boss up

Shooting Shots

wags szn i
book one

Aubree Pynn

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Copyright © 2024 by Aubree Pynn
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means,
including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author,
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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For my friends. Thank you for loving me.

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 contents

On This Episode of WAGS

Trigger Warning
Names
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
About the Author
Also by Aubree Pynn
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 Aspiring hairstylist, Logan Taylor, has put her dreams on hold to see her
sister through school, per her parents last wishes. Stressed and working two
jobs ─ barely making ends meet and on the brink of a burn out, she’s faced
with no other choice; get another job and hope things let up… soon.
Khamari Coleman is in Lavendale to enjoy All-Star weekend ─ the first of
his career, connecting with old friends and hopefully, procuring a new home
to further his life in basketball. What he wasn’t expecting was to be smitten
by a doe eyed beauty with an air of mystery around her.
 After days of being spun in her web, Khamari wants nothing more than to
be in her space as long as time will allow. Logan is trying to put her life
together and ignore what she wants and needs for herself. Can one weekend
be the key to finding herself again or will bliss only last for the weekend?
Tune in!

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 Aight so look… This is a work of fiction from my
brain. Therefore it’s mine. Written by me for me. You get
to enjoy.
 They are participating in sex out of wedlock. Anywhere, anyplace. Just
nasty hunching. Don’t go complaining over Cree Alexander’s internet about
it.
They got the mouths of sailors. Just cussin’ like it’s about to go out of style.
Again, don’t be complaining over Cree Alexander’s internet.
There is mention of childhood trauma, death of a parent by murder,
death of a grandparent, and sexual assault. They’ve been delicately
placed off page.
Now that’s the only thing I left off page.
The real trigger is the stupid sister and wanna be pimp and dope boy ex-
boyfriend. If stupidity triggers you like it triggers me, hello!
This is a sports romance. If you don’t like that – which is very confusing to
me because who doesn’t like fine negros who play with balls for lots of
money, no puffy – pass over this series.

Happy Reading.

Oh shoot, I forgot to tell y’all these folks is fighting in

clubs and embarrassing us.
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 Logan Taylor – Logan like Wolverine… Taylor like them too tight yeast
infection pants that man you be playing with wears to the house of call
centers. Like them pants that bald turtle looking man in Alabama wears on
that one show.
Khamari Coleman – think Calamari with a Kh. Hard C not ER. Coleman…
DAMMIT COLE, MAN. Say it in your Martin voice. IF YOU DON’T
LIKE MARTIN OR DON’T KNOW WHO HE IS LEAVE! Because who
has raised you? Certainly not the streets!
 Jacari – like SHACARI you know the fastest woman in the world y’all
hyped up then criticized then hyped up again like y’all do us aut- nvm.
Jaymerius – JAY like how you walk across the street and cuss drivers out
for almost hitting you. Mer-E-US. I think it’s black enough. But then again
maybe I should have added an apostrophe somewhere for kicks and giggles.
Jay’Merius cause his momma was creative.
Makavelli – Makaveli in this… I ain’t a killer but don’t push me… revenge
is the sweetest joy… hail Mary? If you don’t know these lyrics close this
book and please, please, please go culture yourself. I was rapping this since
the 90’s. I’m showing my age and that my parents weren’t watching me the
way they thought they were. Yikes. Let me book a therapy appointment to
cry about it.
Lanez Porter – call him whatever because we don’t like him or his wife
Gizelle Porter or that whore Aleecia.
I think that about covers it. Enjoy book whores, love you mean it!

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one
 re you sitting down?” Tatianna giddily asked her brother.
“A Khamari indeed wasn’t sitting down. How could he, the last time
she called him with “news” he was learning that he was an
unrestricted free agent, the agent he paid dropped him and left him to put
his career into his family’s hands until a better option arose. Which wasn’t
the worst news he could get, especially since Oceania had abruptly
switched ownership and player’s lives were now hanging in the balance
since Brody’s abrupt murder. However, he was happy to get out of that
slave deal with Oceania. Now, it all came down to what team he’d call
home and how soon they’d get the paperwork done.
“Nah, and I’m not going to,” Khamari answered matter-of-factly.
“Whatever it is, just say it.”
“You aren’t any fun,” Tatianna hissed. He could hear the eyeroll in her
voice. “You’ve been officially invited to All-Star weekend in Lavendale.”
“For real?” he asked, his voice blanketed in excitement. “Don’t play
with me, Tati.”
Tatianna laughed before switching the call to FaceTime. Khamari
accepted, his smile growing larger upon meeting hers. “Now, little brother,
would I really do you like that?”
“You had me believing I was adopted for like six months,” Khamari
voiced as his mother came into view behind his sister.
“I still want to whip her ass for that too,” Patience, their mother,
sounded off. “All that therapy for what? Because Tati wanted to be a damn
clown.”
“In my defense, I asked for a sister. Not…that.”
“Here you go with that,” Khamari replied with a slight roll of the eyes.
“That got your ass living life comfortably.”
“And I’d like to thank that very much,” Tatianna replied with a snicker.
“So what do you say? You going?”
“Hell yeah, I’m going. You got me a meeting with Oliver too?”
“Who would I be if I didn’t?” Tatianna sassed. “Hello Lavendale
Thunder.”
“Fired! You would be fired. Even though I barely hired you, you just
bullied your way into this position,” Khamari said plainly, teasing his older
sister. Despite the constant array of shit talking, they loved each other
dearly. While he had his own set of friends and she had hers, Tatianna was
his best friend. The one he could call in the middle of the night, the one who
ensured he was taking care of himself while taking care of the whole world,
the one that knew his secrets – though minimal in comparison to other
players he played alongside. And without question, she’d fight for him in
the same manner he would for her. Khamari and Tatianna were products of
good raising and loving parents.
“Boy, you won’t find no one else to do what I do,” she said, smacking
her lips. “And had you let me in before, you would have never been stuck in
that horrible deal from Mr. Teefus.”
 Khamari shook his head at the reference of Brody, the late Oceania
owner, and his large, bright veneers. “Nah, I could find an actual agent, it’ll
just cost me a hell of a lot more.”
“Mmhmm, get you an agent that can read a contract and negotiate deals
that don’t have you stuck with a team until you’re eighty-six,” she sassed.
“Anyway, I have rules for you.”
Tatianna dramatically unfolded a sheet of paper and put the glasses that
she barely wore on the tip of her nose.
“Alright now, Patience,” Khamari joked, making his mother snap her
head in their direction. “Chill, mama. Dang,” he laughed.
Tatianna rolled her eyes and proceeded. “No random women. If you feel
the need to be on some hoe shit, strap up, and have them sign an NDA.
Don’t be out in Lavendale trying to save all them hoes.”
“Already, you wildin’. First of all, all them hoes is a crazy-ass
assumption. Second, do you really think I’m going to be like “Before I fuck
you, shorty, sign here, here, and here”?”
“Uh, yeah,” Tatianna and Patience sounded off simultaneously. “There’s
all types of loose women running around and let’s not talk about the amount
of sexual exploitation happening this weekend.”
“Man, y’all trippin’. I’m not even on that type of time. I’m not going
out there to get exploited.”
“Oh, but your funky ass friends are. I.E, Makavelli, Lanez, and
Jaymerius. Jay is already advertising parties. Michael has already called me
on some, “If I get in trouble here’s the bail money account”. I swear if he
didn’t pay me, I’d never speak to him. And Lanez, he’s a walking sexual
harassment suit. You know it, he knows it, and his evil ass wife too. Who
even invited them?”
“Oh, I bet you wouldn’t speak to Makavelli,” Khamari muttered,
refusing to get cussed out by Tatianna for analyzing the play between her
and Makavelli. He’d had a thing for her since college. But she was spot on
about Jay, he’d had already texted KC asking, “where the bitches at?”.
Lanez was on his own, Khamari tried to keep his distance when it came to
Lanez and his array of bullshit, bitches, and betrayal. He didn’t want it
rubbing off on him.
“What was that you knocked-knee’d negro?” Tatianna quipped, popping
her brow up.
 “I didn’t say shit,” Khamari replied nonchalantly with a shrug of his
shoulders.
“Not you looked me dead in my eyes and lied. See this is going to be a
problem already. Keep yourself out of trouble so I can get you signed.
Aight?”
“Aight, damn!” Khamari huffed. “I heard you, shit.”
“Boy!” Patience sounded off.
“Patience, let that man cuss in his house. A man who can’t cuss in his
house ain’t a man,” his dad, Khai, spoke up from somewhere in the
background but close enough for Patience to cut him a warning glare. “You
about to cut me off from my cookie, ain’t you?”
“Wanna keep playin’ with me and find out?” Patience replied,
immediately, Khai changed his tone.
“Son, watch your mouth, there’s ladies present.” Khai yielded to his
wife but gave his son a reassuring look over her shoulder.
“Yooo,” Khamari jeered with laughter. “You’re whipped, Pops.”
“Shiii, if you’re lucky you’ll get whipped too. Like frosting. Mm mm
mm, fucking buttercream.” Khamari watched his parents embrace and then
watched Tatianna frown and roll her eyes. They’d grown up with this
constant display of love and affection. Even when they argued and fussed,
there was a respect present that Khamari took note of. There was a world
full of women gunning to be on the arm of a baller, but he wanted someone
who would love, respect and honor him and in return, he’d do the same.
“We’ll be out there Sunday for the game. I’ve arranged a meeting with
Navy Thomas, Oliver, and Duncan first thing, don’t miss it. Oliver and his
sister, Akira, have a huge agency and Duncan is a great trainer. And we all
know Navy isn’t going to let you get into any bullshit. If we’re looking at
planting you in Lavendale, you’ll need to sit down with them,” Tatianna
continued while their parents fondled each other in the background. “And
hopefully they’ll want to live with you out there because I can’t take too
much more of this shit.”
“Girl!” Patience hissed.
“Ma, this is my house,” Tatianna defended while ducking.
“Look at the little hater ducking. If there was still a playa hater ball,
you’d come in first place,” Khai said with laughter. “So you used to
ducking ‘cause you a hater.”
Khamari leaned over in laughter. “Head about to get bussed up, Pops!”
 Khai mocked Tatianna’s ducking. “Look at her.”
Patience took the phone from her daughter’s hand amid the laughter. “I
don’t know what you’re laughing at. I know you heard those rules.”
“Yes, ma! I heard the rules.”
“Repeat them,” Patience snipped, making Khamari groan.
“You know I’m grown, right?” Khamari asked with a pointed look,
scratching his scalp through his floppy curls he inherited from his mother.
“Not grown enough, boy.”
“No hoes. If I can’t help myself, have them sign an NDA and strap up,”
Khamari replied, appeasing his mother, understanding that it was the best
thing to end all of this unneeded back and forth. The doorbell chimed,
commanding him to stand and stride to the door to collect the delivery in
hopes that it was his Asian fusion takeout. He looked in the bag and then at
the screen of his phone. “Something is wrong with you, ma.”
“How am I the problem for keeping my son safe? Hm? I don’t want my
baby boy with no foreign diseases. You know shots can’t fix everything and
what do you know about a baby?”
“Ma!” Khamari huffed. “Girl, I am not slow.”
“You sure?” Tatianna chimed in. “’Cause I can’t count seventy-six times
in the last month when you’ve indeed been the slowest in the damn room.”
“What? You ain’t too old to get trapped or to have me look out for you.
There’s about forty NDA copies and pens along with those condoms. Those
are the ones you use right?”
“Patience!” Khai called out, trying to muffle his laughter once he caught
the astonishment on his son’s face. “Leave the man alone.”
“Forty? And where you get this big ass box from, Shop and Save? These
are probably expired. I’m not going out there to have my dick fall off.”
Khamari slid his hands down his face. “I’m thirty, at some point you got to
chill.”
Khai squinted, “Patience, you know my boy take after his daddy. Those
ain’t going to fit.”
“Oh my God,” Tatianna groaned in disgust. “Don’t nobody wanna hear
that shit.”
“Y’all need your mouths washed out with soap,” Patience huffed. “I’ll
chill when you bring me home a respectable young lady who ain’t a dancer,
influencer or model, selling weight loss gummies on the internet…” every
job Patience rambled off caused her lips to curl up more.
 “Hosting brunches!” Tatianna chimed in. “Selling scrubs.”
“And Lord forbid, don’t let her be one of them drunk girls that has a
podcast. Please!”
Khamari shook his head. “Not y’all taking turns ganging up on me. I
don’t know whether to laugh or be offended that you would think me, your
baby boy, is a hoe. Come on now, momma.”
“Well, your daddy was a hoe until I tamed him down and the apple
don’t fall far from the tree,” Patience replied with a roll of her neck.
“The apple didn’t even fall!” Tatianna screeched making her brother cut
his eyes at her.
Khamari mouthed, “shut the hell up.”
“Hold up now. I ain’t never been a hoe now, baby,” Khai spoke up
before a chuckle left his lips. “Unless it’s for you.”
“How many women were you juggling when we met?” Patience posed.
Khai said nothing. “Uh huh, that’s what I thought, and you passed that on to
my babies. This one is unmarried, and the other one is spreading his royal
little oats from sea to shining sea.”
That comment was aimed at both of her children. Tatianna gasped in
faux disbelief and Khamari remained neutral. The plethora of women was
never something he’d been into. Women threw themselves at him, very
rarely did he take them up on their offer. He wasn’t that type of guy.
Khamari liked to be lowkey and expected his women to be too. But he
hadn’t met the one yet and he was sure he wouldn’t meet a woman with the
same set of morals he had during All-Star weekend.
“Ain’t nothing about my oats little,” Khamari mumbled.
“Well, if you’re anything like your daddy, I suppose not.”
“Oh my God mom!” Tatianna and Khamari sounded off in disgust.
“Leave my boy alone,” Khai spoke up taking the phone. “They’ll see
you Sunday, go ahead and pack up.”
“Your flight is chartered, I’ll text the details,” Tatianna added. “And
please do something with your hair!”
“Those condoms and the NDAs, pack those too!” his mother shouted
before the call ended.
“I ain’t taking these damn NDA’s,” he grumbled, tossing them in the
trash. “Or these baby-ass condoms. Wasting trees and rubber and she knows
the earth is in crisis. Crazy ass lady.”
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two
 hy do you always walk in here looking matronly?” Jacari grunted
“W the moment Logan joined her and Aleecia on the patio of Big
Bubba’s Burgers.
“What am I supposed to wear when I’m eating a burger and fries?”
Logan sassed.
“Something other than a t-shirt and leggings,” Aleecia commented. “It’s
All-Star weekend. There’s rich niggas everywhere.”
Logan’s lip curled. “I’m not out here for none of that. There’s rich
niggas crawling around here all the time. Rappers, drug dealers, kingpins,
gang members. There’s three sports teams here. I’m not looking for a
baller.”
“We are!” Jacari and Aleecia said in unison, high fiving.
“Well, you know I’m here for a good time not a long time,” Jacari
corrected. “I don’t want none of those baller problems.”
“Give me the problems and all the money to make them better,” Aleecia
quipped, flipping the bundles, she more than likely stole or finessed a man
out of, over her shoulder.
Logan rolled her eyes. “Rahkel’s tuition is due and higher this semester
since she’s finally studying political science. I don’t even have half a
payment.”
Her friends shared another look. Jacari was the first to speak up. “It
seems to me, you need one of those ballers you ain’t looking for or you
need to apply to the hotel. We’re short staffed, Maria is trying to get
everything staffed before Friday.”
“I already have two jobs, how am I going to fit in a third?” Logan
whined into the palm of her hand. Tired was an understatement. She was
exhausted. Barely sleeping, barely eating, barely tending to her.
“I hate to sound like a bitch,” Aleecia spoke, gearing up to sound
exactly like a bitch. “Why isn’t Rahkel fronting her own way?”
“She’s working too – bookstore, café, and tutoring on the weekend
that’s barely enough to cover her half of the rent. Trust me, I’ve already
tallied all of this up. And if she gets another job, our mother is going to be
cussing me out from prison,” Logan scrubbed her face, the aggravation
zapping the little bit of appetite she had. “I’m not even hungry anymore.”
“Don’t sweat it,” Jacari encouraged.
Unlike Aleecia, Jacari was trying to make her own lane for herself as
well. She never wanted to rely on a man for shit but using them for a good
time. Aleecia was in the business of spotting and obtaining the quickest way
to glow up. She didn’t give a damn about who she had to use in the process
to get what she wanted either. Logan was sure the girl would sell her best
friend to put herself in position.
Jacari finished her statement, “I’ll talk to Maria and let you know what
she says. But please eat, we have a long night.”
“Hm, while you two are working your asses off for whatever, Shayla
and I are going to the Scarlet Room. It’s going to be packed from wall to
wall with rappers, trappers, and niggas who get paid millions to play with
balls,” Aleecia jeered, missing the look Logan and Jacari shared.
“If you don’t like her why are you going out with her?” Logan asked.
There wasn’t anything wrong with Shayla outside of the fact that she was
too good to be around Aleecia and her scheming ways. Logan loathed being
around her, believing that birds of a feather flocked together, and she never
wanted to be known as a bird. Despite Aleecia and Shayla being “best
friends”, Alecia had done her wrong time after time. Logan hated to be the
one to put Shayla up on game, not wanting to start a conflict but pretty
soon, she was going to be left with no other choice.
“Because she’s my friend. What are you even talking about?” Aleecia
quipped. “Plus, she keeps all the ugly niggas from stepping to me.”
Logan raised her brow and scoffed. “You know what I’m talking about.
Whenever she finally knocks your ass out, leave me out of it.”
“I don’t like your attitude,” Aleecia quipped again. “Big hater energy
coming from you. I can pay my bills, while you being funny.”
Logan bit her tongue trying her best not to cuss Aleecia out. Yes, she
was fully deserving of it, but Logan was far too irritated to know what
boundaries to not cross. “You’re right. I don’t trick niggas out their money
to pay my bills. Some of us actually have to go to work and I’m going to
get ready to go to work. Since it’ll be full of rappers, trappers, and
professional athletes, I need to get into the mood to smile all night.”
“Eddie called me in early too,” Jacari commented, watching Logan
stand from the table and tuck her phone in the side pocket of her leggings.
“Oh that means y’all can get me into the club,” Aleecia spoke up.
“What about Shayla?” Jacari posed.
Aleecia waved her off. “She can pay her way, she always does.”
“And that’s the bullshit right there,” Logan muttered.
“What you say?” Aleecia asked, her tone alerting Logan that she wanted
to tussle.
“I said that’s the bullshit right there,” Logan stated, giving Aleecia a
‘now what, bitch’ glance.
“Jacari, I don’t even know why you be around her like that,” Aleecia
huffed and muttered something else Logan couldn’t make out.
Logan paid little attention to her as she hugged Jacari and started to her
car. It wasn’t any secret to Jacari that Logan couldn’t stand Aleecia. She
never told her off the way she wanted to off the strength that Aleecia and
Jacari were cousins. No one should ever come between family. That was
instilled in her from a child, and she applied it to her everyday life. Whether
it be Logan or someone else, Aleecia was going to get her face knocked in.
Arriving home almost fifteen minutes later, Logan kicked her shoes off
and dropped her tired body onto the sofa. She was exhausted already –
mentally, physically, and her spirit was tattered. There was no wallowing in
pity when moves needed to be made.
“How was lunch?” Rahkel asked, emerging from the long hall putting
her bookbag on her back.
Logan rolled her eyes behind her lids and huffed. “Aleecia was there. I
lost my appetite.”
“Ugh she vibrates so low.” Rahkel huffed. “Mom called me while you
were out.”
“What does she need? More money on her books?” Logan asked.
“Yeah and some books. I can grab some of the misprinted books from
campus. Can you cover her books?” Rahkel asked.
The answer was no but Logan nodded her head. “Yeah, I’ll handle it.
Headed to campus?”
“I picked up a few extra tutoring sessions tonight and then I’ll crash at
Pree’s,” Rahkel shared making Logan open her eyes to observe her sister to
make sure she wasn’t lying.
“You need money? I got some cash on me,” Logan said, sitting up and
reaching for her bag.
“Nah, keep it. You haven’t ate all day. Eddie got y’all going in early?”
“Oh, you know it. All he sees is dollar signs. The city is crawling with
money and he’s going to get his.” Logan punctuated her statement with a
roll of the eyes.
“I mean your ass alone can make a nigga buy like six extra bottles. But
that smile will have them tripping over their feet.”
Logan fell back on the cushions of the couch and rolled her eyes again.
“I’m not checking for none of them. I’m getting in, getting my tips and
leaving.”
“You know, mommy always said you can find love in the club,” Rahkel
shared.
“And look how that turned out for all of us.”
Rahkel shrugged. She’d never seen the extent of their family dynamic
the way Logan did. Logan had seen and heard things no child should have
ever been privy to. But for the sake of family, she kept it locked away and
didn’t utter a word about it. “I don’t know, it’s All-Star weekend, you
should look into having some fun.”
“Fun isn’t going to put you through school or get me a shop. Or pay any
of these bills.”
“Speaking of which, did you re-enroll in hair school yet?”
“I’ll get around to it, Rahki. Let me nap before I have to pretend I like
people.”
Rahkel yielded with a heavy sigh. She hated how Logan put herself on
the backburner to take care of her and her mother. “Alright, I’ll see you in
the morning.”
“See you. Be safe and be smart, please.”
“Always,” Rahkel shared before exiting the house, leaving Logan to her
cat nap.
A nap she wouldn’t even fully enjoy due to her mind running a mile a
minute. Before she knew it, she was wide awake and eating a sleeve of
crackers as she prepared herself for a night of telling niggas no with a smile
on her face.

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three
 avy Megatron Thomas,” Khamari greeted the head coach of the LSC
“N Knights with a brotherly hug. “Settling down looks good on you.”
Navy adjusted his glasses and nodded to his beautiful wife
Jaylani. “It’s all her. Keeping me young. Plus the kids help.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Miss Jaylani,” Khamari tried not to stare too long
at Jaylani Thomas, but the rumors were true. Navy found himself the rarest
diamond and he didn’t play about her or their family.
“Nice to meet you too. I’m going to let you two enjoy your meeting of
the minds. My girls are waiting on me. Baby, behave yourself,” Jaylani
replied before kissing Navy. College football season was over, and every
opportunity Navy had to show the world who he belonged to, he did. A
deep kiss lingered making Khamari skirt his attention elsewhere. Another
display of love that made the need to have it spike higher.
“You need to stop,” Jaylani giggled. “Go talk your talk and I’ll be over
there with Pierce and Akira.”
“Uh huh, behave,” Navy rumbled.
“Never,” Jaylani flirted back. “Khamari, it’s nice to meet you. Enjoy
Lavendale.”
“I will,” he spoke before she walked off.
Khamari followed Navy to a table where Oliver and Duncan sat. Oliver
appeared irritated while Duncan talked, clearly the issue Oliver was having.
“Nigga, you’re not going to sit here and tell me you didn’t get that Rosé
Papi BBL,” Duncan said making Oliver scoot his chair away from him.
“I’ve been in your gym, nigga,” Oliver grunted. “You see me there.”
“Do I or is it one of your fluorescent cousins?” Duncan teased. “Since
you started investing in tech, I think you let them niggas clone you.”
Duncan waved his hand in front of Oliver’s face as if he was going to
glitch.
“You got to be the dumbest nigga on the planet. What does my sister see
in you?” Oliver huffed.
“She sees daddy, nigga,” Duncan fired back.
Oliver turned away from Duncan and spotted Khamari who stood in
slight confusion of the everlasting spat between the two.
“Y’all can’t stop for five minutes?” Navy asked with a chuckle. “Oliver,
Khamari Coleman.”
Oliver stood and shook his hand. “You have to excuse him. Somehow, I
was the one adopted but he was raised by clowns. Nice to meet you, KC.
You had a hell of a season last year.”
“Thanks, man. If I can get a team, I can repeat it,” Khamari shared,
shaking Oliver’s hand then Duncan’s. “How y’all doing?”
“Those of us without surgery scars are good,” Duncan answered for the
group. “Nice to meet you.”
Navy shook his head. “I would tell you they ain’t like this all the time,
but they are.”
“Don’t say they, motherfucka, it’s him,” Oliver huffed, tossing his
thumb in Duncan’s direction.
 “Y’all got to behave, I’m trying to get superstar over to Lavendale,”
Navy directed, making his friends straighten up immediately.
“You got an agent?” Oliver asked. “I know the entire Oceania situation
was a cluster fuck.”
“It still is, there’s guys who are still locked in with the team. Fortunately
for me, my lawyer sister found a loophole and got me out of there. Her and
my parents are running everything right now,” Khamari shared, taking his
seat. “They stressful as hell. Tati is the brains, moms is self-assigned PR
who walks around with NDA’s and other shit, and my pops just flows with
the wind.”
“Don’t trip, so is his sister,” Duncan pointed out, making Oliver groan
then sigh. “He just shows up ‘cause he’s pretty.”
“You got to ignore this fool,” Oliver hissed.
“I gave you a compliment, at least say thank you baby,” was Duncan’s
rebuttal accompanied with a pinch to Oliver’s cheek. In reflex, Oliver
slapped Duncan and then glared at him.
“You need to get checked,” Oliver hissed. “Something is fuckin’ wrong
with you.”
Khamari chuckled seeing how Duncan and Oliver acted like Mak and
Jay with Navy being the chill one out of the group. The difference was that
Khamari’s anger was methodical while Navy’s was explosive. Full blown
crazy when it was warranted but it’d been a long time since that man
peeked his monstrous head.
“It’s all good,” Khamari responded, amused by the group.
“If Lavendale is where you want to be, we can make that happen,”
Oliver shared. “You’ll get access to top trainers and this fool. Unfortunately,
he’s gridlocked all the trainers, and everyone has to go through his gym, but
it seems to work. Endorsement and community outreach is huge here. I
don’t know if you have a family or planning one but life outside the city is
great for that.”
“Nah, no family. No girl. I’m just chilling,” Khamari shared.
Oliver nodded. “Then life inside the city is perfect if that’s your vibe.”
“You got access to anything on campus for your summer camps too,”
Navy added. “The wife wanted to be sure I told you that.”
Khamari took it all in. The world Navy, Oliver, and Duncan shared with
him aligned with his morals. Single or not, he was positive he was going to
be outside the city. “So y’all can partner with my sister on the meeting.”
 “For sure,” Oliver chimed.
“Aight, tell you what, if y’all can get me in Lavendale as the face of the
team, four years for two hundred and ten million with guaranteed one
hundred and ninety six million, you got a new client.”
“Damn,” Duncan blew. “You’re really like that.”
“My sister and Oceania taught me to never let them tell me what they’re
going to pay me,” Khamari shared.
“And you shouldn’t,” Navy spoke up. “You’re the talent. You have to
account for how your body feels now and how it’ll feel then.”
“I’ll talk to Tatianna, and we’ll talk to the Thunder and see what’s
what,” Oliver assured. “I promise you an answer by midweek so stay in
town after all this is over.”
“Bet.”

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four
 hese uniform shorts keep getting shorter and shorter,” Logan huffed
“T to herself as she rummaged through her drawer in desperate search
for a pair of tights. Reaching her bottom drawer, she pulled a pack of
unopened tights out and sighed in relief. “Eddie isn’t going to have my ass
out and then harassing me for half of my tips. Nigga swears he’s a pimp.”
Logan removed the shorts and adorned her short, thick legs with the
tights before returning the garments to their previous place. In her
grandmother’s words, she’d gotten her fast shape from her fast-ass momma.
Logan rolled her eyes at the thought. Automatically being labeled fast
because she’d gotten the shapely selection from the gene pool, seemed to be
unfair. The comparison alone created years of turmoil until she accepted
that her pear shape was hers and there was nothing left to do other than love
it, honor it and not abuse it by starving herself, swallowing birth control
because she was “fast” or anything else. The only thing she hadn’t mastered
in her twenty-nine years of living was how not to work herself into the
ground.
Fully dressed with a sweatsuit over the scanty shorts and corset, Logan
racked her pin curls with her fingers and observed her face to make sure her
makeup was perfect. Eddie was going to examine them head to toe.
“A little while longer and you can be out of the club, Rahki will be in
law school and you’ll have your shop,” Logan muttered to herself before
laughing. “Yeah, whose paying for all that? You. You’ll be in the club for a
minute. A long fucking minute. Then Eddie is going to try and make you
sell pussy for pennies.”
Her cellphone buzzed on the top of her dresser as she swung her duffle
bag on her shoulder. Uncle Jimmy flashed over her screen, and she
answered without letting it go on any further. Uncle Jimmy’s time was
precious.
“Hey, Uncle Jimmy.”
“Hey, baby girl, how you holding up?” he asked, his baritone reminding
her of her late father. “I just ran into Rahki.”
“I’m good. She’s supposed to be heading to campus.”
“Yeah that’s what she told me. She told me she was late on her tuition
payment too. Why didn’t you call me?” Uncle Jimmy posed.
“Because you got enough going on. I’m making it work.”
“Lolo,” Uncle Jimmy huffed. “You’re my niece. One call, I would have
had her balance paid and your shop bought and stocked.”
“But at what cost though?” Logan queried. “I let you handle graduation
and her first semester, and you had me running packs to Eddie in the club.
I’m not trying to be in none of that. No disrespect. I’m just saying, if that
were the case then I would’ve called you.”
“Well, I took care of the remainder of the fees. Put some money on your
momma’s books too. Check your mailbox on the way to work.”
Before Logan could reply Uncle Jimmy ended the call making her
screech in annoyance.
Lo: The next time you see Uncle Jimmy don’t tell him shit
 Rahki: I figured it would help you out

Lo: You didn’t

Snatching her purse off of the bed, Logan grabbed her keys and
stomped out of the apartment. Going against Uncle Jimmy would only
make things harder for her. For tonight, she was going to deliver the pack to
Eddie, but she wasn’t going to do it with glee in her step.
Forty-five minutes later, she was standing in a line before Eddie and
Bird, his right hand, being studied. She hated it. It made her feel cheap and
dirty. After Eddie and Bird did their nightly checks, Eddie pulled Logan
aside.
“Heard you got something for me?”
Logan clinched her jaw, skirting her eyes around to make sure no one
spotted her in the empty locker room with him. Concluding that the space
was clear of any bystanders, she reached into her locker and handed him the
pack Uncle Jimmy had someone drop off to her mailbox.
“Do not have him drop off another,” Logan hissed, attempting to walk
away only for Eddie to pull her back and roughly grip her chin.
“Don’t forget that your little ass needs me. Be happy you serving bottles
and not pussy like the rest of them. One misstep and I can make you one of
my bitches.”
Logan pushed him back and rubbed her chin while he laughed. “You
won’t make me nothing. Don’t touch me again.”
Eddie smirked, sliding the pack in the back of his pants. “It’ll be fun
breaking you. I’ll have my niggas help too.”
The comment made Logan’s stomach turn. Hurriedly, she put a great
amount of space between them. Once she hit the club floor and got to the
bar, she spotted Jacari grabbing the bottles and the buckets.
“Girl, where have you been?” Jacari quipped. “We got the ballers
sectionnn. Ayyyy!”
Logan amusedly watched her friend shake her ass and stick her tongue
out.
“Oh, joy,” Logan huffed sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.
“Girl, look alive. You never know, you might catch a baby daddy
tonight and all your money troubles will be behind you.”
Logan’s lip curled. “I don’t want a baby daddy, thank you.”
 “Then don’t block me from finding mine,” Jacari snipped, handing her
three bottles. “Come on.”
Logan rolled her eyes behind the tied mask and followed Jacari into the
VIP. She wasn’t lying, it was toppling over with ballers in town for the
festivities. They were spread out with their phones out recording the
entrance of bottle girls. All but one, Logan noticed. The anomaly of the
group. He sat on the back of the couch, hands folded in his lap, dark
designer lenses over his eyes, a few diamond necklaces dancing around his
neck. His arms were covered in tattooed sleeves, wrist adorned with jewels
as well but even with the way he shined, Logan took quick notice of how
lowkey he was. Especially compared to the rest of the group.
But what stood out to her the most was his luscious locks. The natural
cosmetologist in her wanted nothing more than to sink her hands into them.
They’ve must’ve felt as buttery soft as they appeared.
Logan didn’t realize she was staring at him until he nodded, slightly
smiling at her embarrassment. Just the glimmer of his white teeth
underneath the strobe lights made her shiver. Fumbling over nothing she
quickly placed the bottle in the ice, grabbed Jacari and rushed out of the
VIP.

