With a groan, he brought his hand to his forehead. Before today, he thought he’d have all week with Lila. Spring training was rolling around soon, and his time with her in the next few months anyway would’ve been limited as it was. Then today happened and now Banks was filling up this week fast. Part of the record-breaking contract he signed included his agreeing to doing a lot of promotion about his coming to Los Angeles. The city was hoping to stir up as much excitement about this and sell as many season tickets and home games as possible.
“Listen, Banks, this is a bad week for me. Any chance you can get some of this shit pushed back to next week?”
“Are you kidding me? You have any idea how long I’ve been trying and what I’ve gone through to get you on Ellen? I was this close to asking whose dick I had to suck and I’m not a gay man, Sabian. She’s been booked solid for—”
“Alright, alright,” Sonny said, frowning instead of laughing as he normally would at his publicist’s exaggerated response. “Maybe not the Ellen show but at least one of the other ones and leave Wednesday and Friday as is. I need to take care of some shit this week.”
“Conan and Kimmel are huge, Sabian,” Banks said immediately. “They’re only fifteen or twenty-minute spots. You’ll be there an hour tops.”
Banks promised to leave his Wednesday and Friday open, and Sabian agreed to do all three talk shows, mostly so he could get off the phone already and he could get his email to Lila written up. As soon as he was off the phone, he checked again for anything from Lila, and again there was nothing, so he clicked on his email and started his groveling email to her.
He went over it a few times before trying to decide if it was enough, too much, or if he should just send it already. So, he reread it out loud to hear what it sounded like.
“Lila, technically, I didn’t actually lie about my name. I just gave you my middle name. You not knowing who I am is not completely unheard of, but lately, especially here in Los Angeles, there’s been nonstop coverage about my signing with the Dodgers. I also do a lot of commercials and such. I’ve even done a few cameos on television shows. It’s why, at first, I just wanted to make sure you were being honest about not knowing who I was. After that very first night we spent time together, I knew you were the real deal, but it’s been SO long since I’ve met a girl who I could be certain was interested in me for me, not for my fame. It’s why I kept on with the whole Sonny thing. I was afraid you might Google me and the jig would be up. Honest to God, I had every intention of telling you today. It’s why I wanted to take you to Los Feliz. I was going to show you my home. There’d be no hiding who I am there, with all the stuff on my walls and what not.
“About Tatiana, I’d lie and say nothing’s ever happened between her and me, only I want to be perfectly honest with you from here on. I do have a business relationship with her, but I’ve also been involved with her intimately.”
He stopped to replace the word intimately with on a more personal level. If she ever asked for specifics, he’d give them to her, but for now, he’d leave it at that. Taking a deep breath, he continued reading out loud.
“But not anytime lately and certainly not since I’ve met and started talking to you.” Sonny stopped to highlight and make that last sentence all caps then continued to read. “Yes, she was all over me today. She’s always been like that. Today was the first time I’d seen her since I started seeing you, and I hadn’t had the chance to let her know about you. About us. We were in meetings and around others the whole time. But I swear to you I meant what I said last night. I will make it perfectly clear to her, and any other women I’ve been involved with in the past, that my status has changed. That I’m in an exclusive relationship now. I understand completely why you’d be so angry, and I can’t apologize enough, but please, please”—he stopped again to make that last word all caps too then read on— “give me the chance to explain myself further to you in person or at the very least on the phone. Please, Lila, I’m begging here.”
“Good enough,” he said under his breath.
Sonny didn’t see how he could possibly grovel any more than that. Lila might be a spitfire with an explosive temper, but Sonny had seen her sweet vulnerable side. He’d also felt what his kisses did to her—the same thing her kisses did to him. And all of what he’d just written was true. Every last word damn it. He’d like to think, despite knowing him for just a few weeks, it’d be harder for her to dismiss him so easily.
He sent it off then started toward her apartment building. It wasn’t even until he got there that he realized that only two of the times he’d been here he’d gotten lucky and the security door had been left open. One of the times like now it was locked and he’d had to call Lila to come down and open it. There was no one around now. “Fucking hell,” he muttered as he stood there looking up at the building with endless doors.
He walked around for a while with no luck in finding anyone who might let him in, getting more and more anxious by the minute. Just when he’d decided to give up for now, loud screams distracted him. He turned to see two terrified-looking young girls turning the corner and running for their lives in his direction. He watched curiously, glancing around to see what they might be running from, but saw nothing. They reached the same apartment building Lila lived in. One of them opened it with a key, and they ran through the gate. Before Sonny had the presence of mind to try and run to the door, it slammed shut behind them. He was once again distracted when a car came screeching around the corner they’d just turned from.
The girls were out of sight now. The car slowed as it got closer. Sonny could see there was only one person in the car, a young guy who searched the area furiously. For a moment, Sonny wondered if maybe the girls hadn’t stolen something from him and maybe he should let him know which direction they’d run. But his gut told him otherwise. If anyone was the guilty party here, it was the thug in the car.
