"Tyrese, come here right now!" Dwight called out into my room as he walked in and locked the door.
"Yes?" I asked as I walked out of the bathroom.
"Danny knows something is going on between us..." he announced as he looked down at me.
"What? How?" I asked as nervousness began to swell within me.
"I think he might've heard you call me baby..." he sighed.
"Wasn't he drunk as Fuck?" I quizzed as I sat on the bed in confusion.
"I guess he wasn't drunk enough." Dwight sighed in anger.
"What the Fuck are we gonna do?" I asked as I buried my head into my hands.
"We have to find something to make him shut the Fuck up; we have to find some dirt on that motherfucker..." Dwight seethed as he took a seat next to me and held me as I laid on his shoulder.
"How Dwight! How!" I exclaimed as I tried to hide my emotions.
"I have my ways..." he sighed as he held me in his grip and stared out of the window.
After a long day's work at the training facility here in Seattle, my mind began to wander back to when I lived in Mississippi. When life was carefree, and I had no worries. I remember running out into the fields in front of my childhood home, and I remember hanging out with my dad and watching football and going to little league football practice. Those were some of the good things that happened when my life was carefree, but during those years, especially my teenage years is when my life began to take a turn for the worst. I started to have feelings for the same sex. I was brave enough to have a talk with my father and let him know how I felt. I decided to ask him to take us on a hunting trip. My dad and I had a couple of beers (even though I was underage, it was between us), and we hunted in the backwoods of Mississippi. Once we were far away from everyone, I decided I would let him know my true feelings in the middle of the woods. I explained to him that I was attracted to both men and women. Almost instantly, my dad exploded like an atomic bomb.
"No, Son of mine is going to be a FAG! This must be a phase you're going through!" he screamed at me as we stood in the middle of the woods.
I stood there, and I stared at him. I didn't cry or show my feelings because that wouldn't only make the situation worse. Therefore, I pushed my feelings deep down within me. I suppressed the sadness and anger in me, and slowly through the years, it began to fester into something evil. To make matters worse, I was raped by one of my older cousins. We were hanging out, drinking, and having a good time. I remember it like it was yesterday; I was a sophomore in high school, I was still scrawny, and I had not hit puberty yet. I distinctly remember him sniffing up a white powdery substance off of the coffee table in front of him. I stared at him in confusion as he slowly began to take his clothes off.
"Alight, Imma head home." I smiled nervously as I grabbed my keys, phone, and my bookbag.
"You ain't finna go nowhere," he smirked as he held his dick in his hand.
I stared into his eyes, and they were dilated from the drugs he ingested into his body. It pains me to discuss the details of the encounter even to this day. Sometimes I have fits of rage, and maybe I feel like it's because I have never dealt with the emotions I kept pushing down within me. Around this time in my life, when I began to take football seriously, I began to have a growth spurt, and I was in the gym religiously every day, even on Sundays after church. This gave me validation, especially when I saw my dad scream and beam with pride as I ran up and down the field during football games at my high School. Even during the brightest times in my life, I was still in a dark place. When I accepted a full scholarship to play football at the University of Mississippi or was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks, I carried all of this around with me. Now at age twenty-three, I decided I would take matters into my own hands, I was no the breadwinner in the family, and I called the shots. I paid everyone's bills and had control of living my life the way I wanted to live it.
As I pulled up to my apartment building downtown Seattle, I decided to call it off with my girlfriend. She was a cheerleader for the Seattle Seahawks, and I refuse to speak her name in fear of revealing her identity. I decided it would be best to end things amicably to focus solely on one goal of mine...making Tyrese mine and finally standing up to my father and accepting the past. I needed to stop being in denial about everything that has happened to me, and this was the first big step to realizing that I needed to break up with my fake girlfriend. I needed to kill the hurt in me that was festering and occasionally showing itself through angry outbursts. I needed to put my heart back together, piece by piece...
Suddenly, as I panicked internally while I laid my head on Dwight's shoulder, I had a great idea. "What if we ask Ben for help???" I quizzed.
"What? Ben?" Dwight looked at me in confusion.
"Yes! Dwight, he's been through this type of shit before! Shit, to be honest, he's been through it all!" I said as I stood up and stared at Dwight.
For a few minutes, Dwight stared at me; then he finally answered, "You know what, you're right... You're fucking right...Call him up..." I pulled out my phone, and I called Ben. I asked him to come up to my room as soon as possible because it was an emergency. In about five minutes, he stood in front of my door.
