Her Obession

After the party

A member of the Celtics coaching staff called Jayson's name and brought their conversation to an end. "I gotta go and handle business, but if you need anything I'll send somebody to check in with you." He expounded before he had to go back and focus on the task at hand.

As little as Tori knew about basketball, she still enjoyed the evening, the celebratory atmosphere of the arena was hard not to get swept up in.

Once the festivities came to an end, she was escorted to another part of the area where she sat to what Jayson gave his last press conference of the season.

This was the first time Tori had seen Jayson in his element. He was charming and humorous in the way he addressed the media, even as he spoke about basketball.

It was nice to see how he'd presented himself to her as his authentic self.

When his conference came to an end, he bid the reporters goodbye until the next season before standing to his feet so he could leave the podium.

This time, instead of being directed back to the locker room where some of his teammates still hung back, he made a beeline to where Tori sat.

"You ready?" He smiled, holding out his hand to help her up from her seat and out of the arena media room.

"Sorry about how long that took, I was trying to finish up and the questions kept coming." Jayson joked, making Tori giggle.

"I have a question for you." He said, stopping in his tracks, and making her do the same.

"Go ahead?"

"Would you make up an excuse to leave if I told you I was taking you to a party?"

He was way too smooth, Tori thought as she shook her head.

"No."

"Good, because Jaylen decided at the last minute he wanted to throw a party to celebrate the season coming to an end." He explained.

"That's fine by me." Tori smiled softly.

The celebratory mood carried over from the arena and to Jaylen's downtown penthouse.

If Tori could have changed anything about the evening it would have been to have Bria by her side. As welcoming as Jayson and his friends had been, the same couldn't be said for some of the girls in attendance.

Noticing Tori's change in behavior, Jayson grabbed her, taking her to a quieter part of Jaylen's condo.

"Is everything OK?" He asked, closing the door of Jaylen's game room behind them, closing them off from the rest of the party.

"I'm fine." Tori smiled, but it wasn't enough to convince Jayson.

"Tori, I'm a father. It's kinda my job to notice behavioral changes." He said, neither of them able to keep a straight face at his sudden stroke of assertiveness.

"I'm fine, honestly. It's just that some of the girls here seem a little hostile. Other than that, I'm good.

I promise." She smiled reassuringly.

"I've spent the better part of 24 years trying to work out the brain of a woman. I don't know what their problem is, nor do I give a f**k. But my advice to you is to ignore it." "You should be a shrink or something." Tori teased, making Jayson fall out laughing.

"Nah, I think I'm kinda good at playing ball." He said, humoring her.

As the night grew old, as did Jayson's desire to be out.

It was a little after 1 am when he decided to call it a night, with Tori close behind him as he did his rounds to say good night to his friends and teammates.

"Oh, my God!" Tori squealed as she used her purse to shield herself from the heavy rain they were met with as they stepped foot out of Jaylen's building.

Within seconds, both her hair and clothes were soaked. As fun as Jayson found it to watch Tori, he swiftly helped her to his car and out of the rain that seemed to be endless.

"If I had known it was going to rain, I would not have worn this!" Tori laughed, making Jayson do the same as she looked down at her now-drenched outfit, before using her hands to push her wet hair from her face.

"I'm glad you find me amusing, I feel bad for sitting in your car like this." She smiled at Jayson.

"I find you hilarious." He confirmed. "And don't feel bad, it's cool. But my mother did raise me better than to let you go home like that."

"It's fine honestly, you can't control the weather."

"At least come back to my place and get something dry to put on." Jayson tried to be respectful and keep his eyes to himself, but damn was she making it hard.

Making his way home, Jayson allowed Tori control over what songs played as she drove, and, much to his surprise, she was very well-versed in hip-hop.

"I'm not gonna lie, I didn't think you'd know about music like that." He said, not meaning to cause any offense.

"Because I'm a ballet dancer?" Tori asked, making Jayson nod his head, confirming her question.

"Mhmm, no offense."

"None taken, it's not the first time I've been told that." She shrugged.

It wasn't long before they arrived at Jayson's house. Finally, out of the torrential rain, he gave Tori a T-shirt and shorts to wear while he set her clothes to air out and dry.

"I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I went with water," Jayson explained as he walked into his living room holding a bottle of Gatorade for himself and bottled water for her.

Tori couldn't help but subtly sniff the cotton of the shirt Jayson had given her to wear, it smelt of him and he smelt amazing.

They watched TV in his living room until Tori felt herself nodding off and forced herself to stay awake.

Checking the time on her phone, surprised to see it was almost 4 am. Shaking off the tiredness that had begun to settle in, Tori stood at her feet.

"Going somewhere?" Jayson asked as he watched

Tori stood up from her place on the couch beside

him.

Turning to face him, he shot her a smile that almost made her melt. This man was something else.

"As great as your hospitality has been, it's stopped raining." She explained, pointing towards the window on the far side of the room.

"And?"

"I thought I'd only stay till the rain stopped."

Sitting up from his comfortable position, Jayson slung one arm over the back of the couch as he watched Tori closely.

"Do you want to leave?"

Tori felt her heart rate pick up as she deliberated over how to answer his question. Did she want to leave? 'No' would have been the most truthful and simple answer.