Life After a Balla (10 page)

“I’ve missed you too my young stallion. Is your sister okay?” she asked, rubbing her hands through his curly hair.

“Damn, did you forget about my mother?”

“Oh…yeah. I’m sorry. How’s she’s doing?” she asked with an unenthused appearance.

“Both of them are fine. My sister is out of surgery and everything went well, but she still has to stay for a day or two.”

“Aww. Poor thing,” Le Le responded. “Where’s your brother and that guy Cruze?”

“My brother is over at a teammate’s house and I don’t know where the hell Cruze is and don’t give a shit. In fact he’s the damn reason my mother was in the fucking accident in the first place. She was out looking for his ass,” Kareem said slightly pissed off.

“Well, go shower and get dressed. I want to take you out to eat to cheer you up,” Le Le told him.

“Sounds good, I’m starving,” Kareem said, jetting in the bathroom and closing the door.

At that moment Le Le immediately started snooping around the apartment. Known to be nosey, she was curious to find out anything she could about Sandino Washington’s family. Le Le couldn’t help but wonder why Skye lived in such an average apartment complex since they were an ex NFL family. She also wondered why Skye wasn’t smart enough to stack some cash away for a rainy day. After fumbling through a stack of mail on the table, Le Le opened the coat closet in the foyer and jumped back when a bunch of football equipment fell out.

“Oh shit,” she said, quickly picking up the smelly grass stained shoulder pads, cleats and a helmet. Not finding anything interesting, Le Le decided to go into Skye’s room next.

“I know it’s gotta be something in here worthwhile, I can feel it,” Le Le said, looking under the mattress. When nothing came up, she looked on Skye’s dresser and frowned at the bottle of Brittney Spears perfume.

“Cheap bitch,” she said, opening her small jewelry box on top of the dresser.

Le Le turned her nose up at all the cheap looking costume jewelry until she came across a diamond heart pendant necklace. It was the only thing she admired since Le Le herself had owned a necklace just like it at one time. She’d misplaced the beautiful piece of jewelry about a year ago.

“I should take it since she talked so much shit the other day,” Le Le said until a picture of Skye and a man suddenly grabbed her attention. She picked up the crystal glass frame off of the dresser. “This must be Mr. Cruze.”

Le Le studied him long and hard before noticing the Tom Ford blazer he had on. “I have to give it to that bitch…she does have good taste in men.”

Le Le sat the picture back down and opened one of the drawers. While tossing several socks and t-shirts to the side, it wasn’t long before she suddenly came across a journal. She stared at it for a few seconds before opening it and reading the first page. Within seconds she slammed the book closed and began to rock from side to side. She then grabbed the bottle of perfume and threw it across the room like a professional baseball pitcher. The strong stench of the perfume immediately entered her nostrils.

Le Le was just about to throw something else when she heard the shower water shut off. Thinking that Kareem must’ve heard the bottle crash up against the wall, she quickly stuffed the journal in her bag and headed toward the door. As soon as she walked out of Skye’s room, Le Le bumped into Jordan who had just come into the house.

“What were you doing in my mother’s room?” he asked.

Thinking fast, Le Le looked at Jordan with a straight face. “I was looking for another bathroom.”

Jordan studied her body language as he turned around to go into the kitchen. She watched him as well from the living room that overlooked the small kitchen as Jordan grabbed a bag of chips and an orange Gatorade out of the refrigerator. He then placed the items under his arm and walked toward Skye’s room still eyeballing Le Le. He knew something wasn’t right by the way she acted.

“Stay out of my mother’s room. She doesn’t like strange people in there.” He made his way toward Skye’s bedroom and closed the door before making his way back into the living room. He stood close to Le Le and stared. “I’m watching you. My mother said it’s something about you that she doesn’t like and she’s right,” Jordan continued.

“Look, I told you I was looking for the bathroom now get the fuck out my face,” Le Le said, clenching her purse tight and walking out of the door. “Tell Kareem I’ll be in the car.

****

Two hours later Skye sat slouched down in a chair inside Payton’s hospital room with bloodshot eyes from all the crying she’d done. She stared, unamused at the old, corny episode of Raymond playing on the T.V. As tired as Skye was, she couldn’t sleep or eat.

