Chapter 10

Harvey

“Tell me what happened yesterday,” I asked after breakfast.

That morning, Zora was the first one up, so she cooked us both omelets. The shit was good. There were no complaints coming from whatever concoction she created with the eggs, cheese, spinach, artichokes and diced tomatoes.

“Yesterday?” she asked, reminding me I hadn’t vocalized I knew she disappeared because of something that happened.

I had a good idea it was the same something that happened to me, but I needed her to fill me in so I could help. It took me by complete surprise that instead of facing it, she bailed. However, I do think I made myself abundantly clear she wouldn’t do that shit again.

“Yesterday. What made you retreat?” I asked again.

Zora cleared off the table with the dish towel and sighed.

“The coming out party didn’t go as I thought it might. Apparently, Pete was pissed right the fuck off and I think it just took him by shock because he said some shit, I didn’t think he was capable of. However,” she spoke over me because I was ready to interject. “I’m going to give him some time and then we’ll speak again.”

I said nothing and stared at her until she faced me.

“What?” she asked. “That’s what happened.”

“I know.” I nodded. “He sent me a pretty scathing email, which I will deal with him about. Him coming at you, on the other hand… He’ll be dealt with in another way.” 

“Harvey,” Zora warned. “I don’t do business like that. He’s my employer and the owner of the Vikings. I can handle my own affairs. I don’t need you meddling.”

This had me out of my seat.  I cornered her against the island.

“You are my business, my affairs and I will meddle,” I shared. “He doesn’t get a pass because he’s an owner. If anything, he should have remembered that before coming to you. It makes me think, he’s jealous. Pete doesn’t come off as insecure. If he thought I was poaching his coach, he would have seen your resignation letter and the announcement that you would be the new Warriors Coach. He’s on some boy bullshit and I don’t do business like that. He’s fucked up, Zora and he will be dealt with. Period.”

She contemplated me for a bit, then Zora reiterated, “You do what you have to do but I don’t need you avenging my honor is all I’m saying. I can and will take care of myself.”

“Don’t I know it.” I kissed the corner of her mouth. “Having a man at your back, sweetheart, means you don’t fight your battles alone.”

That statement caused a physical reaction as her shoulders relaxed. She was on edge and it was showing. She slid her hands up my chest and around my neck. 

“Not quite used to that.” She kissed the corner of my lips. “Working on it, okay?”

Fuck, what was a man to say when she put it that way?

“Okay.” I turned our pecks into a full-blown kiss, that ended with us playing before we decided to actually do something that day.

Zora and I were talking about our buckets list and in both of our top five items, we wanted to learn how to fly a helicopter. Therefore, Zora and I were on our way to the learn how to fly Eurocopter AS355N outside of the city at the Pennsylvania Aviation Center. The instructor met us at the double glass doors, where he went through the process, training and videos. By the end of it, I thought Zora might back out, but she was eager to participate.

There was some screaming, nervousness and a little laughter but we survived the hour-long training and I pegged that as one of the things Zora can check off her list and remember she did it with me.

“What else is on that list of yours?” I asked her when we were headed back to my place.

“Hmm,” she said after licking the chocolate ice cream cone and causing a stir in my pants. “There’s skinny dipping, joining the mile-high club, riding a four-wheeler, hot air balloon and yeah.”

My eyebrow rose as I took note of everything she said and also realizing, I could make all of those things come true. I would make them come true.

“What about you?” she asked. “What’s else is on your list?”

“A number of things,” I started to say. “I’d like to fall in love with my one. Get married and have a kid or two. I want to go on a world tour. Build a house for my family. Then when we get old and retire, buy an RV and travel around to annoy our kids.”

There were a lot of subliminal messages in that statement but I planned to stand my ground on this one. However, instead of her avoiding the topic or blushing, Zora burst out laughing.

“What?” I asked.

“An RV to annoy your kids,” she said through tears. “You’re going to be one of those old parents?” 

“Hell yeah. If I have to get them through school and shit, then yeah, one way or another, I will return the favor. Plus, that way, we’ll see our grandkids.”

Zora sobered then looked at me and said, “Old man Black and his RV.”

“Fuck yeah,” I exclaimed as she leaned into me and kept laughing. “Mr. and Mrs. Black and their RV.”

“Sounds like a good list,” she said. “Indeed.”

-----

Zora and I went out to dinner later that evening and once when we came back to her place, the two of us simply talked until the sun started to rise. Our backs were against the headboard as we share shit that I hadn’t mentioned to anyone in decades. My time short stint in army and my family lineage of army men. My mom and her knack for all things yarn-based. Zora shared about her family, brother, and even why she cut men off. That shit made me ready to kill a motherfucker but then I reminded myself those bitches had to happen, so I could have a chance to fix it. That’s what I planned to do. Get the shit all the way right with Zora.