Sonny peered at him until the thug’s eyes met his. His stare was a hard one, but it was fleeting. It went soft the moment Sonny could tell he recognized him, but Sonny looked away. He wasn’t about to indulge this guy, who’d clearly been terrorizing those girls, in any type of exchange.
Instead, he walked toward the gate again, hoping he might see the girls or anyone else somewhere. The car skidded away, and a few minutes later, the girls peeked their heads out from around the corner of one of the buildings inside.
“He’s gone,” Sonny informed them, glancing back to make sure he really was and not still lurking up the street.
“Where are you going?” one of them asked the other anxiously.
Sonny turned to see the taller of the two girls rushing toward him. “I have to get to work,” she said, peering out into the street before opening the gate.
“You can’t,” the shorter girl with the thick glasses urged. “What if he drives by the bus stop again and sees you?”
“I can’t be late to work again, Al.” The first girl opened the gate, and Sonny took advantage of it, holding it open for her.
“Can I help you?” the shorter one with the glasses asked Sonny, blocking the entrance with her body. “Only tenants and their guests are allowed in here.”
“But I am a guest—”
“Jen”—the girl questioning him turned back to the other girl, losing interest in Sonny’s response when the other girl started out— “please wait. My sister should be home soon if she’s not already. I’ll give you a ride.”
“I don’t have time. I’ll be late,” Jen argued, despite the fear in her eyes.
Sonny glanced up at Lila’s apartment then exhaled, knowing what he should do. “You need a ride?”
They turned to him, their expressions both surprised and a bit unsure. Then they exchanged glances. “It’s better than you taking the chance of that guy coming back,” the short one said with a shrug then she turned back to Sonny. “What’s your name?”
“Are you . . .?” Jen started to ask; then her jaw dropped. “You’re that baseball pla
yer, aren’t you? The one everyone’s been talking about lately.”
The other girl peered at him through her thick glasses that made her eyes look huge as her brows pinched together. “Who?”
“Yeah, I am,” Sonny confirmed then turned to the other girl, whose giant eyes indicated she evidently still had no clue who he was. “I’m Sly Sabian. I used to play for the Padres, but I’ll be playing for the Dodgers this year.”
“I’m Alison,” the girl with the glasses said in response, looking more relieved than impressed or starry-eyed as most girls did when meeting him. “This is Jenny. Can you really give her a ride?”
“Sure.” Sonny smiled even as the disappointment of knowing his talk with Lila would have to be put off grew heavier. “Where you going?”
“Not too far,” Jenny said, smiling big now. “I work at the Payless on Soto and Cesar Chavez.”
Sonny smiled. “The one with the mural.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. He knew the area all too well. He’d been to the shoe store plenty of times with his mom and sisters growing up. The bus stop dropped them off right there at that corner.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” she said with a nod but was looking past him with the same look of awe as she’d been looking at Sonny just seconds ago. “Is that your car?”
Alison followed Jenny’s amazed eyes. Sonny didn’t think her eyes could get any bigger than they already looked under those thick glasses, but they did. Then her mouth fell open.
“Yeah, that’s my car.” Sonny smiled, glancing back at the sports car.
“Oh, wow,” Alison said, walking toward it, then turned back to Sonny. “What in the world are you doing in this neighborhood anyway?”
The reminder of why he was here and what he still had to deal with later made his smile flatten. “My girlfriend lives here.”
Normally, referring to any girl as his girlfriend would’ve nearly choked him, but he actually liked the way it felt saying it. Though it almost hurt to think that it may no longer be the case.
Both girls turned to him, a little incredulous; then Jenny smiled big. “So, you’re coming back here after you drop me off?” Sonny nodded even though he wasn’t sure it’d do him any good. “Can Alison come with us, then? You can bring her back since you’re coming back anyway, and she’s a car enthusiast. This is probably the only chance she’ll ever get to ride in one of these.”
He almost agreed immediately then thought better of it. Jenny looked like she might be eighteen, but Alison didn’t look much older than fifteen, maybe sixteen. She was a short little thing still carrying some baby fat, and those glasses made her appear even younger and more innocent than Jenny. Not that there was anything not innocent about Jenny. Alison just looked a little more fragile—docile somehow. Most importantly, if she was underage, this could mean trouble for him. The media was just looking for anything to get the next big headline. They were notorious for sensationalizing everything just so they could make even the most innocent and otherwise boring headline that much juicier.
“How old are you?” he asked Alison before he’d agree then added just to be safe. “Both of you?”
“Eighteen,” they said in unison and that surprised him.
Sonny peered at Alison suspiciously. “Are you really?”
The question appeared to annoy her. “I’m almost nineteen,” she informed him; though the annoyance was short-lived because her eyes were back on his car again, taking every detail in.
“You don’t look eighteen,” he said even at the risk of pissing her off, but he needed to be sure.
“She’s actually the older of the two of us,” Jenny confirmed. “I just turned eighteen two months ago. She’ll be nineteen next month.”
“Hmm,” Sonny said, pulling out his keys and clicking the doors unlocked. “I would’ve thought the opposite.”
He kept the rest to himself—that petite little Alison might even pass for a high-school kid. “Hop in. You too, Alison. I’ll bring you back.”
