A few days passed after Julian, Eve and TC met up on the wharf for the first time in ten years. The words that Eve said to Julian before she left had hit him harder than anything he’d ever felt before. But those words weren’t true, on the outside he appeared to be playboy and flirt with countless women, but on the inside he was hurting deeply. The only person to ever make him feel this way was Eve. He thought about her almost everyday for ten years and to run into her the way that he did, it startled him. And things only got worse when he found her in the arms of TC.

Since that day at the wharf, Eve’s life had been a living hell. She really couldn’t concentrate on anything anymore and it was starting to affect her at work. Running into TC was a bit of a surprise to her, but when she saw Julian appear, just the site of him tore at her heart. He still looked and sounded the same, but it was she who had chanced. She sighed as she decided to go home early and get some rest.

Later on that night as she slept, she dreamt about him, he was kissing her and touching the most intimate parts of her body. She was on fire and loved the way he made her feel. But then the events of that day on the wharf startled her from her dream as she quickly sat up with beads of sweat dripping down her face. “Julian…” She whispered.

Two weeks passed as Julian was now situated at work and everything that he had planned was going smoothly. Since his taking over as CEO of the Davidson Division, many problems within the company that seemed to be unsolvable, were now not a problem anymore and they had even made an extra hundred million dollars in other ventures that he had been involved in. So on his way to work this one particular day, he was running late and had to be at a board meeting in less the fifteen minutes. He was riding on his motorcycle like a bat out of hell trying to make it on time, when he nearly crashed into a car.

TC was on his way to tennis practice today. He had left extra earlier to make sure that he wasn’t going to be late practice like he was the past two weeks. As he was driving, a motorcycle came out of nowhere, so he had to swerve out of the way to make sure that he wouldn’t hit the person, when he suddenly noticed who the driver was. Suddenly, a flashback of that fateful day flashed in front of him.

{flashback ten years ago}

Broken pieces of a table and the lamp that was placed on it was scattered all over the place as Eve was down her knees holding up what remained of her shirt trying to cover up her breast. Her face was wet from the tears that were falling down her face and she looked absolutely horrified. Behind her was Julian, who was holding onto her shoulder and he looked stunned to say the least.

{flashback ends}

“Crane!” TC shouted as he slammed onto his brakes in the middle of the street. He was now sweating profusely as he gripped his steering wheel tight, so that he could take a deep breath and try to regain his composure.

That day like every other day since that time on the wharf went by uneventful. Julian did make it to his board meeting on time and TC did make it to tennis practice on time.

Another week passed and today was Julian’s first day off at work. The day before a couple of colleagues from work who also had the day off the next day, decided that it would be fun to go to the park and play some basketball. They asked Julian if he would like to come and play with them and he gladly accepted their offer. They had decided that they were going to meet up at the park at around eleven in the morning and Julian was fine by that. So here he was, walking towards the basketball court with his gym bag in his left hand and his water bottle in his right hand when Jim, one of his colleagues from work called out to him.

“Yo Julian, hurry up we’re about to shoot and pick teams.”

“Alright!” Julian yelled back as he placed his bag and water bottle by the bench next to the others stuff and jogged over towards them. Five minutes later, the teams were set, three on three and it was time to play some ball.

For the next two hours or so, the guys battled it out on the basketball court. They were scoring back and forth, back and forth. Then as the game continued, Julian’s team took a four-point lead and needed two points to win the game. Bobby was dribbling the ball up the court, then passed it to Josh who was in the far corner to the left. Josh then went behind the back and dribbled to the middle of the court before passing it Julian. Julian got the ball and held it behind his back so that Michael, who was on the opposing team couldn’t reach for it. Julian then brought the ball forward and faked to the left once, then faked to the left again and this time when he faked to the left, he quickly crossed Michael over, making him fall to the ground. He then did a spin on Chuck, who was heading his way, then as he made it towards the rim, he jumped for about three feet out and slammed the ball down hard with two hands.

“Now that’s what I’m talkin’ bout’ boys! Woohoo!” Julian shouted out loud as he ran over towards the guys who were now sitting on the bench drinking some water.

“Man Julian, how’d you know how to play basketball like that?” Pete, the other guy from work asked.

“I played ball in high school. I was the number two ranked point guard in the country.” He said proudly.