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five
P
osted in the VIP section of the Scarlet Room, one of Lavendale’s most
popular party spots, Khamari was feeling the vibe. Tonight, they were
living up to their reputation and he was partially happy he decided to
come out and not spend his time held up in his hotel suite.
The club was full of women his mother and sister warned him about
vying for his attention, but the bottle girl assigned to their section was the
star of the show though. She smiled brightly but wasn’t giving none of his
niggas no play.
 “You see that ass on her?” Makavelli questioned loudly in Khamari’s
ear.
“Get your drunk ass off me,” Khamari muttered, nudging his homeboy
off of him. “And chill out.”
“Ay, ma,” Makavelli drunkenly called out toward the masked woman.
Black corset that pushed the handful of breasts she had upward, black
leather shorts stretched across her ass and hips and black tights over her
thick thighs complimented by a pair of boots had everyone’s attention. She
didn’t reply to the cat calls but her friend who was working the section with
her was. Giving them the perfect balance. Ying and yang, mean and too
friendly.
“Nigga you ain’t finna do shit but practice your game,” Khamari
muttered. “Don’t make me call Tati.”
Makavelli hissed. “Your sister ain’t trying to give your boy no play.”
“So hooking up with a random girl is going to do that?” Khamari asked
his attention still on how she moved. It was a shame he felt territorial
already and couldn’t even get her to utter a word to him.
“You kiddin’ Tati ain’t about to beat my ass. I’m the welterweight
champion and she’s going to be the one to knock my ass out.”
“The fact that you know that and haven’t done shit about it yet is
crazy!” Khamari laughed.
“Don’t worry, you gon be giving me a blessing soon. Watch.”
Khamari hummed as he took a sip from his water bottle. “I’ll be
watching for the next ten years. Like I’ve been doing.”
Makavelli waved Khamari off and returned to enjoying the party.
Leaving Khamari’s mind to dance while he steadily watched her from
behind the safety of his dark lenses. Shorty was beautiful and out of place.
He could sense it. In this pool of predators willing to snatch their prey why
was she here and who the hell did she belong to that allowed this. He tried
to curb his thoughts but whatever she had on her was luring him in. Shit,
maybe that was her play – feign innocent then snatch a nigga’s heart and
soul and leave them to die. He wouldn’t allow himself to deal with the
possible fallout that came along with messing with a girl he found in the
club.
“I’m cool on that.”
Or at least that’s what he wanted himself to believe. But God had a
funny way of answering prayers you forgot you prayed.
OceanofPDF.com
six
 ss,” Logan hissed as she peeled her boots from her feet. “Shit.”
“S “Girl, you see all this money we made toniggghttt,” Jacari
slurred, waving her tips in the air.
Logan cut her eyes at her friend, nothing but irritation coursing through
her veins. The moment they got their section assignment, Jacari had
seemingly lost her damn mind. Flirting, sitting in the ballers’ laps, taking
shots and twerking on them.
Logan was no hater, by any means, but she wasn’t ever going to be
dropping ass on any one for a stack of tips. She wanted to shake Jacari, but
she was far too tired to. “You were out of control tonight.”
“Whhaaatttt?” Jacari whined innocently. “All them niggas was fine.
Especially that one that was gawking over you all night but wasn’t saying a
word.”
“Uh huh, soooo we just go against the grain?” Logan quizzed, ignoring
Jacari’s comment. “We decided to work at the club, and we said we wasn’t
going to be doing none of what you were doing, and you were trying to
leave with them? You lost your damn mind.”
Jacari took her wig off and muttered something Logan couldn’t make
out before becoming more coherent. “Can you sew this back down?”
Logan took in a deep inhale and put her hair up in a ponytail. “Yeah, in
the morning. I’m going to sleep. Get some water and sleep that liquor off.”
Logan tossed Jacari pillows and a blanket before heading down the hall
to wash the night off of her. Jacari and Logan had been friends since their
private school days, but those days were long gone. While Jacari still had
her parents to bail her out when she made horrible decisions, all Logan had
was herself and her sister. Acting like Jacari was tonight, was never an
option.
Perhaps it was the lack Logan was experiencing that amplified the
aggravation she felt behind Jacari’s actions. But one thing was for sure, she
couldn’t leave Jacari hanging this weekend. Not if she wanted her friend to
remain intact and safe.
Sleep seemed to only stay with Logan from the time her head hit the
pillow until six in the morning. Popping one eye open, she read the time on
her phone screen and huffed. “A whole three hours of sleep is wild.”
Stretching, Logan roamed down the hall to relieve herself, brush her
teeth and maneuver to the kitchen.
“You didn’t have nothing in here to eat, I ordered us some JoyEats,”
Jacari spoke up from the couch, nursing Pedialyte.
“Thanks, how you feeling?” Logan posed, helping herself to the
unopened tray of food.
“Hungover as fuck and I have to work the hotel in two hours. You still
taking that interview right?”
“I mean,” Logan said with a mouth full of food the need to eat finally
kicking in. “I don’t really have any other choice. On top of everything I’m
covering, mom needs money on her books.”
 “Damn. In my head I just said Ms. Leslie is off on an extended
vacation.”
“Well in reality, she’s very much in prison for first degree murder,”
Logan huffed. “Anyway. I’ll take you to work since I have to be there for
the interview. After that, I’ll be at the restaurant all night until closing.”
“Girl, you got to get your shop and stop playing with yourself like this,”
Jacari shared. “You wouldn’t have to be working this hard if you bet on
yourself.”
“Really, how?” Logan questioned. “Like for real, how am I supposed to
bet on myself? I have real ass responsibilities, it’s not just me I have to take
account for.”
Jacari noticed the way Logan’s nutmeg skin was starting to glow red. “I
didn’t mean it like fuck the world and focus on you but fuck the world and
focus on you.”
Logan swallowed and swiped stray strands of hair from her face. “You
don’t listen. That’s the problem. You are in a position to do whatever you
want. I am not. Rahki has to get through school, it’s not a question. I’m not
going to let her strip or run with a dope boy for a quick come up. The whole
weight on this family falls on me. Me, no one else. Because my daddy
couldn’t get off his supply or keep his hands to himself. Sure, it’d be easy to
pick up the phone, call Uncle Jimmy and get some work but then I’ll be just
like them.”
Jacari removed herself from the couch and shuffled into the kitchen.
Logan didn’t even realize that she was crying. Jacari wiped the tears from
her face and hugged her best friend.
“I’m sorry.”
Logan waved it off. “Don’t be, just don’t bring it up anymore please.
I’m trying the only way I know how without getting caught up with the
GFK.”
“Them Ghost Face Killer niggas ain’t shit to play with either. People
think Queenie is crazy but Ghost. That man still making moves from prison.
I understand. I won’t bring it up again but just promise me that you won’t
give up your dream forever.”
“I won’t, now can we stop this shit? Let me sew your wig back down.”
L ogan sat in the small office belonging to Maria, the manager of the
hotel’s housekeeping staff while she spoke to Isha, the owner of the
hotel. She wasn’t paying either of them much attention. She was calculating
how much the job would pay and what she could handle between rent, her
sister, and her mother. She prayed it would be a relief because she was on
the brink of a break down she wasn’t sure she could survive.
“I’m sorry about that Logan. We have so many people here, we can’t
even think straight,” Maria huffed, pushing her hair out of her face. “Plus,
the people on the fifty-eighth floor are going to have a party tonight so I
need you to start as soon as possible. Can you start today?”
“Today? I can start first thing tomorrow morning,” Logan negotiated.
Maria chewed her lip before she conceded. “Alright. Tomorrow
morning. You’ll come in through the back of the hotel, you’ll change into
your uniform in the locker room. There’s a daily brief at the start of every
shift so don’t be late. I’m happy to have you.”
Logan smiled politely ignoring the vibrating phone in her back pocket,
she was officially late for her shift at PRIMETIME 82. “I’m happy to be
here thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
After the pleasantries, Logan whisked across town to her second job.
“About time you showed up,” Celine, one of the head servers, huffed.
“Navy Thomas is here with friends, the top floor is yours. Be nice.”
“Not you gonna fuss at me and then tell me to be nice,” Logan half-
laughed as she grabbed her iPad and apron. “If the owners are in the
building, I’m always nice.”
“And when they aren’t?” Celine challenged.
Logan plastered a fake smile on her face. “I’m nice.”
“Mmmhmmm,” Celine said before patting her shoulder. “Are we still on
next week for you to tighten up my hair?”
“You know it. I’ll see you later.”
Parting ways, Logan plastered a smile over her face and made her way
up to Primetime’s room, a private room set aside for either the Thomas’ to
have when they showed up or large parties that rented it out.
 Upon entering the room, she spotted a man that made her steps falter.
Never in the history of her being a grown woman had that happened. Trying
as hard as she could, she couldn’t peel her eyes from diamond-cut eyes
surrounded by thick lashes underneath bushy brows. In one sweep of her
eyes over what she could see, she determined that not only was he fine, but
she was going to curb the flutter his presence called to the surface of her
controlled being.
“Hey, Logan!” Mimi called out as she made her way to Miomi’s end of
the table. “I was hoping you were going to be our server.”
“You know I’ll never pass up an opportunity to see your pretty face.
How’s school?”
“Track conditioning and the principal’s honor roll,” Mimi proudly said.
Logan held her hand up for a high five. “That’s my girl. You got to
make sure you tell me when your first meet is so I can be in the stands
screaming for you.”
Jaylani smiled, greeting Logan. “In a few weeks, if they schedule you,
tell them I said no.”
Logan laughed still feeling those eyes on her. “I will. Where’s the
baby?”
“With my mom, she thinks it’s her baby,” Jaylani joked. “Won’t let me
go anywhere with my own child.”
“Enjoy your break, ‘cause you know when you get home…” Logan
said, giving Jaylani a look.
“Mmhmm don’t I know it. The man is trying to get me again, I won’t let
it happen.”
“She’s lying,” Mimi quipped.
Logan laughed, took their orders and took her time moving down to the
other end of the table. Khamari mused over his menu as if he were still
searching for something to order.
“You still need some time?” Logan asked, submitting everyone else’s
orders to the kitchen and impatiently waiting to escape the dazing aura this
man had.
“Nah,” Khamari voiced smoothly. “Tell me what’s good here.”
He wouldn’t look away from her. It was alluring, drawing her in with
every passing moment. Whatever butterflies this man was trying to invoke
within her had to be stopped – he had to be stopped. Logan smirked
slightly, knowing that he was literally sitting at the table with the owners
and their friends and a few of his.
“You’ve been sitting here how long, and you don’t know what you want
to eat?” Her attitude only on display toward him off but it was drawing him
in.
Khamari only briefly looked away from Logan’s naturally round face to
grace the menu one last time before finding her familiar, doe-like avoidant
gaze. The eye contact allowing him to see the flush of her cheeks up close
and personal. It took every atom in his body to control his thoughts from
spilling out of his mouth. Khamari had never felt so uncomposed when it
came to a woman. Typically, his smooth charm eased the way to exactly
what he wanted. But with the woman before him, he found himself wanting
to swim into the depths of her mystery. Instead of asking her to dinner,
flexing slightly or asking her what she was doing when she got off, he
asked, “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”
“Mm mm,” Logan hummed, denying ever seeing him. Which wouldn’t
have been a complete lie if she hadn’t gawked at him the night before. She
didn’t have time to watch TV nor the money to pay for the streaming
services. “Nope, you and I never crossed paths.”
“You sure?” he quizzed.
Logan continued to deny that she recognized him from the night before
at the club. Clearly he was a baller in town for the festivities, but she wasn’t
going to mention it. That wasn’t her style. “One hundred and ten percent
positive that you’re holding up everyone’s dinner.”
Khamari smirked and nodded. “Touché. I’ll take the Primetime ribeye,
medium rare.”
“Why don’t I just drop the whole cow on the table?” she asked,
immediately realizing she said it out loud when he laughed.
His full even, white smile that made his eyes almost disappear behind
his chiseled cheeks – knee buckling.
“How could something be so beautiful?” she mused through her
embarrassment. The thought making her bite her lip slightly.
“You didn’t have to do me like that, Ms. Logan,” his voice snapped her
back to reality, easing the redness on her cheeks. “Medium with the cobb
salad.”
“Alright, anything else?” she questioned, insides twisting more with
every passing moment.
 “For you to tell me where I know you from,” Khamari pressed again.
This time locking his gaze with hers. “For real.”
Logan let equal parts laugh and scoff leave her lip gloss covered lips,
“I’ll get your order put in and hopefully, you’ll get it with everyone else’s.”
Getting away from him immediately was the only thing on her agenda.
Because who was this man and why was talking to her and looking at her
like this. Like she pretty and his.
Khamari watched Logan’s hips naturally switch away from the group,
his mind quickly recalling he saw her last night at the club ignoring his
crew and trying to get a rein on her friend. Intrigued to say the least. But the
warning rang out in his head like alarms.
“No random women. You’re there to close a deal, not to be a hoe.”
His mother had called him three times a day with that reminder, but the
impression Logan had left on him twice was only proving to his brain that
she possibly wasn’t a woman to fear. But his heart was beating triple time,
breath controlled as it could be, ready to take the risk.
“Not you talking shit to me because you wanted her,” Makavelli said
lowly teasing his friend. “You want me to call mama Patience now or later.”
“Don’t call her crazy ass at all. And furthermore I’m chilling,” Khamari
lied.
“Nigga we can all see your tail wagging, tongue hanging out your
mouth and those beady ass eyes got hearts in it. Lie to Jaymerius not me,”
Makavelli pointed out grabbing Jaymerius’ attention.
“Jay don’t have shit to do with this,” he stated looking at his phone.
Social media stalking Logan’s friend. “Won’t have Patience knocking me
over my head because I got her precious baby boy caught up.”
“Boy I’ll never forget how she cussed us out for letting you get with
Kelsi,” Makavelli huffed. “Got a harder hit that man.”
Khamari shook his head watching the entrance like Logan was due to
return at any second. “Again I’m chilling.”
“That’s what your mouth says. Everything on your tall ass looks
smitten. Your ass ain’t never leaving Lavendale,” Makavelli finalized
making Jaymerius nod in agreement.
“Nigga should have traded when I told him too but here he is about to
bagged and tagged. At least try and fight back nigga.”
“Fuck you both.”
“Aight Puffy chill,” Makavelli snipped.
 Logan cleared the table as the party wrapped up their dinner.
“Thank you so much, Lo,” Jaylani said giving her a side hug and
slipping something into her pocket. “Tell me you’re working next Tuesday.”
“I can be if you need me,” Logan shared.
“You know you come highly requested. Please?” Jaylani asked.
“I’ll be here with bells on.”
“Good, I’ll see you Tuesday, don’t work too hard okay?”
“I’ll try my best.”
The women separated and Jaylani left the space, leaving a lingering
Khamari to approach her.
“Whatever it is, the answer is no,” Logan spoke as she cleared the table,
putting enough space between them. He was tall and she refused to break
her neck looking up at him.
She could hear his smirk in his voice. “Not even a tip.”
“Mm mm, Mrs. Thomas took care of that.” Logan tried her best not to
look at him. Not to take in how extremely beautiful this black man was in
the light.
“My God,” she thought. “You really are real.”
“Your number?” Khamari’s voice broke her thoughts. That voice – like
the smoothest leather, velvet, chocolate, pure fucking luxury. Luxury she’d
been denied access to longer than she liked to remember. A tamer that could
make her melt in his hands and she would gladly let him slurp it up and
repeat just for him to do it all over again.
“Get your ass out of here, Lo,” she urged herself internally.
“Definitely not. You have a great night.”
Khamari draped his eyes over her shapely frame one last time. “Aight,
Ms. Logan, you too.”
It wasn’t until Khamari and the rest of the party were completely out of
the building that she released a breath. A breath that maybe she didn’t mind
him holding. How was something as magnetic as that even real. Logan
shuddered, bringing herself back to reality. She muttered to herself, “Jacari
would have ate that up.”
“H ey, Rahki,” Logan greeted as she walked in the house with food
from the restaurant in her hands.
“The water is off,” Rahkel replied with shampoo still in her hair,
the lather dripping down the sides of her face. “I’m going to call Uncle
Jimmy and tell him what’s going on for real.”
“Shit,” Logan huffed, pulling out her phone to use the little bit of money
left in her account after putting money on her mother’s books to pay the
water bill. She meant to handle it earlier, but the distraction of Uncle Jimmy
wiped it from her mind. “Don’t call Uncle Jimmy for shit, Rahki.”
“Why not? He can help us. You’re so damn stubborn,” Rahkel shot
back. “Listen, I’m not trying to sound ungrateful, but can you even afford to
help me out? They were about to drop my classes. Uncle Jimmy just
happened to be there enrolling Lee. Why not ask?”
“Because you never have to pay back what you take from him. I do.
Every time! Your graduation, your senior trip, your tuition. All of that
comes with a cost.”
“He’s our uncle, there’s never a cost for asking him for a favor!”
“He’s a drug dealer and a gangster and everything with him comes at a
price. Don’t ask him for shit else!”
“So we’re just going to struggle?” Rahkel argued. “Do you hear how
that sounds?”
“No, do you hear how you sound? Hm? You sound crazy!”
“What’s the costs? It’s not like he has you serving corners.”
“No, but being a mule is just as bad. Don’t call him for shit else, Kelli.
I’m serious.”
Too tired to combat her attitude with one of her own any further, Logan
dug in her pocket and handed her sister a stack of tips. “That’s a grand, take
that and put it in your account. Whatever you need to do. I got another job,
so I’ll pay the rest of the bills in a few days.”
“Thanks,” Rahkel responded, wasting no time taking the money and
thumbing through it.
“Mmhmm.”
“Don’t be like that,” Rahkel said, trying to quickly soothe things with
her sister. “I’m just trying to make a point.”
“I’m going to eat in my room and wait for the water to come back on so
I can take a shower. Then I’m going to sleep. Don’t be in and out all night.”
“Can you at least blow my hair out?”
 “Nah, I’m tired and I need to be at LV at five in the morning. You can
figure that out on your own. Maybe Uncle Jimmy can have one of his
women do it since you’re so comfortable asking him for money.” Logan
walked away, reaching her room and slamming the door to add emphasis to
her aggravation. “Out here killing myself to help that girl and she’s
complaining and taking drug money.”
Her cellphone buzzed, flashing a number she’d grown accustomed to
seeing. Without wasting time, she answered it.
“Hello.”
“You have a call from an inmate at Neveah Women’s Federal Prison, do
you accept?”
“I accept,” Logan said with a huff. The line instantly connected her to
her mother.
“Hey, baby,” Leslie Taylor’s voice flowed through the phone into
Logan’s ear, stirring up an array of emotions in her gut. For years Logan
had felt strong feelings varying from anger, sadness, depression and
happiness hearing her mother’s voice.
Tonight her voice only added another layer to the mental exhaustion
Logan was experiencing. There were many days she wished she had regular
parents who did regular things. Unfortunately, that’s not the life she was
given and instead of driving herself crazy behind it, she sucked it up and
attempted to make lemonade out of the lemons she was given.
“Hey, Mommy, how are you holding up?”
“I’m good. I got that money, thank you. How’s everything out there?”
Leslie asked the question as if Rahkel hadn’t given her the updates a day
before.
Logan scoffed softly as she plopped on the bed. “You want the truth or a
fantasy?”
“The truth, girl. I can hear the tiredness in your voice. How many jobs
are you working now?” Leslie quizzed. “Your sister said you’ve been
burning the candle at both ends.”
“Three and it’s still not enough, mom. It’s really not and it’s becoming
too much.” Logan’s statement was weighted with the resentment she tried
to hide.
Leslie didn’t pick up on it. Even if she did, she skated over it like she’d
done time after time. Leaving her nine-year-old daughter to care for the
five-year-old was selfish in Logan’s eyes. Why couldn’t she just pack them
all up and run far away. She could have at least tried to keep their lives
intact. But what did it matter now? She was eternally grateful to her late
grandmother for taking the charge of raising the young girls for ten years.
“Let me tell you something, life is going to get too much but when you’re
right at your breakthrough, don’t give up.”
“Unless God is going to make it rain blue faces, I don’t see a
breakthrough coming. Maybe a breakdown.”
“You got to have some faith.” That was the prison church speaking.
Logan was happy her mother found something to pass her time with but
none of it was soothing her right now.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Logan muttered. “I don’t want to talk about me
anymore. Tell me how it’s going.”
“I filed an appeal hopefully it’s granted.”
“And what are you going to do if you come home?” Logan knew what
life her parents lived and what life her family was connected to. If her
mother was going to return to GFK there was no need for her to come out.
Yes, she’d murdered her father but murdering someone in a house stacked
with money in the walls and going down as a queen pin wasn’t something
you could put on a resume or be hired out the gate.
“Maybe work for your uncle.”
Logan shook her head. “You ain’t ready to come back then. Listen, I got
to get some sleep. I love you.”
“I love you too, Lolo,” Leslie sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, it is what it is, mom. Just the way life works out right?”
“Yeah, just the way life works out,” Leslie repeated before ending their
call. “Good night.”
“Good night.”
Logan hung up, set her alarm and put her phone on DND. She couldn’t
take anymore aggravation for the day. As she ate, her mind recalled the way
Khamari’s eyes danced as he took her in.
“Wishful thinking, girl. Take your ass to sleep.”

OceanofPDF.com
seven
 lright, ladies, listen up,” Maria called out through the small briefing
“A area holding fifty housekeepers for the morning shift at the Lavender
View Hotel. “We have over seventy-two professional athletes
staying with us from today through Monday. At no time are you to
fraternize, attend parties, or anything else that’s out of your scope of work.
Clean the room, mark it complete on your handheld, and get out. If it is
discovered that any of you have broken any of those rules, it will result in
immediate termination. Help us help you help all of us and keep your heads
down.”
 Logan skirted her eyes over to Jacari and shot her a warning squint. She
could already see the wheels in her friend’s head spinning. She was
scheming on how to get around their boss like the dozens of times before.
The two silently communicated with their eyes as they waited to hear
their floor assignments. Once confirmed, she and Jacari would be assigned
to the same floor, nowhere near the ballers Jacari had her eyes set on. She
was sure to mutter her disdain about it the entire elevator ride.
“The thirteenth floor is all the families who have these adjoining suites.
The wives are picky, the husbands want to shoot themselves, and the kids
are hell. Prepare yourself for anything,” Jacari shared.
Rolling their carts off of the elevator, Logan shadowed Jacari. Stripping
beds, redressing them, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, replenishing
towels and repeat. By the time they finished the thirteenth floor, Logan’s
lack of sleep was catching up with her.
“You better perk up, we just got a message to go up to the twentieth
floor, apparently the girls are moving behind schedule,” Jacari said with a
roll of her eyes. “Make yourself look lively, there’s ballers on the loose.”
Logan’s energy was low, she didn’t have the wherewithal to do anything
else but keep her head down and clean. Jacari, on the other hand, had
unbutton the top of her lavender hotel-issued smock top. While her friend
worked, Jacari eavesdropped.
“We are not having a party in my room, nigga,” Khamari voiced, as he
strode through the door with his phone in hand, careful not to touch
anything. “I don’t want none of your freaky ass shit missing with mine.”
“But you got the biggest room,” Lanez Porter replied. “Nigga it’s a
party. Bitches, liquor, and weed.”
“First of all I ain’t fucking with none of that.”
Lanez rolled his eyes. “I thought Jay was the church boy. You acting
like his representative now.”
“Does your wife know you out here trying to gather up women in my
suite?” Khamari playfully posed.
Lanez threw his hands in the air to further emphasis his ask. “Nah, and
that’s why it’s going to be in your room. Won’t nobody hear or see shit to
send back to her. And if she asks, I’ve been with you all night playing
cards.”
“Nigga, you ain’t shit. Don’t have me in that,” Khamari rumbled with a
warning tone. “I’m trying to keep your ass out of trouble not fucking in it.”
 Logan could hear his distinctive baritone through the walls and froze
slightly. Three encounters was not some fateful love story she was trying to
write.
That thought made her scoff out loud. “There you go wishful thinking
again. Don’t you know fairytales don’t exist. No one is coming to rescue
you,” she scolded herself lowly.
“We having the party or not?” Lanez asked. “Jay and Makavelli already
told them bitches from the club to pull up tonight. Soooo…”
“Nigga, have that shit in here. Your suite is big enough for all your nasty
ass shit to go down. I don’t want nothing on my pillow when I lay down,”
Khamari finalized.
“Aight bet, but if Gizelle’s crazy ass asks me, it’s your party, your
bitches, your horrible ass idea.”
“It’s the fact that you know this shit is a horrible ass idea and you keep
doing it. She’s going to leave your ass one day.”
Lanez scoffed as if he was exempt from the wrath of a woman,
especially when he was at the root of it. “She ain’t taking her ass nowhere
but to her momma’s house and she’s going to come right back.”
“Oh word?” Khamari queried with a thick brow raised.
“Word. When you get a shorty you’ll see, she’ll let you do whatever you
want as long as you don’t embarrass her. Keep her financed. And drop off
good dick from time to time. She won’t have shit to complain about.
Neither will her momma. If anything her momma gonna send her right back
to you, telling her daughter “he’s a good man”.”
“You live in the clinic on a different planet don’t you?” Khamari was
surrounded by strong women and an even stronger man. There was no way
Patience, let alone Khai, would have allowed for Tatianna to be put through
the shit that Lanez put Gizelle through. That was recipe for disaster.
“Got a private doctor on call, my nigga.”
Khamari curled his lip. “We on two different wavelengths, my boy. Stop
telling people to show up to my suite. They won’t get in.”
“Fine, I’ll have them go in through the balcony,” Lanez finalized,
making Khamari shake his head.
“We’re heading to Canary, you coming or you going to stay up here and
scheme?”
Lanez popped up from his seat, snatching his keycard off of the table.
“Canary got some bomb ass wings. I’m in there.”
 Logan waited until the men left before stepping out of one of the rooms
littered with condom wrappers, questionable towels, and an array of other
debauchery. “I think I’ll take my chances on the thirteenth floor.”
She dropped the questionable towels in the bin attached to the cart and
began changing out her gloves.
“Did you hear that?” Jacari gushed.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Logan stated plainly. “In and out. I didn’t hear
a word or a rumble.”
Jacari smacked her lips. “Do you even know who either of them were?”
“Absolutely not,” Logan replied, telling half the truth. She knew of
Khamari but a gun to her head, she wouldn’t be able to call his name or his
stats and that’s where she wanted to keep her knowledge.
“Lanez Porter from La Bega Rattlers. Mr. Home Run? Is it ringing a
bell? He’s like one of the highest paid players in the MLB. I read
somewhere that his parties are wild too.”
Logan tooted her lips and shook her head. “Nope and from the sounds
of it, I don’t want to know who that is.”
“So you were listening?” Jacari scoffed. “Anyway, you and I are going
to the party tonight.”
“Uh, you and I aren’t going to do a damn thing but work, stay black,
and die,” Logan screeched. “You have lost your damn mind!”
“Stop being so dramatic. When’s the last time you went out?”
Logan gave Jacari a deadpan expression before replying. “I went out
last night. Remember, when you were drunk shaking your ass all over
niggas.”
Jacari returned the expression. “Bitch, we were at work. I’m talking
about got dolled up, put on a cute dress and mingled a little bit.”
Logan rolled her eyes. “I’m not going. I’m exhausted. This is the only
night I’m not at the restaurant or the club.”
“Sounds like it’s a perfect night for you to go out. You’re twenty-nine
not fifty.”
“What part didn’t you comprehend, the I’m, the not, or the going?”
Jacari laughed throwing her head back. “That was good. But don’t
forget you told me you’ll never let me go out alone.”
Logan squinted at her. If looks could kill, Jacari would have been dead
where she stood. Frozen in place like she looked Medusa in the eyes. “I
hate you.”
 “You love me.”
Logan found herself gnawing at her lip, recalling the one night she let
Jacari go out with a group of new people. Arrested for drunk and disorderly
conduct. That was the last time she went out with those friends. Hell, going
out with Aleecia was more acceptable than going out with anyone else but
her.
“Say it,” Jacari coaxed. “Say it.”
“I’ll go but look, when I say that we’re leaving, we’re leaving. None of
your bullshit. You hear me?”
“Yayyy!” Jacari screeched, jumping and attempting to hug Logan’s neck
with dirty gloves still on her hands.
“Don’t you touch me with them gloves on, girl.”
Jacari stopped and looked at her hands. “My bad, girl. Oh this is going
to be so fun.”
“It’s going to be something,” Logan muttered. “Whether or not fun is
the right word, I’m not sure.”