Once in the car and after answering some of their more pressing questions, mostly about the car, what other cars he owned, and about some of the other players he knew, Sonny finally asked them what he was curious about. “So why was that guy chasing you two?”
The shoe store was just a few miles away from Lila’s apartment building, so they were almost there. “Long story,” Jenny chirped from the backseat. “Basically, I may’ve taken a photo of him doing something shady and he saw me.”
“Did he see what building we ran into?” Alison asked, her eyes once again big and full of concern.
Sonny couldn’t help but smile. The glasses gave her an almost comical look, a human version of the little bookworm with the oversized glasses. Only her glasses weren’t oversized. Her eyes just appeared to be because her lenses were so damned thick. This close, Sonny could also see she wore no makeup.
Normally, he’d attribute that to why he’d assumed she was so young, but Lila was proof that wasn’t necessarily always the case. Aside from the night he first met her where she’d worn some makeup but not nearly as much as most girls wore to clubs, the other times he’d seen her, she wore little if any at all. She didn’t need makeup to not look like a kid. She just carried herself with such self-confidence it exuded a maturity far beyond her twenty-one years. But then she’d probably lived through and seen far more than most twenty-one-year-olds.
“I don’t think he did,” he finally said, trying to shake off the thoughts of Lila. Alison exhaled, visibly relieved. “He slowed, but he was looking in every direction like he had no idea where you two had gone.”
“Oh, thank God,” Jenny said as he pulled up to the shoe store.
“But we’ll likely still see him at school,” Alison said, turning back to face Jenny.
“School?” Sonny raised a brow. “I thought you two said you’re eighteen?”
“College,” Alison said without a flinch.
Jenny opened the back door and thanked Sonny. She got out then came up to the front window on Alison’s side and raised her phone up to her face. Before Sonny knew what happened, she’d snapped several pictures. Then she turned around and hunched down so she could take a selfie with Alison and Sonny in the background. Sonny at least had a chance to smile and give a thumbs-up this time. “It’s the only way my brother will ever believe this.” She smiled big when she was done. “Thanks again,” she said to Sonny then pointed at Alison. “I’ll talk to you as soon as I get off tonight. We can’t stop now, Ali. No matter what. Real investigative journalists stop at nothing to get their story.”
With that, she winked and rushed away. “You’re a journalist too?” Sonny asked as he pulled away from the curb.
“Studying to be one,” she explained.
It wasn’t until the words sunk in that a few things registered, making him feel like an idiot for not making the connection sooner. He didn’t even really listen to the rest of what she said about her major and college classes. All Sonny could think of was Ali lived in Lila’s building. She was eighteen, a journalist student, and she mentioned a sister earlier.
“Are you Lila’s sister?” he asked, unable to believe his luck.
Her eyes widened again in that way that made Sonny smile every time now. “How do you know my sister?”
Chapter 12
As meek and docile as Sonny had pegged Ali to be, she turned out to be anything but. She was also far more mature than the middle-school kid he first thought her. Apparently, the fierce need to protect your sister ran both ways and just as strongly. First, Ali listened quietly as he explained about him and Lila. How they met, why he’d kept who he really was from her, and that despite their time apart, they’d since established exclusivity. Then he briefly told her what happened that morning at 5th Street. That was when the protective sister claws came out slowly but boldly.
“So, you mean to tell me that my sister is probably somewhere very upset right now?”
“Well, hopefully not anymor
e,” Sonny said as they parked in front of Lila’s apartment building. “Not if she read the email where I explained it all.”
Then the rest of the inquisition followed. “Why was this reporter all over you? Why did you let her? What exactly are your intentions with my sister? If it’s not baseball season, then where have you been all these weeks? Who’ve you been with?”
Sonny answered every one of her questions as quickly as she threw them at him. Tatiana is . . . well . . . Tatiana and he’d be cutting all ties with her the moment he got the chance.
He’s already crazy about Lila, so his intentions are to hopefully keep moving forward with the relationship.
He’d been in meetings, shooting commercials, and, as part of his contract, making guest appearances on countless shows to promote his move here for the upcoming baseball season. And part of his trip had been scheduled long ago, personal stuff with friends and family, so he couldn’t cancel.
Mostly he travels alone, but sometimes, he meets up with friends, other teammates, or his publicist and agent.
At first, he’d thought Ali and Lila were completely different. Now he could see they were definitely cut from the same cloth. Lila had told him some of the stories of her defending her sister while growing up in foster care and about some of the bullies in school. The only difference was he’d yet to hear Ali cuss. But he didn’t doubt for a moment now that she wouldn’t roar just as loudly as Lila if she ever had to come to her defense. At one point, she started tapping at the screen on her phone.
“What are you doing?” Sonny asked, hopeful that she might be texting Lila.
“Give me a sec,” she said without looking up.
She tapped away and sat silently reading for a few moments as Sonny sat there staring at her impatiently. Then she tapped again, glanced up at him, peered without saying a word, and then went back to reading whatever it was she was reading on her screen.
“Who’s Mona Fellini?” she asked without looking up.