Chapter 1
Four Years Later
“Damn, Coach! How can you up and leave like that?”
“Niko, it’s not often head coaching positions for lacrosse become available. If I stay here, I’ll always be an assistant coach because you know damn well Coach Crawford ain’t leaving.”
“You’re probably right, but you two work so well together. You balance each other out perfectly.”
“I agree, but I want to further my career. I can’t pass an opportunity like this up.”
While I agreed with Coach Lisle, I hated to see him go. He’d definitely be hard to replace.
“Shit, the timing couldn’t be worse. It’s my last year, and I’ll have a new coach. This was supposed to be our championship year.”
“Niko, you’re a grown-ass man with a child.
Stop whining! This is life, and things change faster than we can blink sometimes.
You’re the team captain, and I expect you to continue acting as such.
The championship is within reach, with or without me.
You’ll be off living your life in a few months, and your time here at Black Elm will be a fond but distant memory. ”
I left the meeting with Coach Lisle feeling a bit out of sorts. However, everything he said was right on point. After this season, which was set to start in a little over a month, my lacrosse days would be over.
I couldn’t expect him to put his dreams and goals on hold and wait for me to finish my season and graduate before accepting a dream job. Since I was the team captain, he broke the news to me first and would have a team meeting to tell the rest of the team.
Since I was done with my classes for the day, I spent the next hour in the gym before heading to pick up Deuce from my parents’ house.
It took me a while to adjust to living independently with my son.
My mother cried for a week when I told her I’d found a place.
However, after living with them for three years, it was time.
I had plenty of money saved up because, although my father talked a good game, he didn’t charge me a dime these past three years.
“Daddy,” Niko sang when I entered the family room.
He ran to me with open arms. I picked him up and placed a few kisses on his cheek.
“Wassup, Son? Were you good at school today and for grandma and grandpa?”
He was in half-day kindergarten at the same private school I went to for elementary school.
Unless he stayed the night with my parents, which he did some weeknights, I took him to school, and one or both of my parents picked him up while I was in class or working.
He stayed with them until I left campus for the day.
“Yes. I’m always good, Daddy.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” I placed him back on the floor, and he ran off and busied himself with some of his toys.
“Your mother is in the kitchen finishing dinner. You staying?” my father asked.
“Y’all have asked me that every day she’s cooked since I moved out, and I’ve yet to turn you down. The answer will always be yes, so y’all can stop asking.”
“Some days, you might not be invited, so don’t assume you’re invited if I don’t ask,” he joked with a serious undertone.
“I bet my mama will disagree with you.”
“Boy, I pay for the food in this house. If I don’t want you to stay, you ain’t welcome.”
“Yeah, okay, Pops. I love you too. How was he today?”
“He’s always fine, Son. His mother must be mild-mannered because you were nowhere near as well-behaved as he is at that age.”
I thought about my son’s mother, Chanice.
We didn’t spend a great deal of time together because we weren’t in a relationship, but I got to know her fairly well while she was carrying our child.
She had a very calm demeanor and was slow to anger.
Niko’s personality definitely mirrored hers.
He’d been that way since the day he was born.
“Y’all go wash your hands. Dinner is done.”
A few minutes later, we were in my parents’ eat-in kitchen.
Deuce was strapped into his booster seat while my parents and I sat at the table.
My mother had made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and homemade biscuits.
I probably should’ve been eating a healthier meal, but there was no way I could resist.
“How was the meeting with your coaches?” my mother asked.
“It was only me and Coach Lisle. The meeting wasn’t what I expected.”
“Oh?”
“Oh, is right, Ma. He dropped a bomb on me.”
“Well, is it a secret, or can you tell us?” Pops questioned.
“He won’t be with us this season because he got a job as a head coach at another university.”
“Really? Well, good for him,” Ma said.
“Yeah. Great for him, but not so good for me.”
“I understand losing a great coach isn’t ideal, but this isn’t just about you,” Pops reminded me.
“I know. It sucks having to get used to a new coach and coaching style during my final season, but I’ll be fine.”
“Yes, you will. I’m sure Coach Lisle gave it a lot of thought before making his final decision. Opportunities like that don’t happen very often.” My father continued.
“He said the same thing, and I agree. I’d love for him to be around for my final season, but I understand and respect his decision. Since I’m the team captain, I’ll have to make sure the other guys do the same.”
“I’m sure whoever they hire will be well qualified and properly vetted. I wouldn’t worry about it too much if I were you,” Ma told me.
“There’s no sense in worrying anyway. It won’t change what’s about to happen. Now that I’ve had time to process it, I might as well embrace it.”
“You never know, sometimes change is good.”
“I heard they’re close to hiring Coach Lisle’s replacement,” Reid, one of my teammates, announced.
We’d just finished lifting weights and were in the locker room.
“Where’d you hear that?” Leo, one of my other teammates, asked.
“Yeah, where’d you hear that because Coach Crawford ain’t said shit? He’s been real quiet about the whole process.”
Coach Crawford was the head coach and hadn’t said a word about how the interviews for his new assistant coach were going.
“I went to his office to talk to him about some personal things, and I overheard him arguing with the AD.”
“Word?”
Reid nodded before responding. “Yep. They don’t agree about who should be hired, and it’s causing quite the disturbance.”
“Damn. I wonder what the issue is,” I said.
“Man, Richards needs to back off and let Coach hire who he wants. This ain’t his team,” Leo added.
“I agree, but you know how Richards is. He takes his job as the AD seriously and wants credit for everything that happens in the athletic department,” I told them.
“True,” they said simultaneously.
“I hope they resolve this shit soon because the first official day of practice will be here before we know it. Time is ticking, and we don’t have time for them to go back and forth,” I continued.
“It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out, and I wonder who will end up getting their way,” Leo said.
We chopped it up for a few more minutes before leaving. I had a presentation in the morning and a paper due, so my parents agreed to keep Deuce for the night. Before heading home, I stopped to get some food.
I received a text as I approached the doors of the restaurant I’d chosen. I continued walking as I dug my phone out of my pocket and unlocked it. The message was from a girl I’d hooked up with a few times recently, and she wanted to know if I was available.
It wasn’t often that I didn’t have my son in the evenings, and although I had important things to do, I couldn’t let an opportunity to get some pussy pass me by. As I prepared to respond to her, I walked right into someone.
“Shit! Watch where the fuck you’re going!” a woman spat.
“My bad. I wasn’t?—”
“Clearly, you weren’t paying attention, and now my dinner is all over the damn sidewalk.”
“I said, my bad. I’ll replace your meal.”
“You sure the fuck will.”
Before I responded, she turned and marched back into the restaurant, not bothering to hold the door for me. If she weren’t so damn pretty, I’d let her replace her own food. I’d always been a sucker for a pretty face and athletic physique, and she had both.
“Considering the circumstances, I probably shouldn’t ask for her number,” I mumbled under my breath as I finally went inside.