Chapter 2
“Season opener with the Oceania Hawks is going to be a dub!” Ryan Jones shouted. “Bringing Jahlil is going to cause confusion. This is the Malik Kilpatrick show, let him do his thing.”
“Kilpatrick is struggling. He needs the help of Savage,” Micah countered.
Jahlil strolled into his living room. There were over twenty boxes that needed to be unpacked.
The only thing Andrew had managed to do was slouch on the couch scrolling on his phone while Sanaa, Jahlil’s daughter stood in front of the TV intently watching two unqualified sportscasters debate with Micah about his validity when it came to the Hawks.
The shit was sickening. Since he entered the league, the Jahlil Savage hate was louder than the love.
Time after time, season after season, he proved why he wasn’t just a contender but the contender.
“Why are you letting your niece watch this?” Jahlil questioned his younger brother and his assistant.
Andrew briefly looked up from his phone and cut his older brother a look. “I’m not fighting with that girl over the TV. She straight up jacked the remote. She saw your picture and decided that listening to E.Rose could wait.”
“She shouldn’t be listening to that either,” Jahlil grumbled.
The mention of E.Rose made Sanaa start bouncing. “I’m a treat you like a fuckin’ dawg, baby. I clap my hands all the niggas come runnin’, baby!”
“Sanaa Lily!” Jahlil barked, as Andrew covered his mouth and laughed. “Her little ass cussin’ ain’t funny, boy. That’s your fault. I told you about that shit.”
“My bad, Jah,” Q said with a wince, turning the channel to something age-appropriate. “I was watching it. Sanaa was just along for the ride.”
“Hey, I wanted to see what else those assholes had to say about my daddy,” Sanaa huffed, stomping over to the couch and pushing Andrew over so she could sit right in his space. He was more like her big brother than her uncle.
“Sanaa, your mouth,” Jahlil rumbled, making her little face frown more. He focused his attention on Andrew. “I thought you were going to unpack before going to the basketball court?”
Andrew looked at the stack of boxes and then out the window. “I was thinking.”
“You about to ask me for some shit I’m going to say no to,” Jahlil muttered. “What, boy?”
“I met a few people, can they come over and we just kick it by the pool?” Andrew asked.
“Girls, he wants girls over so he can smooch them,” Sanaa snitched. In return, Andrew pushed her away from him. “Hey, I was sitting there!”
“Sanaa,” Q buzzed, earning her a look from Jahlil.
“I got it, Q,” Jahlil assured. “Sanaa, leave Drew alone.”
“He’s mine and I don’t want to,” Sanaa sassed back, climbing on Andrew’s back and he let her. Just like everyone else allowed her to have her way. No one could say no to the pint-sized terrorist.
“Is it just girls?” Jahlil quizzed.
“Just two. But Fahad and Garrett, from school, are going to be there too. It’s too hot for the courts,” Andrew spoke, repositioning Sanaa comfortably on his shoulders.
“Imagine you hound me about finding a neighborhood with all the amenities and kids and you’d rather stay at home,” Jahlil huffed. “I mean, I guess it’s better than you being on the game all day and all night. Make sure y’all stay where Aunt Violet can see you.”
Andrew and Sanaa shared a twin frown. But all three asked, “where are you going?”
“First of all,” Jahlil corrected, looking at all three. “I’m a grown ass man. I don’t have to share shit about shit with none of y’all.”
“Shit you say!” Sanaa huffed, sounding just like Aunt Violet. “You’re my daddy and you tell me everything. Where going?”
“I have a team dinner to go to. It won’t be long,” Jahlil stated.
Q groaned. “I didn’t bring anything over for that.”
“You weren’t going,” he stated plainly. He never saw a reason for a personal assistant.
Aunt Violet handled Andrew, Sanaa and his day to day along with the team of people he kept close.
Q was a contracted hired he couldn’t get rid of due to the employment contract Carson worked up.
A visible pain in his ass but for the sake of being the good guy he’d keep her on for the next six months and then forgo bringing her back.
There had to be an actual reason to fire her and getting on his nerves wasn’t a valid reason.
However he was confident that she’d do something to seal the deal.
A smile wiggled over Andrew’s face showing the glimmer of the braces he was self-conscious about months ago. Now, they were his magnet. “So they can come?”
“Yes, but no bullshit, little nigga. I swear you embarrass me, I’m going dish it back,” Jahlil assured. “I still want these boxes unpacked.”
“Alright bet,” Andrew spoke, dropping Sanaa on the couch cushions and hopping up.
