Chapter 4
“You got to come harder than that,” Malik pressed Jahlil, as if he were a match for his power.
Jahlil was six foot nine, two hundred and sixty pounds of speed and muscle. He worked every day to be a beast. Having him run into you was like being hit by a moving train. Malik, at six foot six, was fighting for his life against the small forward.
“That’s all you got? That baby shit right there?” Jahlil asked, before driving straight through him to the hoop. “That’s why I’m here. You can’t stop me.”
Malik quickly recovered, forgetting they were at practice and not in a one on one. “I got something you can’t have though.”
Jahlil stole the ball going back to the hoop. “It’s not game, tell you that. Wilson, cut left.”
Jahlil was a natural leader. The moment he stepped into the locker room, his teammates were drawn to him.
Practice had somehow become his and the coaches let it happen.
They were watching in Ocean City. They played against him.
There was a magic about Jahlil. With the right support, he and the team could reach new heights, so they loosened the reins.
Wilson cut left, ready to receive the ball. Jahlil passed it and moved around Malik. “I got time in and a knowledge of the shit you want so bad. I know ball, my nigga. You know a show.”
Coach blew the whistle and half the team walked off, tired from the extra half hour of play Jahlil said they needed.
Still on the court, he bounced the ball, needing to take the edge off.
What he wanted to tell Malik was that all it would take to have Emani back by his side was some real shit from the heart but Malik wouldn’t know real if it hit him in his face.
“You not tired?” Kyrie asked from the bench. He’d been sitting there watching for an hour as Jahlil and Malik battled it out. It was a battle that Malik wasn’t going to win. He wasn’t built to fight for Emani. He wasn’t built for her period.
“Nah, I’m aggravated and I’m trying to shake this shit before I go home,” Jahlil admitted, taking a shot. Swoosh. “I didn’t sleep for shit. Between Sanaa kicking me and that damn ring, I was up.”
Kyrie caught the ball off of the backboard and chuckled. “You got yourself to blame for all of this for real.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Aight, then what you want to hear? That she in love with that nigga, that she ain’t leaving him?
What you want to hear? That the day your engagement went public, she locked herself in her house for a week.
That she ain’t been the same Emani since she got out of that relationship with Tyriq Styles?
The thing about leaving your heart behind is that it bleeds out when it has nothing to pump into.
Malik is going to suck what’s left of her dry,” Kyrie spoke.
“But I won’t say shit about it since you don’t want to hear it. ”
“What happened with Tyriq?”
Kyrie shrugged. “You know Carson keeps everyone’s secrets, especially hers. I’ll never know the details but what I do know is that nigga was never no good for her. Emani is a giver, and takers take.”
Jahlil scoffed. “Y’all love her so much, why y’all never stepped to her?”
“That divorce got your head fucked up. That’s our sister. Our jobs are to love and protect her from the sharks swimming around her. Your job was everything else. But I’m not going there, I came to see how you were gelling with the team but it looks like you running shit,” Kyrie replied.
“I can ball. It’s the rest of the shit that’s giving me issues. Sanaa won’t stop cussing, bruh. She cuss so good, she cuss in her sleep.”
Kyrie laughed. “She was born to be a cusser, look at who raised her.”
“How Andrew turn out better than my five year old?” Jahlil laughed before stopping. “Never mind.”
“He had E. There, I said it. Homecoming, you got to make the shit worth it. You gon’ let her marry him?”
“I’m going to let the shit play out,” Jahlil lied.
Aunt Violet was right, seeing her, smelling her, watching her get engaged all made him sick.
Playing alongside of the man who loved the idea of having her, made him sick.
For years, he found his mind drifting off on her, scrolling through her socials and watching an interview or music video too hard and too long.
Yes, his ex-wife didn’t want children. But it was living inside the marriage with Emani as the ghost. She wasn’t big enough to fit the space Emani left behind when she walked away. Jahlil was as much at fault for the demise of their marriage and the wasted time.
“Don’t be running down the aisle talking about baby please, in two weeks.”
