His Games, Her Rules

DOMINIQUE

“I don’t remember basketball being this complicated.” Oliver groans loudly as I duck past him to his hoop and toss the ball through.

Leo whoops in delight as I grin. Oliver sits on the floor of the basketball court with his arms on his knees.

“Dom won this round, you owe us dinner, Ollie,” Leo says and throws a bottle of water toward me and I catch it.

“Thanks.” I nod at Leo in gratitude and uncork the water bottle, throwing my head back and taking big gulps.

The boys and I come here every other weekend to let off some steam by playing basketball. It’s an indoor court and I made sure to pay off the management so we don’t get uninvited and unwanted guests. Oliver and I were on the same varsity team back then in high school. I was their star player, and basketball was the one sport I was good at.

“Remind me not to play one-on-one with you again, Dom.”

“Come on. I’ll go easy on you.” I say, grinning at my friend who’s still breathing like he ran a marathon.

“I guess we get to choose the restaurant, right?” Leo asks, coming to stand by me. “We should try Indian. I haven’t had Indian food for a long time.”

“No, Indian, Leo. And I get to choose, not you.” I say to my brother. He scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“Fuck, I’m sweating,” I mutter under my breath as I raise my shirt to wipe my face clean.

I hear the shutter of a camera as I quickly pull my shirt down, turning toward the source of the sound. A young girl, not younger than 16 is standing on the bleachers with her phone in her hand.

That little shit just took pictures of us.

One thing about me, I like to keep my private matters private. If I’m fucking this new model, it’s none of the media’s concern. The same goes with when I’m trying to enjoy private time with friends, I don’t want people taking pictures of me, that was the fucking reason why I paid the management to keep this place closed until we leave for the day. She looks like the manager’s daughter.

“Oh, boy, my friends won’t believe it when I show them this picture. They’re going to go crazy. Dominique Gray shirtless and with tattoos.” She says to herself with her attention on her phone.

“Hey!” I call out to her and she looks up at once.

“Yes?” She asks, crossing her arms as she looks at us.

“Please delete that picture,” Leo says to her.

She scoffs. “No, I won’t.”

“Hundred bucks. Delete it, please.” Oliver offers as he stands up.

“Five hundred or I won’t delete it.”

I sigh. “Fine, we’ll give you five hundred dollars. Please delete it.”Text © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.

“Money first.”

“It’s in the car. Delete it and I’ll tell my brother to take you to my car and give it to you.”

“I’m not a child, Dominique, don’t try to trick me. I know a lot of people who would pay more than what I’m asking just to get a glimpse of you without a shirt on.” she grins triumphantly as she shows me her phone.

There are no pictures of me online, shirtless, I made sure of that. I’m a private man and I pay my publicist a lot of money to make sure my personal life is off the internet. The only pictures and videos of me you’ll find online are me giving exclusive interviews, or a paparazzi taking a picture of me stepping out of a restaurant with a model or an actress or a new chic. Things that don’t mean shit to me.

“Delete that fucking picture now!” Oliver yells at her and I put my hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

“What’s going on, gentlemen?” Marianne asks as she steps into the bleachers through the back door.

I give her a signal to take the girl’s phone and she smirks in response.

The young girl turns to look at Marianne. “Who are you?”

“Okay, sweetheart,” Marianne opens her purse and brings out a few dollar notes. “This is five hundred dollars. I’m gonna give it to you and you’re gonna delete that picture. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Marianne hands the girl the money and she takes it.

“I’ll delete it myself, just to be sure you don’t have any copies.”

The girl rolls her eyes and hands her phone to Marianne. “Suit yourself.”

Marianne goes through the girl’s phone and I assume she’s deleting the pictures she just took. Suddenly, Marianne drops the girl’s phone on the floor as she smirks at the girl.

“Oops.”

“What did you do that for?” The young girl yells at Marianne. She scoffs and bends down to pick up her phone but Marianne steps on it, smashing the screen with the heel of her shoes.

“What the hell?!” The girl screams at Marianne.

“Next time, don’t try to exploit people, you little shit,” Marianne says as she kicks the girl’s phone backward.

She sidesteps the girl who’s still shocked by what just happened, hitting her shoulder against the girl’s as she begins to climb down the bleachers.

“Fucking bitch. My dad’s gonna hear of this!” The girl says as she picks up her phone and scurries away, angrily.

“That wasn’t necessary though,” I say to Marianne.

“That was fucking… hot,” Leo says and I shake my head.

Marianne steps on the basketball court looking properly dressed like always. Marianne works at my foundation and it’s her duty to make sure everything’s in order. She overlooks the operation of every staff and the finances we receive through donations and grants.

“Mr. Gray.” She nods at me and turns to Oliver, purposefully skipping past Leo. “Oliver Queen.” She smirks at my friend.

“You know my last name isn’t Queen.”

“I know. I don’t care.” She smirks at Oliver and exhales as she looks at Leo.

“Hey, Marianne,” Leo says to her, his hands in his basketball shorts pockets.

“Don’t fucking talk to me.” She glares at Leo.

“Right,” Leo mutters and clears his throat as he walks away to the other side of the court.

Leo and Marianne had a short sexual relationship that lasted only a day. They had sex in Marianne’s apartment after they hooked up, and Leo didn’t call her. He didn’t drop a text, nothing, and she was furious. Leo didn’t care, it was supposed to be one night, and he believed he didn’t owe her anything, and that included calls.

“What are you doing here?” I ask her.

“Um, the charity gala is next week and we haven’t made any plans.” She gives me a skeptical look.

“Fuck.” I mutter, pinching my eyebrows. “It slipped my mind. I’ve been a little busy.”

“You’re hosting a charity gala next weekend?” Oliver asks.

“Yes, Ollie,” I say, not bothering to look at my friend.

“So I called your house and your housekeeper said you’re here. I need to know what plans you have for the event.”

“It should be simple, but classy enough. You should get a life band too.”

“And how many guests are we expecting?” She asks as she pulls out an iPad from her bag.

“250. That should do.”

Marianne hums and types it down. “How about a theme?”

“Masked party. All guests are expected to come wearing a mask. Call Marion, he will send you the list of the guests and he will tell you our targeted revenue. And you should have called Marion instead. I pay him for things like this. Why’s he a member of the board if he can’t handle things like this?”

“Your opinion still matters, Sir.”

“You’ve gotten my opinion already, Marianne.”

She exhales and locks her iPad as she tosses it inside her bag. “I’ll leave you then and I’ll make sure to report back to you when we have everything sorted out.”

I nod at her. Marianne turns to glare at Leo who’s been watching her as she turns toward the entrance of the court. She pushes open the double doors and leaves.