ELLA
This was my first time going to one of Armand’s games in a while, mostly because of our…situation. When he knew I was in the crowd, his eyes constantly found me. I wasn’t sure if he was even conscious of it half the time, but I did know he didn’t need the distraction. I’d opted to attend this home game because Kim had invited me, saying she missed us hanging out together. I couldn’t tell her I was spending all my time with her son who’d all but moved in with me at that point.
As we watched the shoot-around, Kim leaned in and whispered, “How are things going with you two?”
I turned to look at her, saw the knowing in her eyes, and frowned. “He…Armand told you?”
“He didn’t have to,” she said. “And I haven’t told a soul. I’m just…I’m happy he has you.”
Looking up in time to see him grinning at me, I said, “I’m happy to have him, too.”
“You missed it. I’m not surprised, though. Everything else is more important to you than me.”
I held the phone to my ear as I followed my bodyguard, Hernandez, through the relatively small but congested Santorini airport to my gate. “Jackson, I had a shoot. I’ve been working. I’m heading back to the states now. You knew I wasn’t going to be there.”
“You could’ve missed that shit. You ain’t a real model. They just hiring you because of who your folks are. You don’t need that. You shoulda been here with me! I was nervous as shit before I went onstage.”
Sighing, I saw that we’d made it to the gate, so I fell into a seat. “You’ve done tons of festivals before, including that one. You did a bunch before we ever met. You didn’t need me there back then, and this is what I love doing.”
“More than you love me? Everybody was asking about you. I looked like a simp telling them you were too busy to be here. Man, stop playing with that modeling shit!”
“I will when you stop playing with your rapping shit,” I tossed back at him.
“That’s real fucked up. You know that ain’t the same thing. I’m a platinum-selling artist. I got Grammys. What you got? A couple perfume ads in People magazine?”
“Fuck you,” I hissed.
“See, this bullshit is why I gotta take pills. Your childish ass is always stressing me out…”
“Ella, they’re ready for you.”
I snapped out of my reverie and smiled at the assistant standing next to me. Pulling myself together, I stepped from the shade of the tent out onto the sands of Gialos Beach in a red Versace swimsuit, a white cover-up flowing in the breeze behind me.