The Lure of Love: Chapter 1

Be careful what you ask for. Brandon “BJ” Jamison thought he was getting what he asked for. An easy laid-back day with his dad and a few beers, free of women and the media. The day that had begun with his dad arriving for a weekend visit ended up with no beers, too many women and the media.

Enjoying time with his dad, BJ’s cell phone rang. He ignored it the first two times, but by the third time, he picked it up.  And just like that, his day, maybe even his life changed forever.

“She’s got a gun. She’s gonna kill him, BJ. She’s going to kill him and Tamara too.”

“ReeRee, slow down, slow down. What’s going on?”

“BJ, you’ve got to get here. Karine is going to kill Marc and Tamara. Your girl is here with him. She’s going to pull the trigger on both of them.”

“Where are you, ReeRee?”

“At their getaway house…or Marc’s whorehouse. I don’t’ know what to call it now. Just get here, just get here.” The call disconnected.

BJ stared at his phone. “Dad, I have to run.”

“What’s going on, son?”

“I’m not sure, Dad. But I think Tamara is in trouble or Marc is in trouble.”

“You’re not going alone. I’m coming with you.”

The two ran out the door.

When they arrived at the Midway house, BJ ran in the front door, which was wide open. His father followed him in. BJ froze when he saw Karine standing on the bed, looming over a naked Marc and Tamara, who was attempting to cover her body with a sheet.  Karine was waving a gun back and forth between the two yelling and crying simultaneously. BJ immediately understood what had happened. While he was pissed at Tamara, his concern was for Karine. The mattress was shifting every time she moved. He had no idea if the gun was loaded or not. All he knew was he had to disarm her before someone got hurt.

BJ walked over to the side of the bed where Tamara was covering her head with her hands. He wanted Karine to see him.

“Karine.”

When she looked at him, he could clearly see she was not herself. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. The hurt was visible in her eyes and her hands were shaking.

“BJ, help me,” Tamara cried out.

“Baby, you gotta put the gun down. Baby, please put the gun down so I can hold you,” Marc was pleading with his wife.

BJ wanted to punch him in the mouth. Every time he spoke, Karine became more undone. “Shut up, Marc,” he said keeping his eye on the woman with the shaking hands. “Karine, look at me.”

Her eyes shifted from Marc to him. He realized the mistake when her eyes went past him to Tamara. BJ slowly stepped onto the bed attempting to block her view of Tamara.

“Brandon,” his father cautioned.

“I know, Dad,” BJ responded as he held his hand out. “Karine, look, I am so sorry this is happening to you. I know you love him. You don’t want to hurt Marc.”

“Yes, I do. I want him to hurt as much as I’m hurting right now.”

“No, you don’t. You’re hurting because you love him. You can’t hurt the person you love. You can hit me. You can’t shoot me,” he said quickly with a slight chuckle, “but you can hit me. I’m a tough guy, I can take it.”

Her eyes met his. “I don’t want to hurt you, BJ. They did this as much to you as they did it to me.” She pointed with the gun.

“No, this hurts you much more than it does me and I understand that. See the thing is, if this situation goes too far it could hurt you more. And I don’t want that. If the police come in here, they are going to arrest you. Then your daughter will have to be left with Marc to raise by himself. You know Marc can’t braid her hair like you. Your daughter needs you around. So please give me the gun before the police get here. I promise to protect you from this.”

“Give him the gun, Karine,” ReeRee encouraged. “BJ will take care of this.”

Karine’s hurt filled eyes met his again. “You will make them pay, BJ?”

BJ nodded. “I will, Karine. I promise.”

Karine stared at him for a long moment. It wasn’t until everyone heard the police siren that she put the gun in BJ’s hand.

BJ took the gun, then pulled Karine into his arms and held her as she cried on his shoulder.

He felt the bed move. From the corner of his eye he saw a naked Tamara, bend down to pick her clothes up from the floor.

BJ stepped off the bed with Karine. Marc now had his pants on and was reaching for his wife.

“Don’t you dare touch me,” Karine hissed.

ReeRee and another woman, whom BJ did not know, reached for Karine.

“Gun!” an officer warned.

The police rushed into the room pulling their weapons. BJ calmly placed the gun on the bed and put his hands up.

“Everything is under control, officers,” Marc stated as he put his shirt on. He held his hand out to the officer. “Marc Midway. How are you doing?”

An officer picked up the gun and placed it in an evidence bag. “Mr. Midway, what’s happening here?”

