Page 8 of Full Court Press

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.