"Wassup? Are you ok? What's going on?" Ben whispered as he walked into my room. As he walked in, he paused as he noticed Dwight sitting on my bed. He then turned and looked at me.
"Tyrese, what is this concerning?" Ben asked in slight irritation.
"So... Dwight and I have a problem... with Danny." I sighed.
"Tyrese cut to the fucking chase..." Ben said in irritation as he stared at Dwight.
"See, I told you we shouldn't have fucking called him! You know he fucking hates me!" Dwight sighed in irritation as he threw his hands in the air.
"Look, you too, just calm the Fuck down! Danny heard me call Dwight Babe... that's the issue, and we don't need that getting out to the rest of the team or anyone!" I shouted, making sure to grab Ben and Dwight's attention.
"Oh, that's it?" Ben laughed.
"That's it? What do you mean that's it?" Dwight and I said in unison.
"Well... for starters, when Josh Richardson used to play with this team, he caught Shake, and I was having sex once because he was drunk. Them to make matters worse, Tobias was helping him while he was drunk, so while JRich burst into the room, Tobias ran in after him, and he realized what was going on." Ben laughed as he reminisced.
Dwight and I started at Ben in pure shock. "But how was all this kept a secret?" Dwight asked intuitively.
"Well, Shake, and I sat down with Tobias and JRich, and quite simply, we just asked them not to tell anyone, and that was that..." Ben shrugged.
"Are you kidding me? This can't be real!" I exclaimed.
"It is Tyrese... We just asked them not to tell anyone and to keep it between us; even though JRich felt some type of way about the situation, he finally came around and decided to keep his mouth shut." Ben smiled as he folded his arms.
"So here is what I propose, amicably ask Danny, to please don't tell anyone, but if he does, I would deny it until the fucking cows come home, and secondly, I would try to find some dirt on him to make Elton want to trade him to another team. The one thing Elton does not tolerate is Drama, and he will trade a motherfucker away in a heartbeat if they are creating drama and underperforming." Ben stated as he looked at Dwight and I.
"Oh, wow, that's good to know..." Dwight stated as he stood up and stared out of the window.
"Right..." I agreed.
As I worked out on the rowing machine at the training complex, my mind began to wander about my life, all of the good times and all of the bad times. I had no fucking idea why my mind decided to wander to my earlier years... It was nine o'clock at night, I was alone in the complex, and it was pouring down rain here in Seattle; I guess that set the mood perfectly. I was born and raised in Florida, in Ocala, to be exact. I've always had to hustle and claw my way through life, taking down anyone I perceived to be a threat. I've always been the type of motherfucker to attack first before I was the victim. Because if I attacked first, I had the advantage. That's the type of tough mentality I learned in the streets, kill or be killed.
I was an only child; my mother and father were both drug addicts. My mother seldom came around occasionally when I was a child, but for the most part, I was raised by my Aunt, who was twenty-one years old at the time of my birth. She decided to take me under her wing because there was no one else to care for me. To this day, I still treat her as if she was my mother. My Aunt was poor, but she did the best she could for both of us. We lived in the projects before I moved her out a couple of months ago. By age twelve, I was heading down the wrong path; I was drinking, doing drugs, and hanging out with men way older than me. The oldest dude I got drunk with was twenty-eight years old, he was the dope boy in the projects, and I used to slang dope for him every once in a while. Sometimes I saw this man as a father figure. I was protective of him as such; I can't even mention his name, in fear of the feds or some law enforcement agency finding him and taking him to jail. Even though that would be nothing new for him...
At age fifteen, I shot my first gun. My Aunt did her best to contain me, but she couldn't keep up with me. I was always in the streets doing shit I had no business doing. I joined a gang, and during the initiation process, I needed to murder a guy. I did, and I never got caught... But the tide in my life began to turn; when I started to play football in high school, I made a name for myself, and I eventually was offered a full scholarship to The University of Florida. This was my ticket out of the projects and my ticket off the streets into a place I would never think I end up.
When I arrived at UF, I was in a different world, far away where the streets full of gang-banging/ drug dealing motherfuckers; here, they were replaced with educated men and women who frolicked on a well-manicured campus. I have never seen a place so perfect, yet so putrid. To be surrounded by all of these "People" was hell, and they were definitely people I could not relate to. I grew up in the projects, and most of these motherfuckers grew up in the suburbs with silver spoons in their mouths; they have never known a hard day in their life.
