Page 38 of Intercept My Heart

He patted me on the back, reclaiming the blunt before turning to watch the kids who were outside playing in the neighborhood. Tootie insisted we have the dinner at her house because she knew how we felt about too many people knowing where we rested our heads. The weather brought all the kids outside as they laughed and played without a care in the world. I stood there pondering his words. Uncle Ro gave some of the best advice that kept me out of a few jams, so I trusted his word. However, I couldn’t look at my best friend in that kind of light. Yeah, he had some things he was dealing with, but that didn’t make him a snake. Regardless of his connection to those people, it wouldn’t be fair to hold him accountable for some shit he had nothing to do with.

“You’re a smart kid, and you’ve always been wise beyond your years. When you get to that school, it will be like a whole new world for you. There will be even more obstacles, temptations, and new experiences. Don’t lose focus on why you are there. You have a lot riding on this, and I want you to see it through until the end. Don’t allow anything or anyone to distract you from your goals. Remember that everyone close to you doesn’t want to see you win, especially if they aren’t winning too.”

I refused to see it then, but as time passed, I realized that our friendship was drifting, and I didn’t like the way it made me feel. I rarely allowed people to get close to me, but when those relationships ended, it bothered me more.

Throughout the night, I took a few more shots to the head. The music changed, and it altered the vibes in the room. Everyone was lit and having a good time. I’d gotten comfortable, allowing a few girls to dance on me, but I kept it cool. I was a post-on-the-wall type, so I never strayed too far from that. Sunny was the only girl who got me to even slow dance because I hated it.

“Oh, I know that dick is big,” one of the girls across from me blurted out. Normally, I would have shrugged her off, but the liquor had me out of body. I’d been drinking more and more since Sunny broke up with me. I missed her ass like crazy, so I used liquor as a means to cope. Of course, my paranoia would never allow me to go too far because I needed to always be alert to my surroundings.

“Come over here and find out.” I nodded toward her, and she switched her way over to me. She never told me her name before she turned around and started twerking on me. Her ass was fat, so to be honest, it felt good as hell. My hands held onto her waist, and I slowly swirled my hips to match her movements. You would have thought we were fucking from the way she moved on me. The feel of her ass grinding up and down my length had my shit brick hard.

“Goddamn, do you need a condom, bro!” Dre shouted. He barely got a chance to finish his statement before one of her friends bent over in front of him and bounced her ass to the beat. Within a matter of moments, his ass was in a trance.

“Yeah, I don’t hear you now, bro! What were you saying?”

“Not a damn thing. I might have to tell Nyeema I’m sick.” I chuckled at his statement. Dre had the ladies going crazy on campus, and we already had to put someone out for fighting. Everyone thought I was the playboy, but it was the rest of these fools. Even since I’d been single, no one had been in my bed, and I had no desire to change that. That one slipup opened my eyes to the temptations Unc spoke about. Drunk or not, I had no reason to allow myself to be in the position I found myself in. Harper had been blowing me up about her appointments and being there for her. All of this weighed heavily on me.

“Damn.” I grunted. I hadn’t planned on taking anyone home tonight, but the more she danced on me, the more my reasoning and logic began to go out of the window.

“I’m up out of here.” I tore my attention away from lil mama to look up at Drake’s friend, Shawn. Drake appeared drunk, but his eyes told me it was more than alcohol in his system. I’d sold enough drugs to know when someone was on them badly. His nose was running in seventy-degree weather.

“I’m about to head out myself. These bitches are too thirsty for me. Y’all niggas be careful before you fuck around and catch fleas.” He huffed.

“Damn, you sound salty as hell. What’s wrong, bro? Are you mad because the bitches aren’t checking for you? They probably don’t want a second-string player who’s been riding the bench all season. Ain’t no money when you’re fucking with the help. They want the big dawgs,” my teammate, Raheem, shot back. The fire in Drake’s eyes let me know those words pissed him off, so I moved baby girl out of the way so I could be free to break up any fights.

“What the fuck did you say to me, bitch?”

“You heard me, nigga. I was looking forward to playing your ass to see if you could really hang, but I’ll never get my chance with the way you’re playing this year. What’s wrong? You worried about your pedophile ass daddy getting fucked in prison?”

Wham!Drake punched Raheem in the jaw, and it was on from there. The two of them matched up when it came to height and weight, so I wasn’t surprised to see them going toe to toe. Still, as my brother, the best thing for me to do was pull Drake back and get him out of here. This was a cool little spot, and I was sure they didn’t want any negative attention being brought to their event. Plus, I had these pills on me, and I wasn’t tryna go to jail and fuck up everything I had going on.

“Alright, y’all, that’s enough!” I grabbed Drake up into a bear hug and turned him around so he was facing the opposite direction.

“Come on, bro. This isn’t the place for this. I know he went too far, but you’ve got to keep a leveled head. You can’t allow anything to fuck up what we have going on,” I reasoned.

“And what do I have going on? Huh? You and I are nothing alike. You come out here, and you’re like the second coming, while people like me have to work our asses off to make a name for ourselves.”

“Whoa, where is this coming from?”

“You’re so fucking clueless it’s disgusting. You’re walking around here like a fucking big shot as if I wasn’t a part of the reason we won our last season in high school. Those scouts were looking at both of us equally, but you couldn’t stand to have the attention split, so you hogged the ball for the rest of the season.” His declaration caught me off guard because I wasn’t aware he felt this way about me.

“That ain’t true. All I did was run the routes that the coach called out, and don’t try to sit here and act like I stole opportunities from you. You were the one who showed up to practice late, and you were the one who missed out on the scouts from Douglasville because you showed up drunk, and the coach wouldn’t let you play. You’ve got to own up to your own shit!” My ears grew hot, and my fists were clenched together. We’d never had any real fights in our entire friendship unless it was about sports, but this was different.

Drake glared at me as if he hated me, and I had to have missed all the signs.

“Fuck you, Money! You’re fake as fuck, and it’s all good. I’m the one who got the last laugh at the end of the day.” He laughed sadistically, making me wonder what he meant by that.

“Aye, we’ve all had a lot to drink, so maybe we need to get out of here and head to our separate quarters. We need to sleep this liquor off before we say some shit we don’t mean.” Dre intervened.

“Man, fuck all of that. Whether I’m sober or not, I’m still gonna feel the same way. I’m tired of everybody walking around this bitch like Money is the only nigga around who can ball. I’ve been carrying this mothafucka since we were kids, but everybody always kissed his ass since he ain’t have no parents. Y’all treat him like he already made pro when we both know he doesn’t have what it takes to make it to the leagues.”

“See, I wanted to let you make it because it’s clear that you’ve been drinking, but even drunk, you can’t convince yourself that you’re a better player than me. I’ll give you your props because you’re a beast on the field, but you’ve never been on my level on any day. Now I understand you are in your feelings because the coaches are wondering who they recruited, but don’t take that shit out on me. You and I both know you haven’t been playing your best, but you lack accountability. Everybody else is to blame besides yourself.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I have been distracted. See, I understand why you were so pressed behind Charae. At first, I used to think you were a simp for the way you chased behind her and believed everything she said, but I get it now.”

My nostrils flared from the implication alone. I wasn’t the type of person you could rattle easily, but Sunny was a soft spot for me, and he knew it.

“What the fuck you say to me, bitch ass nigga?” Montez held me back because he must have seen things escalating fast.

---