Getting restless, she got up and stared out of the hospital window in a zombie-like state. She thought about a hundred things at once, not knowing what she would’ve done if she’d lost Payton in the accident. The thought made a single tear race down her face. Skye wiped it away thinking about how much she loved her kids, and would do anything to protect them.

The craziest thing is, I left Sandino to make sure my kids had a better life. But now I’m going back for the same reasons
, she thought.

She then drifted to Asia’s scandalous ass. Just the mention of her name irritated Skye. She knew Asia didn’t like kids and the fact that she went through an entire pregnancy and gave birth was strictly to get Sandino’s money.
That poor little boy doesn’t stand a chance with that bitch as his mother.

Her chain of thought was suddenly distracted when Cruze walked into the room. His clothes were all wrinkled and it looked like he’d been drinking.

“What the hell are you doing here?” she questioned with a disgusted look.

“Skye, I don’t want you to go back. I know I’ve done some things to make you upset, and I apologize for that,” he mentioned. “I’m also sorry that I betrayed your trust,” he said getting louder.

“Sssh. Lower your voice before you wake up Payton. I told you it’s nothing else to talk about. You need to leave.”

“No, not until you hear me out,” Cruze responded. “I want you to be with me. It’s crazy how you’re considering going back to Sandino.”

“And it’s crazy how you didn’t come home last night. It’s crazy how I trusted you and you’re turning out to be a liar just like Sandino.”

“Is it about the money? If that’s the case, then here you go.” Cruze walked over to Skye and placed a wad of money in her hand. “That’s where I was all night. Out making that.”

Skye looked at the money. “Where the hell did this come from?” she questioned. Little did Cruze know, he didn’t even have to say anything. “So, you’re back in the streets after promising me you wouldn’t ever go back?”

“I know I promised, but we needed the money.”

“Well, didn’t you think the best thing to do was discuss it with me first instead of lying? We made a pact to always be honest, no matter what. Do you know I could’ve killed myself and my daughter? None of this would’ve happened if it wasn’t for you. I want you to leave!” Skye yelled, throwing the money back at him.

“But baby…I did this for us,” Cruze pleaded.

“Leave!”

Suddenly, the nurse came into the room and looked at both of them. “I’m gonna have to ask both of you to lower your voices or you’re gonna have to leave,” she demanded.

“He was just leaving,” Skye responded.

As soon as the nurse left the room, Cruze tried to appeal to Skye one last time.

“Skye, I love you. I’ve always loved you. Trust me, I did this for you…for the kids. I wanted to give you all the things you deserved,” he said, gazing in her beautiful green eyes.

Skye was livid. “You’re a piece of work, you know that. I trusted you and you lied to me just like every other fucking man I’ve had in my life. All men are just alike. I want you out. I don’t ever want to see you again!”

CHAPTER 10

Asia put the baby in his car seat and jumped in her Chevy Tahoe, which she was ready to get rid of and upgrade. She was so paranoid that Sandino might’ve put a tracking device on her Hummer when she first left Miami, Asia decided to trade it in as soon as she got to Chicago. After sitting in her hotel room going crazy looking at the four walls and listening to the baby cry, she decided to go ride by Sandino’s house. Curiosity was killing her and she had to see what was going on with Skye.

By now everyone knew about the shooting incident, and everyone knew that Sandino had gotten shot in Skye’s new home in Georgia. Even though every news report was different, it wasn’t hard for Asia to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Obviously Skye had finally left Sandino, and he’d obviously tracked her down in another state. What exactly led up to the shooting, was the grey area, but Asia wasn’t concerned about that anyway. She was more concerned with knowing why Skye was at Toni Vaughn’s office that day and if she’d moved back to Florida.

“It just doesn’t make sense. If she left, then why was she here meeting with his lawyer? Maybe she’s divorcing him,” Asia said out loud. When Asia smelled something sour, she looked down and saw that the baby had spit up on her shirt. She instantly became furious. “Shit…this is a $300.00 dollar shirt! Even though it’s old, I still have to take care of the designer clothes I have left until I can go on another shopping spree,” she said, grabbing a napkin trying to wipe it off. “I’m so tired of this baby, I need a break!”

