Am I My Brother's Keeper

3. Double Agent

"Alright. So we agree! No more random clubbing until after the NFL draft. We can't afford any club incidents. Like shootings and drug raids." My agent Lance says and I shake his hand.

I decided to work with Lance because he's a former Giants player with a winning pedigree. And what he doesn't know about the business side of things, he has a team of experienced agents behind him to help.

"Got it!"

"And that's a very nice ride. But it's not a ride you get before you get paid. Remember that!" He adds.

"My brother got me that car," I say honestly.

"A legally, unemployed, twenty something year old black man buying cars, jewelry and bottles in the club isn't a good look either." He says and I know how he feels about Cane, but that's my brother. And I can't change that.

"I hear you," I mumble as I check my watch.

"What's up with you not eating in there?" He asks me as he points inside the restaurant.

"I just left Coach Baker's house about an hour ago. He made his famous ribs. So I wasn't really hungry."

"Next time, I'll give you more of a heads up about our meeting." Lance says before he drives off.

He called me, unexpectedly, towards the end of dinner at the Baker's place. He heard that the club I was at last night turned into a war zone. But I must've been long gone.

______________

I attempt to call Liv, but I go straight to voicemail for the third time since she ran out of the house.

I know my reaction to her mom's marriage statement felt weird to her because it felt weird to me too. But it's not that I wouldn't marry Liv, it's just the furthest thing from my mind right now. There's so much more to it.

"Pick up your phone Liv!" I say to her answering machine as I get inside my car and head back to her house.

I promised Jordan I'd beat him in FIFA on XBox tonight.

And while I drive, I decide to call Liv again and leave another message before stopping at a red light in Beverley Hills.

"Just let me know you're okay!" I say to the answering machine.

My thought is that she would at least answer one of my calls.

"Is that Liv's car?" I say to lowly as I look around before seeing Liv chum it up with her ex boyfriend Asher.

Typically, I wouldn't give a damn. But she ran out of her parent's house claiming she had school stuff to do. So was she telling the truth or just finding an excuse to meet him?

I notice them hugging goodbye so I pullover and wait for her to walk out with him by her side.

He kisses her cheek without ever noticing me in the car, prompting me to get out and walk over to the both of them before it goes any further.

"Spence, what's up man? Congratulations..." Asher starts to say but I ignore him as I stare directly at Liv.

"What are you doing here?" She asks and Asher notices the moment for what it truly is now.

"Im going to head out," he mumbles.

"You're not going to say bye to your 'school thing'?" I ask Liv sarcastically and she rolls her eyes.

"Okay, I didn't really have a school thing. But I didn't come here for him. I was here and he was here."

"Bullshit Liv! I saw you two laughing, hugging and kissing..."

"... on the cheek Spencer. Stop it! I'm not the one being flaky about our future. That's all you!"

"Okay, I admit, your mom talking about marriage over ribs caught me a little off guard. But because I didn't answer every question about our future perfectly, that means you get to runaway and and play 'back in the day' with your ex?"

"It's Asher, Spencer. He's harmless."

"Don't be naive Liv. He ain't harmless. He's a man. And the way he was kissing on you didn't seem harmless to me."

"Okay! I'm sorry! Now stop making a scene, please." She says as she looks around at random bystanders.

"Forget these people!" I say in frustration.

"Excuse me sir, you're going to have to calm down." The front door hostess from the cafe says as she comes and stands in between Liv and I.

I almost don't notice her as all of my attention is focused on Liv. But when she grabs my hand, my mind flashes back to the night before.

It's an eerie feeling as I flashback to Savvy grabbing my hand to leave the club with her.

"Spencer, lets go!" I hear Liv's voice but I don't see her. I see Savvy.

"So you're really not trying to make sure I get home safely?" I hear Savvy's words echo in my head and I try to snap out of it.

"Do you hear me?" Liv asks before snapping her finger in my line of vision.

"I'm sorry!" I say to Liv as I snap out of my flashback.

"I was saying you're overreacting. Asher and I were just talking." She says lowly as we walk towards her car.

"Right! My bad!"

"So that's it? Say my bad and all should be forgiven?" She asks and I shrug. "You made a scene for no reason, Spencer."

"Liv, I wanted to talk to you." I say slowly as I take a huge gulp.

"Spencer, what is wrong with you? You don't get to just come out here and scream at me just to flip the script."

"Just— I just—"

"... Spencer stop! You really need to figure whatever it is you have going on inside your head, out." She cuts me off and walks away.

"My head is clear—— now!" I yell hesitantly, but she doesn't stop.

I watch her get into her car and leave.

"Aye yo! I thought that was you." Cane says as he rolls the back window down in the black SUV.

"What's up?" I ask as we shake hands and I continue to look in the direction Liv drove off to as if she's going to turn around.

"Nothing. Supposed to be linking with this guy about some money." He answers. "What you and Savvy get into last night?"

"I don't even want to talk about her," I reply and he chuckles.

"Cane!" A white man in a grey Italian cut suit walks up and my brother's eyebrows scrunch in irritation.

"Listen, why don't you get out of here? I have to handle business." He tells me before getting out of the car and hugging me.

Cane didn't give hugs often. But when he did, it was usually before something major goes down like a deal or worse.

His hugs always feel like it could be the last one.

I look back at the other guy and I see the red in my brother's eyes as I back away.

"Let me talk to you for a minute," he tells the man as they walk around the corner. "Don't ever fucking interrupt when I'm talking to my baby brother!"

I hear the man scream but I can no longer see them as I get into my car and peel out. I don't want to be a witness to anything.

I put my blinker on to turn right, but I turn left instead.

I should be going to see Liv. I should be reassuring her that she's who I want now and in the future. But I can't right now. My heart just won't let me.