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  “Your ball out? You must be high. Shoot for it,” Jalen told him.

  “Let L shoot for it. He make it, I got it. He miss, your ball.”

  “From the corner though,” Jalen said.

  I ran over to the corner. “Oh, you don’t think I’m good from here, J?”

  “I know you, L,” Jalen said.

  I missed, and Toy looked at me. “I know you missed that on purpose, L,” he said, pissed.

  Jalen took the ball and threw it to Toy. “Check, old man.”

  “Oh, I got your old man.” Toy threw the ball back.

  Jalen said, “Here, check it again. Got enough air for you?”

  Toy just threw the ball back at Jalen and moved in closer to him.

  Jalen sat the ball back down and walked away from it. “Check it again, damn it! I don’t want it to be no mistake after I wax this ass.”

  “Baby girl, you going to play ball or not?” Toy asked, getting more agitated.

  Jalen was still about five steps from the ball. “You sure you ready? ’Cause, when I pick it up, you’re not touching it again.”

  Toy got down in his defensive position and looked at Jalen.

  “I guess that means yes.” Jalen ran up, picked up the ball, stood for a few seconds then blew past Toy for a layup.

  I knew J was going to do that. He always tried that on me. That’s why I never played up close on him. He was too quick to try and stay up on.

  Jalen took the ball back again. “Check,” he said.

  “Don’t give me no more damn checks.”

  “You hear that, L? No more checks, he said.”

  “Shut up and play, Jalen,” I told him.

  Jalen took the ball and blew past Toy again for another layup. “I told you, old man. You goin’ to need some checks because, I don’t care what you did in the past, now is now. and right now, I’m busting that ass.”

  By the time Toy finally got the ball from Jalen, he was losing five to zip.

  “You should have kept going to the bucket instead of shooting that tired jumper,” Toy told him.

  “That’s okay. I won’t miss again.”

  But that was it for Jalen. I couldn’t believe it. Toy hit eleven straight jumpers all from twelve to eighteen feet. In Jalen’s face.

  After the last shot went in, Toy ran up under the basket, picked up Jalen’s ball, and threw it clear across to the other end of the court. “Now, take your ass on!” he shouted out loud.

  “Man, forget that! If you think I’m out, you must be smoking.”

  “Look, we had a bet. You’re out.”

  Jalen and Toy looked at me.

  “You did bet, J.”

  “L, you don’t bet no job, you don’t bet your paycheck.”

  Toy said, “You sure as hell did.”

  “I told you, J. You just too reckless, man. Now you got yourself messed up for betting.”

  “L?”

  “Serious, man. You lost.”

  Jalen looked at Toy, the rim, the court, then back at me. “You serious, man?”

  “Hey, you’re the one who made the bet.”

  “Man, forget y’all! Good luck with your tore-up abandoned buildings. I hope that shit fall down the first day you buy it, L.”

  Jalen began to walk away, and he was almost all the way off the court when the lights were switched off.

  “Lights out for your ass, Jalen. I mean, Wesley Pipes or whatever your name is. Let’s go to the club, L.”

  I stood as Jalen walked away then called out to him.

  He stopped. “What?”

  “C’mon back, fam.”

  “What is this?” Toy wanted to know.

  “You not out, man, but stop running your mouth so much, ’cause now you see what can happen.”

  “Nah, nah, L. I won, so he’s gone.”

  “Look, Toy, I’m the only one around here who loses his job shooting the rock, not you or Jalen.”

  Toy looked at me hard. “Yeah, all right, all right.”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Why like This?

  “For someone who is about to be drafted in the European draft, you don’t seem too happy. I hope you don’t look that way when all the cameras are in your face when they call your name.” My mother was looking down at me while I was stretched out on our new leather couch.

  “Do I look that bad?”

  “Yup, you look like you done pissed your fiancée off because you messed with some trifling skank on the hush.”

  “Ma, how you sound?”

  “Like a concerned mother. How many times do I have to tell you, if you going to be with one girl, you have to be with her all the way ’cause when you don’t, it brings nothing but drama.”

  “It wouldn’t be any drama if she just stayed with the program.”

  “Who are you talking about?”

  “Tori.”

  “Boy, you sound like one of these wannabe pimps walking around on Mt. Vernon who got their game from BET or something. If you haven’t forgotten, Tori was raped. Any other time she might have forgave you, like all the other times.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t you dare try to play me. Tori tells me everything. If you ask me, you’re being selfish, running off with that girl.”

  “Can’t I make a mistake without all the drama?”

  “Drama? This is more than drama. Tori loves you. What if she went out one night, slept with a guy one or two times just because he was there? What would you think about it?”

  “She wouldn’t do that though.”

  “You must be out of your mind, boy.”

  “What? She wouldn’t.”

  “Okay, L, if you think women don’t just because they say they are committed to you and love, you’re going to get turned out.”

  “Tori wouldn’t do it, ’cause I know her.”

  “I see you have your mind set on her being so faithful to you. Unbelievable. But just remember one thing, mister man. Women do as much damage as men. And if you let one tell you she’s not, not saying Tori is, because I like her, you have another think coming, if you think women don’t step out.”

