Read Basketball Jones for Free Online Page B

she looked like the sports groupies who hung outside the locker room after games or in hotel lobbies.
    “Have you found a job here?” I asked.
    “No. You got one for me?” she said, laughing.
    “I don’t think so.” I finally took a bite of my sweet, doughy breakfast treat covered with powdered sugar.
    “You found a job yet?”
    “Who said I was looking for a job?” I asked.
    “If you don’t have a job, why are you sitting in this café at ten o’clock in the morning? Are you independently wealthy? That must be nice,” she said.
    “I don’t have it like that,” I said, fibbing a bit.
    “What do you do?”
    I wiped the powdered sugar from my mouth. “I’m an interior designer.” The truth was that I was a kept man who did a little charity work on the side, but that would take too much explaining. Besides, I didn’t like the term “kept.” I knew that I could take care of myself if I had to.
    “That sounds like fun.”
    “I enjoy it,” I said.
    “Where do you live?”
    “I have a place in the Quarter.”
    “You must be a big baller, staying in the Quarter. I’m living in an SRO hotel but I’m going to get me a place once I get a job and a car.”
    “You got any leads?”
    “Yeah, I do. I’m on my way for a second interview as a cock-tail waitress at the casino. I heard that you make good tips and I figure it will do until I get the job I came here for. I got some other skills.” Jade smiled mischievously.
    “You mind sharing with me?” I smiled back. Right as she was getting ready to respond, my cell phone rang and I asked Jade to excuse me.
    “Hello?”
    “Mr. Richardson, this is Doyle Johnson. I was going to meet you at ten A.M.”
    “Yeah, Doyle. I’m waiting for you,” I said, looking at my watch. It was now close to 10:30.
    “Sorry, but I’ve been waiting for the bus for over an hour. These assholes haven’t showed up yet.”
    “You don’t have a car? What about a cab?”
    “I don’t have a car and I can’t afford a cab even if I could get one to come to my neighborhood.”
    “Would you like to reschedule?” I asked politely. In my mind I knew that Doyle had just lost his chance to be my assistant, but I didn’t want to tell him that now. I really didn’t need an assistant anyway, and it would just be another person for Dray to worry about finding out about the two of us.
    “Sure.”
    “Okay, I’ll call you when I have some more time. Have a nice day.” I clicked off my phone and returned my attention to Jade. “Now where were we?”
    “I was going to tell you about the job I really came here to get, and my special skills.”
    “Oh, yeah. What job and skills?”
    “You’re going to laugh,” Jade warned.
    “No, I won’t.” I pulled a small piece from my beignet and popped it in my mouth.
    “You might think I’m crazy,” Jade said, looking bashful all of a sudden.
    “I promise I won’t,” I assured her.
    “Okay, you have a nice face and I think I can trust you.”
    I leaned in closer to her and gave her an “Okay, tell me” look.
    “Which do you want to know first?”
    “Tell me about your special skills.”
    “Oh, that’s easy. I’m psychic, and I’m pretty sure we’re meeting for a reason.”
    “You think so?”
    “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna have something to do with your love life.”
    “Who said I have a love life?”
    “You do.”
    “So how are you going to do that?”
    “I don’t know yet.”
    “Okay, I can live with that. So tell me about this big job you came here for.”
    She took a deep breath before releasing her big announcement. “I came here to be Mrs. Reggie Bush.”
    “You mean the football star?”
    “Yep, that would be him.”
    “Do you know him?”
    “Not yet,” Jade said, intimating that it was only a matter of time.
    “Isn’t he dating that Kardashian girl?”
    “That big-booty gold digger,” Jade said, waving her hand in a dismissive gesture. “Baby, please.”
    “Do you have a plan?” I