“Boy, fuck you,” Jahlil huffed before laughing. “I’m not even the type to let her touch the aisle.”
“Yeah, we’ll see. I’m going to her rehearsal, you coming?”
“Nah, I got a tea date with Sanaa. I’ll get up with y’all in a couple days.”
When Jahlil got home, the only thing on his mind was taking a shower and dropping his tired body on the couch. What he walked into was Q and Aunt Violet having a stand down and Sanaa crying in the corner behind Aunt Violet.
“The fuck is going on in here?” Jahlil asked, wasting no time scooping up his daughter and standing by his aunt.
“I walked out to meet the damn delivery man at the gate for Sanaa’s bed. I get back and she’s popping her in the mouth. So I popped her ass in the mouth and the bitch better be happy she’s standing upright,” Aunt Violet said, cocking her hand back to hit her again.
“The fuck she still standing here for?” Jahlil barked, entering another realm as he examined Sanaa. “You okay, baby? Where is Andrew?”
“Down the street at Fahad’s,” Aunt Violet said chest to chest with a crying Q. “You wasn’t crying before Jahlil got here, don’t cry now, bitch.”
“Why is her ass still here?” Jahlil asked.
“I was going to let her leave but I thought having her dumbass stand in a corner and get smacked every time I thought about it would make me feel better.”
Jahlil looked at Q’s reddened face. “Go ‘head and get your shit before I change my mind and have her call the homies to run down on your ass.”
With that, Jahlil hiked the stairs with a whimpering Sanaa in his arms. Once he got upstairs, he placed her on his bed and examined her face again.
“I didn’t even cuss that time,” Sanaa whined. “She told me to shut up and stop singing so loud. I hate her.”
“Don’t worry about her. Daddy will handle it. She won’t be back here.”
“Who’s going to do your business?” Sanaa questioned. “Another girlfriend?”
Jahlil’s face frowned. “Another girlfriend? When have you seen me with a girlfriend.”
“Mommy was your girlfriend then she didn’t want to be anything anymore. No girlfriend, no mommy. It’s bullshit.” Sanaa huffed, crossing her arms. “Q wanted to be your girlfriend and I said no way, hoe.”
“Sanaa, you got to stop cussin’,” Jahlil said, trying to muffle his laughter at her last comment. “Do you miss your mom?”
Sanaa shrugged. “I can lose mommy. I can’t lose Daddy or Drewy.”
“How do you feel about daddy going to homecoming with your uncles and Aunt Donnée?” Jahlil asked, praying she’d think that was bullshit too.
“Are you going to have big fun?”
“I can’t have big fun without you,” Jahlil shared, tickling her.
Sanaa’s frowned turned into an infectious laugh. “Yes you can. You don’t ever have fun. Or laugh. You just walk around big and mad. You been mad since mommy said no more. Why? Are you sad?”
Sanaa tugged at a loose string that Jahlil thought he tucked away. He couldn’t lie to her. Sanaa was his truth serum. Hard facts he had to come to when he looked into her eyes.
Sanaa didn’t need him to answer, she just reached out and touched his face. The way she’d done a year ago when he thought she was sleeping and he let a tear slip. “Don’t be sad. Find something to make you happy. Like Drewy. He’s happy when he’s kissing that girl from next door.”
“Drew is kissing?”
Sanaa nodded her head. “Mmhmm, caught him in his room all like…” she paused her snitching to demonstrate what Andrew was doing. “And when he saw me, he said get your nosey ass out of here.”
“And what did you do?”
“Stood my nosey ass right there,” Sanaa stated in a matter of fact tone. “What’s other word for ass. The nice one?”
“Behind.”
“Blah, boring. I like color, daddy. I need my words to be in glitter,” Sanaa said, scooting off the bed. “I get to pick dinner tonight. What you want?”
“Steak,” Jahlil shared before muttering, “since I couldn’t enjoy last night.”
“Okay, I’m going to cook it. You shower, wash everything.”