Violation (25 page)

Shit! I am all out of lies and missteps. He knows. He suspects. He has figured it out. Has he?

“Dee, look I--”

“I thought we were boys. You are my peoples, my fam. You are like my brother.” His chest rose and fell as he sucked up the air. “Look at me.”

I couldn’t do it. “Dee.”

“Look me in the eye!” I cast my eyes at him. I had created a new eye color, guilty blue. “You backstabbing bastard.”

“I did not mean for this to happen.”

“Motherfucka, you didn’t mean to fuck my wife!” We had everyone’s attention now.

“Dee.”

“My wife, not one of my many hoes I would have gladly passed on to you.”

“Dee, I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“I will kill you.” He poked me hard in my chest but it wasn’t enough to knock me off balance.

“Dee, I’m sorry man.”

“Yeah you going to be real sorry when I fuck you up.”

His hands went for my throat. My reflexes were slow only because I thought about my guilt and hesitated. I asked myself if I should let him choke me. Punch me. Tackle me. It was too late when I said no I shouldn’t allow it. He had already attacked me. He tried to grab my throat again but I fought to remove his hands from grasping my neck.

He punched me once in the head and then a second time on my cheek. I tried to dodge the blows. I knew I should fight back but my brain and body were experiencing too much culpability to defend myself properly.

He hit me in my mouth. I felt someone lift me off the floor. Arms wrenched him off of me. I knew Lance was doing something.

Dee’s blow to my head made me see stars. I wanted to defend myself but I couldn’t fight him back. I tasted the salt from the blood that pooled in my mouth.

I heard the barrage of insults Dee hailed in my direction, as he was being drug out of the locker room. I looked around and I was left in the locker room with Jaden our point guard and Malcolm the team’s center.

“Hart what the fuck? Hart you didn’t even fight back.” Jaden huffed as he stood over me.

“He didn’t fight back because he’s guilty as charged.” Apparently Malcolm could also see guilt with my actions. Or he was jumping to conclusions.

“We should have let him beat that ass Hart,” Jaden said as he paced in front of me. “I can’t believe this shit. You really fucked his wife? You boned Serena Jones?”

“Dude, say something,” Malcolm said as he sat next to me. I felt trapped into confessing something I wasn’t ready to confess.

Jaden paced. “He should’ve broke your shooting arm. This is low. Nah, I know you didn’t fuck your teammates wife. This has got to be a mistake. Dee got it wrong.”

Lance returned to the locker room with an icepack. He jammed it into the palm of my hand. I placed it on my aching jaw.

Jaden addressed Lance. “Bro’h, what Deshawn say? It’s a mistake, right? No-Hart didn’t do it.”

“Y’all need to calm down. This is their personal business.”

“But Deshawn my brother. This team is a family.” Jaden seemed to be taking my affair hard.

“Noah is your brother too,” Lance said.

“Nah fuck that. He was.”

“Hold up wait. No judgments, Noah is this shit true?” Malcolm flat out asked.

“Of course it’s true. Why was he apologizing to Dee if it wasn’t true?” Jaden answered for me.

“Noah.” Malcolm was hell bent on outing me.

I looked up at my three teammates standing above me. “Yes it’s true.” There I admitted it.

“See this motherfucker ain’t shit.” Jaden was back on me.

“Jaden, don’t play. Serena is fine. If she came at you, what the fuck would you do?”

“Did she come at you?”

“It wasn’t like that. She didn’t do anything. It’s my fault. It just happened.”

“Would y’all stop badgering my man?” Lance said.

“He just fucked up the team. You know you fucked up the team right?”

“Jaden I’m aware.” I had got my heart back.

“But what, you don’t care?”

I jumped to my feet. “Look we got two championship rings. I was a part of that. Whatever happened just happened. I do my job on this fucking team.”

“That’s Deshawn's wife, not yours homeboy. You’re trying to steal his wife like you steal the ball. It don’t work like that fam.”

“What do you want from me? I love this woman. I love Serena. There, I said it.

They all just stood there and gazed at me like I had grown a second head.

“You stupid. She will never leave him.” Jaden proclaimed to know things he didn’t.

“Doesn’t matter. Deshawn will never raise my baby.”

Silence crushed all sound. Three mouths hung open. I said too much. The need to defend my actions had overwhelmed me.

“Noah, you my guy but you couldn’t even wrap it up?” The news was more shocking to Lance than I would have thought. He knew Serena was pregnant. He knew Dee had a vasectomy. Maybe he didn’t want to believe it. He seemed disappointed in me.

“You knocked up your boy’s wife. That’s what you telling us. When Deshawn finds out he’s going to kill you and his wife. If I were you, I would pack my shit and leave town now.” Jaden warned.

Little did Jaden and Malcolm know Deshawn already knew Serena was pregnant? He knew I was the father. Instead of the cat, the Cav was out of the bag and I was that Cav. Soon enough I may be out of a team.

I needed to be alone with Lance. I needed him to fill me in on what was going on with Dee. I wanted the information because I was concerned about him. I wanted him to be okay. I also wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to catch a bullet as soon as I walked to my car in the parking garage. I also was worried about Serena and my baby.

Deshawn wasn’t violent with women. I never really believed he would hurt Serena. I definitely didn’t want to think it or believe it.

My personal life was on a Jumbotron. Not really but it felt like it. It spread throughout the team, so of course the power people would find out. We were favored to win the Championship yet again. Anything that could jeopardize that was going to get checked and dealt with promptly.

