Violation (14 page)

He was casually sitting in my kitchen early in the morning. He had access so he could rush over here and clear out all porn in the event of my death. All naked fan photos and anything that could be a bad look for my family. He also can point my sister in the direction of my safe, a copy of my last will and testament, my cash stash, my valuables and other important papers.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to pick you up. We had an appointment.”

This is my foul. “Oh shit I forgot all about it.” My hands flew up to the top of my head and rested there for a few seconds.

“I tried calling you fucking twenty times but you never answered your cell.”

“I was. I was.” I stuttered trying to come up with a suitable lie. “I was sleep.”

“You seem wide-awake to me. Yep, completely alert and awake. So that means you’re busy doing something.”

“No I’m just, I just forgot we were going and I’m tired now.”

“You’re tired?”

“Yeah I think I’m going to have to cancel our plans, maybe reschedule. I’m going to just lay down for, I don’t know, an hour.”

“You look like you just got out of bed.”

I looked down at my bare feet and gym shorts. “Yeah bro, I was sleep.” I rubbed my eyes with closed fists.

“Yeah right.”

“I can call them and reschedule.”

“They are going to make us pay anyway. We paid for the time. Damn man, you are so full of shit.”

“What? I just want to stay in today and rest up.”

Lance grabbed the bottled beer and tilted it to his lips. He guzzled it all down until there was nothing left. He slammed the bottle down.

“Truth time No-Hart?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I know whose car is in your garage.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Serena Jones.” He shook his head as he spewed her name. “You know her right?”

“It’s not what you think.”

“Really, tell me. Noah, what do I think?”

“It’s me, Saint Noah. What do you really think is going on?” I chuckled trying my best to make him feel his initial thoughts were dead wrong and not dead on.

“I think you are fucking Deshawn’s wife.”

“No, no.” I laughed out loud a reflex for the awkwardness of this conversation. “No way. Me and Serena.”

“And now I think you’re going to lie to me about it.”

“That’s Dee’s wife.”

“I know who the fuck she is. Her car is in your garage.”

“She was out with her girlfriend that lives close. She was drinking and she wanted me to keep it here. That’s all.”

“I’ve been here for almost an hour. I came upstairs first. I heard the sounds. I thought some rando-groupie was having the time of her life. I took a peek inside your room. Why? Because I live through you guys now that I’m faithful. I couldn’t see much through the crack in the door. So you know what I did?”

“What did you do?”

“I went into your security room. I’m a voyeur I wanted to watch a real time porn, live and in color. I figured you were into some freaky shit.”

“What you see?”

“I saw her face, our teammate’s wife, our best friends wife getting the Chi-Town pound town from everybody’s favorite power forward. I zoomed the fuck in because I knew better. I knew you would never do no fucked up shit like that.”

“Lance.” I pleaded but couldn’t quite find the right words.

“Bro’h, I was so wrong. I heard you say her name. I saw you fucking her like this wasn’t the first time.”

I was mute. My brain had to process everything he had said out loud. I never thought this would happen. I hadn’t planned for it. I got caught red-handed.

“Fuck Lance!”

“Fuck Lance, that’s all you got to say to me?”

“Damn bro, this is so complicated.”

“No not really. This is pretty straightforward to me. How the fuck did your dick up inside Dee’s wife?”

“It’s not easy to explain.”

“Noah, the Cavs, we family. What the fuck are you doing to the family bro’h?”

“You saw what I was doing.”

“Yeah I did, every detail. I went from being proud to being disgusted. Serena is like our sister.”

“She’s not like my sister. I never saw her in that way.”

“You know what the fuck I mean. She’s family fool. There are a million women in the world that want to fuck you, why her? She is like basketball royalty. Even the groupie hoes respect her ass. If you had to have a basketball wife why would you pick a wife of a teammate? Are you begging to get traded? You are fucking up our opportunity for a three-peat.”

Lance was feeding me the truth, a bitter pill that I didn’t want to swallow. I couldn’t form the proper words to defend my actions.

“Say something! Tell me why this piece of used black ass is more important than our team?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say but you better watch your mouth.”

“Noah you are killing me. Tell me she has a diamond encrusted pussy.”

“She has a diamond encrusted pussy.” I shrugged. He didn’t think it was funny. “Look it just happened. Serena can’t know that you know. You have to act like you were never here.”

“Fuck that shit!”

“Don’t do that to her. You know she’s a good person.”

“Is she? How many other teammates is she fucking?”

“There are no other guys. This is my fault. I tricked her.”

“You are lying again. Dude, I saw her sucking your dick. That’s not a trick. That’s a fucking treat.”

Serena walked into the kitchen wearing only my t-shirt. She marched right up and took the seat across the island from Lance. She looked him dead on and he looked at her and shook his head. I stood there wondering what was going on.

“Lance.” Serena placed her elbows on the countertop. “You can’t tell Deshawn.”

“I’m going to tell my best friend his wife is a thot.”

“Come on Lance.” She crooked her head to one side. “Don’t hurt Deshawn.”

I joined in with her plea. “Lance bro don’t tell him.”

“Look Serena, I hope you don’t take this the wrong way but you’re a hoe.”

“I’m a hoe?”

“You know how close we all are. You’re Yoko. You are trying to break up the group.”

This was not going good. It’s going terribly wrong. “Lance she’s not doing anything. I told you it was me.”

“Saint Noah right, I don’t believe you. It doesn’t matter. You’re single and she’s the married one. Check out the ring. Where’s your wedding ring Serena?”