h uh, try again,” Jacari muttered as Logan walked out of her room.
“U “Did you shave like I told you to?”
“I’m not changing again. And my kitty is fine, thank you for the
concern.”
“Are you sure, though? It’s been a minute,” Jacari stated as Logan
grabbed her keys off the counter. Over her shoulder was a duffle bag.
“What’s the bag for?”
“Oh, I don’t trust you to leave on time. I picked up an extra shift
tomorrow at LV so just in case your ass get stupid over dick, I can change.”
“In case I get stupid over dick, huh?” Jacari replied with a smirk. “You
sure you don’t want to change though?”
Logan looked down at the black dress with the minimal split on the
thigh and strappy heels. Unlike Jacari, she didn’t have a whole section in
her closet dedicated to skimpy outfits for the purposes of catching
unsuspecting men. “No, I’m not. Because I’m not selling pussy or giving it
away.”
“You sure?” Jacari posed. “You could, I wouldn’t judge you. You could
pay for your cosmetology classes, get your license, your shop, stock your
shop…”
“Cari, please leave me alone before I take this shit off and stay at home.
Where I should be staying anyway.”
“Fine, take a shot first and we’ll go,” Jacari posed, pulling a small bottle
from her purse.
Logan’s lip curled slightly. “You just keep that stashed away?”
“Girl, stop playing stupid like you don’t know these niggas be playing
with drinks. And rumor has it that someone on his team is a diddler. I’m not
playing with these niggas tonight.”
Logan tilted her head slightly. “How do you know all of this?”
“Research. Can’t be amongst the ballers without knowing who is who,”
Jacari gave her theory a voice.
“You’re right,” Logan conceded, taking a shot from the flask. “Ohh shit,
that’s likka. That’s why I don’t drink. I think that just put hair on my chest.”
“Mmmhmm, or on the pussy you’ve refused to shave,” Jacari hummed
as she guzzled hers. “Come on. Rahki doesn’t want to come?”
“Please leave me alone and furthermore Rahki is on campus tonight
studying for a test tomorrow.” Logan strutted toward the door tugging at the
hem of her dress.
“Girl stop, you know that dress is church mother approved.”
Logan shot her a look over her shoulder. “Don’t piss me off.”
“Fine.” Jacari threw her hands up in retreat. “Fine.”
The pair arrived with a cluster of other party goers undetected by hotel
staff as they ascended to the party floor. Party goers spilled out of the
expansive suite. With bodies packed from wall to wall, the room seemed a
lot smaller to Logan than it did before.
Hand in hand, Logan and the captain of the bad decision ship, Jacari
weaved themselves through the crowd until they found some space to
breathe. The last thing Jacari was looking forward to do was breathing. She
didn’t waste any time peeping the scene with the predatory lean. Spotting
her prey of the night, she tapped Logan.
“Meet me at the entrance I showed you at one o’clock,” Jacari spoke in
her ear over the music.
 “Is your phone on or are you playing me?” Logan snipped in tandem
with taking her friend’s bag. “You know what. I know how to fix this.”
Upon opening her bag she discovered a handful of gold wrappers, a bag
of weed, lip gloss, house keys, and Jacari’s phone. Handing her the bag
back, she roamed through her friend’s phone and set an alarm to hold Jacari
at her word.
“Here, even trade,” Jacari quipped, stuffing a couple of condoms down
into the front of her dress. “You’ll need those.”
“Bitch,” Logan hissed attempting to get the condoms out of her bra and
back in Jacari’s hand but in true Jacari fashion, she was on her prowl. “I
cannot stand her ass.”
Alone in a crowded room, Logan huffed and took in her surroundings.
Ballers who wanted to be seen shouting over the music. Thick weed smoke
that without question was going to have her washing her hair the minute she
got home. There was so much to take in – women grinding on players she
knew without a doubt were married but the tattooed fingers or black rubber
band rings didn’t mean shit to them or the women they were entertaining.
Disgusting.
That was the very behavior that ended her parents for good. Logan
found it funny that her mother could stomach abuse, but abuse coupled with
infidelity sent her to her breaking point. Either that or the rumored child her
father sired outside of their marriage. Yeah, that was it. She was sure that
the family her father tucked away was the cause of that last fight. The one
that haunted her when her brain was calm enough to remember.
Sick of the view before her eyes, she stepped out onto the balcony,
finding the quietest spot to let her mind settle. Logan found an empty seat at
the far end of the balcony and crossed her legs and arms to combat the chill
of the Lavendale night. Mainly, the wind accompanied with the elevation.
The music and cheers from partygoers started to be background noise to
her thoughts. However, before she could deep dive into that emotion, an
overwhelming presence beckoned for her attention.
“Miss Logan,” Khamari’s voiced oozed gracing her ears like music.
“Not the party type?”
Logan blinked a few times trying to part her mind from the fantasy
world his mere memory lingered in. This was reality. He was here. Why
wouldn’t he, his room was just feet away from the Sodom and Gomorrah
party happening next door.
 “Mm mm, no,” Logan softly answered, avoiding that all-consuming
gaze he’d held since their eyes met initially.
Khamari took a seat next to her and handed her an opened cup, making
her curl her lip up.
“Parties might not be my thing but I’m not stupid,” Logan spoke, gently
pushing the cup back to him making him snicker.
“It’s water,” he replied taking a long sip. “I’m in season, I don’t drink.”
“Oh, even worse, you wanted me to drink behind you?” Logan sassed
with a humorous snort. “Does that work for you? Tainted saliva water and a
cute smile?”
“You think I have a cute smile?” Khamari asked, his dimple more
emphasized by his growing smile.
Logan rolled her eyes. “No, I don’t.”
“There you go not telling me the truth again. You work at the club. I
remember.”
Logan rolled her eyes again and waved him off. “There was far too
many women there for you to remember little ol’ me.”
“Little ol’ you, huh?” Khamari mocked that boyish grin and refusal to
let her eyes pull away was making her heartbeat flood in her ears. “I
remember. It’s your…eyes.”
“My eyes?” Logan scoffed. “Boy, stop playing with me.”
Logan was well aware of her assets and well aware that men would
gawk but never speak to her like she was human. There was an array of “ay,
little mama, bring that ass over here.” “Shit, I’ll eat that pussy from the
back.” And her all-time favorite, “I got some dick to put a smile on that
face.”
All of it was piggish behavior that repulsed her.
“What am I looking at?” Khamari asked.
Logan darted her eyes away, brows knitting in the middle of her
forehead. “I don’t know.”
Khamari reached over to gently turn her reddening face back to face his.
“Your eyes. I can’t forget them.”
Logan swatted his hand away, rolled her eyes again and removed her
body from the chair. “Boy, leave me alone.”
Upright and leaning on the banister so high in the sky, Logan wrapped
her arms around her body tighter than before. Khamari stayed seated for a
moment, taking in all of her. Sure those hips, ass and thighs were
permanently burned in his mental, but her eyes held stories he wanted to
know about. Before his mind could drift off on thoughts about how good
she’d feel wrapped around him. Her head on his chest, cute feet in his hands
while they kicked it, he brought himself back.
“Nigga, get your shit together,” he scolded himself. “You wildin’.”
That might’ve been true, but he couldn’t deny himself her space. Two
magnets aggressively pulling to one another. Mainly, his north pole rushing
to her reluctant south. He stood, joining her at the banister.
“I ain’t trying to kick game to you or nothing like that but that dress
ain’t for the wind out here,” he offered.
“What? You inviting me inside? And then what, you gon’ ask me if I’m
into giving head or you got something to put a smile on my face?” Logan
quipped, pursing her lips together and squinting her eyes. “If so, I’m not
into it.”
Khamari laughed. “Girl, what?”
“You heard me, boy,” Logan snipped, looking him up and down. Sweats
pulled over his muscular legs and a basic white tee over his torso. He had
no plans in joining that party from the looks of it. At least in comparison to
the men inside the nearby suite.
He was free of the jewels outside of his ears and necklace. His coils
pulled back into a low ponytail at the base of his head. His hairline in need
of a shape up. A good grade of hair in need of a deep condition and trim.
“Why you keep lookin’ at me like that?” he teased. “You talkin’ about
me being on some creep shit. You lookin’ like you want to eat me up.”
“Oh my God, please,” Logan snorted in a laughter she couldn’t locate
the origin in which it came. She covered her face, the snort more
embarrassing than cute.
Khamari touched her again, the shudder more evident this time. He
gently peeled her hands from her face. “Stop hiding.”
“I’m not hiding,” Logan played coy. “That snort was ugly.”
“Nah, it was about as cute as my smile.”
Logan cut her eyes up at him.
“Your words not mine,” he offered. “Sure you don’t want to go inside?
You’re shivering.”
With unfounded lust and cold. It was cold although spring was starting
to creep into the end of the February frost. She balanced her options. Stay
out here and freeze in this tiny ass dress or go inside and potentially have
that tiny dress tossed across the room.
“No funny shit. I can fight,” Logan warned, her hands still engulfed in
his very large, warm hands.
“My mother raised a gentleman, and my father would kill me,” Khamari
shared, taking a step backwards toward his side of the balcony. “I got
snacks, movies, or you can just sit across the room and pretend I’m not
there.”
“That’s kind of hard,” Logan spoke louder than intended. Her feet
followed his lead. His suite compared to Lanez Porter’s was neat. Not
populated with the bullshit or people. Just a few of his things on the counter
top, a candle lit on the coffee table, the TV playing Love and Basketball and
a half empty glass bottle on the end table.
Comfort and warmth engulfed her. Safety. Outside of her own doing,
she hadn’t felt safety since her mother was dragged from their home in
cuffs. An audible sigh of relief escaped her being. She covered that release
with a smart comment. “Love and Basketball?”
“What? It was on,” Khamari defended with laughter as he slid the
balcony door shut and strode to the fully functional kitchen. “It’s a classic.”
Logan scoffed. “It’s trash. Monica was so in love with the thought of Q
she played him for his heart?”
“You never played a sport huh?” Khamari asked, coming back into her
space with an unopened bottle of water.
“Thanks.” Logan retrieved the glass bottle of water that was far outside
of her budget. “And no, I haven’t. Never had the passion.”
“Then what’s your passion?” Khamari asked, taking the other end of the
couch.
“Hair,” Logan lowly answered.
Khamari caught the glimmer in her eyes when she spoke. He smirked.
“Aight then, imagine someone told you that you couldn’t have that one
thing that invoked that feeling hair does in you. If you touched it, felt it,
loved every ounce of it before you knew what love was and something
threatened to take that from you forever.”
Little did he know that that was her reality. No license, no salon, no
fruition of her dreams. She hid that. At least she thought she did. Khamari
caught it but said nothing. He caught every contort and wrinkle of her face.
He couldn’t help but take note to it. Enthralled with it all.
 Logan took his words and held on to them. Even if they were just for a
moment, just for tonight it felt like it would be something to hold on to.
Even if it only lived in the back of her mind.
“That’s Monica and Q. Yeah sure, it was fucked up how they got there
but navigating through love when you don’t know yourself is tough.”
“Sounds like you know all too well.”
Khamari shrugged and chuckled. “Thirty years of life. Only been in
love once and that shit was treacherous. I heard the first is like that.”
Logan winced, having no experience in what it was to be in love. “I
guess.”
She twisted the top of the water off and took a swig.
“If you need anything else let me know. There’s tea in here and a whole
bunch of other shit my momma sent up here?”
“She’s your momager, huh?” Logan asked, happy to change the
conversation from what she lacked. Though this subject was a sharp
reminder too.
“I’m a grown ass man who can’t leave the state without her sending
JoyEats up here with something every day. These are the days her and my
father should be traveling the world but she’s hovering me.”
“You’re her son. I heard mothers are crazy over their sons.”
Khamari nodded. “Like father’s over their daughters. You know?”
She tried to nod but she couldn’t. “Actually…no I don’t. But that’s
really good your parents love you like that. I always dreamt of what that
would be, or how it would feel to be loved like that.”
Her admission was soft and if Khamari wasn’t tuned into her every
word, he would have missed it. He leaned into her words brows furrowed at
the sound.
“Damn, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t,” she corrected. “Don’t be sorry or feel sorry. It is what it is. You
just learn to adjust. I guess like you do when tossing the ball.”
Khamari slightly chuckled at her reference. “Tossing the ball?”
“I don’t watch sports, forgive me.”
“No offense taken.” Khamari stood up and reached for her hand. “Can I
show you something?”
Logan squinted one eye.
“Innocent, I swear,” he urged.
 There went that comfort and warmth again. She placed her hand in his
and stood to her heeled feet.
“Momager Patience, bargains and barters for this suite every time I’m in
town because of this room,” Khamari started leading her through a once-
closed door. A mini arcade room complete with classic Pacman, virtual
motorcycle, pool table and a basketball hoop accompanied with two hoops
and four balls.
“Oh this is nice,” Logan gushed over the dark oak room, walls dress
with black foam mats to combat the sound from the inside, and low
lavender lights. On brand for the hotel.
“Isn’t it? And I don’t toss balls, Ms. Lo, I shoot.”
Logan threw her hands up playfully in defense. “My bad.”
Khamari picked up a ball and looked down at her feet. “Can’t shoot in
them heels though.”
Logan furrowed her brow again. “I thought I was just going to watch
you.”
“Nahh ain’t no fun in that,” Khamari playfully urged. “Take ‘em off.”
Logan placed her purse on the pool table before unhooking her heels
from her feet. She joined him at the hoops, without the heels, standing side
by side, she realized exactly how tall he was.
“Damn,” fell from her lips making Khamari grace her with that dimpled
smirk. “I should probably put my heels back on. Give me a fighting
chance.”
Khamari laughed. “You got a fighting chance, you’re learning from a
pro.”
He placed the ball in her tiny hands. “You see that square on the
backboard?”
Logan nodded. Every motion filling his nose with the intoxicating floral
scent of apricot, mandarin orange, grapefruit blossom, jasmine, and rose.
Every time she flipped her tresses from her face his knees buckled from the
whiff of musk, sandalwood and cashmere notes too.
Khamari put space between them, not wanting his evident arousal to
drive her away. “Hold it like this and release.”
Logan watched how the ball rolled off of his fingertips like poetry and
swooshed through the net. She attempted to mimic it and failed. “Okay,
wait. Show me again.”
 Khamari laughed, repeating the motion stance and all. Logan studied
every movement, the flex of his muscles, the focus on his face, and the
effortlessness it took to command the ball in his favor.
“Okay,” Logan blew trying again but to no avail.
“Aight,” Khamari chuckled. “Let me help you. I can’t sit back and
watch this.”
“You’re a whole seven feet taller than me,” Logan joked.
“The two feet doesn’t matter. There might be someone on a high school
team about as tall as you making buckets,” Khamari joked making Logan
cut her eyes up at him as he put the ball back in her hands and stood behind
her. He tried his best not to brush against her. “Maybe a middle school
team.”
She slightly nudged him with her elbow. “The jokes.”
“I’m just saying,” he replied, positioning her arms just right. Electricity
flowed through their beings. It was undeniable. Neither of them were
imagining it – this thing between them brewing. Burning.
Khamari caught Logan’s eye roll and mumbled in her ear before urging
her to release the ball. “I like that eye rollin’ shit, you better cut it out.
Before I start shooting real shots.”
Logan’s gasp was audible. The throb of her pussy felt throughout her
being when Khamari’s control dropped for a millisecond and his body
brushed against hers. Recovery was swift but the moment wasn’t forgotten.
“Let me try again,” Logan said, trying to shake off whatever had come
over her. She leaped to make the shot. The ball bounced off the rim making
it impossible for Khamari to just let it happen. The leap made her ass ripple,
his dick stiffened.
“Fix your stance,” Khamari coached touching her gently, but the heat
and shock of desire jolted them. The ball from Logan’s hands, bouncing
then rolling across the floor as one large step from Khamari closed the
space between them.
His fingers gripped her chin ever so slightly. She yielded to it. His neck
craned, allowing her nose to inhale the mint on his breath, the scent of
coffee, nutmeg, sage and peppermint filling her nostrils. There went the
throb of her neglected pussy. Outside of her monthly menstruation, she paid
little mind to it being there or needing anything but a shave here and there
and a good wash twice a day, three times if she was off because cleanliness
was next to godliness.
 Khamari’s thick lips pressed against hers. Logan’s hand found his wrist
after the third peck when his tongue parted her lips. Before Logan could
grapple the rest of her sense, she moaned into his mouth making him pull
her in closer. His hardness pressed against her stomach. The realization
pulled Logan back to reality – seemingly.
She pulled away, tucking her lips. “I should…um… I should…”
Words failed her. Her brain putty to Khamari’s touch in whatever
variation of subtle or bold. This could be dangerous.
“Stay,” his voice rumbled, while his long arms pulled her back into his
body. “You should stay.”
Logan’s tongue pressed against the inside corner of her upper lip as she
tossed the idea of what staying entailed. “Khamari, I…”
“Want you to stay,” he admitted aloud, the need for her to accept his
admission desperate in his eyes. “I, Khamari, want you, Logan, to stay.”
The butterflies, the anxiety, the coursing of unregulated emotions made
her head dizzy, unconsciously nodding in acceptance. With haste, Khamari
resumed their kiss, his hands gripping her waist and hips. He lifted her off
of her feet placing her on the edge of the pool table. The kiss deepening.
Their hands exploring, minds intoxicating with the chemistry swirling
around them.
Logan’s hand found the back of his head, pulling the holder loose to
release his hair. He nipped her lip at the release, their moans in tandem. Her
hands gripped the root of his hair and his hand found her left breast. The
condom still there.
“Oh shit,” Logan muttered pulling back.
A silly grin wiggled over his lips as Logan’s hands dropped from his
hair to over her breast. Embarrassment struck over her face. “What’s that?”
“N-nothing. I should go. I really should,” Logan fumbled over her
words, lowly cursing Jacari.
“Nah. Uh uh,” Khamari said, reaching inside of her bra just enough to
pull out the condom Jacari stuffed here.
“My best friend is stupid. This wasn’t even on my bingo card for
tonight,” Logan admitted, avoiding his amused expression.
“Can you be mad at her for insuring your safety?” Khamari posed,
tilting her chin so she could look at him. There was a need to have her eyes
on him. One he wouldn’t be able to control the longer she was in his
presence. In his hold.
 “No but it’s a bit embarrassing,” Logan admitted.
“Ain’t nothing to be embarrassed about. Smart actually. Always protect
yourself, your being is sacred.”
Logan scoffed with laughter. “Yeah and I was about to let you inside of
it.”
Khamari stepped away. No stranger to consent. “We can do this
however you want to do this.”
“It’s been a really long time,” she shared softly. “Too long.”
“Lo.” The way he rumbled her nickname only spiked her need to have
him. “Tell me what you need.”
She scoffed in laughter. “Don’t ask me that.”
“Tell me what to ask you.”
“Ask me what I want.”
His timbre made her shudder. “What do you want?”
“Can you make my worries disappear? Just for tonight?” There was a
desperate trill in her voice. He found it through the satin of her voice. She
studied the rigidness of his frame. Hair wild, eyes those of a hunter on its
prey, and twitch of his lips. Then, there was the arousal in his pants begging
to be released from the constraints.
“I can. And after tonight?”
Logan rose a brow. “That matters?”
Khamari’s smile was telling. It absolutely mattered. She didn’t even
know she had the power to open him up and make him whatever she
wanted him to be. For tonight, he’d take her body to heights unknown but
in the morning, she was doomed to return to reality.
He took her space and her lips again. The explosion of passion was
undeniable from her lips down her neck, to her now exposed breasts.
“Can I taste you, Lo?” he asked, his finger pressing against the seat of
her panties, damp with evidence that the answer would be yes.
“Y-yes,” Logan moaned from the mere touch.
A hungry glint flashed in his eyes as Khamari picked her up off of the
pool table and carried her with ease through the living area into the
bedroom he’d occupied since arriving. Dispelling her into the middle of the
bed and grinning down at the sight of her.
“You’re beautiful, Lo,” he trilled, making her quake.
She’d always heard it from a man on the block that wanted to fuck her
and brag about having the late Paco’s daughter. With Khamari it seemed
genuine. But he was a player – could be true to form on and off the court, so
she didn’t hold on to it.
Her cheeks reddened and her eyes avoided his glare. That was until he
pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it across the room. The tattooed
torso making her glare penetrate him. “So are you.”
Khamari smiled. “Making a nigga blush, shit.”
He pulled her by the ankles to the edge of the bed then effortlessly
removed her panties. He tossed them somewhere before lowering himself to
his knees. “Do me a favor, Lo.”
“What’s that?” she breathed with weighted anticipation.
“Grip my hair when it’s good to you.”
That statement made her center twitch. Khamari smirked at the sight
before kissing her lower lips not giving a damn about the short layer of hair.
He was a grown man and Logan was a woman he never had the pleasure of
encountering. Using his fingers to expose the sensitive bud, he groaned.
“Pretty pussy.” He dragged his tongue over her sleekness.
Logan’s back arched, her eyes looked down her body, finding his. They
were low like a cheetah tiptoeing through the water to get to the alluring
gazelle minding it’s business. Khamari’s mouth, hot and sensual, consumed
her melting center. Logan attempted to focus on her breathing, the design of
the ceiling, the chill making the tiny hairs all over her body stand at
attention. Khamari’s mouth and fingers sending her senses into overdrive.
The sheets she was clawing at doing nothing to combat the way his long
fingers invaded her while his tongue lapped over her bud.
She gripped his hair again, unlocking something beastly and beautiful
inside of Khamari. He pulled the hood of her clit back and attacked it as if
he was trying to launch her into space.
“Kha-Kh-Mari,” she whined, balancing her sight on him thoroughly
enjoying her pussy and the ceiling. “Marriiii.”
He groaned, keeping his motion, loving the way her body gripped then
expanded to accept him then hold his digits tighter. “This shit is perfection.”
“I-shiittt,” Logan hissed, feeling like her body was coming apart into
atoms. “Cummingggg.”
A release of arousal sprayed over his face, earning her a smack on the
ass. He didn’t stop, didn’t shy away from her body’s reward to him.
Khamari licked her pussy, thighs and crack of her ass.
“Lo lo,” he groaned, pushing his body up and over hers.
 Logan reached up, body still shivering, gripping him by the hair so his
essence covered lips could clash with hers. She moaned, pulling the taste of
herself off his tongue.
Khamari managed to pull her dress completely off of her and stepped
out of his sweats. Logan sat up, tugging at the top of his boxers. If tonight
was all she had, it would be no hold bars.
Khamari peered down his body as Logan freed him and grunted in
marvel at the sight. Logan ran her fingers over the corded, pulsating veins
and licking her lips as they danced around the mushroom tip, sticky with
precum.
She licked it. Shy at first then growing more comfortable as she took
him into her mouth, using her hand to assist. Khamari hissed, gently
massaging her scalp.
“Look at me,” he urged through gritted teeth.
Logan’s eyes found his, his enamored glint gave her the confidence to
go harder. One hand was pressed against his chiseled abs while the other
was pulled from his dick to tangle his fingers in. It was foreign for him to
be this guy. No way could he only have her for tonight and go on as though
she was just another pussy. No. She wasn’t. Something rested in her depths
that he wanted to touch, to watch bloom.
Khamari’s eyes danced as she watched Logan devour as much of his
dick as she could. He wanted to be inside of her, now. Hearing that glorious
stutter of his name fill the room. Only she could make it sound like it
deserved to come off her lips.
He pulled himself out of her mouth leaving behind swollen, pouty lips.
Khamari mounted the bed urging her up toward the headboard. Reaching
into his nightstand, he pulled out a condom, sheathed himself and looked
for her nod.
“Yes,” she granted, instantly feeling the pressure of his entry consume
her. “Ah!”
“You good?” Khamari quizzed, halting his pursuit.
“So good,” she managed, wrapping her legs around him to urge him
inside. “Please don’t stop.”
Khamari grunted, inch by inch expanded her walls to take him in. A grip
made for him. The thought made his head spin. He cradled his face into the
crook of her neck, moaning in her ear. That made her wetter.
“You moaning like it’s good.” Her words oozing just like her pussy.
 “It is. Shit.”
Khamari found his stroke slow at first so she could adjust, and when her
body matched his rhythm, her moans elevating, fingers clawing at his back,
he picked up the pace. Missionary, cowgirl, reverse cowgirl, doggy style,
sixty-nine ─ the music next door drowning out their moans of pleasure.
Khamari and Logan explored, making the most of their time together until
they were spent, knocked out in the middle of his bed, her body safely
tangled in his limbs.

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eight
L
ike a jolt of lightening, the deep breathing turned subtle snore snatched
her from the sex-induced slumber. Logan’s eyes bounced around the
room. Gone was the music bumping through the walls from the hours
before. Khamari was still behind her, his long arm thrown over her bare
waist. Damn, he was still a sight even when he was sleep. Logan studied the
lull of his breathing, snores that wouldn’t ever bother her. Peacefulness
rested over him.
She could gaze at him forever and that was the problem. This wasn’t a
forever thing. This was one night and that was over. Logan gently eased
herself to the edge of the bed. With every motion forward, Khamari, in the
realm of his slumber, found her body. It would have been cute if she was
supposed to be here. If her job wasn’t on the line. If she could rest in this
sense of security forever, in a perfect world, she would have. But she
couldn’t, she wouldn’t even risk it. So Logan made it completely out of the
bed, giving him one last lingering glance followed by a soft kiss against his
cheek.
“Thank you.”
Clear of Khamari’s reach and bed, she shuffled around the room picking
up her clothes unable to find her panties. “Shit, shit, shit,” she hissed quietly
to herself, the ache Khamari left between her legs making it impossible to
move too fast.
She couldn’t be weighed down by the lingering after effects of good
sex. Hastily, she dressed – condom-less bra, Jacari-disapproved black dress,
no panties, and heels. She silently snapped her fingers and trampled across
the dark living space to the game room that started all of this shit. Her heels
were still laid by the pool table and her purse atop it.
Slipping her feet into the heels and fastening them, she trotted to the
balcony door. The crisp dawn air nipping her with a vengeances as she
tiptoed over to the open door.
“These drunk motherfuckers,” she huffed to herself. Partygoers passed
out and sprawled across the chairs, floors, and bed. In one bedroom, Lanez
Porter was passed out between three women sprawled over the bed. Logan
shook her head and peeked in the next room, finding Jacari and Jaymerius.
Like her, Jacari enjoyed herself but with too many eyes to witness.
Logan found her clothes, gathered them and tapped her best friend
while whispering. “Bitch, it’s four in the morning.”
Jacari mumbled incoherently in her sleep before Logan plucked her
between the brows and slapped her hand over her mouth. “Hush. Shh.”
Jacari blinked the sleep out of her eyes and looked around at the room,
Jaymerius’ bare body then hers. She was clearly still intoxicated but Logan
wasn’t going to fight with her. Not now. The fight would have to wait until
they were clear of the hotels cameras. Logan dressed a hungover Jacari like
a baby before leading her out of the hotel suite littered with
unmentionables.
True to the plan, they eased down the stairs until they were in the
parking garage where Jacari finally muttered something coherent. “I’m
going to throw up.”
Through hungover goggles, she found a nearby trash bin and hovered
over it. Logan held her hair in need of brushing and slightly frowned, aways
having a weak stomach for puke. It was becoming clear that Jacari wasn’t
going to show up for her shift today.
Jacari wiped her face with the back of her hand and sighed. “I’m not
ever drinking again.”
Lies.
“I take it you’re not working today?” Logan sassed, watching her friend
stagger the rest of the way to Logan’s car.
“I can’t even remember my name yet,” Jacari muttered, leaning against
the car. “I’m going to sleep this off until your shift is over.”
There was no disappointment in Logan’s features. At least not with
Jacari. She expected this from her. But her night with Khamari wasn’t
something she expected from herself. The ache between her thighs with
every step served as a constant reminder, coaxing memories of him grinding
deep inside of her as if he were in search of the world’s most precious
jewels.
“Shit,” she blew lowly to herself. She checked her almost dead phone
and huffed. Turning attention back to Jacari, she opened the car and grabbed
her bag. “Do not throw up in here.”
“I promise I won’t, just let me sleep.”
Logan nodded as if Jacari could see her through her closed lids. Gently
shutting the door, Logan pulled an oversized hoodie and sweats over her
body before entering the building through the service entrance. She made it
past security and scurried to the showers to rid herself of the night she
shared with a man she couldn’t have. He was out of her league. What would
a baller like Khamari Coleman want with a maid, bottle girl, server girl,
part time drug mule like her? She didn’t even have anything of her own to
be proud of. From the outside looking in, pretending to be on his level was
only making her look like a gold digger and she hated that idea.
After showering and dressing into her uniform for the day, she sat down
on a bench and yawned. She’d managed to wrestle her half-reverted, half-
straightened hair into a high messy bun. Logan had at least forty five
minutes to herself before the rest of the morning staff came clamoring into
the locker room. Sleep wasn’t going to find her. The mirage of dings from
her charging phone, Uncle Jimmy, Rahkel, bill collectors and then the
unrelenting images of Khamari deep inside of her, his lips kissing over
every inch of her.
She moaned inadvertently. It seemed loud enough to make her eyes
flutter open. Twenty minutes passed and the locker room was starting to fill
up. Like her, most of the older housekeepers were coming off a midnight
shift. They’d managed to rush home, send their children off to school and
barely make it here. Logan silently looked around and noted that she didn’t
want to live the rest of her life like that. Something had to change and
quick. Her thirtieth birthday was creeping up, her depression and anxiety
attempting to assemble like the Avengers.
No time for that.
“Good morning, ladies!” Maria’s voice sounded off. “I’ll give everyone
a few minutes to finish trickling in before we go over the morning brief.”
Logan stood, stretched her sore body and put her phone in her duffle
bag. After locking her assigned locker, Maria eased back around with a
giant cup of coffee.
“Logan, where’s your girl?” Maria asked with a raised brow.
Logan was terrible at lying and she hated being put on the spot. She
swallowed the lump in her throat, she placed a convincing smile over her
tired face. “Hopefully somewhere around here.”
That was the best she could do under the pressure. Maria hummed and
nodded. “When she put you on, I thought you would be as unreliable as
she’s been. I’m proven wrong.”
With that, Maria walked to the front of the locker room grabbing
everyone’s attention with a hand clap. “Alright, listen up! We have over five
call outs and our ballers had a party last night. Logan, Angel, Shanell, and
GeGe, you four are going to handle the baller floor. You know the rules, in
and out as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Go ahead and get a head
start.”
Logan internally gritted. Grabbing her cart, tablet, and phone and
headphones because she was going to need it to get through this shift since
Jacari wouldn’t be near scheming and plotting in her ear.
Back on the floor she’d barely escaped from, Logan looked at the tablet
for her room assignments. To her luck, she would have to clean up after
herself in Khamari’s suite. She prayed that he would still be sleep as she
quietly entered.
 Kitchen, game room, living space, spare bedroom filled with racks of
clothing and sneakers. His All-Star jersey for the highlight game of the
weekend was in the far corner. His team didn’t play with his looks. Logan
didn’t linger too long, she wanted to get out of here before being spotted.
She eased into the bedroom where he was still knocked out in the
middle of the bed. Instead of holding her, he was clinging to a bundle of
pillows holding her scent and snoring louder than when she left him.
“In and out,” she muttered to herself picking up the wrappers from their
night together. Trash collected and bundled and thrown in her bin. Towels
were next. She spotted her panties among the pile of clothes. She grabbed
and stuffed them in her pocket, upon hearing him grunt.
Now with a handful of towels, her eyes bugged out of her head, and she
tried to hurry out of the room. Khamari still full of sleep, trudged from the
bed, still naked, dick stiffened with morning wood and the need to relieve
himself. She bit her lip as she looked away as if the sight of him was going
to land her right back in his bed. Her feet still moving quicker than she
could keep up with. Shooting across the room, she tripped over air, making
her face plant into a pile of dirty towels. Thankfully, she was out of his
bedroom. He hadn’t even noticed.
But Logan laid there, face down until he was back in the bed snoring
again. She popped up, stuffed the dirty towels in their designated space. She
placed clean towels in the bathroom, making a note in the tablet to replace
the sheets when he was gone. It wasn’t until she was out of his room,
scrubbing her face with moist towelettes that she allowed herself a weighted
sigh.
“Damn girl, it can’t be as bad as this one,” Shanell sounded off. “Can
you help me? You’re definitely going to need gloves.”
Being that Logan saw it when she pulled Jacari out this morning, she
was already donning her gloves. Logan entered the room behind Shanell.
“Mrs. Porter is not going to be pleased about this,” she whispered.
Logan didn’t say anything being that she didn’t know much about Lanez
outside of the fact that he was a cheater. “Wait, please tell me you know
something about this world.”
“I know nothing,” Logan muttered.
“Gizelle Porter is the “IT” WAGS. She is the gatekeeper for all the
girlfriends gunning to be wives. Want to be accepted by the rest of them, get
on her good side. She’s allowed him to do whomever he deems fit but if he
embarrasses her, it’s game over. Last year, she tore the penthouse room up.”
Shanell found glee in the breakdown of something as sacred as
marriage. Logan wasn’t amused by any of it. Lanez Porter was a dog and
according to the rumors, Gizelle allowed it. No way. But who was she to
judge anyone. She couldn’t even pay all her bills without delivering a pack
for her uncle here and there.
Logan let Shanell gossip with herself until the floor was done and she
was downstairs taking her first break of the day. Sneaking out of the
building, she went to the car to check on Jacari. Jacari was awake now
changed out of her dress, feet on the dash and pecking away on her phone.
“Oh, look whose alive,” Logan sassed.
“Don’t even start. I’m JoyRiding home to sleep the rest of this off and
then, when you’re off, we’re going to the celebrity game tonight.”
“No we aren’t, I have a shift at Pri-”
“No you don’t, I called out for you. I told them you were sick they
believed me, sent their well wishes.”
“Jacari, have you lost your damn mind?”
Jacari studied her bestie sporting the after-fuck glow still radiating from
her skin. “Nope but I see a little KC had you losing yours for a night.”
Logan’s eyes darted around the parking garage.
“Relax, no one is listening to us. Tell me, how was it?”
Logan’s cheeks flushed. Refusing to answer. Because really how could
she. The man swiped all sense from her being round after round. “I’m not
going to that game.”
“You are,” Jacari stated stepping out of the car as her JoyRide appeared.
“I’ll be at your house at six to dress you in something worth a nigga
breaking his neck for.”
“I hate you,” Logan huffed knowing that no matter how she fought,
Jacari was indeed going to attempt to wrangle her into something hoeish.
“You love me. Enjoy the rest of your shifffttt,” Jacari said in a sing-song
voice as she climbed into the back of the awaiting car.
Logan huffed and shuffled back inside to finish her shift.

