Game On Read Free Page B

at Samantha. The last time was before she went off to Disney World with her parents and that clown Sean Desmond about a month ago.
    Realization had finally kicked some sense into Xavier. Although Ne Ne was twisted, there was a bit of truth to some of the garbage that had spilled out of her mouth during his visit. She was right. He didn’t belong in Samantha’s world. She was straight up out of his league.
    In keeping it real with himself, Xavier had grown tired of Samantha’s father meddling in his relationship with her anyway. There was no way he could get the old man to see that he and Samantha were made for each other. Men like Mr. Fox only saw the world through facts and figures, and there was no way that some ghetto trash would be able to produce the lifestyle that he himself afforded for his precious daughter.
    Sean Desmond, on the other hand, was a prime candidate. And he just so happened to be all over television these days, with him signing with the Detroit Tigers back in June during the Major League Baseball draft. It made Xavier queasy every time he’d thought about the news. Hometown Boy Makes Good had been newspaper headlines around town. Sports television shows like Sports-Center , First Take , Pardon the Interruption , and Rome were still showing the same friggin’ news clip of Sean Desmond standing at the podium, smiling and wearing a Detroit Tigers baseball cap, while the general manager proudly stood beside him, displaying Sean’s jersey with the number 7 below the punk’s last name. The ink had barely been dry on the fool’s healthy eight-figure contract when he’d gone out and copped a Rolls-Royce Phantom and some fancy-schmancy half-million-dollar crib off the water out in Orchard Lake, Michigan. He had been inserted in the Tigers lineup and was playing flat-out-of-his-mind baseball.
    There was no way Xavier could compete. Samantha was gone and it was what it was.
    Xavier excused himself and led London through the side door and downstairs into a nice, cool den in the basement. The furnishings were pretty basic, except the size of the flat screen. An enormous eighty-inch Samsung television sat on a sturdy entertainment system surrounded by an earth-tone leather sofa, love seat, and armchair.
    â€œSo what’s so private that my friends couldn’t hear?” Xavier asked her as the two took a seat on the sofa.
    She smiled. “Must be cool to have a new ride. When are you going to take me for a ride in it?”
    Xavier shook his head. “Is that all you wanted to ask me?”
    â€œI wanted to ask you if you have your license yet.”
    Xavier knew the game. Had played it enough times to know that she was nervous about being alone with him. So he played along.
    â€œWent to a private driver school in June—right after class let out at Coleman for the summer.” Xavier pulled out his wallet, removed a small rectangular card, and shoved it up to baby girl’s face. “Bam—my learner’s permit. In three months I’ll be able to get a driver’s license, you dig?”
    London looked around the room. “So you live here with your father, huh?”
    â€œMy father and my little brother Alfonso.”
    â€œWhere’s your little brother? I’d love to meet him.”
    â€œ ’Fonso’s over his homie’s crib. Knuckleheads are probably playing PlayStation or some crap.”
    â€œSo, you’re ready to go back to school?”
    â€œYeah. I think I’m ready to get this school year over so I graduate and get the hell away from Coleman.”
    Having a conversation with this chick was like talking to a brick wall. London might’ve been a dime in the face, but she was a straight-up dud in the conversation department. She was no Samantha and that was for damn sure.
    Xavier decided it was time to kick things up a notch by scooting right next to her and reaching for her hands.
    London watched as Xavier