They were stressed out about what to wear to prom, while I was stressed out about trying to help my Aunt pay the light bill. But even in those days, still, football was my saving grace. Eventually, after playing for the University of Florida, I joined the 2020 NFL Draft, and the Seattle Seahawks drafted me. Ever since I've been under contract from the Seahawks, I've grown to resent and despise DK Metcalf. DK was always pleasant to be around, which I admit, but he was given preferential treatment above everyone else who worked hard; no one else seemed to give a fuck accept me. But what made matters worse was that he knew he was treated differently by the management team/staff, and he didn't ask why he was getting treated better than everyone else. Then on top of that, the motherfucker is cocky, he always walked into a place with his chest out, and he always commanded the spotlight on him... As I proceeded to transition from the rowing machine to lift weights, I had an idea, a great Idea to knock DK's ego down a couple of notches... I will make his life a living hell... Just watch...
I hopped off the Bus and looked at the large Arena in front of me; I finally realized this was all real. All of this felt like a dream, I would wake up in my bed back in Lexington, Kentucky, and I would head to basketball practice and probably call Allan and see how his day was... But no... this was all real. I was an NBA basketball player walking into my first game ever... I was nervous, but I swelled with pride. I knew I would make my family and friends proud, even if I was on the bench. My dad told me a story once. When I was a baby, he gave me stuffed toy basketball, and he watched me play with it; he never would've known that I would become who I am today. Once I gathered myself, I walked into the building with pride, I faintly heard the opposing teams' crowd fill into the Arena as the rest of the team and I walked into the visitor's locker room.
As I walked over to my assigned cubby near the rookies on the team, I didn't engage in conversation with anyone. I quietly reflected over my life and all of the blood, sweat, and tears that were shed for me to be here at this very second... Suddenly someone broke my train of thought...
"Tyrese?" someone asked as I was leaned down, trying to tie up my shoes.
I looked up, and there was Danny... as in Danny Green stood in front of me with a slight smile on his face. What the Fuck could he want? I prayed that he was not going to do what I thought he was going to do... I turned, and I glanced at Dwight, he stared at the both of us, and he slowly shook his head side to side, making sure no one saw us communicating through our actions.
"Wassup Tyrese!" he exclaimed as he gave me a pat on the back.
I decided to go with the flow and act like nothing was wrong. Hopefully, this approach would help me in the long run.
"Wassup, Danny!" I smiled, playing along with whatever Danny was trying to do.
"If possible, I need to ask you something, could you come with me, please? I don't wanna ask you around anyone..." he leaned down and whispered into my ear.
"Aight, coo..." I replied in a carefree manner.
I followed Danny into an empty office around the corner from the locker room, and he finally said what was on his mind.
"So... lemme just cut to the chase... Are you and Dwight hanging out? Like... Are y'all dating or some? Cause when I was drunk the other night... I think I don't know how certain this is, but I think I heard you call him Babe???" Danny sighed as he leaned on the wall facing me.
"I mean, Dwight and I are friends, nothing more, he has taken me under his wing along with Ben, and they have helped me adjust to this new life I'm in. We hang out from time to time, and we play Video games and shit, but in all honesty, that's all..." I shrugged, silently praying that my answer was sufficient enough.
"Oh, ok, cool. I just wanna say this thought... If y'all were dating, it wouldn't bother me, and I wouldn't tell anyone; that's not my business to tell anyone. I was just curious to know..." he shrugged as he walked towards the exit.
"Oh, I see... But like they always say... Curiosity killed the cat..." I smirked before I let out a nervous chuckle.
After my confrontation with Danny, I was met with yet another blow to my mental sanity. I had forgotten all about him... I pushed deep down within the trenches of my mind that when I saw him in person, I would damn near go crazy. I never thought I would see him again. But that would be foolish on my part to believe that I would never see him again... My first boyfriend and the first guy that cheated on me... Miles Bridges... As the team and I walked onto the court to do a couple of drills and warm-ups before the game, he stared at me with that devilish look in his eyes. He looked like he was undressing me with his eyes. As SWAG by YG blasted throughout the Arena, I decided to dance and have a good time practicing my three-point skills. Suddenly, I turned, and he was walking towards me with that legendary smirk of his. My spirit was filled with disgust as this handsome piece of shit walked toward me...
"Hello, I don't think we've met, I'm Miles, and you are?" he smiled as he held a basketball on his hip and extended his hand toward me.
"Nigga get the Fuck outta my face; you know who the Fuck I am..." I seethed in a whisper as I leaned in pushed his hand away from me.
Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter and the others as well. Please don't forget to comment, vote and share. I love reading your comments and replying to them.
As always love y'all and stay safe,
Derrick97❤️✨