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nine
 here the hell was your ass last night?” Lanez questioned as him,
“W Makavelli, Jaymerius and Khamari poured into the sprinter
assigned to take them to the JoyRide Arena.
Khamari ran his hand over the hair on his jawline before licking his lips
hoping for a hint of the flavor Logan left on his lips. No avail. He
reluctantly washed the remnants of their one night together off of him this
morning. As if he’d dreamt her up when he finally came out of the coma her
pussy put him in he searched the room for any evidence that she’d been
there. Everything down to condom wrappers they tore open during the
duration of their romp was gone.
Never in the stint of his life as an adult had he ever missed the presence
of a woman. Not even his ex could pull out this sort of unexplained feeling
from him. Reaching out for her in his sleep, holding the pillow because it
held the remains of her scent. It was sick. Logan had him gone. He had to
bounce back.
“I was in my space chilling. I told you I wasn’t participating in that
bullshit you had going on,” Khamari voiced trying to push those beautiful
images of Logan riding his dick to the back of his mind. “You want Gizelle
to pull a kickdoe like she did last year, and I will not be involve with
holding her ass back this year.”
“That nigga like pissing her off,” Jaymerius added with laughter. “Ol’
nasty ass.”
Lanez shrugged. “Gizy has everything she wants, why can’t I?”
Khamari frown his face. His eyes bouncing from Lanez’s face to his
tattooed ring finger. “Uh ‘cause you married, nigga.”
“Only married nigga I know out here like he single, and his wife can’t
fight,” Makavelli snickered. “Couldn’t be me. Shorty bad as Gizelle and
you out here being reckless is wild!”
“Get your mouth off my wife,” Lanez shot.
That was absolutely insane behavior. There was no secret that Lanez ran
around on Gizelle, he’d been doing it since before they came into the league
as a unit. Gizelle would fight, scream and leave for a few weeks and
somehow Lanez would always get her back home. Whether it was with a
new car, diamonds, property or a bullshit public apology. But if another
man looked in her direction Lanez was flying off the handle.
“You need to be checked,” Jaymerius said grabbing a bottle of water.
“Something is wrong with you.”
“Why y’all on me? We were pressing this nigga about where he was all
night. He didn’t even pop in to see what the hell was going on,” Lanez
pointed redirecting the conversation.
“Like I said,” Khamari spoke up tangled in a kaleidoscope of memory
and heightened senses of Logan. “I was minding my own business, staying
out of y’alls bullshit.”
“Don’t say y’all nigga. I got my ass up out of there,” Makavelli defined.
 “Oh yeah?” Jaymerius questioned, brow raised as if he knew something
the rest of the group didn’t know. “Was that the shorty with the phat ass you
was spitting game to on the balcony from PRIME?”
He had to keep himself leveled. A need to keep the growing possession
he wanted to occupy over Logan buried deep inside undetectable from the
predators he was with. His entire crew showed up this weekend with the
mission to hunt, kill and repeat. Every night without question they would be
enjoying their spoils, but Khamari wasn’t on that time. Shit he wasn’t even
anticipating being on Logan’s time but here he was.
Part of him considered skipping the celebrity game to stake out Prime
until he saw her. There was no plan of action after that. He played it out in
his head all day.
“No one,” he lied plainly. Khamari refused to give them any inkling of
anything.
“Uh huh,” Jaymerius sounded off. “Saw y’all for a second and never
saw y’all again.”
Khamari shrugged. “She must of left. Lanez wild ass party probably
wasn’t her thing. I’m not even here for all of this.”
“We know,” Makavelli finally spoke up. “But relax nigga, Lavendale
ain’t stupid enough to have you interested and then fumble that. You got
one weekend to kick it until you got to ball out on all these niggas, enjoy it.
Tati nor Momma Patience ain’t here to block you.”
“Ahhh, Tati,” Lanez droned making Khamari and Makavelli snap their
eyes to him. “Damn y’all gon jump me or some shit?”
“Yes they are,” Jaymerius answered. “Not going to lie I kind of want to
slap you for even having my homies name in your mouth like that.”
“Nigga, keep you, your nasty-ass dick and your crazy-ass wife away
from my sister. Dead ass,” Khamari spoke up, no joke in his voice. Khamari
wasn’t the guy to ever let his sister be disrespected nor would he let anyone
think she was available for the bullshit.
Lanez threw up his hands. “Shit, my bad.”
“Yeah,” Makavelli shot. “Your bad. You need to figure out what
expensive ass gift you’re sending Gizelle to make up for thirty bitches
claiming they had you. Why are we with this nigga?”
“Been asking you that since I got here,” Khamari replied. “That’s all
Jaymerius.”
 Lanez was unbothered on the outside, but Jaymerius was the last person
to treat him like he wasn’t a plague and his wife cultivated relationships that
seemed to bless him. Too bad he was on the fast track of ruining that.
Khamari smirked to himself. The way Tatianna and Makavelli had been
orbiting around each other since college was as humorous as it was
annoying. Tati refused to give him her time while he did everything to get
on her nerves, down to getting himself into trouble just so she could get him
out.
The conversation shifted to something meaningless allowing Khamari’s
mind to drift back to the doe-eyed beauty. She felt like home against him,
her voice, her moans, her smile, even that snort-laugh combination seemed
like something he could have forever.
“Forever? Nigga, really?” he scolded himself, but his body didn’t go
against the thought. In fact, he’d worn his coils free tonight, with the hope
of her fingers sinking into them again. “Yeah, really.”
The sprinter stopped in the VIP rideshare area of the underground
parking. He stood, checked his fit ─ olive leather cargo pants, jacket to
match and cream shirt. Designer frames over his searching eyes, diamonds
glistening and dancing and custom sneakers on his feet. He looked and
smelled like money. The second his foot stepped out of the sprinter, he
scanned the area of people climbing out of their rideshares. He was on the
prowl for her. His LoLo. Looking for her beauty with a flashlight. Almost
giving up, he heard, “Logan, we’re over here.”
His head along with Jaymerius’ snapped in their direction. There she
was. Her silkened tresses from the night before gone, replaced with springy
coils that shaped her face. A strapless jean jumper hugging the curves he
learned like a scholar the night before. The toes he happily sucked while
grinding in and out of her on display in a pair of strappy heels.
Logan’s eyes scanned the sea of people, uneasiness embedded in her
eyes. He had to save her. Even if she was hand-in-hand with her friend
navigating the throngs of people, he had to be the one to pull her into safety.
One step in her direction parted the sea of fans and spectators.
“Lo,” his timbre drew her eyes in his direction. The reward, a sweet
smile.
As if Jacari and her direction had disappeared, Logan released her hand,
allowing Khamari’s penetrative gaze from behind the dark lenses to hold
her captive. “Hey.”
 So soft. So assuring. Like he hadn’t been swimming in thoughts of her
this morning and throughout the day.
“Roll with us,” Khamari spoke, allowing no room for rebuttal.
Logan remembered Jacari as she looked over, seeing Jaymerius and
Khamari were on one page. “You sure? I don’t want to impede.”
“You ain’t impeding. You’re good.”
Logan gnawed at her lip.
“Plus, the way you vanished without a trace, you at least owe me this,”
he spoke, fusing the nervous lip gnaw into a smile and a roll of her eyes.
“Yeah, there she is.”
“I owe you?” Logan questioned. As soft as her voice was, Khamari
didn’t miss a word as if they were suspended in space, just them.
Khamari licked his lips and nodded, leaning down to say, “I can’t taste
you anymore,” against her ear. He pulled away a fraction of an inch to see
the flush of her cheeks. “I need that back.”
“Let’s watch this game,” she offered, refusing to allow him to turn her
to putty with all these eyes on them. “Teach me about this game you love so
much.”
Khamari nodded. “Aight and then…”
“I might let you taste it again.”
“Shiiittt,” he hissed, taking her hand in his and leading her into the
arena. There were cameras everywhere. This was bound to end up on one of
those blogs – Shady Palms, Love, Angie or BigBallerAlert. He didn’t care.
Tatianna and Patience were going to be blowing up his line by the morning
and again, he didn’t care. Whatever space and time he was allotted with
Logan, he wanted to be immersed in every single second of it.
Jacari and Logan sat court side between Jaymerius and Khamari. The
drinks in constant rotation along with the provided snacks accompanied
with their seats. Logan’s body naturally leaned into Khamari’s, adoring how
he watched the game.
Khamari balanced his attention from the court to Logan ensuring she
knew that although this wasn’t a planned date, he was intentional about her
presence. He leaned into her evoking a slight shudder from her. “Aight, you
see how number seven blocked fifteen?”
“Yeah,” Logan replied, her eyes on Khamari, neglecting the court.
“That’s a screen or a pick. A block to make sure his teammate can get to
the shot,” Khamari explained, feeling the warmth of her gaze on him.
 “So why are they lining up now?” Logan asked, briefly turning her gaze
back to the court.
“Buddy got fouled on the shot.” The buddy he was referring to was
Zaim from Beatsville Records. Lavendale rapper, Big Stylez got too
aggressive the last play. The two teams were talking shit back and forth
since the beginning of the game, but Big Stylez was purposely picking at
Zaim. Zaim lived the street life Big Stylez rapped about. A fraud was what
he was and Zaim was going to prove it at every turn during this game.
“Why is he so mad though?” Logan queried as Zaim made the shot and
shot Big Stylez a look.
“Lo,” Khamari spoke with amusement, sitting up to look in her sweet
face. He studied it, finding traces of tiredness and stress but none of that
took away from the loveliness of her.
“What?” she asked, a smile forming unprovoked.
“You don’t know about the beef between Big Stylez and Zaim?”
“To be fair, I didn’t even know what team you played for until you told
me,” Logan said before shrugging. “I work too much to pay attention to
beefs.”
“Looks like I need to change that,” Khamari muttered against her
earlobe. “Say we skip the afterparty.”
“Is it going to be next door?”
“Nah,” he said with a chuckle laced in his word. “Scarlet. You’re not
running off to work tonight?”
“I’m not working.”
“But are you running off?” he posed.
She shook her head no.
The moment the game wrapped, they were on their way to the exit.
Logan informed Jacari that she was going to kick it with Khamari while her
and Jaymerius were going out to the club. There was a comfortability they
had with one another. One that no one around them questioned. Khamari
never left any event with a woman on his arm. He’d always been slick with
it, following his mother and sister’s directions with NDA’s, meet ups that
weren’t at his home or his hotel room. Logan had access off the strength
that she hadn’t given him any indicator that she was on some funny shit.
She wasn’t.
“How many jobs do you have?” Khamari asked, breaking the silence of
the Platinum JoyRide.
 Logan skimmed her eyes over the text from Rahkel.
Rahki: I’m spending the night on campus. Have fun tonight?

Lo: Love you be smart

Rahki: You be stupid for once

Logan smirked, locked the phone and stuffed it back into her purse.
“Give or take…three?”
“Why do you work so hard?” he quizzed, wanting to know everything
about her.
“It’s just me and my sister. She has school fees and things have to be
done. So I work.”
“And none of those things are you doing what you want?”
Logan, ashamed, shook her head. “No.”
Khamari grunted, trying to place himself in her shoes. He didn’t want to
pry anymore and make her uncomfortable. But envisioning himself having
to take care of Tatianna without the love and guidance of his parents made
him grateful. But it also made him want to give Logan something different.
He had to keep that tucked away. It was too soon to want to save her. To
want to have her as his own.
“Anyway,” Logan’s voice broke through his thoughts as she shook off
heavy thoughts of her own. “I don’t know how to play pool, swim, or roller
skate.”
Khamari looked down at her and smirked. “I can teach you how to do
all of that, if you let me.”
“Mm,” Logan buzzed offering him a slightly pained expression. “For
some reason when you teach I end up naked.”
Khamari smirked devilishly. “Tell me you don’t like, and I’ll let you
keep them on.”
Logan popped an eyebrow up. “Let me? One little hit and you’re mighty
sure of yourself aren’t you?”
“Confident and nothing was little about that hit, Lolo,” he stated.
Automatically her eyes turned lustful, draping over his with provoked
muscle memory. Unconsciously she bit down on her lip.
“Still feel that shit huh?” he toyed.
Logan swatted him away. “Can you teach me how to play?”
 “Gladly,” Khamari stated reaching for the pool sticks and cueing them
up.
He in fact hadn’t taught her shit about playing pool. Instead every
missed ball resulted in an article of clothing being pulled off. Khamari
stood on the other side of the pool table bare-chested amused by Logan
donned in nothing, but a panty and bra set.
“This isn’t how I expected to be taught,” she sassed, traipsing in front of
him, bending over to align the pool stick to hit the intended target. “I think
you set me up.”
“Nothing teaches better than experience,” Khamari muttered, softly
rubbing her ass. Every part of him, especially his dick, wanted to be buried
inside of her.
Logan threw a look over her shoulder before hitting the ball into the
corner pocket. “Drop ‘em. Isn’t that what you told me?”
She teased him with a bite of her lip. Khamari chuckled, nodding as he
removed his pants, exposing his erection throbbing against the fabric on his
black boxer briefs. Upon seeing it, she bit down on her lip harder making
Khamari swipe his thumb over it. She released it hoping he caught it with
his.
He did. The image and phantom memory of his lips and hands on her
body being erased and replaced with new ones. Khamari suckled her
bottom lip. Sucking, nipping, and pecking it before pushing his tongue
inside of her mouth and exploring it. Logan’s arms found themselves
wrapped around his neck, fingers inching into his scalp.
“Shit, you smell better than my brain is allowing me to remember,” he
groaned into her skin, kissing where they landed.
Logan’s thighs parted as he hoisted her atop the green pool table.
“You do too,” she admitted. “You’re going to make me form a habit.”
“Ain’t shit wrong with that,” he returned, tongue and lips trailing down
her body. His fingers traced the fabric cradling the smoothly-shaven mound.
Those thick lips begging him to rip the panties off and bury his face into her
folds. Moving the fabric to the side, he pushed two long, thick fingers
inside of her watching in glee as her back arched and that yelp flooded his
eardrums.
“Mari!” Logan gasped then shivered. Such a majestic feeling he
released over her. It was more than lust and newfound attraction. It felt –
lasting. “Mm, Mari.”
 “Lo you feel so good,” he breathed against her skin. “So good. Where
you get this shit from?”
“From a long line of women with good pussy,” she joked breathlessly,
holding on to the edge of the pool table. “At least that’s what I’ve been
told.”
He resumed his kiss, stroking her insides with his fingers. Logan could
barely concentrate on their kiss while he pulled her apart with his fingers.
Hands buried back in his hair, Logan allowed him to devour her mouth with
little work from her. “Damn it, Khamari.”
“Yeah, just like that,” he growled in her ear. “Say my name again.”
“Khamari,” came out of her mouth so sultrily, he pulsated, spilling his
arousal on the inside of his underwear. “S-stop teasing me. Please.”
Her sweet smell of her heat mixed with her whimpering would drive
him over the cliff before he could even push inside of her depths.
“Fuck Logan,” he hissed, halting his motion, ripping her panties off and
dropping to his knees. After a deep inhale of her scent he cupped her ass;
slurping, he licked and sucked her peach.
“Ahhh my…gahhh,” she crooned so beautifully. Khamari looked up to
see her head dropping back and body writhing in pleasure. “Maarriiii.”
The sensation he provided was mind-blowing. Every motion
transcending her to heights she didn’t know possible – heights never
thought she’d reach. Logan exploded twice and still Khamari refused to let
up ushering her into a third. By the fourth explosion, he stepped away with
a wild look in his eyes taking in how amazing the view of her spread out
over the pool table was.
They were wrapped in something foreign, a connection that wouldn’t be
easily severed. A connection he’d fight to have. He pulled her to the edge,
her breathing still ragged. Logan’s tiny hands finding the top of his boxers
with vigor.
“You want it?” he teased.
“Yes,” she slurred still drunk of his touch as she met his needing gaze.
“Please.”
“If I have you without protection, no one else can,” his claim was made
clear. This type of raw affection was going to lead them to a world bound to
blow their minds. Where there would be an ease of the lines of stress and
tiredness from her being. And for him, wholeness and joy, unrivaled.
Khamari gripped her chin, ensuring she knew and understood what he was
telling her. “Understand me, Lo baby? Tell me you hear me.”
“Yes, I hear you,” she said in a whisper, freeing his thick corded
hardness. “I understand.”
“You’ll be mine,” he spoke every word drenched with assurance. Logan
kissed him to taste herself. “All mine. Aight?”
“Okay.” The simple word had sealed their fate.
Khamari gripped her waist, attacking her mouth as he pushed inside of
her tightness, hissing at the glory of being skin to skin. “This shit right here,
Lo. Fuckin’ addictive.”
For Khamari Logan felt good with a condom but without it felt like she
was welcoming him home. “Ohhhh.”
“Yeah,” he whimpered trying to keep his pace, steadying his nerve
endings. “All fuckin’ mine.”
Once he’d composed himself, he grinded into her making her cream
cover his length. Scooping her off of the table, Khamari carried her from
the game room to the sofa in the living room. Bending her over the back,
reentering her. Logan’s face in the pillows muffled her moans until Khamari
pulled her head back by her hair and smacked her ass.
“Let me hear that, baby.”
“Ohhh,” Logan let out in a tune designed for him. “Right there, right
there, right fuckin’ there.” Spanking ass, gripping her hair all over the living
room until they finally landing back in the bed they shared the night before.
Round for round until they were tangled in each other.
“You going to run off on me in the middle of the night?” Khamari
teased, fluttering kisses over the top of her head and forehead.
“Even if I wanted to, my legs aren’t working. My pussy is still
twitching, and I think I’m still in the stars,” Logan softly admitted. “Plus, I
don’t want to go. What did you do to me?”
Khamari laughed softly. “I’m trying to figure out the same thing. You
got me going against all of my rules.”
“You know, Khamari, I’ll be okay if this is just a weekend thing. Like
no pressure, I get the-”
Khamari cut her off, not to be rude but to cut whatever out she was
trying to give him off at the legs. “Uh uh.”
“I’m just saying. I’m not silly to believe…” Her mind trailed off on her
previous relationship. A harsh lesson that men would do exactly what they
wanted to without any regard for her heart.
“To believe what?” he queried, sitting up and leaning over her to see her
face in the moonlit room ─ courtesy of the glass ceiling.
“To believe that you’ll fall for a girl you just met in a place you aren’t
even from. To think that I’ll hold any more space than this.”
“You got to think higher of yourself, because you do. I want to know all
that shit you’re trying to hide away from me with the roll of your eyes and
redirection of conversation. Who is Logan…”
“Taylor.”
“Taylor?”
“Logan Taylor,” she shared her full name. “No middle name.”
“Khamari, no middle name, Coleman. It’s beautiful to meet you.”
Logan giggled softly. “Same. Very, very beautiful to meet you.”
“Tell me something about you,” he urged. “Something more than I
trudged up in my mind.”
“I’m twenty-nine. Born and raised in Lavendale. I’ve been taking care
of my sister since my parents…went away and my grandmother passed. I
work… a lot. In fact, my friend called me out of work so I could enjoy
myself,” Logan let out a rye laugh. When the fun was over, the bills were
going to be there still, along with her responsibilities.
“Where’d your parents go?”
Logan couldn’t advert his eyes. The amber orbs were truth serum. “My
mother killed my father. Shot him in front of me. He um. He let his mistress
do my hair. I always found it ironic that she’d dealt with his abuse but
couldn’t stomach his cheating. So … she’s serving twenty-five years in the
desert.”
“Damn,” he blew. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s life, I guess. It’s my reality. I just adjust and keep moving
on. If I stop, everything stops.”
“And in all this, where does Logan come in?”
Logan pulled her tender swollen lip into her mouth and shrugged under
the sheets. “I’m not sure. Kind of trying to figure that out before my
birthday. But I don’t think it’s going to happen. I’m sorry, this is morbid.
Change the subject.”
“It’s not. Don’t hide from me. I’m a soft landing.” Khamari laid on the
pillow next to her and looked over, wrapping his fingers in hers. “Can I be
your soft landing?”
 “Are you going to allow me a space for a moment and pull away when
it gets too overwhelming, when I get too much?” her question was serious.
She needed to know how to gauge this. Was this thing just sex or did he
really want more?
“I don’t run from challenges,” Khamari said, turning his body to fully
face her. “If anything, I run to it.”
“Oh,” Logan posed raising her brow before playfully asking. “If I ask
your ex that, what would she say?”
“She’d say we were young and stupid and there’s not a chance in hell
we’d spin the block,” he answered truthfully. “She wanted a more settled
life than what I would have provided. I was all in with basketball and
nothing was going to make me look away from it. She’s now married with
children, and I’m looking to plant roots and finally settle.”
“You think Lavendale is the place to do that?” Logan never dreamed of
leaving the place she called home. As much pain as the city held, it also
held everything that made her.
Khamari studied her for a long moment before answering. “Yeah, I
think so.”

S oft kisses to her face and shoulder woke her up. A groan, blink of her
eyes to discover Khamari was parting her legs open for more. Her voice
rasped, feeling the heat of his mouth connect with her bud. “Is this my
reward for not disappearing?"
“Mmhmm,” he groaned, pushing back the covers so she could fully take
him in. He looked so glorious between her thick thighs as the sun rose.
Caution thrown to the wind and no care in her being to know the time,
Logan watched him with hooded lenses as he pulled every seam of her
being apart with just his mouth. No more words left her mouth, just ooh’s
and ahh’s and beautiful hisses. Khamari reentered her body with a powerful,
heavy slam of his dick inside of her walls.
“You want me walking with a lean?” the question took forever to get out
between the moans, groans, gasps and occupancy of his mouth against hers.
 “Without a fuckin’ doubt. Part of me wants to call you out of wherever
you’re going.” His remark taking twice as long to get out as Logan’s pussy
clenched around him, attempting to hold him there forever.
That made him loose his mind. Every time she did it. He couldn’t
imagine her doing this to another man. She wouldn’t. They were locked in.
Even more reason for him to ensure this deal with Lavendale closed, so
Logan would know without a shadow of a doubt that Khamari was dead ass
serious.
Khamari sped up his strokes, fucking them into a frenzy until they were
spent. Logan sprawled over the white sheets panted as her eyes found the
clock on the nightstand. She groaned. “Damn, I have to gooooo.”
He silenced her whine as he lifted her from the warmth of their post-
fucked sheets. “Not until I feed you.”
“You just did.”
He chuckled. “With food, not dick. Considering we never got around to
it last night.”
“I mean dick isn’t a horrible way to get fed,” Logan replied as he
carried her into the bathroom.
“And your girl called your phone this morning. She said she had you
covered.”
Logan rolled her eyes at how Jacari was working overtime in the
background to ensure they were both enjoying themselves. “She gets on my
nerves so bad.”
“Your girl is looking out for you. Let her,” Khamari urged, placing her
on her feet at the edge of the shower. Logan stepped in, allowing the hot
water and steam to wrap around her. They took turns washing each other’s
back, stealing kisses, and touches. Khamari wanted to prolong as much of
this moment as possible. But like he predicted, after they ate, she kissed
him and eased out of the door.

ho is this girl you’re hand-in-hand leaving the game with?”

“W Tatianna quipped, amusement on her face.
 “My business not yours, Tati,” Khamari warned, pulling the shirt over
his head. “Is that the premise of this call or are you calling to tell me we
have a deal with Lavendale?”
“I’m calling to tell you that daddy is flying out today. I’ve made
reservations for y’all at Plaza 86. Do not tell mom you’re going to a
meeting without her.”
“I don’t need Patience and her hysteria anywhere near a possible deal.
When is she coming anyway? I almost expected her to pop up by now,”
Khamari stated, knowing that if Tati saw the photos, Patience wasn’t too far
behind her.
“Late tomorrow night with me, we’re going to miss the classic. I’ve
blocked all of the blogs from her social media. She won’t see anything,”
Tatianna shared. “But you need to tell me what’s up with this girl. Who is
she?”
Khamari attempted to hide the grin forming over his full lips. Logan’s
presence still wrapped around him even though she’d been gone close to an
hour.
“My nigga are you…blushing?” Tatianna snipped. “Yeah, spill it. Who
is this girl? Stop making me wait, ugly.”
“Logan Taylor. She works at a restaurant here,” he shared, leaving out
the part about her being a bottle girl in one of Lavendale’s most salacious
nightclubs. “She’s… I don’t know. She’s different, T. She’s something I
haven’t ever encountered before.”
“Ohhh shit. Moms going to kill you. You smashed didn’t you? Please
tell me you strapped up. I don’t want your little crush to turn into a
permanent fixture you end up hating and needing a judge on your side,” Tati
stated.
Khamari frowned. That wasn’t going to happen, he was sure of it.
Logan was it. He couldn’t express that verbally yet, but as soon as he could
get his mind together, he would.
“You have nothing to worry about. Y’all don’t believe I’m a responsible
grown-ass man. Which is wild,” Khamari voiced.
“How can I?” Tatianna screeched. “Look at your friends!”
“Woah, hold up,” Khamari stated. “They’re great people. One of which
was about to bust Lanez’s head open behind you.”
A smile wiggled over her lips before detest set in over her brow. “Why
does nasty-ass, married-ass, need-his-ass-beat Lanez have my name in his
mouth?”
“You just said it. Chill though, Makavelli handled it,” Khamari chuckled
with amusement. “Won’t happen again.”
“Mhmm, don’t think I’m off this Logan Taylor topic either, though.”
“Don’t look her up,” Khamari urged before Tatianna blurted out her
parting statement.
“Love you, bye!”
Logan
“You’re late,” Maria hissed. “I just said yesterday how you were so
much more reliable than your friend, but she beat you to work.”
“I’m sorry, I overslept,” Logan defended as Maria’s eyes swept her.
“Mhmm,” Maria huffed. “I would fire you, but we’re so understaffed I
can’t even see straight. You’re on the family floor with your girl. Enjoy.”
Logan watched as Maria stomped off. Jacari was behind Logan
mocking Maria. “Enjoy. Ohh she needs some dick.”
Logan shook her head, grabbed her things, and followed Jacari to the
service elevator. Once the friends were alone, Jacari turned to Logan and
squealed. “Bitch, did you know that you’re like the blogs’ “IT” girl right
now? You can capitalize off of this. Actually make an active page, show
your styles. Stop working here and there and do hair full time.”
Jacari didn’t waste any time showing Logan her picture all up and down
her feed. “You have to go out with him tonight, they’re going to be looking
for you.”
“Jacari, cut it out. I’m not using his fame to come up. Come on,” Logan
huffed. Whatever she was feeling for Khamari, she wanted to keep it to
herself, and only share it with him. “And furthermore, I need this job. Me
all over the blogs is a problem.”
“You are one missed shift away from not making rent,” Jacari urged,
making Logan snap her head toward her friend. “And none of these bitches
are going to say shit about you living your life.”
“You don’t think I know that?” Logan scoffed. “Rahki texted me twice
this morning about it. I have three sew ins I’m doing after I get off to make
sure that I take care of that.”
Jacari grew quiet for a moment. “All I’m saying is, he could be your
ticket to ending the struggle.”
“And I’m just saying I’m not involving any innocent parties in my shit.
In fact, I shouldn’t even have messed with him.” The weight of those words
crushing the heart that was painfully making space for him. “I don’t want to
talk about this anymore. You do you, have fun but leave me out of it.”
The elevator doors opened, and Logan made her way out. The pain
almost too much. But how after two nights? Being in the limelight for five
or fifteen minutes was too much. Sharing a glimpse of her world with him
was different from the whole world pulling apart the pieces of her she kept
hidden. No one needed to know the gang ties, the murder she witnessed, or
why her mother was sitting in a cell. No one needed to know that there was
probably a negative available balance in her account due to her missing a
night of tips. Whatever she thought she was feeling with Khamari couldn’t
be. It wouldn’t be.
The tinge of the ache between her thighs reminded her of a promise she
made in the throes of passion. A promise she’d have to break. For her sake
and his. More so his. Khamari had the reputation to protect and an image to
uphold while Logan had nothing. She wasn’t even on his level to pretend
that they could be something.
She was just a girl he met in a club and fucked. There was nothing
more, nothing less. Allowing herself to be filled up with silly ideas for a
night was unhinged behavior she should have never indulged in.

T wo quick weaves and a sew in was enough to cover the rest of the rent.
The price: sore fingers and feet. As Logan cleaned up the living room,
she pushed her hair out of her face, battling the memories of Khamari
gazing at her like she was the one.
“Oh good, you’re here!” Rahkel said she was whisked inside of the
house. “The HBCU classic is tomorrow. Can you please, please, please,
please, blow my hair out?”
Logan had no fight in her bones. “Sure. Come in the kitchen so I can
wash it. Eddie called me in.”
She didn’t bother mentioning that their uncle left a pack in her mailbox
again. How beautiful it would have been to immerse her world in his and
for once be taken care of. Loved so tenderly that all the past hurts meant
nothing. Khamari could have soothed her soul but at what cost? Definitely
not worth the life he built for himself to support his family.
Logan didn’t speak as she washed, conditioned, combed and styled her
sisters thick hair.
“I’m going to OCU next semester,” Rahkel blurted out, halting Logan’s
progress on her hair.
“Wait? What do you mean next semester, I don’t have money to send
you next semester,” Logan fired off, her heart pounding with anxiety.
“I got a scholarship,” Rahkel lied. She wouldn’t dare tell Logan what
she’d gotten herself into. And Logan couldn’t even depict the lie from the
truth.
“You did?” she asked.
“Yeah and it just makes more sense for me to be over there if I want to
be in their law program. Plus, if I go, you can get your license and your
shop. Stop doing hair in the living room and working your ass off.”
Logan hummed, not offering anything else. She was never one to hold
her sister back. But life without her, that just seemed cruel. “I’m happy for
you.”
“For real?” Rahkel asked, turning around and looking into her face.
“Of course. Being a lawyer is what you’ve wanted I’m always going to
support that. No matter if you’re here or there.”
Rahkel’s smile was loaded with reason. She didn’t want to tell Logan
that she’d read the comments under the posts on the blogs. Vile things about
her sister having nothing and being a gold digger. Comments about her
being underwhelmingly pretty and probably using her sweet features to play
Khamari Coleman. Rahkel had spent the entire night thinking about how far
in life her sister would be if she didn’t dedicate her days and nights to
making sure she played mother, father, and sister. That hurt Rahkel’s heart.
Logan sacrificed her life for her and although she’d never read the
comments, she didn’t deserve to get dragged the way she was or not be able
to live out her dreams. So one call to Uncle Jimmy would have her on the
first thing smoking at the end of the semester.
Logan, overwhelmed by an overactive imagination and exhaustion,
blinked away a few tears. “I’m really happy for you. I really am. Just don’t
go out to Oceania and have anyone in your hair.”
They fell into a silence – a heavy silence but neither of them said a word
about it. After blowing out Rahkel’s long hair, Logan pinned the wrap and
went to get ready for her shift. The emotions she locked away were allowed
a ten minute shower to escape. That was it. Ten minutes to cry and then pull
it back together. Now out of the shower and dressed in sweats with her
duffle bag over her shoulder, she was off to pay the rent and deliver Eddie
his drugs.
“What a life.”