The day that Jahlil could transition from father-figure to brother to Andrew caused him stress and excitement.
It meant that he’d successfully raised him and Andrew was a responsible adult and an honorable man.
While becoming a guardian to his brother was a rollercoaster, he’d get on the ride over and over again to make sure he honored his mother’s request before she was too far gone.
As a child, he’d always noticed his mother wasn’t completely there.
Some months were good; others, he was left figuring it out.
After she’d had Andrew, her mental state declined significantly.
Unable to afford real treatment, she self-medicated, sending her mental illness into a spiral.
She fought Jahlil like he was a man off the streets but everything came to a drastic halt when she tried to kill Andrew, mistaking him for one of the demons she was battling.
He navigated college life and the league with his brother at his hem.
It was the two of them and their crew, until it was just them.
In hindsight, that year with Andrew and Aunt Violet was the closest joy he’d felt since leaving school.
He searched for something close. When he did find something, infatuation blinded him.
Aunt Violet called it the dumbest shit he’d ever done.
He still hadn’t named the last seven years.
Marrying his ex-wife yielded something he now couldn’t go a day without - Sanaa.
For a while they worked. There was Aunt Violet, and a nanny who disguised the silent fact that laid between them.
She never wanted to be a mother, and being a wife to Jahlil Savage came with too many guidelines.
Too much red tape. Too much compromise because she didn’t see the dream.
Though he told her, she couldn’t comprehend it past the glimmer and gleam of all the shiny things he could provide.
He allowed her to leave with a payment and no rights to the child she didn’t want.
Jahlil could handle the heartbreak, he’d had several.
Allowing his child to suffer would never be something he subjected her to. It was all about forward motion now.
Los Oceania came with stability – with family. The one he’d created.
“Daddy,” Sanaa spoke up from her spot laid out on the couch. “Can we go to the candy shop?”
“Hell nah,” Jahlil and Andrew chimed.
“I said DADDY. Not Drewy,” Sanaa sassed, rolling her little eyes. “How about the doll store?”
“All that cussin’ you’ve been doing?” Jahlil posed.
“I won’t cuss no more. Promise.”
“She’s about to cuss right now,” Andrew muttered.
Sanaa cut her eyes again, and mouthed, “shut your ass up.”
Jahlil watched her turn her attention back to him. Sanaa batted her eyes again and poked out her lip. “You know I can see you right?”
“I didn’t do nothing,” Sanaa defended.
Jahlil ignored her and looked up at Q, briefly. “Q…why you still here?”
“I wanted to talk to you about this OSU invite. Carson emailed me and told me to put it on your radar.”
Jahlil brow spiked. “Carson emailed you?”
Carson was up to something and using Q to do his dirty work was a new level for him.
Typically, he just told Jahlil what was up and he went along with it.
But being back in L.O. and being at homecoming meant seeing the woman he only got to stare at on his phone or a TV screen.
He only heard her voice on a TV show or on the radio.
A far fall from having her in his arms, in his bed, straddled on his lap on that orange couch.
Jahlil scrubbed his face trying to rid himself of the thoughts. Two public relationships since they’d parted and as far as he could tell, neither nigga could hold her weight. Tyriq Styles, fumbled. Malik Kilpatrick, barely holding on.
Q chimed. “Yeah, OSU wants to host you for homecoming. There’s a celebrity pick-up game. Concerts, alumni kickbacks. They’re even providing a house for you to stay in.”
He wasn’t in the mental space to be at homecoming with a smile on his face.
He was looking forward to this week of normalcy before the final practices and the first game were underway.
“I’m not going to homecoming. The regular season literally starts in a week and these,” Jahlil stopped to slide down by Sanaa and cover her ears.
“Muhfuckas already predict I’m going to be playing soft or causing issues. I don’t have time for distraction.”
Sanaa pulled his tattooed hands from over her ears and added. “I heard you. you said these muhfuckas already think I’m playing soft.”
Jahlil cut her a look while Andrew snickered and Q gasped.
“I like that word. Muhfuccckkkaaa,” Sanaa drew out, ignoring Jahlil’s stare. “That and my niggggaaaa. What’s up niggggaaaa. Nah nigggaaaa. Nigga, nigga, nigga. Bitch ass nigga is my favorite.” Sanaa threw her pointer finger up.
“Sanaa, ladies don’t use that language,” Q said only for Jahlil to correct his daughter.
“Ay, watch your mouth, matter of fact. Too much E.Rose and whatever else you be doing when I’m gone. Go find a Barbie to play with before I put your little ass in timeout.”