Chapter 15
Nia
The entire week leading up to Friday felt like one long emotional blur.
By Tuesday morning he was already talking trash during drills again, which told me more than any medical report ever could.
“That knee ain’t bothering you now huh?” I teased while tossing him the ball during movement drills.
J5 smirked immediately before jogging backward.
“Please. I been ready.”
“You say that now until I put you through resistance training again.”
“Nia,” he groaned dramatically. “You train like somebody military uncle.”
I laughed while adjusting the timer on my tablet.
“And you moving like somebody granddaddy after practice. Again.”
He shook his head laughing while the trainers nearby laughed too.
Moments like that made me proud because I knew exactly how hard the road back had been for him. The surgeries. The swelling. The frustration. The fear of never being the same again.
And now?
Now the entire league waited for his return Friday night.
Still…
No matter how busy work kept me, my mind kept drifting back to Cal.
Which irritated me because I did not have time for emotional confusion right now.
After what happened the other night felt different in a way I couldn’t fully explain.
And somehow that complicated things with David too.
Not because David had done anything wrong.
Actually… that was part of the problem.
He had been consistently thoughtful all week.
We still talked almost every evening before bed, and Tuesday during one of my quick lunch breaks, he even had food delivered from one of my favorite healthy cafés downtown after remembering me casually mentioning weeks ago that I never had time to eat properly during game prep weeks.
That kind of attentiveness was so sweet. Especially for someone like me.
Tuesday afternoon he met me outside the facility for lunch while I still wore workout clothes and barely had enough time to breathe between sessions.
“You really didn’t have to come all the way over here,” I told him while sliding into the booth across from him.
David smiled while pouring water into my glass casually.
“You keep saying things like that as if I mind seeing you.”
That man knew exactly how to talk.
Lunch itself felt easy. Comfortable. We laughed. Talked about work. Talked about travel. Talked about ridiculous athlete personalities I dealt with daily.
Even while smiling at him across the table, part of my brain still replayed Cal standing in my kitchen looking at me like he was afraid of losing me.
That alone made me feel guilty.
Because what exactly was I doing?
What exactly was this becoming?
David deserved honesty.
And Cal barely even knew what he wanted himself.
By Wednesday evening, I finally found myself sprawled across Mars’s couch with a glass of wine in hand while she sat cross-legged beside me underneath a thick blanket. The city lights glowed softly through her penthouse windows while old R&B played quietly through the speakers.
“I need details,” Mars said immediately while pointing her wine glass at me. “And don’t leave anything out either.”
I laughed softly already knowing exactly what she meant.
“The date was…” I shook my head slowly. “Honestly unbelievable.”
Mars gasped dramatically.
“See! I knew rich men were useful.”
I rolled my eyes laughing while she scooted closer excitedly.
“No seriously,” I continued. “Mars… this man rented out the rooftop of the JPMorgan building.”
Her mouth dropped open immediately.
“Excuse me?”
“There were candles everywhere. Music. Flowers. The whole rooftop overlooked downtown.”
“Oh he is courting courting.”
“And then,” I continued while laughing softly at the memory, “he had Chef Marcel Laurent personally cook our entire dinner because I mentioned one time that I’d always wanted to try his restaurant but couldn’t get reservations.”
Mars literally grabbed my arm.
“Nia!”
“I know!”
“What did y’all eat?”
“Girl…” I leaned back dramatically. “Lobster ravioli. Filet mignon. Butter cake. Champagne. The man had blankets and pillows laid out underneath candles afterward so we could overlook the skyline.”
Mars stared at me completely speechless for a second before shaking her head slowly.
“Okay no because that is romance novel behavior.”
I laughed into my wine glass.
“And the crazy part is he never even tried pressuring me for sex. Not once.”
That made Mars pause slightly.
“Hm.”
“What?”
“That means he actually likes you.”
I swallowed another sip quietly.
Because honestly?
I knew that already.
We kept talking for another hour after that, laughing and drinking while Mars forced me to relive every little detail about the rooftop, the dancing, and David remembering tiny things I mentioned casually.
But eventually her expression started shifting slowly.
She knew me too well.
Mars had known me almost my entire life.
And when something sat heavy on me emotionally, she always noticed eventually.
“You’re leaving something out,” she said finally while narrowing her eyes slightly.