OceanofPDF.com
ten
T
wenty-three hours. It’d been twenty-three hours since Khamari’s lips
were blessed with Logan’s parting kiss. He sat through the dunk
contest with his boys and his pops the night before, scouring the
crowd for her. Now, he sat at the table with Oliver and his father.
“Lavendale has come back to the table faster than I thought,” Oliver
spoke up, sliding a folder over to Khamari. “I’ve already called Tatianna
and went over the details. She said if you move, they move so take a look.”
Khamari placed the mirage of thoughts holding Logan’s face, scent,
taste and feel to the back burner just enough to open the folder and view the
details of the offer. Khamari shot a shot in the dark when he told Oliver two
hundred and ten million with one hundred and ninety six million
guaranteed.
Lavendale Thunder Official Offer was printed across the top of the
thick, textured linen paper. Two hundred and twenty million with a two
hundred million guarantee over five years.
“Shit,” Khamari hissed, sliding the folder over to his father who replied.
“Gotdayum!”
Oliver chuckled. “Lavendale knows the worth of its players. If you read
the rest of it, you’ll be the franchise player, and face of the JoyRide arena.
Rolani is good people and loves ensuring life after the league. Do you need
time to discuss?”
“No,” Khamari spoke up looking at his father. “When I move, y’all
move.”
“Just like that,” Khai spoke, pride wrinkling his face. “You said you
wanted to grow roots, this is a start.”
“Well,” Khamari looked back at Oliver. “Tell them we have a deal.”
He reached for the pen and reviewed the rest of the offer like Tatianna
taught him and accepted the deal. Happiness covered him and he wanted
nothing more than to share this moment with his family and Logan. Two
nights and already, she was in his plans. He peeped the social media frenzy
and couldn’t care less what anyone had to say. She needed to be involved in
his plans. If he was going to be in the city he was going to be here with her.
While Khai and Oliver cheered and talked about life anew in Lavendale,
Khamari excused himself, finding the server from a couple days ago.
“Hey,” he called, getting her attention. His eyes quickly found her name
tag. “Celine.”
“Mr. Coleman, I was just on my way to bring your bottle,” she shared,
assuming he was rushing her to celebrate.
“Oh that’s cool. I don’t drink during the season. But can you do me
another favor?”
Celine popped a brow. “Like?”
“Logan.”
Celine scoffed with laughter. “I should have known. You two have set
the internet on fire.”
“And where the internet would have helped me out, the girl has no
social media.”
 Celine laughed. “Imagine, I’m forty but she acts like it. You want her
number?”
“Please,” Khamari practically begged.
“Don’t tell her I gave it to you. She’ll kill me,” Celine commented,
pulling her phone out of her apron.
“I won’t say a word.”
Celine hummed. “Mmhmm. Just whenever you lock her down don’t
forget the small people. And before you deny it, I see it all over you. She’s a
good girl and she deserves someone to pour into her for once. Don’t take
advantage of how much she’ll love you. Okay? Break her heart, I’ll break
you.”
“I promise my intentions are only to pour into her. I’m trying to plant
roots here.”
“Well, that’s the soil you’ll need.” Celine scribbled down her number on
a scrap piece of paper and handed it over to him. “I’ll cover whatever shifts
for her while you’re here.”
“For the next five years?”
“Hell yes. I can’t wait ‘til she quits this place and does hair full time!”
Celine jeered. “Baby girl can do hair like no one’s business.”
Khamari chuckled at the way Celine shook her freshly-done hair. “I can
tell.”
“Mmhmm. Take care of my girl.”
“I will.”
Khamari parted ways with Celine and made his way back to the table.
He wasted no time texting the number he was given.
Mari: Lo baby

Lo Baby: who is this?

Mari: How many niggas calling you by my name

He imagined her rolling her eyes and biting her lips on the other end.
Lo Baby: hold on let me count

Mari: get rid of them. can I see you tonight?

Lo Baby: can’t. working.

Mari: which one

 Lo Baby: that’s a secret

Mari: Hiding from me again…tomorrow?

The disparity of his text tone didn’t even make him sick. He didn’t over
analyze it to check himself. The bubbles danced, letting him know she was
finding an excuse to tell him. He wasn’t going to allow it to happen.
Mari: HBCU classic tomorrow. Court side seats on Lavendale’s
side

Lo Baby: …

Mari: don’t tell me no. I’ll come get you

The bubbles danced again.

Lo Baby: I’ll meet you there

He tried to respect her need to have some control, though, this free fall
was anything but.
Mari: I’ll be waiting

He locked his phone and slipped it into his pocket before rejoining the
men to celebrate his new home.

OceanofPDF.com
eleven
L
ogan gnawed the inside of her cheek as she tapped her nails against
the back of her phone.
“Stand him up or cut your losses now before the internet can ruin
you?” she toyed in the empty space around her. While Jacari was using
every waking free moment she had up under Jaymerius, Logan was left to
her own devices. Her own decisions. She wouldn’t be able to blame Jacari
for ending up in his room or face down on his lap with that long, thick,
veiny dick down her throat…again.
 “Shit,” she huffed, squeezing her thighs to relieve the ache he was
solely responsible for. “Why would you let that man eat you like a peach.
No, don’t go. You’re going to be dick dumb. Silly little ass all over social
media you don’t have, hanging on to his every word.”
Logan’s feet paced the worn, carpeted floor. Nothing about the
apartment was glamourous. No exciting photos on the wall, no TV’s to
drown these visions of him out and she was definitely not downloading any
social media app to stalk him.
Her feet drug over the carpet to her small closet. “HBCU Classic. What
to wear?”
She had an LSC sweatshirt from the one year she attended the
university. She tossed it on the bed. It was oversized, large enough to cover
the ass she didn’t contribute to. “Alright, let’s try this.”
She pulled a large, white button up out of a bag of clothes she kept but
never had any use of wearing. Logan couldn’t even bring herself to throw
them away.
“Alright, daddy,” she huffed. “Seems like you did one thing to help
me.”
Logan styled herself without Jacari’s disapproving glare and her going
on and on about how she needed to show off her ass to make a nigga buy
her a house.
“That damn girl,” Logan huffed, reaching for her phone. She was
backing to mulling over her decision. One thing about Logan’s life-long
lesson about control – she’d never been in possession of it. She couldn’t
control the circumstances of her life, only how she reacted. She couldn’t
control the flutter and the ache and the insatiable longing that came from
not being in Khamari’s presence. How frustrating it was to meet someone
and in an instant your entire chemistry altered to accompany theirs. To be
theirs.
Not an atom in her body would allow her to not be in his presence
tonight. Getting through the night before was hard enough. She tossed and
turned amid the sheets, saw his emblazoned amber orbs, felt the softness of
his curls wrapped in her fingers, only to wake up every time to no him. No
Khamari Coleman occupying the space next to her. Forget stolen glances,
he stared at her as if she would vanish before his eyes.
No more prolonged indecisiveness. She wasn’t breaking her word and
against the voice of fear, no hiding from the unknown. No hiding from him.
If what he truly wanted was her, he’d have to take her in whole parts and if
he couldn’t, Logan was content to know that she at least tried.
An hour later, she was ready – dressed in her barely-alma mater
sweatshirt, the button up serving as a dress, rolled and pinned on the sides
to fit correctly to her shape. A pair of her mother’s leopard thigh high boots
covering her legs. Her curls diffused and pinned on the left side with beauty
store rhinestone bobby pins that were a splurge at two dollars and seventy-
five cents. A spritz of perfume to her neck, center of her chest, wrists, inner
thighs and behind her ears where Khamari made habit to place his nose – a
dub of the Jimmy Choo illicit flower for the win.
The closer the basic JoyRide got to her apartment on the Northside of
the city more the butterflies in her stomach swirled in a mess of nerves.
What was he doing to her? The better question would’ve been what they
were doing to each other. Love after first fuck?
Logan scoffed out loud to that thought.
Mari: You’re staying with me tonight. No need for a bag

Lo Baby: Say please

Mari: See you soon

Logan nipped her lip from smiling and shook her head. “Logan, what
are you doing?”
The answer was in the way she trotted to the JoyRide, purse in tow, and
climbed into the back of the car.
Cari: Please don’t show up looking like a granny

Lo: You’re actually going?

Cari: Uh duhh go LSC

Lo: But you went to GHAMU

Cari: For like two minutes

Logan shook her head.

Lo: Court side?

Cari: Nah the box, he likes his dick sucked during the game
 Lo: OMG goodbye!

Cari: Whaaattt? I’m just saying

Lo: I could have really lived without the visual

Cari: So you’re going to act like you haven’t rode that man

Lo: I didn’t say I didn’t. I just know how to keep my business

my business

Cari: Can’t keep your business with the way KC has you
bending the corner

Lo: Lies

Cari: I bet your pussy is purring right now

Lo: First of all

Cari: Go ahead and lie biiitttchhhh. Meow!

Logan locked her phone and shook her head. Jacari may have been
outlandish ninety-seven percent of the time but the three precent she got
right annoyed the hell out of Logan. And right now, she was right. Khamari
could’ve demanded her to his room without a reason and Logan, dumb over
dick, would’ve said no and showed up either way.
Before Logan’s minimal amount of sense returned and she told the
driver to take her back home, the small, compact car was pulling into the
rideshare line. “You can let me out right here.”
The JoyRide driver looked up at the commotion of Khamari posted up
among the crowd of college students and fans posing for pictures and
signing autographs. He was waiting on her. This was real. All the lights and
cameras that came with him.
“You’re KC’s mystery girl,” the young woman gasped, pulling out her
phone. “My IG is going to go crazy!”
“Please,” Logan muttered, holding her hand up. “Don’t.”
She was a hair too late as she swung the door open and stumbled into
the crowd of people. Annoyance etched over her face as she tried to find a
quiet corner to wait until KC was done entertaining his fans. There was no
wait. Khamari thanked the group of people for rocking with him and made
his way to Logan.
 He shielded her just enough from the cameras, sensing she was annoyed
and uncomfortable. “Lo baby.”
Despite the intrusiveness of the JoyRide driver spiking her annoyance
and the throngs of people spiking her anxiety, she smiled up at him. “Hey.”
Khamari’s feet were cemented before her as he wrapped his large hand
around hers, his tall frame craning to kiss her cheek. “Stay with me tonight?
Please?”
Like they were suspended again alone in a world of their own, Logan
touched his cheek and softly replied back. “Yes, if you get me away from
all these eyes on us.”
He smirked and nodded his head. “Come on.”
Hand-in-hand, they walked into the lively arena. There were dancers on
the floor, the arena was spilling over with GHAMU and LSC jerseys. Court
side seats occupied by rich alumni, politicians, lawyers, doctors and other
sports stars. Khamari stopped them at the empty seats between Austin
Graham, his beautiful wife, Mone’t Graham, and Navy and Jaylani Thomas.
Down the row, more GHAMU alumni and Ganton Hills Warriors, Isaiah
Marley and Tony Speaks.
Jaylani smiled up at Logan, laughing slightly at the nervous smile
wiggling over her lips. “Don’t be nervous. I’ve played hooky a time or
three,” Jaylani spoke up as she stood to hug Logan. Pulling her in close, she
whispered in her ear. “I don’t think he’s going to let you loose anytime soon
so welcome to the club. We won’t let these bitches bite you.”
Logan smiled. “Thank you because they are glaring at me.”
“Fuck them. They should focus more on their men’s whereabouts than
you.” Jaylani released her. “Mone’t, Emya, and Sienna.”
Logan smiled kindly at the trio of women now surrounding her. “Nice to
meet you.”
“Very nice to meet you,” Emya crooned. “You’ve been all over IG. The
WAGS world’s new mystery and girl, you got these bitches upset.”
Mone’t waved the imaginary people off. “You’re going to stay a
wonder. Don’t listen to them or feed into the hype.”
Sienna spoke up. “You’re in good company. Especially now that KC is
going to be a Thunder. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”
Logan was overwhelmed but a grip of the hand from Jaylani gave her
some calm. “I’m not even sure if your world is going to be mine.”
 She wanted to be responsible and not lead anyone on, but it seemed that
all four women knew what her thumping heart was trying to tell her.
Emya smirked. “Oh, you are. KC never steps out with anyone. Ever. If
you inhale deep, he’s running back over here to see what you need.”
“I tried to tell her. He’s not letting her loose anytime soon.”
Sienna chuckled at Jaylani’s comment. “Even if you wanted to be let
loose, he won’t let you.”
“And that story we’re still trying to get out of her,” Emya added,
nudging her friend slightly. “Sienna and Isaiah are…an enigma.”
Sienna rolled her eyes. “I like keeping my business my business and I
feel that you, too, understand that sentiment.”
“Uh yeah,” Logan said with confidence. “I’m not even tempted to
download any apps or to know what they’re saying.”
“Aight, aight,” Navy spoke up coming into view. “Let the girl breathe.”
“She’s safer here with us than back there,” Jaylani said, throwing her
thumb over her shoulder to the scowling group of wives. “We’re going out
to dinner after this, we’ll continue this conversation.”
“And you can’t say no either,” Mone’t winked, taking her drink and kiss
to the cheek from Austin.
Khamari returned with a bottle of water for both him and Logan.
“You’re good?”
Logan looked up at him and smiled. “Yeah, they all seem safe.”
The couple took a seat and Logan crossed her legs and leaned over to
state, “I think we need to correct their assumptions though.”
“What’s their assumptions?” Khamari asked, placing a hand on her
knee. Comfort.
“That I’m your girlfriend. I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.”
Khamari mused at her for a long moment before leaning into her and
speaking clearly. “No one has the wrong idea.”
He pulled away to study the question in her eyes.
“Mari,” she stated, worry about to etch over her brows.
Khamari kissed her cheek, not for the cameras or the eyes on them, but
because feeling her was a need he had to satisfy. “Lo baby. After dinner, I’ll
confirm exactly what the swirl of your gut and throb of your glorious pussy
is all about.”
She gulped. Did he make her wet in an arena full of people? The double
squeeze to her knee as the lights in the arena dimmed confirmed that
Khamari had indeed stuck his flag into her moon and claimed her as his
own.
The second half of the game had been the most intense thus far.
Throughout the quarters, Khamari abandoned all conversation with the men
around him to whisper in her ear every play and every space of
improvement on the court.
“Fifteen,” Khamari started.
“Quando Webb,” Logan spoke back, earning her Khamari’s smile.
“Look at you paying attention.”
“You make it easy. Can I guess what’s wrong?”
Khamari smiled, wide, feeling warm and fuzzy. A feeling he’d yielded
to since watching her hips switch out of the private dining space. “Go
‘head.”
“His right side. He keeps getting the ball stolen on that side.”
“Favoring the left, the right side is weak. Has been since he started at
LSC. You might not need me in your ear the whole game.”
“I do,” she blurted. “I mean, I like it. Keep talking. Please.”
Khamari smirked against her ear, inhaling the spritz of perfume. “Bet.”

“D amn, KC, are you going to let the woman breathe at any point of the
night?” Tony asked Khamari teasingly.
Logan smiled, still feeling out of place at the table full of people
who had seemingly reached all of their life’s goals. If exposed, she’d be the
charity case at the table subjected to pitiful eyes and fake concern over how
she’d manage to make it and provide for her sister. Insecurity.
The only offer of comfort she had was Khamari’s arm draped over the
back of her chair and the warmth of Jaylani’s presence. But in reality,
Jaylani was her boss and Khamari was a man she slept with twice. She
didn’t belong here.
“I know you’re not talking the way E stays carrying your babies?”
Sienna chimed. “We schedule content around your procreation schedule.”
 “I personally think it’s cute. When has anyone seen KC like this?”
Mone’t spoke up.
“Tell us, Logan, how’d you meet, play boy Mari,” Isaiah spoke up,
wanting to know what everyone at the table was thinking outside of Navy
and Jaylani.
Logan licked her dry lips, looked at Khamari before easing, a “Wellll”
out of her mouth.
“He was trying to order a raw steak and I couldn’t let him do that,”
Logan teased. She seemed cool to everyone, but Khamari felt the shift of
her energy. He didn’t like it, wanted the former back.
“I was trying to get her to talk to me,” Khamari admitted.
“So you’re a waitress?” that was the voice of Gizelle Porter. She’d been
at the end of the table next to Lanez cutting Logan a look that could kill.
She’d ignored it for the most part, but the condescending tone of Gizelle
zapped more of Logan’s warmth.
The eye roll from the women Logan had grown familiar with
throughout the night happened in tandem. It seemed no one could stand her
or her husband.
“You don’t have to tell her shit,” Khamari whispered in her ear, sealing
his support with a kiss to her cheek,
“I am,” Logan spoke up.
“Mmm, so you know what to say and where to be to get a player’s
attention,” Gizelle snipped. “Interesting.”
Logan’s brows fused. “I’m not sure what that means.”
“Gizelle, let it go,” Sienna huffed.
“It means that there’s a stranger amongst us. We don’t know what she
does or where she came from but she’s here at a table with us.”
“She’s here because she’s invited,” Jaylani spoke up. “She’s here
because I invited her here. Whatever you got going on with your husband,
keep it between you and him.”
“Ain’t nothing going on,” Lanez spoke up. “Gizelle, stop it.”
Gizelle took a long gulp of her cocktail. “The minute you stop fucking
around and having your bitches send me shit about you, I will. Until then,
I’m going to assume that cute little Logan was at the orgy you had the other
night.”
Logan’s head tilted to the side, biting her tongue to keep from telling
Gizelle exactly what she knew about her husband. “Pardon? I think you
implied-”
“That you’re a hoe.”
“Lanez,” Khamari sounded off. “Handle that.”
“Quickly,” Austin added. Having overcome his own rough patch of
marriage he didn’t want to relieve it nor have Mone’t relive it.
“I’m going to go to the ladies room,” Logan announced to Khamari. She
wasn’t going to the ladies room, she was getting out of here. Khamari
sensed it, watching her walk out the private dining room.
“You got to deal with whatever is going on with your wife before you
bring her around, fucking up my shit,” Khamari voiced and the rest of the
men at the table agreed.
“I told her ass that nothing happened,” Lanez lied. “You know she be
trippin’ on me.”
Sienna scoffed and shook her head. “I think I have to use the ladies
room too.”
“Yeah, same,” Mone’t said, standing, joining Emya and Jaylani who
were already on their way out of the room.
Gizelle pecked away at her phone before standing to her feet, too many
cocktails to make a sober exit. Lanez didn’t bother stopping her as she
stomped out the room.
“Yo, nigga, what the fuck?” Navy hissed. “You said wasn’t shit going to
fuck up my dinner. You know what kind of overtime we have to put in to
keep them from letting your shit affect our shit?”
“I already told her-”
Khamari cut him off. “You gaslit the fuck out of her to the point she
thinks it’s okay to come at my lady. I told you about you and your shit. I
didn’t want to be involved.”
“You’re not,” Lanez huffed.
“Implying that Logan is a groupie ain’t involving me? Nahhh. I don’t
even play like that.”
Lanez fired back. “Nigga, you got a little taste of pussy and forget she
was at my party.”
Everyone’s head snapped to Khamari.
“That don’t make her a groupie. She was on the balcony alone. I don’t
even know why I’m defending myself. I was free and clear before I kicked
game to her. This is about you and your shit.”
 Lanez scoffed. “Don’t act like that. Like you innocent. She came with a
bird, she’s a bird too, she just knows how to play innocent. Watch what I
say.”
“We’re not going to enjoy this meal,” Austin huffed defeated. “Let me
go find my woman before I’m getting knocked over the head in my sleep
because she’s having flashbacks.”
“Let me find mine before she gets ghost. Like I won’t light up this city
looking for her,” Khamari stated as he stood from the table to stroll out.
As he made his way out of the room he could hear Isaiah say, “All the
faithful niggas should stay. It’s Lanez ass fuckin’ up all the time.”

OceanofPDF.com
twelve
 know your type,” Gizelle snipped into the windy night air.
“I Logan didn’t want to look up but audacity spilling from Gizelle
commanded her to. “Excuse me?”
“You’re not excused. I know your type,” Gizelle hissed again.
“Downtrodden city girl looking for a come up around a group of athletes.”
Logan rolled her eyes and focused back on her phone. “I’m not a city
girl.”
“But you need a come up,” Gizelle continued. “It’s in the boots, the
beauty store bobby pins, the college sweatshirt. Did you even go to LSC or
is that another trap of yours?” Logan opened her mouth, but Gizelle held
her hand up and silenced her. “I don’t give a damn. Stay away from my
husband and before you say that you’re not here for him, know I see the
way he looks at you. I’ll find out everything I need to know about you,
Logan Taylor and I’ll make sure you won’t wait tables or be able to roam
around this city in peace.”
Logan’s eyes were squinted, lip curled refusing to allow Gizelle to see
the insecurity she held. “Are you done?”
“I eat little girls like you for lunch,” Gizelle crooned with a smile as her
platinum JoyRide appeared. “None of those women at that table are your
way in to my society. Remember that.”
Gizelle trotted off in shoes that didn’t deserve to be stuffed by her feet.
Logan held the glare until the wretched wife was gone behind the limo tint.
Khamari started to the hall where the restrooms were located only to be
met by Jaylani. “She’s outside.”
Khamari kissed his teeth as he turned to whisk out of the restaurant,
finding Logan standing in the cold pecking away on her phone. From his
vantage point, she was trying to make a run for it. From hers, there wasn’t
enough money in her account to afford a ride home.
“Thought we said no more hiding,” he spoke as he got closer to her.
The wind sniped her face, forcing her to turn her face to the light and
expose the reddened nose and tears she tried to quickly wipe away. “This
isn’t going to work, Mari.”
“And why not? Because Lanez and his wife?”
“No because I don’t fit here. In this with you. At that table, court side at
games, on your arm. I mean it was cool but who am I fooling? I’m a
waitress, a bottle girl, a-” she stopped herself before she could blurt out the
last parts of her protest. “This has been fun, but we should stop before
feelings get involved.”
“It’s too late for that,” Khamari admitted, closing the space between
them offering her a shield from the brisk night air. “I thought we promised
no more hiding?”
“I’m right here. I’m not hiding. I’m just trying to go home,” Logan fired
back, taking her chin from his grip. If she were coaxed to look into his eyes,
into that handsome face, she’d turn to putty. Those amber eyes, diamond
hoops glistening, manicured goatee around full lips that slurped her up and
happily wore her essence as moisturizer.
 Khamari took possession of her chin again, locking eyes with her.
“What are you afraid of, Lo?”
Logan rolled her lips over one another. The truth burning them, tears of
admittance on the brim of her eyes. She refused to cry in front of him.
“What I am afraid of?” she scoffed. “Making a fool of myself… of you.
Your reputation. Having all this shit all over blogs.”
“So you do like me,” Khamari crooned, amusement spreading over his
face. That earned him an eye roll and swat of his hand away from her face.
“Come on.”
“That might be true, maybe a little bit, but I’m serious,” she urged.
“There’s a lot of shit that comes with me and I don’t want to mess up
anything for you. Not a deal or endorsement or how you take care of your
family.”
“All that is secure and will be fine. Shit they’ve already been proven to
stand the test of time. It’s you I’m trying to get there too.”
“Khamari, don’t tell me what I want to hear. This is a weekend thing.”
“For who?” he posed. “Not me. Google me with another shorty. Do it.
You won’t find it. Because it doesn’t exist. I don’t do this, but I’m not
scared of this with you. Show me who you are and let me have a decision in
this but don’t run away from me.”
“Khamari.”
“If you run away from me, I’ll have no other option but to light this
motherfucker up to find you. And I mean it. Every free moment I have will
be dedicated to getting you back. Now, do you want the crazy nigga or his
representative?”
She bit her lip because both options would have her sucking his dick
until the morning. “You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, baby, I would. I’m a LO nigga,” Khamari stated plainly. “So tell
me what we’re doing. Am I taking you somewhere you can be comfortable
or am I kicking in your front door?”
“It’s cold out here and people are watching.”
“Let them stare, you fly as fuck,” he stated, letting his eyes dance over
her. “You bowl?”
“Yeah, I haven’t since a little girl though,” she pointed out.
“I don’t mind giving you a refresher course,” Khamari stated
confidently. His soft yet powerful being was quickly erasing the insecurity
imbedded within her. “You’re mine until the morning and when you get off
work you’re mine again. Or you can quit and do hair like you’re supposed
to be doing…according to Celine.”
“Ohh, that’s how you got my number,” Logan nodded, watching him hit
a few icons on his screen. “Remind me to cuss her out.”
“Nah, she said she wanted an invite to the wedding.” Logan’s eyes
bugged. Khamari’s laugh was beautiful. “Apparently, I don’t have a poker
face.”
Logan shook her head and looked away. “We’re kicking it. Don’t put
unrealistic pressure on some sex and a smile.”
Khamari slipped his phone back into his pants and leaned in. “I licked
it. It’s mine. You ready?”
Logan spotted the car pulling up out the corner of her eye. She nodded.
“Bring your fine ass on.”
Twenty minutes later, they were walking into an underground exclusive
bowling alley. If Logan wanted privacy, Khamari would give her just that.
Food and drinks were already supplied, and it was theirs until they were
ready to head back to his room.
Khamari kneeled in front of her and removed the thigh high boots and
set them to the side. Him removing her boots was erotic. Shit, she
considered spreading her legs open and letting him lick her peach again.
“Who told you to wear shorts?” he teased.
“I knew you were looking, nasty,” she sassed, grabbing her bowling
shoes.
“Any time, any place,” he grumbled, taking the shoes from her. “I got
this. You work hard enough.”
Once their shoes were donned, they each grabbed a ball and rolled it
down their respective lanes.
“Tell me a secret,” Khamari spoke over the music and clash of pins.
“Tell me one of yours first so I know it’s real.”
He licked his lips. “I fucked off my first four years in the league and
went bankrupt. Blew every dime.”
“Damn,” Logan blew. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“No one knows but my team. They kept it tight. My parents took out a
second mortgage on their house to keep some of my shit afloat.”
“Ahh, that’s why your mom is on you the way she is,” Logan said,
snapping her fingers.
 “She’s scared, even still. Our lives are all intertwined but I’m never
going back to that shit ever again.”
“What’s different?”
“Outside of me growing the fuck up? The agonizing need to settle and
chill out. Being locked in with Oceania for eight years and having all my
shit almost stripped from me again, makes me want to see my life grow up.
My own family, my own joy to make all of it worth it. Been in the streets
long enough. I just want to be surrounded by good shit. Tell me yours. So I
know it’s real.”
Logan drew in a breath. “My mother is in prison for murder. She killed
my father. Which you know, but my father was in the streets heavy. I want
to sever those ties but part of me is afraid that I’ll drown if I do. I’m barely
making it now. And this isn’t because I want a handout or anything. I like
working and providing for myself and my sister. That’s the part of me I
don’t want fucking up your situation.”
Khamari bowled another round and waited until the pins were knocked
down. “I don’t know why people think we all should be perfect. My pops
was locked up for ten years for dealing. In fact, it was the favors he had on
the streets that kept our family afloat. The reason I turned to basketball
heavy. I wanted my pops home, my momma happy, my sister protected.
None of that is driving me away from you. But it has to be done. Can you
make sure it’s done?”
“It’s done.”
Logan bowled her turn. They fell into a comfortable silence before
taking a break between rounds.
“What else is it?” Khamari asked, feeling there was more she was
holding back from him.
“I’m a maid at the hotel.”
Khamari rose a brow. “That’s why you disappeared?”
“Yeah, I’m not even supposed to be with you right now. In fact, I’m
trying to figure out how to get out of your room in the morning undetected.”
“My opinion?”
“I’ve been hanging on to your every word all night, why stop now?”
He smirked. “Fuck them, you should be doing hair.”
Logan squinted. “You’ve seen one sew in and you’re convinced?”
“And yours,” he pointed out. “Plus, I need this braided before tomorrow
night. By the way you’ve been drooling over it, I know you want to get
your hands in it.”
“Actually I do. You could’ve asked me to braid your hair night one and
I would’ve.”
“Night three,” he crooned. “Braid my hair?”
“Took you long enough to ask. We can go now.”
Khamari shook his head. “Nah, I want something before we go.”
Logan watched him stand to his full height and take three steps to stand
in front of her. Her eyes trailed his length while becoming encompassed by
his heat. “What’s that?”
Khamari lowered himself to his knees, parted her thighs and pulled her
to the edge of the plush seat. Logan yelped.
“Mari! We can’t do this here?”
“Why can’t we? Hm?” he asked pulling the shorts down her thighs.
“Any time any place. They’re paid not to hear.”
“Oh my God, you’re serious,” she groaned before he swiped his tongue
over her folds and then kissed her inner thighs.
“Dead ass been controlling myself since you got out the car looking
good as fuck. If we didn’t have an audience, I would have put you on the
table.”
Logan giggled. “Mari.”
“Say that shit again,” he groaned, inhaling her essence before face
planting in her garden.
The years he taught himself control and reserve were all unraveling.
Logan didn’t even know she’d found the loose thread of his fabric but every
giggle, bite of the lip, eye roll and smart ass comment pulled at it. Khamari
didn’t give a damn about timeliness or time. He knew what he stumbled
across. A diamond in the rough. A rose growing out of concrete. The buried
seed. Bossing her up only meant the same for him. She was his. He knew
that with everything in him.
The answer he’d been searching for was the way she moaned his name,
the way she looked up at him, those dark orbs dancing like the diamonds on
his wrists and neck. How she leaned into him to hear every word he spoke.
His.
“Ah!” she moaned, voice crescendoing with the music, hands planted in
his curls, ankles locked around his neck as he moved her from the seat to
the back of the couch.
He was working to earn his spray of applause.
 Fingers twisting in and out of her, tongue rapidly twisting her bud
caused her body to quake. “Mari! Please!”
“Mmmhmmm. Let go.”
“Not here all … all over! Fuck!” The orgasm crashed into her like
boulders of lightening. He locked her in place, writing his name over her
pussy – marking his territory.
Breathing ragged and spent, Logan found Khamari’s grin through
hooded eyes. “That’s that shit that’s going to have me stupid behind you.”
“I don’t want you stupid. I want you happy – I want you bossed up,” he
assured, licking his lips. “Damn, I missed that.”