There was a chain of command with all things Cavalier related. My first stop was Coach Tucker. I was called into the office after the next practice, a practice that Dee didn’t show up to, but I could understand why.

I walked into his office and closed the door. He was standing at his bookcase. He extended his hand and I took a seat in the chair in front of his desk. I felt like I was back in junior high and in the Principal’s office.

“So Noah there seems to be a problem that has been brought to my attention. I need to hear your side of the story. I don’t deal in hearsay. But what I heard doesn’t sound too good.”

“Did you talk to Deshawn?”

“Not directly. I called him first. He’s not returning my calls. He didn’t show at practice. I got you first. That’s why you are here. Please son, tell me this is all a big misunderstanding.”

“I slept with Deshawn’s wife.”

Coach walked over to the chair and sat down. “Sex, you had sex with Deshawn’s wife.”

“Yes.”

“So your dick runs your entire basketball career?”

“No.”

“So all the pussy up for grabs for young fellas like you and you thought you would just go after the closest you could find.”

“You know me Coach. That was not what I was thinking. I wasn’t thinking or maybe I was. I don’t know.”

“I can’t squash this. I’m going to have to take this upstairs to the owners. The team knows. So is this going straight to the press?”

“No it’s not.”

“Is this going to be a social media hailstorm? Is he going to post shit on his fucking Instagram? Are you going to see his shit and post shit on your Twitter?”

“No Coach, I’m not posting anything. I can’t speak for him, but I’m not.”

“You put me in a shitstorm.”

“That wasn’t my intention.”

“I’m going to have to pick Deshawn over you, you know that? He’s King Kong around here. You are that blonde bitch he carried up the Empire State Building.”

“Yes I know.”

“When the owners ask my opinion you will have to go.”

“I know.”

“Jesus son, was it worth it? Was she worth it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Wait maybe we can get pass this. They can go to marriage counseling. We only have a few games left. I’m not sure how the hell we’re going to win but stranger things have happened. You had sex with her one time. Was it one time?”

“Not one time.”

He wiped his face. He was at his wits in, obviously. “How many times?”

“I don’t know, too many to count. It started at the beginning of the season.”

“Eight fucking months ago.”

“Yes.”

“This is the best season you’ve had your entire NBA career.”

“I know that?”

“You don’t like it here? You seemed happy on this team. I thought you were going to stay here until the end of your career.”

“I thought the same thing but I couldn’t resist her.”

“That’s horseshit. That excuse only works for rookies. You’ve been with this franchise for years. You know the rules.”

“I do.”

“I don’t want to see you go but you know they are going to choose Deshawn over you.”

“I know that but I don’t want to go. I love it here.”

“I will do the best I can but if Deshawn wants you out, you’re out. You need to pray he forgives you. Maybe you two need therapy.”

“Dee is not going to forgive me.”

“Miracles happen.”

“Not so sure about that. Serena is pregnant. He’s not going to forgive me.”

“You just fucked up all across the board. You have hit a championship level of fucked up. How many months pregnant?”

“Almost five.”

“This baby can’t happen.”

“It’s happening.”

“What is going on? She wants to have a kid with you?”

“Yes she wants it.”

“And you do too. Noah, what is going on here?”

“I love her.”

“How is that possible?”

“It’s possible.”

“Do you even know this baby is yours?”

“I know it. It’s my baby.”

“You have picked this woman over the career you worked so hard for?”

“I didn’t pick her. It just happened. I can’t undo what’s been done. I’m not sure I would undo it. I want to finish the season. Could you just try to make sure I play the rest of the games? We’re in the playoffs.”

“I know where we are.”

He frowned. He didn’t appreciate my smart mouth. “Will you and Deshawn be able to play together without getting into a physical altercation?”

“I don’t know about him but I can do it. I love Dee. I want to squash this. I’m sorry. If I have to kiss his ass just to finish the season I’ll do it. I owe the team.”

“Yeah son you do.”

“If we lose because I fell in love with the wrong woman I will be devastated. These guys are my brothers. I want to see us win. We have to win.”

“I hope we can sweep this under the rug. There will be a meeting.”

“I understand.”

“Keep your phone at the ready. This has got to happen swiftly.”

***

I was finally able to leave after Coach rimmed me out. I drove home and listened to Drake. Every song seemed to be some sort of mirror into my life. I called Dee a few times but he didn’t answer. I had been calling him since the locker room fight but he wasn’t trying to talk to me. Who could blame him?

Serena was waiting for me back at my house. This was not how I wanted this to go but we were here regardless. I entered my bedroom and seeing her there made me feel better.

“Hey. How you feeling?”

“Just tired.”

“What did Coach say?”

“Nothing really. He has to bump it up the ladder. He doesn’t have control over my future. He’s just a piece in a much bigger puzzle.”

“They have to let you finish the season. You are a big part of this team. If they sit you down, they lose. They know that so they can’t do anything to you.”

“I’m not even sure I want to do this anymore.”

“Do what?”

“Play basketball.”

“Noah you love basketball.”

“I love you. I want a family. Basketball is all I’ve ever had and I want something else now.”

“No, no, you can have it all. You’re Noah Hart. You can have it all.”

“Can I?” I appreciated her vote of confidence.

“I love you. I know I don’t show it the way I’m supposed to. My heart is so damaged that I don’t even know if I can trust my own feelings. I’m a bitch sometimes I know it. I don’t mean to be but it’s built up from years of being hurt. I’m trying to change.”