom finally told me about how she had met Harold and Virginia. She was working at the diner when they came in. Virginia noticed the cut on her lip and the black eye she tried to cover up with makeup. They offered to help her get away from dad but mom was scared that he would find out before they could help us. Each week they would come back in and talk to mom, finally one day Harold explained that he was a retired CIA agent and that he could make sure we were safe no matter what. When mom agreed, they formulated a plan to take down dad and his drug-dealing friends. The night he was arrested he was booked into jail for assault and battery on an officer, drugs and rape chargers. In the end he was tried in court and sentenced to fifty-five years in prion with no chance of parole. Mom and I never went to visit him in prison

  I pulled up to the gate in front, the same gate that secured mom and me over twenty years ago. Just as I reached out the window the gate glided open, obviously Lennie was already at the house waiting.

  “I’ve always wanted to do that to somebody.” She said with a laugh.

  I laughed, “See you in a sec.” I said and pulled up the driveway. It looked the same as it did years back. The lawn was perfectly manicured, the trees trimmed to perfection and the short shrubs pruned evenly along each side of the driveway.