Ten minutes later, she reached Sandino’s block. After turning onto the street, Asia slowed down making sure she got a good look. Approaching the house, she was shocked to see that the house was completely deserted and the yard looked horrible. The once well manicured lawn was now replaced with dead yellow grass and a front yard filled with weeds. Even Sandino’s Mercedes Benz that was backed up in the driveway looked like it hadn’t been washed in years

“I’ve never seen their house look this bad. I don’t see a for sale sign in the yard so I can only assume that Sandino still owns it, and Skye is certainly not living here,” she mumbled.

Asia always admired Skye and Sandino’s six bedroom Palm Island estate, and planned to get her and the baby one just like it. Between her child support and money from any other nigga who crossed her path, she definitely would be able to afford it. Asia reminisced about all the times her and Sandino fucked in their bedroom when Skye was out of town for one of Jordan’s games. He would make Ms. Petra and the rest of family leave out as well so the two of them could have the house all to themselves. Asia really thought Sandino cared about her until one night she woke up at his house with one of his boys on top of her fucking her as Sandino stood by and did nothing. She was so drugged up she couldn’t fight him off and she wasn’t even sure who it was.

After doing a thorough surveillance of the house Asia once frequently visited, she realized nothing was going on over there so she turned around and headed back to her depressing hotel. While leaving the expensive neighborhood, she visualized herself purchasing one of the many beautiful homes.

“Maybe if I do that we can be neighbors, like one big happy family,” she joked.

When Asia pulled up at her hotel shortly after, she saw a cute guy getting out of a brand new Porsche Panamera truck with thirty day tags across the street.

She licked her lips and rubbed her hands together with excitement.

“Oohhh, I can smell new money a mile away,” Asia said with a smirk. When the guy suddenly turned around, she became even more excited after recognizing who he was. “Oh my God, that’s Divine.”

Asia checked her appearance in the mirror and quickly fluffed her hair before jumping out and running across the street forgetting all about the baby. Divine was an aspiring rapper out of Miami that she once dated. After finding out he didn’t have much money she dumped him. But now it looked like he’d experienced a major come up

“Hey, Divine!” Asia called out.

He looked at her closely before finally recognizing who she was. “Oh shit, what up, Asia?” he asked, giving her a hug.

When Asia hugged him back she almost melted from his touch. She hadn’t had any good dick in awhile.

“You still finer than a muthafucka. Where the hell you been at?”

Asia smiled trying to pull her stomach in to hide her baby pooch. “I’ve been in Chicago for minute, but I’m back now.”

“Oh yeah, well, that’s a good thing,”

“Why is that a good thing? You kicked me to the curb remember?” Asia said.

“There you go, ain’t nobody kick you to the curb. Your ass kicked me to the curb. You just couldn’t deal wit’ me bein’ in the studio all night. A nigga couldn’t concentrate on his career with you always actin’ crazy. I tried to tell you to be patient cuz it would all pay off, but you wouldn’t listen. Now, I got a record comin’ out wit’ Def Jam.”

“That’s great, Divine. I know that’s always been your dream.” She looked him up and down. He was still fine and looking sexy as hell with a body that was cut to perfection. Standing at 6’4’ he had a deep chocolate complexion, with light brown eyes and a nice grade of hair that he wore in a mohawk.

As they talked a little while longer, Asia continuously batted her eyes and licked her lips flirting with him. She could tell he was enjoying every minute of it.

“I’m havin’ a party here tonight,” Divine said, pointing to the fancy boutique styled hotel behind him. “You should come through. We have some catchin’ up to do.”

Asia’s eyes lit up. It had been a while since she’d been out. “Sure, I’ll come by. But I don’t want any beef from any of your lil’ girlfriends.”

“What girlfriends? I’m still waitin’ on you to act right,” Divine joked.

Asia displayed a huge smile. “We will see about that.”

“That’s what up, I’ll see you tonight then sexy,” he said, hugging her once more before walking toward the hotel.

As Asia watched him walk off, she remembered Divine having a big dick that he really knew how to use well. And with him signing with a major record label, the chances of him getting some pussy was definitely a plus. Asia knew once she spent a little time with him, the money she needed to move out the hotel and into a temporary one bedroom apartment would soon come. She was just that good.