Page 1 of Intentional Foul
Chapter One
Opening Tip
Malcolm
“Faithful. Me, faithful? Baby, I can’t spell faithful,” Marquise said, sitting next to me.
Our driver chuckled from the front seat of the black smoked-out Cadillac Escalade. We were identical in facial features and body build, but our personalities remained worlds apart. He was committed to playing the field, “living the bachelor life,” as he called it.
My heart belonged to one woman, Jhae Amari Davis. I cherished the memory of her standing in our living room with a guitar strapped to her back. At eighteen years old, my heart stopped when Mom explained she would be moving into the ADU behind our house. Every night, I sat beside my window listening to her write her first album.
“These women are wild. She asked me if I planned to fuck other girls this All-Star weekend,” Marquise said, after he tapped my hand.
I focused on the disbelief lingering on my brother’s face but remained quiet.
“At no point did I imply we were a thing,” he continued.
Marquise was brutal with his honesty, so believing him in this moment wasn’t hard. The vibration of my phone interrupted me from responding to his disbelief.
“Pops,” I said.
“Son, I was calling to check in. I’ll be in Nevada later for the skills challenge, but I’m going to leave afterward. Your baby sister has been running a fever off and on all day.”
“Pops, stay and take care of Khaira. We will be okay,” I said.
“What’s wrong with Khaira?” Marquise said, jolting away from the black leather seats.
“She has a fever. The doctor said she is fine. Tell Marquise Niecy said to get on the plane,” Pops joked, as I peered over at my brother.
“Mom said, ‘Get on the plane,’ and that Khaira is fine,” I quoted to my brother.
Marquise removed his phone from his pocket to call Mom and discuss his sister. During the home games and breaks, he picked up Khaira and at times, he made Ivey stay with us too. It didn’t matter that Ivey was a freshman in college. She was a teenager that graduated a year early, so he rationalized it because of her age.
“He’s calling Niecy?” Pops asked as he sighed.
“Yep.”
“Remember our talk about your Music Note. Step out of your shell a little and put her on notice. You don’t want her lingering in the dating pool too long. I almost lost your mother playing around,” Pops reminded.
Over the last few months, I’ve had conversations with Pops about my desire to present myself to Jhae. If he had known Jhae and Music Note were the same person, he might have encouraged something different. The timing never seemed right to me to express my love and affection to her. Either ourschedules were all over the place or she called herself dating. This last dude took a while to run off.
“I hear you. We’ll talk when I make it back to Santa Monica,” I said.
“Love you, Son.”
“Love you too, Pops,” I said and disconnected the call.
The driver pulled into the private hangar to drop us off. Mom’s black private jet awaited with the steps ajar for us to board. He disconnected his headphones, putting Mom on speaker. When arguing, he always pulled me into their disagreement as if I would take his side.
“I’ll pay for a specialist,” Marquise said into the phone.
“She is teething, Marquise. Get on the jet. I better see you on TV tonight,” Mom screamed into the phone.
My brother’s lips tightened with anger. He wanted to bark back, but he knew better than to get crazy with Mom.
“We’ve got this. I want you and Malcolm both to trust us with your sister. Khaira’s back teeth are pushing through her gums. This is normal. By the time you come back, she will be ready for you to pick her up, Marquise. However, I’m sorry I can’t make it to the All-Star game. I’ll be cheering from the couch,” Mom said.
“It’s okay, Mom. Hold down the fort. Marquise and I will be getting on the jet. Love you,” I said, leaning into the phone.