“Number two, then who was number one?” Pete asked curiously.

“I was ranked number one in the country, wasn’t I Julian?” a voice from behind them said.

Julian looked behind him and came face to face with none other than TC Russell.

“What are you waiting for? Tell them I was the best ranked point guard in the country, or are you too chicken golly to admit it?” TC snickered.

“I’m not afraid to admit d*ck. It’s true you were the best point guard in the country back then, but I was always better than you. You being ranked number one was fluke, everyone knew it back then. I even tried challenging you to see what was so good about you that people thought that you were better than me, but you turned me down. Were you too p*ssy enough to challenge me back then?” Julian said in a provoking voice.

“You’re not worth my time you bastard.”

“Was that your comeback?” Julian scoffed.

“Fine.” TC simply said.

“Fine what?”

“You and me one on one. Let me prove to you that you’ll always be second best to me.” TC smirked.

“You’re on.” Julian said.

The two of them walked over to the middle of the basketball court then stopped and looked into each other’s eyes. Julian had this determined look in his eyes, he was going to teach TC a lesson in ‘getting-yo-ass-whooped-up-and-down-the-basketball-court’. TC looked into Julian’s eyes and just snorted in disgust. He didn’t understand how Julian could act the way he was acting now, not after what he did all those years ago.

“We’re playing a game of twenty-one. Winners out. Got it bastard?” TC said.

“F*** off!” Julian scoffed.

TC walked over to the three-point line and shot. The ball clanged off of the rim, Julian rebounded it and took it back behind the line. He dribbled to left as TC fronted him with his defense. Julian then dribbled the ball between his legs, passed TC and went to lay the ball up.

“Two points. Is that all the defense you got TC?” Julian said.

“I’m just warming up.” TC answered back.

“That’s what they all say.” Julian rolled his eyes.

So back and forth, TC and Julian banged and swiped at each other. Whenever TC scored, Julian scored right back. They couldn’t find a way to out do the other. It was like they were evenly matched and Julian didn’t like that one bit. On the shot TC took, Julian rebounded the miss and took it back behind the line again. He looked TC in the eyes and waited for him to approach him so that he could dribble behind the back, then bring the ball between his legs in the front and get to the rim and score. And that is just what he did.

“Eighteen.” Julian said as he wiped his sweaty hands off on his shorts. Sweat was dripping all down his body. The way he was breathing, it showed off how well toned his body was. His abs were tight and his chest was chiseled. You could see as his arms flexed how strong they were, as he got ready to shoot the ball. Swish, went his shot and TC was livid.

“Nineteen.” Julian raised his brow and smirked.

His next shot however missed and TC rebounded it then took it back behind the line. He was about to take the three-point shot that would’ve given him twenty, when Julian stripped him of the ball. This was it, he only needed two points and that would be game.

“You messed up TC, prepare to lose.” Julian grinned. TC got back in his defensive stance and waited for Julian to make his move.

‘What nuisance… I wonder if I go for the block when he does the move that I know he’ll do… yes!” TC thought evilly.

And just as TC predicted, Julian dribbled the ball between his legs, switching the ball into his left hand and then spun to the right to lay the ball up. TC was prepared and as soon as Julian went up, he swung his arm down hard across Julian’s face in mid air, knocking him down to the ground hard on his right side.

Julian grabbed his face as soon as TC’s arm came into contact with it. The impact of the fall caused Julian to dislocate his right shoulder as well. Julian’s friends saw what had happened and rush over to his side. They were shouting at TC, while they tended to Julian. Somehow they gathered Julian up and his things and rushed him to the hospital.

The next day, Julian was at the coffee house drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. After going to the hospital the day before, the doctor told him that he had a small cut over his left eye and that his right shoulder was dislocated. Placing his arm back in place hurt like hell and when the doctor told him he needed to wear a sling, Julian scoffed and told him that he was a man and didn’t need no damn sling. As he sat here drinking his coffee, TC walked up to his table.

“You sonofabitch, what were you trying to do, kill me?!?” Julian jumped up and grabbed him by the shirt over the table.

TC smirked. “You have the devil’s luck. I’m surprised you’re walking around.”

“So you… did that on purpose then?” Julian asked, shock evident on his face as he released him.

“I’m sorry. It was an accident.” TC patted Julian on the shoulder, then walked off.