“Total misunderstanding. My wife and I had a few friends over messing around. Mr. Jamison came in at an inopportune time where it appeared to be something it wasn’t. He intervened thinking he was helping,” Marc chuckled as he put his hands on BJ’s shoulder. “He’s a hero in this crazy situation.”

It took everything BJ had not to move. He understood Marc was attempting to keep the situation under wraps. Maybe in his own way he was trying to protect Karine. However, knowing his teammate as he did, BJ was certain 95% of Marc’s motive was to protect his own reputation.

“We received a call indicating a weapon was being brandished.”

“It was,” Marc chuckled. “But it’s not loaded. In fact, I’m certain my wife thought it was the fake I used in one of the movies I worked on.”

BJ took this as the opportunity to step away instead of listening to the bullshit Marc was spilling to the officer.

“Mr. Jamison,” a sergeant called out. “May I speak with you outside?”

“Of course.” BJ followed the sergeant out the door. His father was standing near the police cruiser as they approached.

“Mr. Jamison, I know who you are just as I know Midway. Tell me what happened tonight.”

There was something in the way the man posed the request that tickled BJ. His interpretation was ‘yeah I heard the bullshit Midway gave now tell me what really happened.’ That’s exactly what BJ did. The only part he left out was Karine pointing the gun at anyone. He promised Karine, a woman he did not really know, that he would protect her, and he would, even if it ended up helping the asshole.

The moment BJ wrapped up his conversation with the police, he watched Marc walk over to Karine and her friends. The look on his wife’s face let BJ know, Marc was about to catch hell once they were out of the public’s eye.

“BJ, can I talk to you alone?”

BJ glanced to his right to see Tamara standing there. Well, at least she had clothes on, he thought as he turned to walk away. “I’m done.”

His father was leaning against the car as BJ walked towards him. Tamara ran up behind him wrapping her arms around his waist. BJ turned suddenly causing her to stumble to her knees. He looked down at her, turned then continued walking to the driver’s side of his vehicle. “Let’s go, Dad.” They got in the car as Tamara ran up to the side. BJ did not even glance her way. He simply pulled off.  An hour later BJ received a call from his agent Nicholas Brooks informing him that the entire incident was posted to social media.

“The commentary indicates you and Tamara had a fight. You pushed her to the ground then tried to run her over with your car.” Nick laughed as he relayed the story.

“It’s not funny, Nick. It was a pretty serious situation, but not what you read on social media. The incident wasn’t about me or even Tamara to a certain extent. It was Marc Midway and his wife, Karine. She caught Marc in bed with Tamara and pulled a gun on him.”

“That’s not what the video shows,” Nick replied. “I expect a call from the General Manager in the morning. Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle the fall out.”

The next day, BJ found himself in the GM’s office with Nick. It seemed Marc had called to give him a heads up on the incident.

“I have had dealings of this nature with Midway before, BJ,” he said once BJ gave his account of the incident. “Unfortunately, the video only captured you and Tamara. It appears the confrontation ended with you assaulting her. You know the league has a ‘no tolerance’ policy for violence of any kind, especially with women.”

“There were witnesses there, Gerald,” Nick advised the GM.

“I spoke with Karine Midway, Laura Bates and Rennie Miles. They all corroborated your sequence of events. However, Tamara Reid is soaking it up for all it’s worth in the media. To make matters worse, Midway’s responses are being received as him covering for his teammate every time he says, ‘it’s not my business to speak on my teammate’s affairs.’”

“A funny choice of words for him to use, don’t you think?” BJ hissed.

“We can shut Midway up,” the GM replied. “We have no jurisdiction over Tamara Reid. I don’t have to tell you where this can lead, Nick. You’re going to have a PR nightmare on your hands if BJ doesn’t go public with the facts.”

“I made a promise, Gerald.” BJ stated. “Karine Midway doesn’t deserve to be charged or dragged through the media for her husband’s actions.”

“I agree,” Gerald stated. “Your decision, however, it will be her or you. The league will take action if public outcry calls for it.”

“Wait, Gerald.” Nick stood. “You know what happened. You and the league should stand by BJ. He may have saved Midway and Reid’s lives, and the league has a real PR problem. Please don’t force my hand to call my brother to handle this situation.”   

Gerald smiled. “Getting Vernon Brooks involved may be beneficial for BJ. I don’t like the way Midway, and his people are handling this. It seems he is content to let BJ take the brunt of the fallout for this. As for the truth, well, as you, Vernon and I know the media doesn’t deal with the truth. And the league is guided by public perception.” After two weeks of bad publicity, and every woman’s group in the country speaking on the incident, the league gave BJ a ten-day suspension.