  “Well, I didn’t mean for this to happen. It was a mistake, and we have to move on.”

  “From what she told me, you embarrassed her.”

  “You talked to Tori?”

  My mother smiled. “Yes. Why?”

  “About what? When?”

  “We talked a few times, and it’s none of your business what we talked about. But I’ll tell you this. All you should be worried about is this draft coming up and where you will be playing ball. Everything else will work out on its own.”

  “You sure about that?”

  “Boy, are you questioning me?”

  So I took my mother’s advice and tried to think about leaving and playing ball overseas. It seemed strange going into the supermarket and buying a basketball magazine instead of stealing it. I was also tripping on how all the writers and so-called experts were saying I would go overseas and that my decision would change the NBA draft forever.

  Jalen was with me, and we jumped in his ride when we came out of the store.

  “Where to?” he asked.

  “I don’t care, man. Let’s just cruise. I can’t take sitting in the house any longer. This draft can’t even come fast enough.”

  “We need to get our suits for draft day anyway,” Jalen said.

  “I ain’t wearin’ no suit, man.”

  “Oh yes, you are. They’re going to have all kinds of coverage down here, since we not flying over. You better get ready to play the part. I know I am.”

  “Yeah, okay, but Max better have hooked it up just like he did for graduation.”

  “L, you know how he do it. He’s been keeping players nice on the East side since we were pups.”

  “On the real though . . . if Tori was rolling with us, this would be the time of our lives.”

  “Man, Tori wants to be there.”

  “How you know?”
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br />   “She told me.”

  “When?”

  “Last night.”

  “Damn! She talkin’ to everybody but me. What she say?”

  “Told me she wanted to be there for you, but she wasn’t going out like that, L. I can’t believe you got with Katrina again. You let her mess up our dream.”

  “How was I supposed to know she was going to run her mouth?”

  “Man, from now on, you might as well realize that any female you hit, they goin’ to run they mouth. That’s why so many pro players aren’t married. They ain’t trying to be held to no unrealistic odds.”

  “What you mean by that?”

  “Ladies everywhere, temptation, big boobs, big butts, pretty faces all ripe for the picking. Act like you know.”

  “So you don’t think I should marry Tori?”

  “Yeah, if she’ll marry you back and you act right. If not, don’t do it.”

  “It’s just hard to talk to her now. When I try to get close, she backs up, and then I have to think about every single word I say to her. It’s not easy. And it ain’t like I haven’t been trying to work with her. What happened to her was so foul, man, and it’s messed us up.”

  “Well, I’m not getting in yo’ business, but she know you’ve been trying.”

  “How?”

  “’Cause I told her when I was trying to talk her into hanging out with us during the draft.”

  “You think she’d come if I ask her?”

  Jalen shook his head no.

  “Why not?”

  “Told me she want you to know that you messed up, and if she’s not there, you’re going to know how it feels when she isn’t there for you.”

  “Oh, it’s like that?”

  “That’s the way it be.”

  While we were driving, Jalen slowed down on the street and tried to look down a side street but couldn’t see like he wanted to. So he began to look for a spot where he could turn around and go back.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Toy . . . I think I saw his wheels.”

  “Naah, couldn’t be. Keep moving. He’s at the crib waiting on a fax from the public relations chick who is supposed to set up a trip overseas when I find out what’s going on.”

  Jalen didn’t answer me. He did a U-turn, put on his left blinker, and waited for a few cars to pass before he turned.

  Sure enough, it was Toy parked on the curb. Jalen didn’t pull up right behind him. He parked far enough away where we had to get out the car. He walked in front of me and looked in from the passenger side.

  I stopped and looked around, wondering where Toy could have been.

  Jalen knocked on the window. “Oh, L, you gotta see this,” he said.

  I took a few steps closer and stopped when I saw her head lift up from his lap and turn toward the window. Through the dark tint on the window, I could tell it was Katrina.

  Toy looked over at us then got out. “What y’all doin’ out here?”

  “I guess we don’t have to ask you the same question,” Jalen said. “Out here getting some.”

  Toy told Jalen to shut up and he tried as best as he could to get his clothes together.

  I looked in the car to get a better look at Katrina, who had no shame to her game. I quickly began to understand what my mother was saying about some of the ladies running around crazy, doing whatever to whoever. At that moment, I promised myself I would never touch her again. There was no telling how many others she was getting with.

  “So you get that fax, Toy?” It was the only question I could think of asking him.

  “Yeah, it came through ’bout an hour ago,” he said. “I was going to call you later.”

  All of a sudden Katrina got out the car. “How long you going to be, Toy?” she asked, her hands on her hips.

  “Look, I got business to take care of, so it looks like you walking from here.”

  “Oh, hell no. I ain’t walking nowhere. You brought me over here, and you taking me back.”

  Toy was done smoothing out his clothes then walked over to Katrina. “Bitch, what I tell you?”

  “I said I ain’t walking, Toy,” she said back.

  Without hesitation, Toy smacked Katrina, knocking her to her knees, and she starting crying.

