3. Khalil
“Lilo. Lilo, it’s time for you to get up, baby,” I heard my nana say as I cracked open one of my eyes and saw her standing over me with a smile. I could feel a little heaviness weighing on me and saw my baby girl sleeping soundly on my chest.
After my game yesterday, I came home, showered, and was supposed to meet up with the crew, but I ended up crashing from exhaustion. Being the president of the honors society, captain of the basketball team, a full-time father, and on top of my studies left me no real room to do much of anything.
I rubbed my eyes, trying to wake myself up. “What time is it?”
“A little after seven,” she replied, reaching for Kiy. I kissed her little forehead and allowed my nana to take her away. “Hurry up and freshen up. Breakfast is ready for you.”
I nodded while she left the room. I wanted to roll back over and fall asleep, but I couldn’t. It was only Tuesday, and I was already anticipating the weekend to come.
I got out of bed and went to take care of my hygiene.
Once that was complete, I wrapped a towel around my waist and went to find something to wear for the day.
There was a knock on the door, then it opened as I poked my head out of the closet to see Nia coming into my room.
A bit surprised by her presence, I walked out of the closet, carrying my clothes as I looked at her.
“Good morning,” she greeted.
“Morning. Kiy is downstairs somewhere with my nana. I’ll be out in a second.”
“I know . . . I saw her already. I came to see you real quick.”
My brows furrowed a bit before I realized exactly why she was here this early in my bedroom. When she opened the trench, she rocked nothing but a bra and thong set, and I already knew what type of time she was on. She moved closer to me, then tugged my towel, making it fall to the floor.
I didn’t want to cross this line with Nia again.
I hadn’t touched her since she had Kiyanne, and it was already established that we weren’t and would never be that way again.
But I hadn’t hit anything in weeks due to my busy schedule, so when she dropped down on her haunches and took me into her warm, wet mouth, I didn’t protest. I let her do her thing as my head fell back in pleasure.
I wouldn’t deny that Nia had some good head and pussy, but that was as much credit as I was going to give her.
She wasn’t the best mother to our daughter, and she was selfish as hell. Just the thought of that alone made me grab a fistful of her braids and thrust my hips, making her choke.
Seeing tears leak down her face, I pulled my dick from her mouth.
“Stand up,” I commanded. She lifted, and I spun her around, pulled her panties down, and bent her over the bed.
“Mmm,” she moaned. I opened my nightstand, retrieving a rubber to cover myself. “You don’t need that. You know I’m clean,” she said.
“Yeah, and you fertile as fuck, too.” Without warning, I slammed into her as she yelped and fell flat on the bed.
“Shit, Khalil!”
“Shut up.” I put my palm over her mouth and pounded into her with force. Since I was on a time schedule, she was only getting fifteen strokes.
Sixteen if she was lucky.
Once I got to pump twelve, I lifted her leg and stroked her three more times before I was nuttin’ in the condom.
I pulled out of her slowly and checked the rubber to make sure it didn’t break, then went into the adjoining bathroom to flush it and clean up. I came back out to Nia lying in my bed as if this shit with us was normal. I probably should have told her to get dressed before I went into the bathroom.
“I gotta go in the next twenty, Nia. You should get dressed and spend some time with Kiy before you go.”
“Why do I have to leave? I was . . . I wanted to talk to you about us.”
I shook my head. “There is nothing to talk about unless it’s about our daughter.”
“It’s about her and us. I’ve been doing better, Lilo. I want us to be a family.”
“How have you been doing better? You stay running the streets, and she don’t see you for weeks at a time. And be a family? Nah, shorty. We tried that, and it ain’t work.”
She sucked her teeth and waved me off. “But you can fuck me whenever it’s convenient for you.”
She’s losing her damn mind.
“Convenient for me? Did you not just come in here and seduce me? I didn’t ask you to come over here on that type of time, Nia.”
“You sure didn’t stop me either.”
“Why would I? I needed it, and you were an aggressive participant.”
“Fuck you, Khalil!”
A slow smirk drew up on my face. “You just did that.”
She flipped me off, stood, and put her panties and coat back on. She bumped past me to head out of my room.
“Let me go be with my baby.”