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thirteen
 ou stare at me a lot,” Logan pointed out, immediately finding
“Y Khamari’s eyes when she walked out of the bedroom to the living
room.
“Can’t help it, you’re beautiful.”
Bashfully, she blushed.
“Stop actin’ like you don’t know that,” he said with a pointed
expression. Using his long arms to reach out and pull her into his lap
midstride. Logan straddled his lap, her hands immediately finding the sides
of his face. “You know you’re beautiful.”
 “You want my honesty?”
“I require it.”
“And my constant touch.”
“Hell yeah.”
“I haven’t felt beautiful in a long time. Actually…most of my life,”
Logan shared.
Khamari’s brows furrowed in confusion. Because how couldn’t she see
what he did? What everyone did. What threatened insecure, miserable
women like Gizelle. “Tell me why.”
Logan subtly shrugged. “I was always the more shapely one. Thicker
thighs and bigger butt. My grandma used to buy my clothes two sizes too
big because she didn’t want the uncles and deacons from church distracted.
In fact, she was convinced I was having sex when I turned sixteen and put
me on birth control. If a boy on the block smiled in my direction, she said I
was being fast and immediately put me on punishment. So for a while, I
believed there was something wrong with me. Crash diets and big clothes.
Anything to keep me under the radar and small. In both senses of the
word.”
“You too big to be playin’ small.”
“But how do you know that?”
“It’s just something I know. Something I feel. You got huge energy
while being so soft. That shit is amazing. Part of me is tripping that nobody
has taken you out the game while the other half is happy as hell God made
you available for me.”
Logan ran her hands over his freshly-braided hair tucked away under a
durag. “Me too. Unless you got some crazy ex lurking around to put me in
my place.”
“Nope. Free and clear, no attachments.”
Logan squinted her eyes and raised a brow. “You lyin’?”
“Can’t lie when you’re truth serum.”
“So for clarity-”
Khamari kissed the center of her chest covered by the thin fabric of his
t-shirt. “Yes, you’re my girlfriend.”
“Three days? You don’t even know when my birthday is.”
“When is your birthday, Lo?”
“The fifteenth.”
“Big 3-0. What’s the plans?”
 “I haven’t celebrated in years. No plans and don’t-”
“Too late. I asked if I could be your soft place to land and you said yes.
Then let me be that.”
“You talk shit too good.”
“It ain’t shit I’m talking, baby. Straight up.”
“But why? Why me?” The question needed an answer. An honest,
whole-hearted answer.
“I prayed for God to send me something that would knock me off my
feet. You stopped in your tracks and looked at me in a room full a people.
You saw me. Shit, in that two minutes, it seemed like you saw every fucked
up thing I did, and you didn’t care so I knew. Even when you were rolling
your eyes and your neck talking about you didn’t know me from nowhere,”
he paused to chuckle. “Your soul did.”
“Mari, this is quick.”
“And life is short and brutal. I’ve experienced brutal. I want beautiful
now.” He wrapped his arms around her, and she rested her head on his
shoulder.
“So we’re doing this?”
“I’m not letting you go, so hell yeah.”
“…okay.” Logan let the idea settle before a smile crossed her face.
“Let’s do it.”
“The main event is tomorrow. My people will be there.”
Logan popped her head up. “Have you told them that you met a
waitress-bottle girl-drug mule-stranger ass girl?”
“Girl, what?” he asked, laughter straining his words.
“It’s important.”
“It isn’t. I’ll tell them I met a hairstylist, and we locked in.”
“Your mother is going to hate me.”

“Y ou did what!” Patience screeched through the phone damn near

blowing his eardrum out.
 Khamari was almost sleep with Logan snuggled against him when his
phone rang out in the dark room. Ensuring his mother’s screaming didn’t
wake her up, he eased out of the bed and shuffled tiredly into the living
space.
“And before your ass lies to me I’ve seen it all over the blogs. No one in
this damn hotel can stop talking about it and I ran into Gizelle.”
“Ah fuck,” Khamari groaned.
“Watch your got damn mouth. Gizelle told me you’re snuggled up with
some whore you met at an orgy?!”
Khamari rolled his eyes and massaged the center of his forehead.
“Lanez really needs to get a hold on his damn wife.”
“Sounds like I need to get a hold on you. What the fuck, boy! Didn’t I
tell you-”
“That would apply if it were a whore I met at an orgy. It wasn’t an
orgy.”
“Boy, I know how Lanez gets down. Are you trying to lose everything
behind a trap?”
“Oh my God, ma,” he groaned. “Can we revisit this when you ain’t
barking in my damn ear?”
“I wouldn’t have to bark if you would listen. I want to look at this girl
myself. She better be there when I get there.”
“Ma, could you trust that I got this and not come in here like you don’t
have no sense.”
“Who the hell are you talking to?” Patience snapped. “You and your
daddy, I swear to God. He didn’t say shit about you getting caught up with a
little hoe. What have you given her?”
“Ma?” Khamari groaned, finding the time. After the two rounds with
Logan until she passed out, he was ready to sleep. She wasn’t going to
willingly let him off of the phone. “What do you mean?”
“What do you mean what the fuck do I mean! Get it back!”
KC: get your mother off of my phone

Tati: she’s smacked me twice

KC: I thought you said you took SM off her phone

Tati: she has burner accounts like a dealer with trap phones.
ATP the lady is a GD thug and I’m calling the police
 “Patience Renee Coleman. I love you but I’m going to sleep. We can
talk about this tomorrow when you meet her but I’m not doing this.”
“Boy, if you hang up this phone.”
“Love you ma, good night.” Khamari ended the call and groaned. “That
lady needs a hobby that’s not my damn business, I swear.”
KC: Get your wife pops

Khai: Ahh shit

Back in the bed, Khamari regained his possession of Logan who was
indeed knocked out. Holding her close, he snuggled his face into the curls
that stuck out of the top of the silk wrap he ordered for her. The comfort she
brought him soothed his mind and lulled him back to sleep.

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fourteen
 have to goooo,” she whined in a fit of giggles as she attempted to get
“I out of his hold.
Logan managed to shower, wrestle her hair into a neat bun, dress
and make it halfway to the door before being scooped up in his arms and
pinned between him and the kitchen counter. She thought since he’d gone to
work out that she could make a clean break. The gym he was going to was
behind one of the closed doors.
“Give me five minutes,” he groaned into her lips, his large hand finding
the seat of her panties.
 “I know enough to know that there isn’t anything you can do fully in
five minutes.”
“Lo baby, you haven’t seen me in the last five minutes of the game,
there’s a lot I can do.”
“I’ll have to see tonight,” Logan compromised. “But I need to get to
work. I’m going to be late.”
“Don’t go,” he groaned, slipping a finger inside of her. “She doesn’t
want you to go either.”
“Marrrriii,” Logan shuddered, instantly becoming weak in the knees. “I
have bills to pay. I have to – I have to goooo.”
“I’ll pay them. Stay,” he urged.
The statement snapping her to reality. Sweetly she kissed him and
pushed him back. “And on that note, I’ll see you tonight.”
“Nothing I can do to make you stay?”
“Not a thing.”
Momentarily defeated, Khamari quickly gathered the sting and nodded.
“I respect that.”
Logan tucked her lips in and looked up at him. “Good because that’s the
only option on this table. I don’t want your money. I’m not even that type of
woman. I get you have more than you know what to do with, but I want that
to be clear. I’m not a gold digger or looking for a come up.”
“How about a boss up?”
“What?” Logan asked, wrinkling her brow as her phone sounded off in
her sweatpants pocket.
Khamari softly chuckled. “We’ll talk about it tonight. I’ll have your
ticket a will-call.”
Logan winced remembering that the plus one ticket would be next to
Khamari’s family and while Jacari was a viable option, she had other plans.
Which Logan couldn’t complain about due to the expected nature of
Jacari’s mouth.
“Meeting the family.”
“You nervous?”
“Nervous doesn’t even touch it. I’m scared shitless but we’re doing this,
right?” Logan sought his reassurance. Crazy that after only a few days, she
trusted him with her life. The part of her that was full of sense held doubt.
But the tiny spot where her dreams lived could see and feel life with him.
The warmth of the comfort and security he brought. That’s what kept her
from calling it all off right now and hiding in the darkest corner of the
darkest alley. “Like if I ask you’ll meet my mother in prison or-”
“I’ll walk there if that’s what you requested.”
“You talk shit so good,” she crooned, holding his face, finding herself
becoming lost in him. But the insistent ringing wouldn’t allow it. “I got to
go. I’m officially late. Tonight.”
“Tonight.” Khamari stepped back just enough for her to wiggle off of
the counter. “Don’t worry about your JoyRide either.”
Logan squinted at him over her shoulder as she quickened to the door.
Khamari blew a kiss and winked in her direction making her shake her head
and hurry out the suite. Alone in the elevator, she groaned. She was late for
her shift, Maria kept blowing her up, and she was in the guest elevator.
Equal parts of the equation to be fired.
Lo: you working?

Cari: girl I called out. Fuck that job and fuck a baller

“Shit,” Logan hissed to herself as the elevator hit the bottom floor and
the doors glided open to a bustling lobby. She led her butter soft fabric
covered legs toward the service area of the hotel tucked away from the sight
of guests.
“There she is!” Gizelle screeched the moment Logan turned the corner.
“That’s that bitch that was in my husband’s room! Texting him all night!
Run the cameras.”
Logan’s brows fused into one. She looked over her shoulder to see if
there was someone else behind her who Gizelle was pointing at with her
hysterics. Maria and Isha stood in the entrance trying to pacify Gizelle from
causing any more of a scene.
“Girl, wasn’t nobody textin’ your cheating-ass husband all night,”
Logan fired back. Granted she could have had this energy with Gizelle the
night before, but Logan never took kindly to anyone lying on her. “I’m late
for work excuse me.”
Gizelle blocked her path and glared at her. “Admit it and maybe I’ll let
you keep your job.”
“I told you last night and I’ll tell you again today, since you might be a
little slow. I don’t want your husband.”
 “Logan, is it true?” Maria asked, not wanting to believe that Gizelle’s
drama was something Logan would do. “Were you in Mr. Porter’s room at
all this weekend besides the times you were supposed to be?”
Logan sucked in a deep breath already knowing her fate. “Yeah.”
“I told you, Isha!” Gizelle shouted feeling some sort of vindication.
However, it would be short lived, the way Gizelle had ruined innocent lives
in the past, karma was actively seeking her.
“We’re going to need your keycard,” Isha spoke up. “Mrs. Porter, we
are so sorry about this. We have drilled it into our maids head’s that they
weren’t to interact with the players.”
What did the whole truth matter right now to either manager? Nothing.
It wasn’t going to save her job but arguing back and forth wouldn’t save her
face either. Logan dug into her pant pocket and handed over the keycard.
For a moment Isha looked at her not believing Gizelle in her entirety.

I sha

izelle,” Isha spoke up once Logan was successfully escorted out of

“G the building. “Come in my office real quick.”
“Okay but this can’t take long, I’m meeting with a stylist to
finalize tonight’s look. I got to put these bitches to shame,” Gizelle quipped,
following Isha to her office.
The Lavender View Hotel had been a central monument for the city. But
four years ago it was almost closed because of poor financial decisions
from the previous owner. Isha Domineaux and her team of accountants,
planners and executives turned it into the beacon it was today. This issue
now was that Lanez Porter, and his off-the-chain wife threatened the very
reputation of her establishment.
Seated behind the heavy opaque glass door, Isha turned the TV on and
played a series of videos for her soror. Images of Lanez walking in with a
group of women, a few staggering out, and Lanez’s security taking one out
in a duffle bag.
“While I agree that Ms. Taylor violated company procedures by
attending the party, she never came out of Lanez’s room. She came out
another. But you know that already, like you probably know about that. I do
not want the LV involved in a sexual assault lawsuit. I also don’t want to be
in the middle of you and Lanez’s martial issues anymore,” Isha spoke up
seeing the glass house Gizelle build around herself shatter.
“What are you saying to me, Isha? Huh?” Gizelle semi-snapped with
embarrassment.
“I’m saying that you, nor Lanez can stay here moving forward. We’re
terminating your agreement. And as your line sister, I’m telling you to go
get a good lawyer and get the hell out. Whatever happened in that room
three nights ago is about to turn ugly for you and your kids,” Isha shared,
empathy in her eyes.
Gizelle was just an unassuming girl from Glendale who fell in love with
the star center at LSC. Lanez was never ready to be committed but he
convinced himself and everyone around him that being married and having
a family with Gizelle was what he needed to be whole. The last seven years
of the marriage had proved to be a lie. Heartbreak after heartbreak, STD
after STD, and a long list of embarrassment, Gizelle had lashed out at
everyone but the man responsible for mishandling her heart and trust.
“You know Toni is already on standby…” Isha’s words sounded like
they were in a tunnel while Gizelle’s eyes watched the screen replay clips
and the reality set in.
“No. I don’t need Toni.” Gizelle pieced her façade back together as she
stood. “Thank you for showing me who to trust.”
“I was trying to tell you this earlier,” Isha pressed.
“Everyone knows my husband is cheating and has cheated on me. No
one knew the lengths I went to keep those bitches silent. Now…the whole
world is going to know.”
“Not if you get in front of it.”
“You should have told me when you saw it. Some friend you are.”
Isha didn’t take offense to it. This was the price of business. There were
over forty ballers, including her brother in the building and she would not
have his name wrapped up in any bullshit Lanez brought along with him.
“I’m sorry, Gizelle.”
 “Yeah,” she scoffed as she exited the office. “Me too.”
Gizelle stomped her designer heels out of the office and into the lobby,
bumping into Tatianna.
“Oh damn, Gizi. You good, girl?” Tatianna asked as the bellhop took her
things.
Gizelle was the type of woman to hurt everyone around her if she was
feeling away. She couldn’t hurt Lanez, yet, but she could cause more
damage to a woman she thought beneath her. “I just found out my husband
had a fling with a maid.”
“Oh damn,” Tatianna said no surprise in her voice at all.
“Seems like all these women here are looking for a baller,” Patience
chimed in.
Gizelle rose her perfectly micro bladed brow. “In fact the bitch who
fucked Lanez is the one on your son’s arm. I got a DM that the nasty-ass
bitch lives on the northside.”
Gizelle held up her phone for Patience to see.
“I don’t believe that,” Tatianna inserted knowing her brother. Khamari
liked his women as lowkey as himself and if he was out with someone for
everyone to see, it all checked out. But there was no convincing Patience of
that.
“Believe it. She just got fired too. Logan Taylor is her name.”
“Oh my God,” Tatianna smacked her teeth. “I’m going to talk to Mari.”
“I’ll meet you up there.” Patience waved her daughter off as she stepped
fully into mama bear mode. “Gizelle, let me walk you out.”

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fifteen
JoyCash Alert: $$KMari sent $4000

Rahki: I know you’re out living life, but the lights are off and
Uncle Jimmy stopped by

Rahki: I’m just going to stay on campus until the end of the
semester. This is too much

Mari: miss you already. See you tonight, put that fly shit on
L
ogan took a deep breath and pushed it out of her mouth with
aggravated force. She felt crazy. Absolutely insane for pursuing a
matter of the heart when in reality everything was falling apart. If she
could rewind the hand of time she would’ve kept her ogling to herself and
minded her business.
Navigating from the notifications populating her home screen, she made
her way to the utilities website to handle the light bill, then ordered her a
JoyRide home.
“Maybe I should say thank you,” she muttered to herself, and she leaned
the expensive sweat suit against the concrete wall. The internal war was
starting to wage against her heart and mind. Her heart knew the possibilities
of love she conjured in her dreams. But her mind and eyes recalled the
trauma of letting love and all its angels and demons hold space.
Hearting Khamari’s message and the JoyCash, she text back.
Lo Baby: can’t wait

The black sedan assigned to her account showed up five minutes later.
Logan sat in the back seat with the duffle bag Maria handed over in the
midst of Gizelle’s rant. Leaning her head on the window, she let her eyes
float closed. Her tired eyes and mind drifted back to being wrapped in
Khamari’s arms, giggling at cartoons on the TV, rubbing her feet over his
leg to keep them warm, his beautiful orbs tracing the outline of her face and
his safety.
Every moment with Khamari felt like love. It felt so damn good. Too
good because she’d abandoned her natural stance of stress to lie in his arms
as if nothing existed outside of them. The car came to a stop, making Logan
peel her eyes open.
“Thanks,” she hummed as she opened the door and stepped out on the
sidewalk in front of her shabby apartment.
The JoyRide pulled off and Logan strode to her door. Logan let herself
in and swung the door closed behind her only for it to be stopped by a hand.
Alert shot through her being as she spun around.
“Yo, what the fuck are you on?” she snapped at the older woman on the
other side. Her hands balled making a fist around the keys sticking out
between her knuckles. Living on the north side of Lavendale as a single
woman, Logan had to always be ready to defend herself. Something she
hated doing and was thankful for the last few months it’d been quiet. Uncle
Jimmy was good for something, sometimes.
Underneath furrowed brows, she studied the woman attempting to barge
her way into the apartment Logan occupied. Nothing about the woman
appeared threatening. In fact, she didn’t look like she’d hurt a fly in her
cashmere sweater, designer jeans, and ankle boots to compliment the outfit.
Patience smiled coyly at her, holding the same eyes her son did. Logan
didn’t catch the resemblance until she stepped inside and looked around
Logan’s living conditions. “Word on the curb is you’re the little girl that has
my son acting like he doesn’t have any damn sense.”
“I didn’t invite you in,” Logan protested.
“I’ll make this quick,” Patience said pulling an NDA from her purse and
a Plan B. “Sign this. Take that. You don’t belong with my son or anywhere
around him.”
“You can’t just barge your way into my house and make me sign
anything or take anything,” Logan fired back. “Did Khamari send you?”
“You seem to think you have an option. I have seen plenty of girls like
you prey on the fact that my boy is a gentleman but never have I seen a
groupie fuck his friend and then hold his hand.”
“Lady, get out of my home,” Logan hissed. “I don’t know where this
narrative is coming from that I’m bouncing from baller dick to baller dick. I
didn’t prey on your son who by the way is a grown man. A grown man who
has stated very plainly what he wants.”
Patience scoffed. “If I believed that, why you are you here and not with
him?”
Patience found the thread of Logan’s insecurity and pulled it.
Logan shrugged. “I don’t know. In fact I’m still trying to figure it out
myself. I don’t fit in his world.”
“You don’t. You’re a club girl, pretending to be innocent but I know
your type and you will not bring my son down. Sign it.”
In Logan’s moment of weakness and frustration, her fear-induced
amnesia of what the warmth and security provided from Khamari felt like.
“There’s no need for that. I won’t do interviews with blogs. I’ll leave him
alone.”
Patience laughed dryly. “Little girl do you think I believe that? How
much?”
Logan’s brows furrowed. “Excuse me?”
 “You clearly need the money. How much?”
“I don’t want your money or his,” Logan stated finding the strength she
abandoned bubble up to the surface. “I didn’t ask for Khamari to pursue me
or fill my head up with dreams. I didn’t invite you in my home either. You
win, have your son but leave me with my peace.”
There would be no peace for her. In a matter of days, Khamari had
altered that. There would be no peace for either of them if they weren’t
together. Mothers, bloggers, and haters could have done and said whatever
they wanted but Khamari and Logan were destined to be. That was an
irrefutable fact.
Patience looked her over, seeing glimpses of herself in Logan but
wouldn’t give it space to grow. Any woman she didn’t approve was an
enemy until she deemed otherwise. She had better prayed that she had her
son still when she realized.
“Take this,” Patience spoke opening the box.
“I’m not taking that. I’ll sign your stupid ass NDA, but I am not putting
that shit into my body.”
Patience scoffed, resorting to her final act, pulling out a stack of money
out of her purse. She placed them on the coffee table along with a pen.
“Sign.”
Logan bitterly stared at the stacks of money with tears dancing in her
eyes. She signed the NDA and pushed it away from her.
With determination and finality in her eyes, Patience directed, “Take it.”
The tear fell only opening the flood gates. Folding under the pressure
and proving to her fears that she could never be a part of Khamari’s world,
she took it, gulped it down dryly and opened her mouth for Patience to see.
The action all too reminiscent of being a vulnerable teenaged girl who
didn’t understand her body or her mind. Childhood trauma coming back to
the surface.
An approved smirk crossed Patience’s face. “Good doing business with
you. I hope to never see you again.”
Logan’s body felt hot, throat sore with the bitter words she refused to
speak. Her toes and nail beds burned from clawing into the soles of her
shoes as they sought war to run into Khamari’s arms. She couldn’t move,
couldn’t speak, couldn’t think – all the words and expressions muddled by
the fuzziness of her brain.
 Patience hurried out of the small apartment pleased with the outcome of
blindly protecting her son. The door closing broke Logan down into a fit of
sobs. So much so she made herself sick, hoovering over the toilet vomiting
everything she’d ingested including the Plan B pill.
Arms propped on her knees allowing the self-pity to flow freely with its
accompanying glimpses of why love would never come again or at all.
“Get it together, Lo,” Logan muttered to herself as she wiped the old set
of tears away making room for new streaks. “It was good while it lasted.
You experienced it, got a sample. Now move on.”
Standing to her feet, she avoided looking at herself in the mirror, fearful
of the courage she’d find imbedded in her soul by all the women who came
before her. Trekking from the bathroom, down the hallway into the living
room, she picked up her phone, blocked Khamari’s number then deleted it.
No contact. No looking back. No feelings. Only broken promises. She’d
lay in the bed she made later. Down to two jobs and a stack of cash to drop
off, she dressed to pick up a shift at Prime. Duffle bag repacked for the long
night at the club, she headed out the door and returned to the life she had
before crashing into Khamari.

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sixteen
 irst All-Star game,” Tatianna squealed as she sat at the counter top of
“F the suite. “Are you excited?”
“Hell yeah. I’m hype. Lavendale has been a vibe since we got
here,” Khamari replied. “Even ya boy been on his best behavior. He ain’t
been partying too heavy, been shaking hands and kissing babies.”
Tatianna waved the statement off, too busy on her phone to pretend she
hadn’t seen Makavelli since she arrived. “Lanez is trash.”
Khamari grabbed a bottle of water and looked in Tatianna’s direction.
He smirked to himself recalling having Logan on the counter. “What now?”
 “Yeah, before your parents get here and get to trippin’, keep clear of
Lanez. Gizelle is on a warpath and there’s rumors that he hosted an orgy,
and few girls were drugged,” Tatianna shared. “Oliver called me this
morning and we all agree with the fresh start at Lavendale we want you far
away from that.”
“I’ve been occupied with more fulfilling things than Lanez’s bullshit,”
Khamari announced a smile spreading his lips.
“You better tell me before momma comes up here with all her energy,”
Tatianna pressed. “You got the internet going crazy. Women talking about
you broke their hearts. I can’t lie you two look good together. But the
burning question…”
Khamari shook his head. “Her secrets are her secrets and it’s not for no
one to know but her and who she decides to tell.”
“But she told you?” Tatianna asked with a brow raised.
“Yeah,” Khamari stated matter-of-factly.
“And what did you tell her in return?” Tatianna quizzed.
“The bankruptcy.”
“In its entirety?”
“That my first four years in the league I was stupid and out of control. I
haven’t uttered the real reason to a soul if they were involved.”
Tatianna hummed, licked her dry lips, and studied her brother’s body
language. He wasn’t tense or guarded. There was evidence that he’d indeed
discovered his person. “Is she ever going to know?”
“Yeah, but I’m a giant in her eyes right now. I don’t want to dim that,”
Khamari shared, dragging his hand over his face.
“So it’s not her you don’t trust. It’s you.”
“My demons,” Khamari said. “I don’t trust that they’re gone for good.
Sure, I haven’t had a nightmare, haven’t wanted to drink, or the need to
wild out. Even with all this craziness around me, she’s been …comfort.”
“If this is something you want, and from the looks of you and all these
photos swirling over blogs, you want it, and she trusts you. Consider telling
her the whole truth. You’ll never know how she responds until it happens,”
Tatianna offered. “But do it after I meet her. I have to make sure you ain’t
tripping.”
“How many women you’ve seen me with since the last one?” Khamari
asked, refusing to speak her name.
 “None, which is why I want to make sure you’re not blinded by beauty
and newness.”
“I’m not a boy no more, though. My judgement isn’t skewed, this is
some-”
“All-Star!” Patience’s voice crescendo’d as she made her way into the
suite. “I went out and got you some food because I know you’ve been up
here eating cheap take out.”
Tatianna and Khamari shared a look, silently agreeing to continue this
conversation at a later time.
“Hey, Ma!” Khamari smiled as he opened his arms to receive her.
“Hey, baby boy,” Patience crooned hugging her son around his waist.
“Where’s this beauty you said I was going to meet? She should’ve been
here.”
“Ma, please,” Tatianna started. “Don’t start.”
“Please don’t start,” Khai spoke up coming out of the game room. “It’s
been peaceful woman.”
“All I’m saying is that she should’ve been here to meet me,” Patience
spoke.
Khamari shook his head giving his mother’s behavior no room to
manifest into something ridiculous. “She had to work, ma. If she was here,
you would’ve gotten into her business and drilled her about not working
and why she got so much time to be up under me. Then you would have
called her a gold digger and scared her off.”
“True,” Khai chimed. “A woman who is working to achieve her dreams
is a woman to keep.”
Patience lowly rolled her eyes. “Well, if she shows up tonight we’ll deal
with it then. Right now it’s family time.”

J oyRide Arena was packed, loud, and vibrating with fandom. If the
championship game was mind blowing, this was enough energy to fill his
soul. However, the high vibrations of the fans couldn’t fill him like Logan’s
could.
 Shooting warm up shots, Khamari’s vision was balanced between the
ball swooshing through the net and the empty seat between Tatianna and
Jaylani. Tatianna caught the concern in her brother’s eye and waved him on,
confident that his date would appear.
But if Tatianna knew her mother, she knew that Logan would probably
be watching the event from anywhere but the arena.
“Why does he have that look on his face?” Khai leaned over and asked
Tatianna lowly. “Where is that beautiful lady he’s been parading around
with?”
“Daddy, I think you need to ask your wife,” Tatianna responded, putting
all the pieces of the puzzle together. “I have a feeling this isn’t going to turn
out good.”
“What does that mean?”
“I mean, I think my brother found his person and mommy has finally
done enough meddling to send him over the edge. The ink is still wet on the
Lavendale deal. I don’t need him spiraling out of control.”
Khai nervously chuckled. “Are you saying Patience…”
“Did what she does to clean up messes. However, that girl isn’t a mess
and Khamari isn’t going to just let this go.”
Khai groaned. “Make sure your brother enjoys his night. I’ll deal with
your mother.”
“There was ten grand taken out of the crisis account. The last time that
happened, Kelsi told Khamari she was tired of waiting on him and decided
to marry her high school sweetheart. Remember the aftermath of that? The
millions of dollars it cost us and lawyers and fixers and declaring
bankruptcy. You got to get a hold on her. Immediately.”