She didn’t seem to catch my meaning about the marriage and RV’s or Mrs. I meant that with her because nobody else made me feel like she did. It was true, I had my share of escapades but that’s all it was. Shit that meant not a fucking thing but a thrill. A man gets tired of that shit after a while. Not because of age but for the mere fact I was tired of bullshit. Tired of the meaningless shit that led to more emptiness. I wanted more and that night at Pete’s party, the conundrum that was wrapped around Zora McCoy’s person, I knew it was me that needed to unravel her. Get to the core of who she is and what makes her tick, so I can turn it on and light it the fuck up. It was only fair, since she completely unraveled me, putting me on my ass.

On Monday, instead of going to my office, I went straight to Pete’s on the other side of the city. His secretary was not a good one because I walked right past her to his executive suite with frosted windows and chrome door knobs. Mentally, I shook my head as I pushed into his office, interrupting a phone call. His eyes went wide, but he kept talking as I took a seat, grabbed his company’s magazine, and crossed my legs.

Once his call was finished, he said, “What the fuck are you doing in my office?”

I took that opportunity to throw the magazine back on the table and stand.

“Funny you say that, because, four weeks ago, I made my way into the office of one Coach Zora McCoy. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of her, but she’s an up-and-coming coach, making a name for herself and will be in the pro’s faster than you can bat your eyes. Yeah, her. I was offering her a job with the Warriors, preparing to fire every single coach on my team if she would have even given me the hint she would consider it. She shot me down and kicked me out of her office. You know what she said?” I paused for the dramatic effect. “She told me that she already had an owner and any proposal I had of her needed to go through her owner. The woman wouldn’t even entertain the notion of leaving and I swear, I think I fell in love with her right then and there. That sort of loyalty can’t be bought. I almost wondered if you were fucking her, but I know you’re happily married so you wouldn’t dip your wick in something so close to you. However, imagine my surprise when I finally catch the uncatchable, Zora McCoy and she allows me to take her on a fucking date. I get a crazy ass email from that same owner who she was blindly loyal to, threatening to ruin me because I was dipping into business that was not his.”

I laughed, but it was for effect too because I didn’t find shit funny.

“Imagine when I find out my lady is upset because the owner, the one she is so loyal to, turned on her suspecting her of colluding with the enemy. Fuck, that makes me mad because it makes me think you don’t know who you have in your employ. Loyalty, Pete, is the thing that keeps you in your job with chrome door knobs and frosted windows. Loyalty from fans, players and coaches. Take it from someone who had a coach who was not loyal and dragged me through a media frenzy because she couldn’t get her way. Loyalty from the likes of Zora McCoy, fuck, if I could tie her down and make her loyal to me even on a friendship level, I would. So, I wanted to enact all types of havoc in your life and I still might, to be honest. But, I’m going to take a page from my lady’s book. That woman is not going to be around for long and the last thing you want to do is burn a bridge with a potential partner with what she’s doing in the women’s basketball arena. Your franchise will suffer if she’s not handled correctly because she’s iconic. Your team will more than likely make it to the playoffs and the way they are practicing, they’ll make the championship and win the damn thing.

It would be in your best interest to tread lightly for those reasons alone and if that’s not enough, you should know she means something to me. A lot, in fact. I won’t take kindly to her being mistreated in any way by anybody. Even a fellow owner. I have no fucking loyalty to you, but you, hit the goldmine when you captured that talented woman. You should treasure that.”

My hands were on his desk as I leaned in to make my point crystal clear. Pete simply looked at me with open curiosity before he said, “Sounds like you’re smitten.”

“I hope you got more from what I just said, than the fact she’s got me by the balls.” I stand up straight and walked toward the door then I heard Pete again.

“Lost my head for a minute,” he said. “Was thinking I was owed more than knowing about this after TMZ or whatever the fuck else was happening. It felt disloyal, but she’s not mine, you know. My employee, yes, but not mine. I, uh, have counted on her being the utter professional. Not fucking around with anyone, getting caught in scandals and shit. A champion for her players and then she’s acting like a fucking prom queen on prom night on your arm. Man, that’s not the bulldog I hired. So, I got besides myself, but she set the record straight.” Pete chuckled. “Told me she’d do the same thing Prentice did, if I talked to her like that again. Even dared me to fire her. Reminded me of the bulldog I hired.”

He paused, and I said nothing.

“After some reflection, I’m glad you brought that out in her. She deserves more than just the team as her family and companions. She needed more... and her in that fucking dress. That said, she was getting more. You’ll have no problems from me. I’ve already made arrangements to let Zora know the same.”

My head nodded in acknowledgement of his words and I left without saying anything else. My job in the matter had been done.