I grabbed her by her arm, pulling her back. “Go brush your teeth before you go kissing on my baby.” She wasn’t about to put her dick breath on my daughter. She yanked away from me and went into the bathroom. I got dressed quickly so I could get some food in me and head to my class on time.
Nia came out of the bathroom, wiping her face as if she had been crying. It always baffled me that she would cry any time I turned her down about us being in a relationship, then I’d see her on social media, hugged up with the next nigga like I didn’t have her touching her ankles the day prior.
Her mental state was fucked up. I didn’t know until after she had Kiyanne how unstable she was. That was why I felt like she needed supervision when she was anywhere near her because she would neglect her.
She’d try for a week or two but then ghost her, leaving her with Mena like her grandma wasn’t almost eighty years old. The shit was crazy, but I had no sympathy for her. She had the potential to do better, but she chose not to.
“I really love you, Khalil. I feel like if we were together, things would be better. I know you love me too. You just want to be stubborn.”
“I do love you, Nia, but that love only extends so far. I’ll always look out for you, but I can’t give you my heart again.
Your only focus should be Kiyanne and doing what’s best for her.
” I picked up my satchel and opened my bedroom door, extending my arm for her to walk out first. She rolled her eyes and walked out with me behind her.
When we got to the kitchen, I could tell by the look on my nana’s face that she wasn’t pleased with Nia being here.
She would never say anything, because she and my mother knew how badly I wanted her to be a mother to our daughter, so they kept their comments to themselves about her presence in Kiy’s life.
That was why they both pushed me to get full custody because Nia wasn’t all the way there with the mothering thing.
I hurriedly warmed up my breakfast while Nia cradled our daughter in her arms. I loved seeing her love on her, but sometimes, I could tell when she just wasn’t connecting with her. I guess today, she wanted to put on to make me believe she wanted to do better.
Once my food was done warming, I made a sandwich out of the bacon, eggs, and cheese, wrapped it to go, then took Kiyanne from Nia’s arms.
“Bye, Daddy’s baby. I love you, pretty girl. Don’t give Mommy and Nana a hard time today, okay?” She gave me that famous gummy smile as I kissed her chubby cheeks. “How long are you staying?” I asked Nia.
“Until my afternoon class at one,” she replied dryly.
I nodded. “Yeah, a’ight. I’ll talk to y’all later.” I kissed Kiy again, handed her back to Nia, then kissed my nana’s cheek. “I’ll see you later, beautiful. I should be back by nine. I’ll call you after the game.”
“Okay, baby. Be safe.”
“Always.” I gathered my belongings and left the house.
We were down by two points.
ASU had come back tremendously after we had them by a fifteen-point lead. They had to have saved their best player for last because homie came off the bench pressing me hard.
I loved that shit though.
Challenges were created to test our strength and resilience. I was on his ass just as much as he was on mine, and I wasn’t letting up.
I stood out of bounds, waiting for the ref to hand me the ball.
My eyes scanned my team all strategically placed on the court.
When the ball touched my hands, Gavin sprinted to the left for the assist, and I faked a right before spinning around and dashing to the center of the court.
Number fourteen was a bit too slow as Gavin threw the ball to Adam, and Adam threw it back to me.
Number fourteen tried to go for the steal, but I did my famous head nod, pump fake, and when he lost his footing, I went in for the three-pointer, hitting all net just as the clock ended.
I smiled in triumph. “Like butter, baby,” I said, kissing my two fingers and pointing them at the basket.
The crowd went up as my teammates all barreled into me.
It was only our second game of the season, but I had no doubt that before the end of the school year, a few of us were going to be NBA draft picks—with me being their number one.
We dapped up the other team just as Coach Eddie stopped me before I headed to the locker room.
“There’s a young lady saying she needs to talk to you.”
My brows pinched as I looked around. “Who?”
“She’s standing outside of the gym.”
“Is it Nia?” I asked. I hoped it wasn’t her ass when she told me she was going back to my place after her last class at five to spend the rest of the day with our daughter.
“Nah, this is someone else. I think she’s with True News, here for an interview. You know how it goes.”
I hummed. “Yeah, a’ight. Thanks, Coach.”
“No problem. Good job out there today.”
I nodded and walked away, dapping up my crew along the way, then headed to the locker room to get dressed.