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seventeen
 irl,” Celine hissed, grabbing Logan by the arm. Forcibly but lovingly
“G yanking her back from serving the last table of the night. “I’ve let
you walk around all night barely present, barely talking with that
little attitude dripping off of you. Why aren’t you at that game?”
Logan avoided eye contact, she couldn’t afford another break down.
“Logan, I will have that hussie with her breast out serve that last table
and take that big ass tip they’re going to leave for you.” Celine crossed her
arms over her chest and peered at Logan demanding her eyes. “I’m
waiting.”
 Logan filled her lungs with air before slowly releasing it. “Where do I
start? Rahkel is transferring to OSU in May. I lost my job at the hotel this
morning but that was my fault and whatever I was doing with KC is over.
Can I get back to my table?”
“No,” Celine quipped.
“Celine, come on.”
“You can’t because you aren’t supposed to be here. You’re supposed to
be court side between his sister and Jaylani cheering your man on. Now
again, why the hell are you here? And the truth this time.”
Logan, defeated, huffed pushed the tip of her tongue against the corner
of her mouth. “I signed an NDA.”
“What? That motherfucka made you sign an NDA?” Celine snapped,
starting to remove her apron. “I’ll go beat his ass myself.”
Logan reached out and stopped Celine midmotion. “His mother waltzed
her ass in my very small apartment this morning and pretty much told me to
stay away from her son. But I signed the NDA, I took the Plan B, and I
didn’t throw the money back at her. So, I’m the problem.”
“Now how much money are we talking about?” Celine quizzed earning
her an under look from Logan. “You’re right stay on topic.”
“That’s it, that’s all.”
Celine pinched Logan under her arm. “Ow!”
“Serves you right. You’re going to let what’s yours just go because his
prissy ass momma forgot where she came from?”
“It’s not just that, Ce. I don’t belong in his world. Those WAGS, the
cameras, everyone knowing who I am and speculating my motives. I heard
a group of girls ask tonight if I’m dating KC why am I here?”
“Fuck them bitter ass WAGS, the cameras, and everyone who has
something to say about you, fuck them. They don’t know you. Shit, do you
even know you? You are so damn smart, so damn big, so damn beautiful
and you keep playing small for who? For Rahkel? For your little ghetto ass
friends? Or because you’re scared? Which one? Because you should be in a
salon doing hair, but you didn’t finish school because Rahkel needed
tuition. You didn’t go back because your mother needed money on her
books. Now what’s the reason?
“What’s the reason for denying yourself yet again from what you want?
Hm? So what you signed the NDA, so what you didn’t give back the
money. What are you going to do now for you?” Celine asked as she retied
her apron. “You can’t undo any of that. But you can boss up, own your shit
and pop your shit. Let tonight be the last time I see you here with an apron
on.”
Celine hugged Logan, kissed her cheek, and tapped her thigh.
“I love you, Celine.”
“I love you, now wipe your face, hold your head up and finish your last
table with a smile.”
Celine left Logan alone to rid her face of the tears that fell during
Celine’s talking to. One glance to the tv was bound to crack Logan’s barely
pulled together exterior. Khamari was at the free throw line having been
fouled on his rebound. Logan observed the passion in his eyes. She’d seen it
so many times before, when he gazed at her, talked about playing, and why
he did. He made both shots and ran back down court, eyes reading the next
screen. Before Logan could get wrapped up, she spotted the server with the
big breasts waltzing to her table.
She pulled herself away from the TV and went back to work. The
mission of the night – get through it unscathed. After closing up the
restaurant, she headed to the club and changed into her club attire. She
finally looked at herself in the mirror before Eddie came in for pre-shift
inspections. Short ass shorts, tight covered legs, corset and mask. And for
the women selling more than bottles, the smell check. Disgusting. And for
the ones he really liked, a visit to his office after getting his pack from
Logan.
She loathed the sight, stench, and sound of this all. After days in bliss,
reality sucked, and she wanted off of the bullshit ride to nowhere. Sadly, the
fantasy ride was no longer accessible to her. She had no one to be upset
with but herself.
“Line up!” Eddie’s voice vibrated through the small dim light locker
room in need of a deep clean. “All-Star weekend is closing tonight. We
need y’all giving every baller in the building the best side of your
personalities and whatever else they’re willing to pay for. Anyone who
steps into the Scarlet Room, I want sixty off the top.”
Logan’s lip curled. It was getting more and more repulsive by the
minute.
The giggles of the women looking to score a baller sounded off in a
clash of noise after Eddie did his once over and proceeded to his girls. It
gave Logan enough time to look at herself again, go over the script in her
head in the event Khamari rolled up on her. If he was even here. Her sigh
was audible as she trekked to the bathroom to pull herself together.
“All this stupid ass crying,” she huffed wiping her face clear of any
remnants of tears. It would be fake smiles all night. As Logan started out of
the restroom, she was stopped by Eddie. The loudness of his aged cologne
making her stomach turn.
“You owe me something,” he spoke, reaching out and grabbing her. The
feel of his hardness, the smell of his breath, and look he assaulted her body
with made her want to throw up all over again. Forcibly, she pushed him off
of her.
“I told you not to touch me again,” she huffed. “That might work for
them, but it doesn’t work with me.”
“Figured your ass was ready to bend over since you came running
back,” Eddie slithered. Logan’s lip curled. “Everyone saw you all over TV
and the internet. Couldn’t bag him and ran right back to Daddy Eddie. I bet
that little pussy is tight.”
She clamped her eyes closed for a brief moment to center herself and
not punch this man in his face. Sure she could walk out now, use the money
and get her shit together but the agonizing feeling of being indebted to a
man, she was starting to see a future with, was unsettling. She knew the
snakes here in the gutter, all of their intentions were made plain. If Khamari
was anything other than who he said he was, that would break her more
than she was broken now. The money had to go back. At least her conscious
would be clear.
Logan stomped out the restroom to her assigned locker. She rummaged
through her things and handed the pack to Eddie. “This is my last night.”
“Where the hell you going?” Eddie scoffed with laughter. “You got with
one little baller and forgot your ass got bills. You ain’t going nowhere.
Matter of fact you’re starting in the Scarlet Room right now.”
Logan scoffed dryly, collecting her things. The final straw and the line
she would never cross was selling her body for money. “You know what,
consider us even.”
“I remember when your fine ass walked in here. Not giving none of
these niggas no play. Not even me and everyone who wants a job here gives
me some play. Out of respect for your uncle, I left your stuck up ass alone.
But watch how you leave ‘cause when that baller drops your ass for the
next cute thing, your ass will be right back here on your knees like the rest
of them. Giving Eddie what he wants.”
Logan threw up her middle finger and walked away. Stomping toward
the bar she tried to talk herself into staying, seeing her shift through. She
couldn’t. There was ten grand and a spoiled conscious weighing her down.
Taking and using the money would only make her feel worse than she did
now. After the stunt she pulled by not showing up to the game she was sure
seeing her with his money would probably make him take a step back. It
only proved she was everything she said she wasn’t. At least that’s what she
told herself. Every passing thought only propelled her lower into her pity
party.
“Cut your losses and move on.” She coached herself as she traipsed to
the bar to give the bartender her keycard only to be handed sparkles and a
bottle.
“Eddie said you’re going to the Scarlet Room,” the bartender returned.
“Told me not to let you leave until you cash out.”
Logan kissed her teeth and flung the keycard over the counter. “Tell
Eddie and his greasy ass skin, tired ass silk shirts, dried out silk press, and
funky ass cologne to kiss my black ass. I’m done with this shit.”
“Lolo mama,” a voice she hadn’t heard in years grabbed her attention.
Whipping her head around she was eye to eye with Trenton Harley. A bad
boy she defied her grandmother to be with. A boy she let into her body,
pollute her mind and almost break her heart and her spirit. Now he was
back and here. Too close.
“Don’t call me that,” Logan hissed adjusting the bag on her shoulder
and giving him the meanest side eye.
“Once your love, always your-”
“There you are Trent,” Rahkel crooned as she wrapped her arms around
his waist, snuggling up as though they were far past familiar. “Oh, Lo.
Hey.”
Rahkel nervously retracted her arms from around Trenton, who smiled
like the snake he was.
“Oh? Hey?” Logan questioned. “Why the hell are you here with him?”
“I’m just-” Rahkel stumbled over her explanation. “I just wanted-”
“We’ve been kicking it. You know like you, and I used to, but she’s
been staying, counting a nigga’s money, holding him down. Doing what a
down ass bitch is supposed to be doing for her nigga. A lesson she could
probably tutor you in,” Trenton slithered. Logan didn’t give a damn about
what Trenton was saying. What she cared about was that her sister had been
lying to her face for months.
“Rahki, I’m going to ask you this one time and don’t lie to me, what
have you been doing?” Logan peered at her sister seeing the truth, knowing
the truth but needing to hear it. “Are you still in school, Rahkel?”
“Who needs school when your nigga is that nigga,” Trenton added.
Logan’s head tilted to the side in disbelief. “So I’m out here busting my
ass, sacrificing for what? Huh?”
Rahkel nibbled on her lip with terror of telling her sister the truth.
“SPEAK UP!” Logan bellowed almost combatting with the music of the
club and the partygoers. The erupt roar from her drew attention she didn’t
give a damn about.
“I fronted some work from Uncle Jimmy,” she admitted.
“Are you fuckin’ serious?” Logan erupted, wanting to beat Rahkel out
of her shoes. She threw her hands up and spun around, Khamari’s tall body
looming over her. “I don’t have time for any of this shit.”
“Lolo mama, don’t be mad at her for taking an offer you refused to do
what? Hair? How’s that turning out for you?” Trenton taunted. “Looks like
you’re selling pussy at the Scarlet Room. Could’ve made more money with
me managing your tight little pussy.”
“Rahk, let’s go,” Logan demanded. “Right fuckin’ now.”
“Lo baby, let me talk to you,” Khamari spoke up, grabbing her arm to
get her away from whatever this was with whoever this was. Jealousy
striking through him that his woman once knew the likes of the scum before
him.
“Let me go,” Logan hissed snatching away from him. Far too upset to
talk and work anything out with anyone.
“Rahkel, let’s go,” Trenton said grabbing Rahkel forcibly by the arm.
Tight enough to make her wince. Logan caught the regret in her sister’s
eyes.
The smallest aggression sent her back to a place she thought she was
long removed from. But the last two days proved that those skeletons never
went away. Visions and recalls of abuse from her father flashed in Logan’s
head, tensing her body so brutally until it released her, leaving behind
vengeance. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Logan’s hand
flew across Trenton’s face, causing his head to whip around from the
sudden impact.
Bystanders gasped, Khamari attempted to grab her and remove her from
the impeding mayhem. No avail, though. She had the strength of a lioness
protecting her cub. Rahkel, although her sister, was her cub. No one put
their hands on her and made it out okay.
Everything happened like a bolt of lightning, ensuing mayhem. The
second her tiny hand crossed Trenton’s face, he shoved her, getting himself
into position to make her pay for what she’d done. She’d embarrassed him,
again. Took a snipe at his manhood, again. She was going to pay for it,
again. The swift actions made Khamari move with haste. Before Trenton
could make contact with her, Khamari yanked Logan from her firmly
planted spot. With all the abuse Logan witnessed, she wasn’t one ever to
shy away from a fight in the moment. Now that she was safely behind him,
Khamari grabbed Trenton by the shirt. Trenton was suspended in the air,
dropped on the bar and used as a rag, swiping bottles and patron’s glasses to
the ground.
Screams and shouts added to the chaos.
Blow for blow. Trenton couldn’t fight back. He needed to fight back.
Khamari had reach and pure unadulterated strength on his side. So much for
being a methodical beast who would pick apart someone’s being limb by
limb. This wasn’t basketball, this was love and in this game, the king
needed to protect the queen, no matter what.
“Khamari!” Logan screamed seeing all of his hard work being snatched
from him because of her past skeletons. “Baby, please!”
“Logan! Make him stop!” Rahkel pleaded. Young, dumb and full of
cum to believe that Trenton was worth saving.
Logan turned to Rahkel in the pandemonium, seeing Jacari fight her
way into the crowd. Everyone’s phones were out recording this ordeal.
Khamari was deaf and blind to it all. Trenton was about to put his hands on
his woman – he had to pay. If it were humanly possible to make everyone
pay who hurt her, he would without any ounce of regret.
“We got to go!” Jacari shouted over the madness trying to push the
sisters to the exit. Players rushing from their section to defend their fellow
athlete. Gang members coming to do the same. Chaos.
Too many emotions, too many eyes, too many bad decisions.
Everything was moving too fast causing Logan’s head to spin with an
adrenaline-fueled dizziness. Khamari had no business in Logan’s mess and
Rahkel had no business with Trenton. She scrambled to get Khamari off of
Trenton but now the issue between sisters turned into an issue between
groups of men. An all-out brawl was uncontained, women and men fighting
for what? Still, Logan couldn’t stop trying to get Khamari to let Trenton go.
She had to save him. He was something good in her life that was worth
saving. He’d done it for her. Exposed her to something that provoked her to
walk away from anything that didn’t bring her peace.
Pow. Pow. Pow.
Bullets rang out breaking the crowd up.
Logan tried to get Rahkel and pull her out of the mayhem they caused
but the swarm of people made it impossible. The biggest night for Scarlet
was accompanied with higher police presence. Which was ironic since
Eddie was slinging pussy left and right to patrons. The music stopped, the
police came through like droves shouting orders and forcing everyone in the
chaos to the ground. Guns drawn pointed in faces, shouts to get on the
ground made this night worse than what it was.
Rahkel, who’d never been in any type of trouble sobbed silently as the
zip ties were tightened around her wrists. Logan’s tears weren’t for herself
but for Khamari whose glare hadn’t abandoned Logan’s. Her knees and
chest were pushed in the alcohol-drenched shards of glass.
She couldn’t utter a word to him, but her eyes said it all. “I’m so sorry.”
Those amber eyes were unrelenting. Full of passion and promise. Those
she’d broken hers, he wasn’t coming off of his. One thing was certain, he
could show her better than he could’ve told her.
The police arrested every man affiliated with gangs assuming they
pulled the trigger. While Makavelli was in cuffs laid on the ground next to
his friend, he regretted nothing. His hands were registered weapons. Their
friends thought quickly in efforts to settle this once and for all. It wasn’t
smart but it was efficient. Makavelli fired the gun Jaymerius stole from
Trenton’s waistband and Jacari snatched it away to wipe the prints off and
kicked it away.
Logan didn’t make a sound as the police yanked her up from the floor.
“Ay, watch how you handle her,” Khamari voiced. Every syllable of
every word spoke lingered with warning. He still had fight left in him if
anyone else hurt her in any way. The police marched everyone out of the
club, camera’s flashing forcing her head down. Khamari’s mother’s word
resounding in her head, “You don’t belong with my son.”
The ride to the police station was the longest. Getting booked in was
even more embarrassing than getting arrested. Finally alone in a holding
cell with her sister, Logan spoke up. “When did you drop out?”
“I didn’t, they kicked me out before the semester even started. I flunked
out last semester.”
“Are you fuckin’ serious! You’ve been taking my money for what? For
him!” Logan sprung to her feet and glared down at her sister. “What the hell
have you two been doing? All those nights you were supposed to be on
campus, working at the bookstore, in class or the café. Can’t talk, Lo. I’m
fine Lo.”
Rahkel didn’t look at her sister.
“Look at me!”
Rahkel found her sisters face tears of regret rolling down her face.
“Stealing cars, making runs.”
“Uncle Jimmy knew about this?”
Rahkel nodded her head yes.
Logan bit her trembling lip. “Wow. Wow.”
“I told mom I was having some trouble with money she told me to go
see Uncle Jimmy. He would give me something quick and then I ran into
Trent and one thing led to another. I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry? That’s all you got is some fuckin’ half-assed apology and
I’ve stopped my life to take care of you.”
“No one asked you too!” Rahkel shouted. “No one asked you to be
everything and anything to everybody.”
“So in retaliation for, I don’t know, wanting you to be something, make
it the fuck out of here, have something I wish I had, you fucking get kicked
out of school and use the money I’m working my ass off to get and give it
to Trenton?”
“That’s what it is? You’re mad because I’m with your ex?”
Logan was seething with anger and punching her sister in the face
would only make this stay in this itchy orange jumpsuit longer. “He’s my ex
for a reason. You want to know why I broke up with him? He hit me after I
refused to sleep with three of his homeboys and I promised myself I
wouldn’t end up like my mother. Our mother who is serving 25 years for
murder because daddy couldn’t keep his hands to himself. WAKE THE
FUCK UP, RAHKEL!”
“Stop yelling at me!”
“I’m not, not until you get it through your fuckin’ thick ass skull that
this shit isn’t a joke. Life with the GFK isn’t a joke! You’re going to toss
your life, your brain, your beauty away to be on the arm of a nigga that will
kill you! If he was too old for me, he’s too fuckin’ old for you. A damn old-
ass-dirty-ass-snake.”
“Taylor!” the correctional officer called out. “Both of y’all been
released.”
Logan wiped her face and quieted her temper down just enough to get
changed back into the skimpy outfit she came in. Once dressed out, they
made their way to the lobby where Uncle Jimmy was waiting for his nieces.
An uncle who was supposed to protect them exploited that in almost every
way he could.
Neither said a word until they were home.
“How much is it?” Logan asked the moment the door was closed.
Uncle Jimmy feigned innocent. “How much is what?”
“The debt. The one that daddy left that we can’t seem to pay off. How
much is it? I want Rahkel in LO tomorrow morning. How much is it?”
“Right now, after bailing y’all out, close to fourteen grand,” Uncle
Jimmy spoke with a snake-like charm neither fully saw until now.
“Alright,” Logan nodded, whisking to her room, grabbing the money
Patience left and stomped back into the living room. She threw it at him.
“That’s ten. Keep the change and don’t fuckin’ come back. I’m done and
she’s done. Weak ass gangster pimping his nieces out for fourteen grand,
what a bitch.”
“Your mother is inside still needing protection,” Uncle Jimmy started.
The press almost sending Logan into a spiral.
“Protection is the least you can offer her. You didn’t protect her from
your brother, you can protect her from everyone else. If a hair on her head is
touched, I will ensure you feel how horrible it is to be held down and raped
and no one can do shit about your screams. Get the fuck out.”
Uncle Jimmy collected the money, smirked at the pair, and gave them a
departing statement. “You’ll be back.”
“Doubt it.”
 The door closed, making Logan snap her eyes to her sister. “Go pack
your shit.”
“Lo, I can stay. I-”
“I don’t want to hear shit you got to say to me. Go pack your shit, I’ve
already bought your ticket, your flight leaves at two in the morning. We
only have a few hours.”
As Rahkel drug herself to her room, Logan stepped outside and dialed a
number she prayed she would never have to dial. After long awaited rings, a
worn, smoky voice picked up.
“Who’s this?”
“Jackal, it’s Logan Taylor.”
Jackal inhaled a deep breath. When his older cousin, Logan’s
grandmother, died, he extended his resources to the young girls, though he
expected the call years ago, he was happy to hear from her now. “What can
I do?”
“It’s Rahki, her flight leaves at two. Can you just make sure she stays
safe, that’s it.”
“I can do that. What can I do for you?” Jackal asked.
Logan shook her head as though he could see her. Begging her voice not
to break she said, “Nothing. I’ll be fine.”
“Logan, if you need me day or night, you call me, okay?”
“Okay.”
The call ended and Logan went to change. From their small apartment
to the airport. They said nothing until the flight attendant called for the
passengers on the one way flight to Los Oceania to board.
“Logan, I’m sorry,” Rahkel spoke just above a whisper, tears in her eyes
and most of the clothes she owned stuffed into a duffle bag.
Logan hugged her tightly. “Please don’t make me regret this. Please.”
“Please promise me that you’ll stop living for everyone else and do
what makes you happy?”
Logan silently cried and nodded. “I will. I promise. Jackal is going to be
at the airport waiting on you. Call me when you land, please.”
Rahkel released her sister and wiped her face before kissing her cheek
the way their mother had done so many times before being pulled from
them. “I will. Thank you.”
“I’ll do it all over again if I have to.”
 “I won’t let you,” Rahkel said, taking a step back and starting to the jet
bridge. “I love you, Lo.”
“I love you, Rahki.”
Logan was cemented in place until the plane taxied down the tarmac
and then ascended into the midnight, star dusted sky. Rahkel was thirty
minutes into her flight before Logan found the strength to leave. The drive
home didn’t record to her memory. But when she was secure inside she
dropped on the couch and buried her face into the pillow and sobbed until
her eyes closed.

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eighteen
 ’m going to ask but I think I know the answer,” Khai said as Khamari
“I sat quietly in the back seat as the JoyRide drove them through the city
to the rental property Khamari’s real estate company had stashed away
in Lavender Falls. The city was crawling with paparazzi and the house was
between tenants. From now until Khamari started with the team in a few
days, it would serve as crisis management headquarters.
“He put his hands on her, I wasn’t going to have that shit,” Khamari
stated plainly. “I’d beat his ass all over again.”
 “Don’t let your mother hear that,” Khai muttered. “You just signed your
deal, son.”
“So I’m supposed to think about myself, run off like a bitch when that
nigga was two seconds away from punching her in the face? My woman at
that. Hell nah. I’d do it again over and over and over.”
“And if he presses charges?” Khai quizzed.
“The motherfucker should be ever lucky to have kept his teeth,”
Khamari sounded off again. He’d been calling and texting Logan since his
team won, each call going straight to the carrier prompted message, “This
caller has blocked you.”
Every call unlocked a part of him he didn’t know he possessed – love
driven insanity.
Khai left his son alone for the remainder of the ride understanding that
had he been in the position his son was in, he too would’ve beaten the
brakes off of Trenton. Khamari beat Trenton so ruthlessly that he couldn’t
even get the gun that Makavelli fired into the air.
Thirty minutes later, Khamari and Khai strolled into the house, met by
Patience and Tatianna, who had her phone pressed against her ear. She’d
been running interference with Oliver since the news broke that Khamari
and a slew of other players had been arrested in a club brawl.
“What the hell is wrong with you!” Patience shouted. But her anger fell
on deaf ears. Khamari was enroute to the clothes Tatianna packed up. He
had Jaymerius press Jacari for Logan’s address and was going to be on his
way the moment he washed jail off of him. “Don’t walk away from me
when I’m talking to you.”
“Patience, right now ain’t the time,” Khai warned.
“When is the time, huh? When he’s thrown his life away behind another
woman and is out on his ass? You’re going to do what, take another
mortgage out? Go sell some more drugs to save him from his stupid ass
decisions?!” Precious bellowed to her husband, who held his hands up. “I’m
not having it.”
“Cut it out, right now! That’s a grown ass man, Patience. He ain’t a little
boy.”
“No, I will not. I told that little bitch to stay away from you! NDA
signed, payout, and Plan B. Why are you throwing your life and livelihood
away again?!”
 “Again?” Khamari asked with wild eyes. “This ain’t me and Kelsi! And
what do you mean NDA, payout, and Plan B?”
“New girl, same problem. My son is blinded by pussy and is putting on
a cape for a project hoe!”
“Got dammit Patience, I said that’s enough!” Khai rumbled.
“That’s my boy!” Patience sounded off, making Tatianna hang up and
try to smother the roaring flames between her mother and brother.
“What do you mean NDA, payout, and Plan B?” Khamari asked again
so dangerously calm it was frightening.
Tatianna wedged herself between her larger-than-life brother and her
mother. “Let’s calm down and table this until the morning.”
Khamari snapped his amber eyes from his mother to his sister. “You
knew about this?”
Tatianna couldn’t keep a poker face against her best friend. “KC, let’s
talk about this when we calm down.”
“Tatianna, did you fucking know?” Khamari’s voice bounced off every
empty wall in the house.
“I was involved with Kelsi. I delivered the payout.”
“And Logan?” Khamari asked.
“I didn’t know,” Tatianna regrettably replied. “I promise I didn’t.”
“How much was it? Was it worth to keep me your little boy?”
Patience didn’t answer fast enough, and Khamari clapped his hands in
anger. He wanted to drink, wanted to spiral, wanted to snap, but more that it
all, he wanted Logan.
“Boy, that’s still your momma,” Khai spoke, clearly taking a step
forward. “Don’t make me beat your ass in the motherfucker. You might’ve
turned that nigga loose but I’m not.”
“How much?” Khamari gritted.
“Together or?” Patience asked, realizing that meddling in her son’s
affairs had finally reached the boiling point.
“Please don’t fuckin’ play with me, right now,” Khamari responded.
“Logan got ten thousand,” Tatianna spoke up. “I saw the withdrawal
from the crisis account. Kelsi, twenty, but the stakes were higher.”
It was like the air was sucked out of the room.
“Pop, give me your keys,” Khamari demanded.
Patience gasped losing the rest of the control she had. “And where are
you going?”
 “To go apologize for you and make this shit right.”
Patience started to open her mouth and respond but her husband gave
her a silencing cut of the eyes.
“That’s enough, Patience. It’s enough,” Khai spoke, handing his son the
keys to the rental truck in the driveway.
Khamari took the keys and abandoned his shower and changing his
clothes to drive back into Lavendale.
“Be safe,” Khai said with pointed eyes.
Khamari flew out the door and back into North Lavendale. Finding the
rows of tiny low income apartments, he maneuvered the truck around until
he found the B row of apartments and door eight. Securing the truck, he
strolled to the door and rapped his knuckles over it.
No response.
He knocked again and again for a minute. His knocks turning to bangs
before the door was snatched open. The minimal light shining in the
apartment highlighted her swollen eyes and red-tipped nose. Logan quickly
wiped her cheek and crossed her arms.
“You going to let me in?” Khamari asked.
Logan shook her head no. “That’s in violation of my NDA.”
“Lo baby,” Khamari’s voice and eyes begged her. “Let me in.”
“There is no Lo baby. There’s no coming in. There’s nothing. We can’t
be nothing,” the words came out but there was no conviction just pain
between the two.
“I don’t care about the money, use it for what you need, just let me in.”
“Even if I still had it, it wouldn’t change anything. You almost lost
everything you worked hard for tonight because of me,” Logan tearfully
said. “I won’t let it happen. Your mom was right. There’s no place for me in
your world. When I get the money back, I’ll make sure you get every cent.
Thank you for the last couple of days. They were the best days I’ve ever
had.”
“Logan, let me in,” Khamari demanded, doing everything but kicking it
in and making her come with him.
“Goodbye, Khamari. You should go your way and I’ll go mine,” Logan
finalized, as she closed the door and locked it.
Khamari banged on the door shouting her name, all his control gone.
“Logan, open this damn door. Baby, let me just talk to you!”
 Logan turned off the porch light and trekked down the hall to her room,
the tears flowing from her eyes like a river. Two hearts warring to get back
to the comfort and protection they’d found in one another. They found
happiness. Apart, they were two souls fighting against the current to be one
again.
The only thing that saved Khamari from going back to jail, and Logan’s
door from being kicked in was Makavelli’s insistent calling. Khamari wiped
the tears off of his face and dragged his body back to the truck. The call
ended and Makavelli called back.
“Man, what!” Khamari bellowed answering the phone.
“You at her spot?” Makavelli asked.
“Yeah, she ain’t letting me in,” he barked. “I’m about to kick this bitch
in.”
Unbeknownst to Khamari while he was banging on the door begging to
see her, touch her, hold and undo everything that had been done, Logan
texted Jacari asking her to come over. Like a wild fire between friends the
news traveled from Jacari to Jaymerius to Makavelli.
“Get out the truck,” Makavelli commented, his bright lights shining in
the rearview mirror.
Khamari looked up, seeing his boys surround the rental truck. Makavelli
hung up and pulled the door open.
“If you don’t leave, your ass is going back to jail,” Makavelli said.
“Look at all these nosey muthafuckas looking out the window and shit.”
“And you got too much on the line,” Jaymerius spoke up. “We’ve been
through some, shit. We’ve been there before and we’re going to be here
now. Just give her a minute.”
“How long? This shit is fuckin’ stupid!” Khamari replied.
“Until she’s ready. Tonight was a lot for you and for her, you can’t
bulldoze your way into this one. Jacari is in there. We’re going to take you
home, you got a team to meet with in the morning.”
“Don’t y’all got some shit to do instead of babysitting me?” Khamari
grumbled, getting out the truck and moving to the passenger side.
“I don’t have to be back in the gym until Thursday,” Makavelli shared.
“And I’m going to be at practice with you tomorrow,” Jaymerius shared.
“So tonight, we get your head right. Your heart will follow. Aight, big
dawg?”
“Yeah, aight.”
OceanofPDF.com
nineteen
 ou got to eat,” Jacari spoke sitting on the edge of Logan’s bed.
“Y “I don’t want to eat,” Logan huffed. “I just want to lay here and
feel sorry for myself for like two more days before I return to the
hustle and bustle of work and find some way to pay for cosmetology
school.”
“You don’t have nothing left?” Jacari asked.
“Were you listening to me last night?” Logan questioned with a raspy
voice. “I gave it all to Uncle Jimmy to cover what Rahkel and I ran up. And
used the four grand to pay the rent and the light bill and buy her a ticket to
Los Oceania. I got some tips but that’s not going to cut it.”
“I still can’t believe she was running around here with Trenton and
GFK,” Jacari huffed. “She flunked out. I can’t believe it.”
“I wanted to kill her. I still want to kill her. But her being safe and not
here is more important.”
“Have you talked to your mom?” Jacari quizzed.
“No, she only calls when she needs something. Not to mention, she put
that dumbass idea in Rahki’s head about asking Uncle Jimmy for help.”
“Now, you were running packs for the man,” Jacari pointed.
“But I don’t want to be a lawyer. I could do hair in prison,” Logan
rebutted, rolling her eyes. “How’d he look last night?”
“Broken hearted like y’all been in love for eight years and you walked
away from him,” Jacari shared allowing Logan to change the subject. “You
really got to talk to him at some point.”
“And say what? I’m a weak ass bitch that folded to Gizelle and your
momma when they pressed me.”
Jacari scoffed. “I still don’t know why you ain’t beat that bitch for
steppin’ to you on that bullshit. Acting like you’re from Lavender Falls and
not North Lavendale. I would have mopped her bitter ass over the
sidewalk.”
Logan rolled her eyes. “Because I don’t want to be fighting all my life. I
want something more.”
“Then call the school see and if you can get back in,” Jacari said
handing her the fully charged cellphone she intercepted the night before.
Long enough to unblock Khamari’s number and get her marching orders
and block it back.
“I’ll call them when I have money to enroll,” Logan said pushing the
phone away.
“Time waits on no one. Just call and figure out where to start,” Jacari
pressed. “I already dialed the number and it’s ringing.”
Logan sat up, rolled her eyes, and took the phone. Placing it on speaker
she waited for the call to be answered.
“Lavendale School of Cosmetology,” the receptionist answered.
“Hi, I’m calling about enrollment,” Logan spoke cutting her eyes at
Jacari.
 Jacari stood texting Khamari as Logan shared her information with the
corresponding persons.
Lo Baby: She called

Mari: Text me the balance

“It’s been … years since you dropped out,” the financial representative
said. “Ms. Taylor, tuition has gone up and there’s more classes you’ll need
to take. But because you were previously enrolled, we paused your
progress. We can get you back where you started, I believe you were
starting your hands on experience.”
“I was. Can I still use my books and tools?”
“Unfortunately everything will need to be updated.”
“Dare I ask how much?” Logan whined slightly.
“For everything? About fourteen thousand,” the woman shared. “Good
news is that you only have six months left to finish.”
Lo Baby: Fourteen grand

Mari: Rent paid?

Lo Baby: For this month

Mari: I’ll handle it. Make sure she enrolls. No excuses. Let me
know whatever else she needs

Lo Baby: She needs you but for now this will do

Logan sighed heavily and nodded. “Okay, thanks.”

Ending the call, she fell back and groaned. “Fourteen thousand dollars.
Maybe I shouldn’t have quit running packs for Uncle Jimmy.”
“Here,” Jacari said, handing her friend two hundred dollars. “My hair
needs to be done, it’s tax season, we can run a special.”
“I’m not taking your money, Cari,” Logan opposed.
“You are going to take my money. You are going to use those gifted
hands to do my hair and you are going to do Celine’s, Kay’s, Jackie’s, and a
whole bunch of other girls. You’ll have that money in no time,” Jacari said
with a smile. “Now eat up, you’re going to need your strength.”
“And while you’re pimping me out, what are you going to be doing?”
 “Making sure those hoes pay you, and making sure you eat and drink
water, and making sure you don’t quit,” Jacari spoke, pushing the takeout
tray toward her best friend. “Eat up, buttercup.”
Logan’s eye twitched. “You get on my nerves.”
“I love you and I’ll be damned if I watch you neglect you anymore. I
almost thought you got some sense calling out of work and enjoying your
time bundled up with that tall man who looks at you with stars in his eyes.
Looking all cute in those court side seats like you belonged there.”
Logan rolled her eyes and opened her tray. “Anyway, how was it
fucking on a baller?”
“How was it? Baby, I still am. I’ll be with him tonight when you pass
out from all that hair you’re about to do.”
“You like him or is he a come up?” Logan asked, knowing her friend.
“What’s going on with your studio time?”
Jacari rolled her lips together thinking about all the things she was
escaping by being with Jaymerius day in and out. How the life she saw with
him was better than the life she was living. “I don’t know. And I’d rather
focus on you right now not me.”
“Well, a piece of advice, if he is anything like Mari, don’t play with
him,” Logan said with a sigh. “Considering he almost beat my door down
last night.”
“Ohhh, bitch,” Jacari cooed.
Logan looked up with a mouth full of potatoes eggs and bacon. “What?”
“You love him.”
Logan rolled her eyes. “Illusion of deep like, sure.”
“Nah, that’s love. That’s why you denying him access to you hurts so
bad.”
“Who falls in love in three days?”
“Three seconds, three minutes, three hours, three days, three weeks,
three years or decades, love is love. It does what it wants and you, baby, are
in love with that man. What did he give you besides some good dick?”
Logan took three more large bites and hummed. “It’s nothing mourning
over.”
“Lies. It’s something. It’s something you haven’t had. When is the last
time you felt like you didn’t have to fight the world to keep the lights on or
the rent paid or your sister fed?”
“You getting rich dick makes you philosophical?”
 “A little,” Jacari quipped. “But really, when was the last time someone
was around to make you feel safe, like things were going to be okay?”
“Grandma, despite all the shit she believed in, she protected us,
wouldn’t let nobody come close. For the first time in my life, I was safe and
could sleep through the night,” Logan revealed. “I miss her, and I get now
why she was so damn strict.”
“That’s a long time to go without someone looking out for you. Three
days? It seems like you were overdue for love.”
“Well, it’s over now,” Logan sighed. “And even if I wanted to go back,
that mother of his ain’t having it.”
“Man, fuck that lady, I mean she’s going to be your mother-in-law but
for real, fuck her.”
Logan rolled her eyes. “You think that lady is going to let me marry her
son? Yeah right.”
“First of all, her son is a grown ass man and if you saw that man I saw
beating Trenton’s ass in the club and then the man outside. She’s going to
have to suck it up and get her some business.”
“Yeah, we’ll see.”
“Oh, we will. I just want to get my maid of honor request in now, I need
the dress with the split up the thigh.”
Logan rolled her eyes again and threw her napkin at her. “Go sit at the
table and leave me alone.”
“I’m just saying,” Jacari snipped as she pranced out the room.
“Don’t just say. We aren’t getting married, we’re not even together.”
“And that’s your dumbass fault!”

