Page 54 of Full Court Press

I smirked. “It was a’ight. Girly had it rough and had to do what she had to do to survive.”

“Man! That ending pissed me off. That bum Bullet should have caught a bullet in his head. She told him she had enemies in her old hood, and he still took her over there. Not only that; she gets jumped and rolled on by the cops, and that nigga walks away like he didn’t even know her, letting her catch the charge. He was straight-up dirty for that.”

“I mean, shorty knew what she was getting herself into. I agree, if homie was a real nigga, he wouldn’t have let her go out like that.”

“Right. She was too childish for Midnight, though. With his dark, chocolate, sexy ass.” She bit her bottom lip and kicked her feet a little. I pinched her side as she laughed and climbed into my lap. She tried to kiss me, and I pushed her head back.

“Nah, go be with that nigga Moonlight.”

“Oh my God! Please stop.” We both laughed, and I pulled her to me, feeding her my tongue. We kissed for a minute before she pulled away and nuzzled her nose against mine.

“Thank you for everything,” she whispered against my lips.

“Anything for you, baby.”

“I don’t know what I did to deserve all of this, but I promise I’ll try to stop protesting the things you do for me.”

“I hope so because, in case you didn’t know, I’m not going to stop. You deserve it all. And because I know you’re not here for what I have and who I am, it just makes me want to keep on spoiling you. I love you.”

She smiled and pecked my lips. “I love you too.”

Those four words made my chest expand and confirmed our solidarity. I flipped her on her back and proceeded to make love to her for the rest of the night.

October 31st

“Hi, pretty girl.” I sat in the rocking chair in Kiyanne’s room, cooing at her. Her smile broadened when she looked at me, showing nothing but gums and those two little teeth coming in at the bottom. Khalil had her dressed up in a little strawberry costume, looking super adorable.

It was one o’clock on a Friday, and since we didn’t have any classes this afternoon, I came over to help Khalil get her dressed. Nia was set to come pick Kiyanne up in the next thirty minutes, and I’d already made up my mind that I was going to stay out of sight, out of mind.

Since Khalil had read her her rights a few weeks ago, she had been silent, but her anger and irritation were loud when she’d come to pick up the baby, which surprised Khalil because she had been requesting to get her for the past two weekends. Hell, it surprised me too. But I could tell it was more for show than anything.

She swore she was getting the help she needed and talking to a therapist, so Khalil allowed her to take the baby.

After our night at the hotel two weeks ago, Khalil and I had been stuck like glue to one another. Every day, this man had something up his sleeve for me. Dinner on yachts, private jets to shop in New York for a day, me at his away games, rocking his jersey and number, and movie nights in the park.

I swear, sometimes I thought I was living in a dream. Khalil never ceased to amaze me, and I told myself not to sabotage this with my negative thoughts.

Hearing a clicking sound, I looked up to see Khalil taking a photo of us with a disposable camera.

“Oh my goodness. Why would you take that picture of me looking crazy?”

“You could never look crazy to me,” he said, licking those dangerous lips and smiling at me. “Now pose for me.”

I rolled my eyes playfully. “Oh gosh.” I shifted Kiy around and smiled wide as he took another photo.

“Perfection,” he said, setting the camera on her dresser and walking over to us. “You ready to go, my strawberry cupcake?” He picked her up and kissed those chubby cheeks. “Nia’s here to get her. Let’s see her off, then we can go pick up our costumes.”

“Just give me a call after she’s gone. I don’t feel like her giving me dirty looks today.”

“Her ass ain’t no threat, Mi Amor.”

“I know, but I don’t think I can hold my tongue another day.”

“A’ight, man. I’ll be right back.” He lifted Kiy’s bag from the chair, then headed out of the room.

“Bye, pretty girl!” I yelled after them, then left Kiy’s room and went into Khalil’s. My phone rang with a FaceTime from my mom. I smiled and answered her call.

“Hey, beautiful.”