It took me thirty minutes to shower and get myself together. I purposely took more time than I would have because I didn’t feel like talking. I was tired as shit, and when that happened, I usually became irritable.
I slid my duffel bag over my shoulder and walked out the double doors, back into the gym. When I looked in the stands, I saw the girl who sat in the lounge in the Coretta dorms.
I could never forget her face.
Those pretty-ass, doe-shaped eyes, Angelina Jolie lips, and round face had me staring at her a minute too long.
Although she was pretty, I knew she wasn’t my type.
She looked nerdy and mean, like she had a chip on her shoulder and shopped at the Goodwill.
I mean, I wasn’t one to judge, but she just looked like she didn’t care about impressing herself, let alone anyone else.
“You ready, fam?” Lamar asked me, walking over to me out of nowhere with Sabrina, Jalen, and Keith behind him.
“What y’all niggas trying to get into?” I asked.
“It’s a bonfire up the hill. We’re about to kick it for a minute.”
I nodded. “I gotta get back to Kiy.”
“It’s only for an hour,” Sabrina said, giving me the flirty eyes.
I internally shook my head. This chick was giving that pussy out like it was going out of stock.
“I gotta go talk to shorty real quick. I’ll meet y’all up there.”
“Ew. Don’t talk to that bum. I got a better girl for you than her. She doesn’t even look like the type you’d go for. Hell, Nia is a way better option than her,” Sabrina said, turning her nose up. The fellas chuckled.
I chuckled lightly. “It’s for an interview for the paper. Chill.”
“Mannn, them motherfuckas know enough about you.” Jalen laughed.
“I’ll get up with y’all,” I told them, heading toward the bleachers where shorty sat.
“We’ll wait, nigga. Hurry up,” Lamar said to my back. When I got closer, she stood and held her hand out to me.
“Piper Sawyer. I’m the journalist for the school’s newspaper. I only have about five questions to ask you, then we’ll be done.”
She retracted her hand once she noticed I wasn’t reciprocating the gesture.
“Yeah. Let’s just get this over wit’,” I said, really not interested in doing this interview. The school always wanted the post-game highlights for their newspapers. While sometimes I didn’t mind, this time, I wasn’t feeling it.
Shorty looked like she wanted to roll her eyes but thought better of it.
“How do you handle pressure on the court? And how do you stay motivated after losses?”
I took a minute before I answered her. “I don’t get pressured, and we never lose.” It was a vague and arrogant answer, but as I stated before, I got cranky when I was tired. Shorty didn’t deserve my negative energy, but I figured if I didn’t give her much, she’d leave me be.
I could feel those big, pretty eyes glaring at my profile as I closed my eyes and pretended not to feel her burning a hole in my face.
“Ignorance,” she mumbled under her breath, but I heard her loud and clear. My eyes popped open as I kept my smirk at bay and looked at her.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Nothing. Let’s take a shot at your character. Describe a situation where you had to demonstrate leadership or had to motivate your teammates.”
“He motivated wit’ deez nuuuts,” Keith jested as the rest of them laughed.
“Childish,” Piper mumbled again.
“Say it louder for the people in the back, Pippy Longstocking,” Sabrina said, stepping closer.
“Oh, maybe you didn’t hear me with all the cum in your ears.”
I damn near choked on my spit, trying not to laugh. Kei, Jalen, and Lamar’s eyes roamed around the gym as they, too, tried to hold in their laughs.
“Bitch, I’ll whup your Raggedy Ann looking ass!” Sabrina lunged at her, but Lamar and Jalen held her back.
“You know what? I’m over this. Have a good fucking night.” Piper stormed off as I shook my head.
“Y’all wild, man,” I declared.
“Fuck that big-eyed bitch,” Sabrina seethed.
“I mean, we did kind of fuck in her bed. I can see why she’s mad.” Lamar shrugged.
“She should be glad. That was probably the only chance she’d ever get to seeing dick. Stupid-ass cunt.”
“Damn. She really got you heated,” I observed, standing and grabbing my bag.
“Please! That bum could never have me bothered.”
I didn’t reply as we all walked out of the gym. I couldn’t care less about what they had going on. I was just ready to have a drink and take my ass home to my daughter.