  “Naah, Toy, that’s not right.” Jalen walked over to Katrina and helped her up.

  “Yo’, Toy, what’s your problem?” I asked him.

  “Look, L, forget her. She ain’t nothing but a tramp, a’ight. You know it, I know it, and if Jalen keep being nice to her, he goin’ to know it too.”

  Jalen started walking Katrina away. “C’mon, I’ll take you home,” he said. “Fuck him!”

  “Fuck me?” Toy yelled. “You talking to me?” He edged toward Jalen.

  Jalen stopped and turned around. I thought he was going to pull up his shirt again and flash his tool, as did Toy, because he hesitated and his eyes widened.

  “You heard me, Toy. You ain’t right, hitting her like that. She ain’t deserve that.”

  “Just take the bitch home,” Toy said. “Katrina, I will get with you later.”

  Katrina was still crying and holding her face. “Forget you!”

  Toy put a fake smile on his face. “Look, L, I’m going to the crib. I’ll call you when I get there, so we can talk about the fax.”

  I didn’t even answer Toy. I just watched him try to laugh the situation off. Then he got in his ride and took off.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  I Got That

  We decided on the spur of the moment to go to New York City for the draft, instead of staying in Columbus. Jalen really wanted to go overseas to check everything out, but we didn’t even have passports yet, which took some time to get. I decided to go to New York, so I could let my mom shop. Plus, as the media mecca, Toy wanted us to line up interviews there, since my jump to overseas would be monumental and more than likely lead the way for future high school ballers to do the same.

  While on the plane, I knew my life would never be the same again after I returned to Columbus. I would officially be a professional basketball player. Everything I had ever dreamed of was about to come true. We flew first-class, and Jalen was up in there like he had lost his mind, ordering food he knew he wasn’t going to eat and tripping out when the flight attendant gave us all steaming-hot cloths.

  Jalen placed his over his face and asked for a shave, and that’s when my mother promised to smack the black off of him.

  First things were first when we landed.

  A car pulled up and my mother wanted to drop her bags and go shopping. Toy had scheduled a meeting with a public relations firm that wanted to pitch everything they could do for us, so I ended up getting my mother another limo so she could go shopping solo and have the car with her at all times.

  My nervousness didn’t calm down though, but I felt good that I was the first high school player to make the jump to the European league since the NBA decided that high school players needed one year of college.

  Jalen wasn’t lying when he told me that Tori was keeping me on ice. I tried to call then text her, but she wasn’t getting back.

  Toy hadn’t moved from in front of the television and SportsCenter since we returned from our meeting. I felt him looking at me when I was staring out the window, checking out NYC.

  “You still thinking about your girl, L?”

  Before I could answer, he was already putting his two cents in my personal.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m telling you, after this draft and she hears all about it and all that money you’re going to make, she’ll be blowing your cell phone up.”

  Jalen was sitting on the couch, shuffling a deck of cards on a table. “What makes you think that?”

  Toy exhaled. He and Jalen had been going back and forth on the simplest of things.

  “I think it ’cause I know it. Women love money, and there is no way that little girl is going to let L walk away from her and keep her ass living up in The Vil.”
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br />   “See, what you don’t know, though, Tori ain’t like that. And for all it’s worth, L, I’m worried ’bout y’all getting back together, ’cause this ain’t like Tori, man. Even though she told me how she was going to play you. It’s just been too many days now. You know how we do it. We a family.”

  Toy stopped watching the TV when they started talking tennis. “Look, all the same, she’s just trying to play you, so she can get more on the back end.”

  “Check this here, Toy,” Jalen told him. “She’s not worried about no back end, okay. Tori’s not even like that. She came up with us and is the best thing for him. She’s his friend too, a road dog for real. Like I say, family.”

  “Whatever you say, playa. But I’m telling you, ain’t no skank from The Vil going to turn down what L is offering. So shuffle that in your deck.”

  “Watch your mouth, Toy. I already told you she’s family. Respect her!”

  At that point I didn’t think I needed to add any more ’cause now Toy was talking about my girl like he didn’t care how I felt about her.

  “Look, I’m getting a case listening to you trying to correct me,” Toy told Jalen.

  “And I’m tired of you disrespecting people you don’t know.”

  “You mean like that ho the other day?”

  Toy laughed and turned back around at the television, unaware that the small glass Jalen had picked up was headed in his direction. It hit the back of his chair and exploded, barely missing him.

  Toy jumped out his seat and looked at the glass on the floor. “Oh, so you finally want to do this?”

  “Punk, I been ready.”

  Jalen took a few steps to get closer, and Toy was already rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.

  “Yeah, come on over here, so I can knock your ass out. First, you draw that pistol on me and don’t use it, you put my business with L in jeopardy with your wannabe-thug-ass, moneymaking schemes, and now this? Yeah, c’mon over here and get knocked out.”

  I stepped right between them before they went to blows. “Would y’all fools sit down. Sit down and chill, Toy. You don’t have to worry about my girl. And, Jalen, stop worrying about him talking about Tori. I got that, a’ight. I got it.”