The next morning, I was leaving Zora’s house, while she remained inside, tightly tucked in after waking her with oatmeal and two orgasms using only my tongue and fingers. Her day did not start until late morning, but I had an early start. Last night, she told me a bouquet of flowers with a long letter of apology came from Pete, along with two tickets to Japan, all expenses paid and a call from Pete, apologizing. She was shocked and asked if I had spoken to him. I told her that we spoke but it’s not what she thought. I did not make him apologize or anything. Apparently, he’d seen the error of his ways prior to me coming to talk with him. Oddly enough, Zora believed me and didn’t fight me on this. She said she’s been trying to go to Japan for a while but it never panned out. So, this was a great gift and a huge apology.

I would agree.

A man could learn a thing or two from Pete. That’s probably why he was married for as long as he was and being the reactionary asshole, I’ve now seen him to be.

****

The season started next Friday for us with our opener vs. the Denver Knights. Zora’s team opened up on Saturday when they played against the pro team, the New York Liberty. This was another reason I knew she was not playing this year. Starting an opener with a non-league Pro team was ballsy, but I could imagine she wanted to know where her girls lined up with the pros. Also, she probably also wanted the Pros to see her girls. It was fucking genius and she should think about owning a team, instead of coaching one. It was crazy because she and I never discussed our business. What we were doing with the team, our strategies or anything. It was like church and state when we were in the house and it wasn’t even a discussion. Just a known fact.

God, I loved her for that alone. Nothing could ever be compromised if this was the case. It was also sad because she was brilliant and it would only make me a better owner to have her by my side.

On Wednesday night, Zora flipped off the sports channel, turned to me and said, “We should talk.”

Oh hell.

Keeping my features cooled, I pulled her closer across the couch, so she was within reaching distance before I said, “Okay, talk.”

Zora nodded her head and started, “The season is starting next week and this little bubble we’ve created is going to be interrupted. The past few weeks, we’ve been in one another’s bed almost every night. It’s been great but with what I have planned for the girls and how we’re going to be on the road, I think we should renegotiate what we’ve been doing.”

Fuck, I’m glad I moved her over, so I could study the contours of her face and body language, because I wanted no misinterpretations of what she was saying.

“You’re saying,” I kept my voice even. “that you don’t think we’ll be able to sleep over anymore because our schedules are about to get hectic?”

Her lips pursed before she inhaled.

“No, Harvey,” she clarified. “I’m going to be occupied heavily this season and I won’t be able to do sleepovers or have a lot of time to fraternize. I tend to get bogged down with my job and that becomes priority.”

“Well, you’re in a relationship now, Zora,” I emphasized. “Where do we line up in your list of priorities?”

She sighed. Apparently, I was annoying her.

“Is it a relationship?” the woman countered. “I mean, we’ve got into this system, but we don’t really discuss what this is. We fuck, hard and rough and we both get off but I’m—”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” I cut her off. “I told your ass before, not to do that shit. If you’re upset because I’m not consenting to what you’re hinting at, then deal with that. But to trivialize what we’ve been building, I won’t sit here and have you try to play me for a fool. I wasn’t in this alone. These feelings are not just on me.”

That steely comment caused her to look away from me and to anything but me and probably because she knew I was dead right. There was going to be a cold day in hell before I let her shut us down, so she could work more.

Fuck that.

“Look, I’m no stranger to the nature of your job, Zora.” I grabbed her hands. “I know things will be different. We’re not putting us on pause or breaking up because that’s not fucking happening. What we’ve built, we will continue to build, just around your schedule. It may not be every day like it was but every week works for me. I’ve made you a priority, sweetheart. This,” I signal between the two of us, “is real, and it doesn’t stop because the season is starting. If anything, it will only make us stronger.”

“You’re so confident.” Zora laughed. “Mr. Black with everything figured out.”

“No, not everything. A conundrum of a woman I have yet to figure out, sits before me, trying to break my heart. I ain’t figured that shit out, but I ain’t letting her go,” I told her. “She’s mine.”

Then I pulled her on top, so she was straddling me over my thighs. 

“I know you’re committed to your job, sweetheart. I would never stand in the way of that.” I kiss her chin. “I’m just asking you not throw us away either. Okay?”

A tentative smile spread across her face before she replied, “Okay.”

We made sweet love that night and like always when I was at her house, I left her after delivering several orgasms in the morning, tucked tight in bed. When I left my house, she remained there until she had to go to work, which was three hours after me. We had toiletries at each other’s place, a drawer of clothes and our favorite foods, including a box of tea. We had come into a routine but now, Zora was right. It would be interrupted, and I wondered how it would impact us.

It seemed like she knew it would but I was the one in denial.