I immediately looked down into my wine.
“No I’m not.”
“Nia.”
I sighed softly.
Mars sat her glass down slowly.
“What happened?”
For a second I honestly debated avoiding it altogether.
Not because I hid Cal from Mars. She always knew we had history. Everybody close to us knew.
But I never talked to her about the details.
Never about the late nights, the chemistry, or the 1qqemotional parts.
And definitely never about the way he could completely unravel me.
I leaned back against the couch cushions slowly before dragging my hand through my curls.
“After the date…”
Mars’s eyes widened immediately.
“Oh Lord.”
I laughed nervously.
“Cal showed up outside my building.”
“WHAT?”
“He’d been drinking a little,” I admitted quietly. “And he was acting weird. Jealous almost.”
Mars stared at me silently while I continued explaining everything. Him coming upstairs. The tension in the kitchen. Him asking about David. The argument afterward in bed about whether I was still going to see David again.
Every single part of it.
By the time I finished talking, Mars sat there blinking at me like she was trying to process everything.
“Shit.”
I laughed tiredly before taking another sip of wine.
“Tell me about it.”
Mars shook her head slowly while leaning back into the couch cushions.
“Well, this explains why he’s been looking so crappy all week.”
My stomach tightened slightly at that.
“Crappy how?”
“Nia,” she laughed softly. “My brother looked stressed. He barely shaved all week. He’s been moody at the office. Distracted. Snapping at people.”
I winced immediately at the thought of Cal moping around over me because despite everything, I never liked seeing him hurt.
That made this harder.
Because some small selfish part of me liked knowing I affected him too.
Still, he couldn’t just suddenly decide he wanted me because another man was finally pursuing me seriously.
That wasn’t fair. I didn’t belong to Cal.
Hell, I didn’t belong to David either.
But for the first time in a long time, I actually wanted to allow myself to see where something could go naturally instead of keeping everything casual and emotionally safe all the time.
Mars looked over at me then, her expression softening.
“You don’t have to make any decisions right now Nia.”
I stayed quiet while staring down into my glass.
“Whatever is meant for you will be for you,” she continued gently. “And it’ll all work itself out the way it’s supposed to.”
I sighed softly.
“That sounds real pretty until two fine men got me emotionally confused.”
Mars burst out laughing immediately.
“I’m serious!” I laughed too now. “This is stressful.”
She shook her head smiling before reaching over and squeezing my knee.
“What I will say,” she continued softer this time, “is that Cal loves you.”
I immediately opened my mouth to argue but she held her hand up quickly.
“Maybe he doesn’t fully know how to handle it yet, but he does.”
That made my chest tighten slightly.
“And at the same time,” she added carefully, “you deserve to experience new things too. New people. New possibilities. You’ve spent years keeping yourself emotionally detached from everybody.”
I leaned back against the couch, quietly processing her words. Because deep down? She wasn't wrong.
For years, Cal had been the one constant man in my life without ever fully being mine. Comfortable. Familiar. Easy to fall into.
But David represented something completely different.
Intentionality.
Effort.
Possibility.
That scared me a little, too.
Mars nudged me lightly with her shoulder.
"Maybe stop stressing and just let things happen naturally."
I laughed softly.
"You make everything sound so simple."
"That's because it usually is," she shrugged. "People just complicate it."
And unfortunately, nobody complicated me quite like Caleb Sinclair.
Friday morning arrived faster than I expected.
By six-thirty, I was already awake and standing in my bathroom finishing my skincare while the sky outside my windows still sat dim and gray. My stomach buzzed with nerves and adrenaline before my feet even touched the floor completely because today wasn't just big for J5. It was big for me, too.
People would look at his comeback tonight and see the points, the highlights, and the headlines.
They wouldn't see the months of rehab behind the scenes.
The frustration. The setbacks. The days his knee swelled so badly he could barely bend it.
The moments he doubted whether he'd ever move the same again.
But I saw all of it. And today would be proof that every brutal session had been worth it.
I packed my oversized gym bag carefully before leaving, making sure I had everything I needed for the day.
Resistance bands. Recovery sleeves. Tape.
Massage gun. Electrolytes. Extra sneakers.
My laptop. Chargers. And stuffed neatly at the bottom sat my outfit for later that night because regardless of how exhausted we all were afterward, we absolutely planned on celebrating.