Serena pursed her lips and glanced down at her missing wedding ring. “You got to be kidding me? Deshawn has been cheating on me for years but I’m a hoe. The last time I counted there were ten bitches claiming they had sex with my husband and two that filed paternity suits. I only cheated once. I slept with one person, Noah. How am I a hoe?”

“It’s not that you cheated. It’s who you cheated with.” Lance squawked.

“So it’s me?” I asked Lance.

“Yes it’s you. You are a dirty lowdown motherfucka.”

I was mad for being called out. I already knew I was the worse friend ever. I just didn’t want to be reminded of it. I had real chemistry with Serena. Something I’ve never had before. I wanted more than sex with her but I was dealing with the hand I’d been dealt.

I looked down at Lance’s smug face. “Deshawn fucked your mother on New Years Eve at the MileNorth Hotel downtown and, again during All-Star weekend. When he was in his hotel room with someone, and no one would tell you who, he was with you mother.”

“What?” Lance sat there stunned by my words.

I realized I had just admitted Deshawn cheated to Serena. That was something I swore I would never do. I never tell on my teammates but this time it slipped.

“I’m sorry Serena. I know I don’t tell you things about Deshawn. It just came out.”

“My mother?” It finally registered with Lance. “You rat-face bastard. That’s a bitch move.” Lance called me out but I refused to give a fuck.

“Today I’m a bitch. Deal with it.”

I could see my girl handling my word vomit. Serena pressed her lips and rolled her neck. She glared over at Lance. “Yes, Deshawn is a fucking hoe. I can count the men I’ve been with on one hand. So when you calling people hoes all you NBA motherfuckers need to look in a full-length mirror.

“Dee is my brother. I’m not going to lie for you and Noah. This shit has got to end here.”

“No, no.” The words run off my lips.

“No, no, what the fuck does that mean Noah?” Lance stood. I think the mother revelation had really pissed him off but he was mad at the wrong person.

“It means you need to mind your fucking business.” I was getting heated. My temper usually only surfaced on the basketball court. “I have never snitched on any of you guys. What I could tell your wife.”

“That’s what you on?” Lance was up in my face. “Pussy has turned you into a snitch-bitch!” We were staring each other down.

I closed the zero gap between us. Now we were not only face-to-face, we were chest-to-chest. “You shut your mouth and I will shut mine.”

“Blackmail from a White male.” He groaned.

“Don’t fucking call me White.” As soon as I said it I felt stupid. Why did being White sound like an insult? I am White.

“Hey you guys need to chill!” Serena yelled at us from just a few feet away.

“Serena, I got this. Go upstairs now!” The thought of ending it with Serena was too much to take in. I was angry just thinking we would have to stop seeing each other. I was deeply committed to this woman and this illicit affair. I was willing to share her with Deshawn for the time being, to some degree. I was willing to wait. I believed Dee didn’t have sex with her anymore. I felt like she was really all mine.

“Noah.”

I turned to the sound of my name. “Go, upstairs now!”

Serena frowned but she scurried from the room with her hands folded under her breasts. I heard her bare feet stomp us the back stairs.

There was a dense wave of silence in the kitchen once Serena was gone. I turned back to address judge Lance. I took a gracious step backward. This wasn’t something we should fight about. This was something we could come to some agreement over. Lance was not a hot head. Lance was cool as hell. He was my boy. I turned and walked away from him. I landed at the refrigerator door.

“What the fuck is going on here?”

“You saw it. You know. You figured it out.” I crossed my arms under my chest.

“You are yelling at Serena like she’s your wife. I feel like I stepped into the Twilight Zone.”

“No, just a sticky situation.”

“This has got to stop.”

“I’m not giving Serena up.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means that you have to act like you don’t know anything and you haven’t seen anything at all. I’m not giving her up.”

“Why? I can get you ten black women with big asses, here in your house, in an hour.”

“I don’t want them. I want her.”

“Why?”

“You don’t know?”

“Noah, I don’t. I have no fucking idea.”

“I love Serena.” Shit I said it. It just came out. Fuck! I do.

“You, crazy as fuck.”

“I am. Fuck it. I admit it.”

“Bro’h, you serious?”

“Deshawn is always talking about divorcing her. You know how he is. You see what he’s doing out here with all his many women. I’m just going to wait until he leaves her. I believe he will one day.”

“Dude I know you White, but you can’t be that stupid. Deshawn is talking shit. He is never going to divorce her. Why? Why would he?”

“He always says he is. There’s a chance he will.” I lowered my voice. “He has two kids out here that Serena doesn’t even know about.”

“Serena has been overlooking his trifling ass for twenty years. He likes her right where she is. He would kill you and her on general principle if he even suspected you two were together.”

“Lance I don’t care about any of that.”

“You should. You got a death wish?”

“No, I can’t stop how I feel.”

“I know Serena is a dime. She’s smart and cool and sexy and has a nice ass. She’s older and not goofy like these young girls out here. She is a ten for real, but you got to think with your brain and not your dick.”

“I’m thinking with my brain and my heart.”

“No-Hart, you got some black pussy and you trippin’.”

“Serena is not the first black woman I’ve been with.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Why would I lie?”

“Right, but look, we are trying to build something. Me, you and Deshawn are breaking records. We are going to get another ring if we keep our dicks in check and keep our focus on basketball.”

“My game hasn’t suffered. I’m better than ever.”