'Hit the Floor'~Bounce

Head Fake

Jude walked through the busy arena halls. He had just finished a call with Gideon, confirming their plans to go to his old house. The baller sounded far from enthused.

He spotted Jelena strutting in his direction. Tawny-brown, she was clad in an all-black, save for rhinestones at the collar, formfitting body suit and killer heels. Long, silver earrings dancing around her face. She looked like a tiny supervillain.

"Have you heard the good news?" Green eyes flashed, accompanied with a smirk to her perfectly lined lips.

"What good news?" He ask with skepticism.

"Your Director of the Devil Girls is in jail. Apparently she murdered Olivia. If I didn't dislike Sloane so much, I'd send her a thank you bouquet!" she said brightly.

Jude looked at her. As much trouble as Sloane had caused him and as well-known as it was about Sloane and Olivia's drama filled history, Jude found it hard to believe that Sloane would have cold bloodedly pushed Olivia Vincent off a banister and buried her at Oscar's groundbreaking. Now, the woman standing in front of him...well, both knew her laughing at the funeral was anything but distraught mourning.

"I guess I made a mistake telling that bitch Lionel to keep her here. Safe from Oscar. Now, the press will be all over MY arena. Again. PR is going to have its hands full." Just then her phone buzzed. She looked down at it. "It's TMZ."

"All I can advise is that Mrs. Kinkade handle this wisely. The League will only take so many scandals under the Kinkade banner, before they'll be open to a new owner, again..."

"I've gotta' go," he said. He needed to see if Lionel was aware and what strategy she wanted to take. She hated Sloane and he couldn't quite see her coming to the woman's aid.

"You look a little panicked. Listen Jude. I respect your work ethic. I've always thought you were smart." Then added dryly, "Regardless of your choice of friend and lover....I'll tell you what I told someone else once, Lionel and you want what Oscar had, and what rightly belongs to me. You have it for now, but you can only keep it by doing what I do, and I'll always do it better. It's just a matter of time. Think about it." She slightly narrowed her eyes, and with a light toss of her dark silky head, she strode away.

~~~

"Sloane? Are you serious?" Lionel stood behind her desk with her hands on her hips. She made a formidable presence with the backdrop of an original portrait of her; the full, left side of her face, the right-side blank against a red and black movie strip; just like the woman herself, subtle it was not.

Jude stood with his arms crossed. A look of pleading on his face. After his run in with Jelena, he went straight to Lionel's office. Unfortunately, she was out all morning at an offsite closed-door meeting, with some international investors. He'd left her a message and a text. In the meantime, he'd been busy with Don and his team, who had been fielding questions.

"Press is getting slammed. You're going to have to make a statement."

"Saying what?" She had a bewildered indifference to her face.

"Your call, but the Devils have to say something, and it'll sway public opinion in a big way. Either help her or bury her. What are you gonna do?"

She gave him a sideways look. "I mean...this does get her out of my hair..." she mused.

Jesus, between Oscar, Jelena and Lionel, Sloane really had gained the wrath of three of the most savage people he had ever met.

~~~
"You ready to face your past?" Jude ask as he stopped the Porsche in front of a run-down and dilapidated one story house.The property was surrounded by a new, construction demolition chain fence. He'd told Lionel that he had an off-site meeting and he'd be back as soon as he could.