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twenty
 ow’s your first week been?” Jaymerius asked, slipping his feet into
“H his slides.
“Like practice anywhere else, only difference is everyone ain’t
flexing over bullshit,” Khamari spoke. “I like it.”
“Good. It’s good to actually be on the same team again and not playing
against each other. Although, I like mopping your ass.”
“Nigga please, you wasn’t mopping shit. Championship MVP,”
Khamari stated, making Jaymerius laugh.
“I’m going to take that too. How’s everything with your girl?” he asked.
 Khamari shrugged. “Ain’t heard from her. Momma ain’t talking to me
either and I’m not sweating that, though.”
“How you going to get her back?”
“An act of congress,” Khamari huffed. “She’s more stubborn than I
assumed. But her school is paid for, and rent is paid up for the next year. I
don’t know what’s next but at least she’ll be good.”
“You playing this shit small man,” Jaymerius stated. “Taking it lying
down. Don’t go out like you did with Kelsi. Boss up, nigga. You like telling
everybody you grown, be fuckin’ grown. Tell your mother what it is, tell
your woman what it is. You love her, you were smiling out in public, hand-
in-hand in the moment with her. That shit don’t just go away. And you still
taking care of the shit she won’t ask you for. Stop playing and get yours.
Not to mention, you put all this shit on the line for her. Yeah, stop playin’.”
Khamari swiped his hand over his face.
“Preferably before the team family day. Can’t have your sad ass there
bringing down the vibes.”
“Man, fuck you,” Khamari said with slight laughter in his voice. “I’m
not going to bring shit down.”
“You are. Tick tock, big dawg, tick tock,” Jaymerius said, slinging his
duffle bag over his shoulder and walking toward the exit.
Khamari got his things and headed out of the facility. Tatianna was
leaning on the rental truck texting away. “Yo, Tati, what you doing here?”
“It’s been a week, haven’t heard from you. You ain’t been answering my
calls. You wouldn’t stay at the house. Mom doesn’t know where to tell the
movers to put your stuff,” Tatianna rambled off.
“If you miss me, say that,” Khamari teased.
“I do but really, I wanted to make sure you’re okay,” she spoke. “How
are you?”
Khamari looked around and unlocked the truck. “Let’s grab something
to eat. I’m not talking out here.”
“Good, I was hoping you were going to feed me. I took a JoyRide here,
food is a requirement.”
“All the money I pay you and you don’t feed yourself is crazy,”
Khamari muttered, starting the engine. “Don’t let me tell Makavelli you
ain’t eating.”
“Relax,” Tatianna huffed. “I like keeping that nutty-ass nigga out my
business.”
 Khamari chuckled and pulled out of the players parking lot of the
practice facility.
“You said you were feeding me, you didn’t say you were a cheap date,”
Tatianna huffed as Khamari maneuvered the truck into Big Bubba Burgers.
“Hell yeah, I got responsibilities,” Khamari joked. “Order whatever you
want.”
Tatianna rolled her eyes. “You get on my damn nerves. Get me a double
cheese burger, large fry and a double fudge brownie milkshake. I’m stressed
out. Why is Mak’s fingerprints on the gun?”
“It was a brawl everyone’s prints are probably on it.”
“A brawl that shouldn’t have happened in the first place,” Tatianna
pointed.
“Oh, it was very well going to happen. Gang member, drug dealer, I
don’t give a fuck. No one puts their hands on my woman,” he admitted.
“Oh, and before your momma calls you, I’ve paid her rent up and tuition for
her to go back to school.”
“I’m not tripping on it. You’re the same man that went into bankruptcy
to take care of a family because your girlfriend fucked up. The same one
who let her walk away to live her life while you were weighed down by that
night. The question is, when are you going to let that shit go and be happy,
Mari? When?”
He licked his dry lips. “I was happy for like three days.”
“Okay. But if she never comes back to you how are you going to be
happy?”
“I need to talk to momma.”
“You do. Because things are changing for you, this year is going to be
so different and you’re going to need space for everything. Talk to momma,
nicely, and be clear.”

“T here’s six bedrooms, five and a half baths. Is it just you or is your
girlfriend joining us?” the realtor asked, flipping her hair and giving
him another long, lustful once over.
 He ignored it, took another step back from her constantly impeding on
his personal space. It’d been nine days without Logan and his mood was
less than his stellar charming personality. “She’s at work.”
“Hmm shame,” the woman hummed.
Patience walked in the door just in time for him to replace one irritation
with another.
“I’m going to look around, I’ll let you know what my decision is after I
bring my girl back to look at it,” Khamari shared, his mother’s brows
knitting at the statement. “The code on the lock box will be the same?”
The realtor whose name he didn’t commit to memory nodded, realizing
Khamari wasn’t paying her advances any mind. He didn’t care about the too
tight, too revealing, too thirsty appeal. He wanted his steal the room, shake
his soul, eye rolling woman back at his side.
“Yes it will be. I’ll call to check in?” the realtor posed one last time
hoping to get anything out of him.
To no avail, Khamari replied, “She’ll call if this is the one.”
Gathering her face from embarrassment, the realtor smiled nervously at
Patience and exited the house.
“You’re buying a house?” Patience quizzed, surveying the massive
home. “The accountant called. Thirty thousand in a few days?”
Khamari, unamused, shrugged. “Made it in my sleep. Did the
accountant also tell you that you’ve been removed from all of the accounts?
Including the crisis account.”
“Khamari. I let you talk to me like you were possessed. I let you ignore
me for days. You will not be out here throwing all my hard work away,” she
harshly replied, glaring up at her son.
“I’m not throwing anyone’s hard work away. Yours or mine.”
“This is Kelsi all over again! Don’t you see it?”
Khamari clenched his jaw. “What do you have against Logan outside of
the fact she makes me happy?”
“She’s not here for you.”
“You know that how? Outside the fact you threw money at her to make
her get lost.”
“… I can just tell.”
Khamari roamed deeper into the house walking into the spacious living
room with the panoramic view of Lake Lavender.
 “I can see my wife and kids stretched out over the sofas in here.
Paddling out there. Reading over there. Her wrestling the girls hair over
there.” He nodded his head to every direction. “Family dinners in the
kitchen. Holidays in the formal dining room. And I want you in that vision.
But you can’t be if you don’t get a grip. While I’m your son, I’m a man. I
know what I want, I know what I need. And you’ve taught me to always go
after what my heart told me to.”
Patience huffed, crossed her arms and squinted her eyes. “So you’re
going to use my words to justify this…fling.”
“It isn’t a fling,” Khamari stated, turning so his mother could see the
seriousness on his face. “This is my life. My legacy. My happiness. I’ve
been safe, I’ve been cautious, and I’ve followed your blueprint to the T.
Never questioned you, never pushed back, never batted an eye. Because I
trust you. I trust you to look out for me, for my heart, my money, and my
reputation. But I’m not a little boy no more, ma.”
“Khamari, you’re my little boy.” Patience put emphasis on boy.
“Who has grown into a grown-ass man who wants…who needs to take
control of his life. And I need you to respect that. To understand fully that
Logan is my lady. Like it, love it, hate it but you’re not going to stand in my
way. I’m saying this the most respectable way I know how, ma.”
Patience shifted her weight from side to side. Every motion made her
straightened salt and pepper hair flow over her face. She brushed it out of
her face and huffed. “So what do you want me to do?”
“Apologize.”
“Excuse me? A Polo What?” Patience asked, drawing her neck back and
clutching her pearls as if Khamari told her to eat shit. He might as well have
because apologizing wasn’t something Patience had ever done. “Can’t I just
feed the girl? She needs to eat.”
“Who can remember to eat when they’re working three jobs, putting
their sister through college and trying to honor themself in all of that?” he
asked rhetorically.
“Wait are you serious?” that statement seemed to sober Patience from
her petty control.
“Yeah, all that running around with me, she was missing out on tips so
thanks for giving her the ten grand, I gave her more.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking about.”
 Khamari cut her a look, making her huff. “What are you talking about?
Protecting, providing making sure she’s bossed up with or without me?
Ensuring she’ll never be in this position again.”
Patience couldn’t argue with her son. He’d grown into the man she and
Khai raised. He loved and honored his family, respected people, and gave
back to the community. “When do you want me to apologize.”
“As soon as possible and make sure it’s as loud as the disrespect was.
She won’t be signing anything else or taking anything else. That little stupid
ass NDA is null and void, alright?”
“One last question…are you sure?”
“Before I got here, I prayed for God to give me everything I needed to
make me whole. She came in with all this power and didn’t even know she
had it. Pops always told me that when it was mine, I’d know. I know. With
everything in me, I know. I’m not wasting anymore time. I’ve wasted
enough. So this is it for me. She’s the key.”
Patience yielded to him. “Does she know about the house?”
“Not yet, I’ll bring her here the second she’s done being stubborn. She’s
a lot like you in that way.”
“Should I reach out to her parents to host a dinner?” Patience was trying
her best to get her son back on her side.
“Her father is dead, and her mother is in prison for the murder. I doubt
they’ll be able to join.”
“Wait her mother killed her father? Khamari, I-”
“The man was beating on his wife and fuckin’ around, what would you
have done?” Khamari posed.
“Shit, I would have killed his ass too. Then cut his dick off for added
measure,” Patience scoffed. “If your daddy even thought about putting his
hands on me, I’d knock him across his head.”
Khamari gestured his point.
“Alright. You win. I’ll apologize, loudly.”
Khamari smiled, kissed his mother’s cheek and started to the door.
“Make sure it’s done by the end of the week. I’m trying to fill this house up
with grandkids you can watch while we go out and make more.”
Patience followed him to the front door. “Wait, can’t we wait on that?
Let me get to know her. You know like some shopping trips, a few games, a
vacation, church, brunch, Sunday dinners. Hell a nine year probationary
period. Something before you impregnant her? Let’s ease our way into
this.”
“Ma,” Khamari spoke in a warning tone. “Catch up. I don’t ease into
nothing. Balls to the walls.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Patience huffed, following him out of the
house. “I can’t make a suggestion?”
“Mm mm, nope. I got to get to practice. Love you, Patience. Even
though you don’t have no damn patience and you be tap dancing on mine.”

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twenty-one
 i, Ms. Taylor, this is Shelia from the Lavendale School of
“H Cosmetology. I’m giving you a call to talk about your start date,”
Shelia cheerfully announced. “Do you have a second?”
Logan tiredly looked at the time on her nightstand and groaned into her
pillow. It was entirely too early to discuss how much money she didn’t have
to cover her school expenses.
“Start date? I haven’t made the first payment yet,” she tiredly
commented as she sat up. Swiping the sleep from her eyes, Logan stretched.
“I was going to make it at the end of the week.”
 “Oh, no need. Your account has been paid in full. Your books and
supplies are ready to be picked up. And you start this Thursday on the ninth.
That’s when the next cycle of hands on experience starts. You’ll report to
the In Bloom Salon. There are three clients on your schedule. You’ll see
three clients a day. The owner of the salon will be grading you on your
time, schedule management and technique. You’ll need to be there at nine
o’clock on the dot.”
“Wait, woah, woah, woah,” Logan tried to process everything
happening. All the information was dizzying. “Did you say my account was
paid in full.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Can I ask who?” Logan quizzed, knowing the answer but wanted to be
sure.
“Uhmm,” the woman buzzed. “The name on the card is K. Coleman. He
also left the card on file for anything you’ll need.”
Logan bit a smile. “Okay, thank you, I’ll swing by later to pick
everything up.”
“Alright, see you then. And congratulations and best of luck on your
journey.”
“Thanks,” Logan hung up and dropped her body back into the not so
plush pillows. “I’m going to kill him.”
She sighed and swiped a hand over her face.
“But killing him means you’ll actually have to talk to him.” Logan
whined and whimpered. “He’s going to make you unblock him too. Then
you’re going to be riding and sucking dick, calling him daddy and back
with him…but you miss him so you can at least say thank you. Right?
Dammit, Logan!”
Logan huffed and stared at the ceiling. She’d just gotten to the point
where she wasn’t crying over the thought of him or Rahkel. Rolling to her
side, she scrolled through her blocked log, in search of his number. She
unblocked it, hit the text icon and started typing out a message.
Lo Baby: I can’t pay you back. Why would you do that?

Erase.
Lo Baby: Mari, you’re doing too much…

Erase.
 Lo Baby: I miss you

Erase.
Abandoning the texting altogether, she removed herself from the bed
and trudged to the kitchen to grab an apple before Shayla came over for a
sew in. The knock sounded off at the door offered her less time to muse
over Khamari and the longing resting on her heart and her yoni.
“I want my man back.”
Logan swung at the air and dragged her feet to the door, pulling it open
to see her landlord with a letter in her hand. “Oh my God, really? Am I late?
Are you about to put me out for good?”
The older woman smiled warmly at her. Shaking her head no, she said,
“No, no, no. Actually, your payment for the rest of your lease was on time.
But the buildings have been sold. And the new owner wanted to refund any
payments made.”
Logan frowned. “Ms. Lee, I didn’t pay for the year. I don’t even…
Mari.”
“Well, consider this a blessing. I know you’ve been trying your best to
stay above water,” Ms. Lee shared, handing Logan the check. “Maybe you
can put this down on your salon. So I can sit in a real building and not at
your kitchen table.”
Ms. Lee gave Logan a wink then her gray eyes disappeared behind her
smile.
Logan smiled faintly and took the envelope from her. “Thanks, Ms. Lee.
How long do I have to find another place?”
“End of the month.”
Logan inhaled a deep swell of air and nodded her head. “Alright
thanks.”
God had to be testing her.
After Ms. Lee shuffled slowly down the sidewalk, Shayla appeared.
Stepping out of a new Mercedes-Benz, in new clothes and smile on her face
proved that All-Star weekend had been good to her too. She deserved it
though.
“Oh, well look at you,” Logan hummed. “Your best friend ain’t popping
up is she?”
Shayla scoffed and waved her off. “I haven’t heard from her in like a
week.”
“Damn,” Logan grunted. “What’s up with that?”
 “Aleecia being Aleecia,” Shayla stated plainly. “Sometimes I don’t
know why I’m friends with her.”
“Well, I’m not particularly fond of her but friendships and relationships
are hard to navigate, especially friendships as long as yours with Aleecia,”
Logan shared. “I know people aren’t huge fans of Jacari, but she’s my girl.
When I need her, she shows up and she’s solid and always has my back.”
Shayla shook her head. “That’s the thing, I don’t think she has had my
best interest in mind. Considering how everything went down.”
“What went down?” Logan asked concern in her eyes.
Shayla sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it right now. I’m still
processing it.”
“Alright. Well let’s distract ourselves from the drama of life and slay
this hair.”

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twenty-two
 ou bought a whole apartment complex?” Tatianna asked, leading her
“Y red bottoms over the polished gym floor, holding the Thunders’
logo. “You want to tell me about this or are we going to act like it’s
nothing.”
Khamari made the shot, chased the ball and tossed it back to Duncan.
Setting up his stance to receive another ball and shoot it, he replied, “As
long as the sale goes through, we don’t need to mention it. If it doesn’t go
through, I’m out of a few bands.”
 Tatianna tilted her head to the side and studied her brother from down
court. “This wouldn’t be the apartment complex where your girlfriend
lives? The one complex you just authorized payment for the rest of her
lease.”
“What if it is?” Khamari asked, making three shots and moving to his
next point.
Tatianna shook her head and pulled a binding pack of papers out of her
purse. “Purchase cleared this morning. I need you to sign so I can close on
the sale. Are you buying the house on the lake or are you renting?”
“Buying, pending her approval,” Khamari informed, catching a ball,
dribbling through the cones and taking it to the hoop.
He rebounded his shot and passed it off to Duncan, concluding his after
practice training. “I’ll see you tomorrow, boss man.”
“Bet,” Duncan replied, waving at Tatianna before making his way out
the gym.
“So all of this buying, selling, providing is to what?” Tatianna queried
as her brother signed all the papers he needed to.
Like Logan held the anchor to Khamari’s heart, he sensed her tug. The
pull became more intense the closer her being got to his. He could never put
into words how intense her presence felt, how like a siren, it called him to
her each and every time. It was spiritual, making him shout the praises of
God when she was near. Then plead in prayer at the altar when she left.
Khamari’s eyes lifted to the second level of the practice gym where
Logan appeared. Dressed in a pair of joggers, a t-shirt and sneakers like
she’d been running errands all day and she was still a breath of fresh air.
“For that,” Khamari said, throwing a subtle nod to where his woman
stood.
“You couldn’t call? Or go to her house?”
“After that stunt your mother pulled, she blocked me and refused to let
me in. What was I supposed to do, kick her door in and kidnap her?”
Khamari quizzed. “I could’ve but I didn’t because as much of a beast as I
feel without her, I couldn’t show her that.”
“I suppose you have a valid point. What’s the next move?” Tatianna
asked, raising her brow.
“Pop my shit and get her home, where she should’ve been a week ago.”
“I guess you’re proving daddy right. If a man wants you, nothing will
stand in his way. Not even time.”
 “Not even time. But what you need is right in front of your face you just
keep playing with him,” Khamari stated plainly hugging his sister.
“Ew don’t! Save all that for your girlfriend,” Tatianna squeal dodging
the hug and spinning around on the balls of her feet. “Hey, Logan, girl! He’s
all yours.”
Logan’s shy smile was accompanied with a wave. “Hi.”
“I’ll let you two talk,” Tatianna quietly spoke, placing the signed papers
back into her bag. “Bring her home.”
“I got it,” Khamari said with an assuring nod. Turning to take Logan
fully in, he hummed with fullness. “You want to shoot?”
He held the ball up, balanced on his fingertips, watching as she took in a
breath to balance herself. He could feel the weight on her as she made her
way down the highlighted pathway to center court. Upon being within feet
of her, Khamari’s body swayed, vibrating with every nerve ending signaling
she was here, back to calm his being.
“Lo baby,” his voice rattled.
“Hey,” she softly replied. “Been a minute.”
“Too damn long, Lo,” he replied, nipping his lip slightly the moment
her scent came in contact with his nose.
Before she got lost in his eyes or dizzied by the natural scent his body
emitted even being lathered in sweat, she pulled out the check she’d had
reissued with his name on it. “I need to give you this. Unfortunately, with
everything going on, I can’t give you back the ten thousand dollars or the
four you sent me on JoyCash, but I will. I’ve been doing hair in the kitchen,
and I can pay you back in installments.”
“I don’t want that money, Lo,” he stated, plainly refusing to take it.
“I’ve made it very clear what I wanted.”
“Khamari, stop it.” It wasn’t a demand, it was a plea. A plea rooted in
fear and self-deprivation.
Logan looked away, her thundering heart making it impossible for her
to stick to the script she rehearsed on her way here.
“Look at me, baby.”
Khamari closed the space between them. Taking the purse, the check,
and the last of the determination she held on to so tightly. The second
Khamari consumed her space all fight she had to protect an idea of making
it on her own, melted. A puddle of emotions at her feet. Logan’s eyes pulled
from the perfectly polished, hard maple wooden floors to Khamari’s
passion-filled amber-hued eyes.
“I-”
“Missed you too,” he rumbled, craning his neck to kiss her lips. “Ten
days.”
“You counted.”
“Every second,” he stated between lingering kisses to her lips. “Can I
stop counting?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted standing in her own way. “This is your
world. I don’t fit.”
“This is your world,” Khamari stated. “And you got me spinning in
limbo.”
“Too much has happened and really, you don’t know me. I’ll only
embarrass you-”
Khamari groaned and shook his head, interrupting her statement with a
kiss to her forehead.
“Mari.”
Another to the tip of her nose upon lifting her chin.
“Mari.”
Then her lips, earning him a breathless, “Khamari.”
“Hm?”
“You don’t know me.”
“Aight,” he spoke, stepping back to extend his hand. “Khamari no
middle name Coleman. I’m a Scorpio. I’m thirty. Born November first. My
favorite color is orange. I play ball but never a player. And if you’d have
me, I’d like to take you home.”
Logan giggled slightly and rolled her eyes.
“Ah, there she goes,” he hummed. “But you’re leaving me hanging
here.”
Logan placed her hand in his. “Logan no middle name Taylor. I’m
twenty-nine, thirty in a few days. I’m a moody Pisces. I would love to be a
hairstylist and my favorite color is lavender. And you can take me home.
For tonight.”
“Mm mm. See Lo Baby, that’s not going to work because I have our
lives planned. I’m requiring you to stay for life.”
She rolled her eyes again, looking away, only for him to pull her back
center.
 “Let’s go home, Lo.”
Logan, in what seemed like a lifetime, battled with fear of the unknown
and fear of the possibilities. She could leave, put her trust in him and end up
like Gizelle. Or she could put her hand in his and end up like Jaylani and
Emya – wrapped in a love that would be steadfast and see her through
anything. They would fight for each other, fight each other, and make up so
beautifully. They could love and build together. They could have a family.
Or she could pull away and be left with a void only he could fill.
She pulled in a deep inhale calming the spinning in her mind. Slowly,
she pulled her lids back finding that gaze that held her hostage. “Okay.”
A satisfied smile pulled across Khamari’s chiseled face. “Aight, let me
hit the shower real quick and we’re out of here. Promise you won’t run
off?”
“I won’t run off. I promise.”
He kissed her forehead before jogging off the court to shower quickly
and return to his woman. Logan put her things down and shot the ball. Her
mind played memories of her hoisted on her father’s shoulders, as a child,
so she could make the slam dunk. She smiled faintly at the happy memories
before everything turned dark. Before he went from serving fiends to
becoming one. Addicted to the hustle, the money, the women, the liquor.
Everything that wasn’t his family. The streets ate his soul up, swallowed
him up and his fate was death by the hands of the woman he’d vowed to
love.
Logan let the basketball swoosh through the net as she huffed, feeling
the sorrow attempt to creep back to the surface. She lived the blackness of
that sorrow for years. While everyone thought she was consumed with boys
and being in the spotlight, Logan was trying to shrink herself. Make herself
as small as possible so no one could see that she was blanketed in such
heaviness.
Now she was here at the edge of thirty, the edge of a renaissance – the
edge of new and she deserved it. Deserved to love herself and allow herself
to be truly loved. Deserved to be poured into the way she’d poured into
everyone else for years. But overall, she deserved this boss up. In return,
she’d love Khamari with all the capacity she had. Her prayer – that he
wouldn’t drop her. And in the event he did, he’d recover quickly.
“I was sure I was going to have to chase your ass down through the
parking lot,” his voice broke her thoughts.
 “No, I try not to break my promises and being that I’ve already broken
one, I’m not trying to aim for a second,” she shared.
“I’ll charge it to the game. You hungry?”
“I can eat.”
“I know a spot.”
Logan followed his steps toward the exit. “I’ll follow you there.”
“In what car?” Khamari posed with a devilish smirk as he pushed open
a set of doors and held them.
Logan walked through and squinted her eyes. “What do you mean, in
what car? The car I drove here. Khamari….”
“What?” he asked innocently. “I saw that car, how you were getting
around in it is amazing to me.”
“So how am I going to get around without a car?” Logan asked,
pressing her hands against her hips.
He smirked again. “You’ll see.”
“You buy my apartment building and then kick me out of it. You pay for
my tuition and then take the mode of transportation for me to get there.
What are you on?”
“I’m trying to be on you, in you, wrapped around you but you’re asking
questions you know all the answers to because I’ve shown you time after
time you’re good here. Lo Baby, I’m hungry and I need some space to eat.”
She gulped.
Khamari nodded his head. “Come on.”
Thirty minutes later, Khamari parked his Urus in front of the white
wash massive brick mansion. Manicured greenery and cherry blossoms
lining the drive way. Logan looked around the landscape in awe.
“What is this, a bed and breakfast?” she quizzed as Khamari opened the
passenger door and reached for her hand. “I didn’t know this was here.”
Hand-in-hand, they walked up the minimal steps to the door and
Khamari punched the code in on the lockbox, retrieving the key. Logan
waited back patiently as Khamari opened the door and escorted her into the
vast foyer.
“This is ours if you want it. If not I’ll have the realtor send me some
more in the area,” he announced, stepped back to watch her wander in
wonder.
“Ours? You found this for us?” she questioned, traveling from the foyer
to the kitchen. “Khamari, this is…”
 She turned to find him with tears dancing at the brim of her eyes.
“Really big.”
“You haven’t even seen the rest of it,” he said with a chuckle.
“The kitchen is my apartment,” she pointed, following him from the
kitchen to the formal dining room, to the larging living space with the
panoramic view of the lake, the decorated screened in porch set up with
their lunch. “How many bedrooms?”
“Eight and a home office, a room for you to have your hair stuff if you
want an in-home salon. Two bedrooms can be converted into a theater and
game room, they’re in the basement. There’s a court down there too.”
“So roughly four empty bedrooms to fill up?”
Khamari nodded. “And you took that Plan B, so I got to get back in
there.”
Logan chuckled and shook her head. “Four is all you want?”
“As many as you want and can give. A girl as beautiful as you, a son for
me.” He gripped her chin. “Before you ask, I’m deadass serious about this. I
want you. You did something to me, and I can’t afford for it to be undone.
So tell me something, Lo.”
She wrapped her hands around his wrists. “If say yes. Don’t let me fall
then drop me. I can’t afford that. If I’m going to trust you, I’m going to do it
with every ounce of me. I need the same. If I’m going to allow you in to
take care of me, I’m going to do it in return. But please allow me room to
grow and I can do the same for you.”
He lifted her off of her feet, her arms found his neck, wrapping her
limbs around him as their mouths made a glorious reunion. Before Khamari
could have her naked and spread out over the floor, he put her down and
groaned.
“Food, furniture, fucking. In that order. I’m off tomorrow and I’m trying
to have you in every room.”
Logan rolled her eyes and giggled. “You know you’re going to be
passed out.”
“Oh?” Khamari asked, finding the challenge in her words. “Aight, we’ll
see, eat up.”

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twenty-three
 hh fuuhhhh. Mari,” Logan’s voice rang out, resounding off the
“A subway-tiled walls.
She was wrapped around him, nails clawing at his back while
her body accepted the erotic pleasure of his dick drilling in and out of her.
The lakeside mansion was filled with delivery men. After a long
afternoon of shopping showroom floors, ordering custom pieces and
agreeing on three of the eight rooms, frustration was mounting. She and
Khamari were in a face-off of struggles. For Khamari, he wanted her to get
what she wanted, ignore the price tag and what she had to offer financially.
It was a home he’d purchased for them, and he urged her to make it hers.
For Logan, it was the overwhelming feeling of not feeling like she was
contributing. Feeling like a leech or gold digger put her in a mood that was
warring against Khamari’s.
However, stroke for stroke, he was erasing the attitude from her being
and making her succumb to his will.
“Mmm hmm,” he groaned, his forehead pressing against hers. This
wasn’t the sweet reunion he wanted but they had time for that. “You still got
that attitude?”
“Baby,” she groaned, feeling her body shiver and shudder. “I-I…ohhh
babbbyyy.”
Khamari’s grind was unrelenting, slamming into her like she’d stolen
something. He looked between them, finding that beautiful creamy coating
of her essence covering his inches. “You going to get what you want and
stop playin’ with me?”
“Yes. Shit! Yes!” Logan cried out, throwing in her towel. “I will. My …
I …will. I promise!”
Khamari felt his own nut rising. Pressing his hand against the mirror he
slowed his rapid pace to a grind that was bound to make her cum again.
Each stroke, he deposited his seed into her. Narrowed eyes, gritted teeth and
her chin in his grasp he gritted, “You’re mine. Let me take care of you.”
Logan’s eyes rolled into the back of her head as the highest, hardest
combustion thus far, hit her with a force simultaneously with his.
“I love you,” she whimpered, spent by the way Khamari took her body
to heights and gently carried her back down. Logan’s body shivered with
remnants of their passion.
His emblazed eyes found her letting the symphony of her words fill
every part of his brain. She hadn’t realized her admission yet. Before she
could, he kissed her passionately, only making his dick liven again inside of
her walls. “I love you too. The moment I saw you, Logan.”
Her mouth parted, the words she wanted to say to retract her truth,
evaporated. Her brows dipped feeling the power of his dick swell and
expand inside of her. A grind so deep made her tremble. “Really?”
“Really. Everything in me loves you. You were made for me. I was
made for you. Stop fighting me, baby. Stop fighting this. Fall, I’m ready to
catch you.”
 Logan bit her lip, letting Khamari move her legs over his shoulders. She
moaned sweetly, feeling the tip of his head hit her spot. His spot. She
abandoned trying to keep her cries of pleasure trapped behind this heavy
bathroom door. The way she dropped her guards to sing, hum, and moan his
praises while thanking God for this man He gave her would make a sinner
blush.
No barres hold, Logan let go of everything holding her back.
Khamari kissed her ankle feeling the last of himself empty inside of her.
Panting in her ear, he asked, “You good?”
“I’m great. I’m sorry.”
“You good, baby. You got it. Bossed up. No more hiding behind that
fear, aight?”
“Okay,” she lazily kissed his cheek. “You think they heard us?”
“Oh, they heard you,” Khamari laughed, pulling out of her. “They’re
paid to mind their business, though. I got some shorts and a t-shirt in my
bag you can put on until your stuff gets here.”
Dressed in a t-shirt that was more like a dress than anything else. She
opted to forgo the shorts. That and at this point, her man could have her
whenever he wanted her. While she washed the dishes that were delivered
amongst the rest of the things, Khamari dried and put them away.
“Can we go over your schedule? I have to be in the salon three days a
week, in class the other two. I’ll be there from 9 until 5,” Logan shared,
handing him a plate.
“I have two games, one the day after tomorrow, the day after that. Two
away games next week, the thirteenth and fifteen. I know your schedule is
going to be packed so don’t feel obligated to be at those right now. What we
doing for your birthday?”
Logan shrugged. “Well, I haven’t celebrated a birthday since my
momma went to prison. So I don’t have an idea. I was just going to take the
day off and sleep.”
Khamari shook his head. “We’re not sleeping your day away. I got you.
None of your shit either.”
“The way I can’t walk is a testament to never act up again. Well, at least
until the swelling goes down,” she joked.
“Oh, baby girl, you said I was gonna tap out round one. I got a point to
prove tonight. Enjoy this break, they’re almost done bringing everything
in.”
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twenty-four
L
ogan sat in the middle of the closet floor, putting hangers on the piles
of clothes Khamari’s stylist sent, things his mother had shipped over
from his place in LO and the things they collectively had here.
Khamari was in the throes of setting up their space with her. Hanging,
folding, and rearranging were all things he did happily. They were a team. If
they started this relationship off right, they would have their foundation to
fall back on when things got tough.
They’d been in this bubble for almost two full days. They ignored
phone calls and anything else that was going to take their attention from one
another and getting their home together. However, the distinctive ring of
Logan’s phone alerted Khamari to the importance. Leaving her to the
hanging and traveling into the bedroom to bring her phone back.
“Rahki is calling, babe,” he announced, handing her the phone.
Logan wasted no time answering the phone and pressing it to her ear.
“Hey Rahk. Everything okay? Are you okay?”
“Yes, calm down. I’m fine. How are you?”
Logan bit a grin and looked up at Khamari. “I’m great actually.”
“Uh oh, you got your man back?”
“I did,” Logan giggled, pinching the phone between her shoulder and
her ear.
“Ayyy! About time, shit. I wanted to check in. Make a habit of that. And
apologize to you for real for everything,” her sister shared.
“Rahkel, none of that is-”
“It’s necessary. You poured everything you had into me, and I took
advantage of that, for what? You deserve everything that’s happening, Lo.
Everything. Please let Khamari love on you.”
Logan’s eyes lifted to Khamari adjusting a shelf before the doorbell
sounded off. He roamed out the closet, letting the two talk freely. “He
bought me a house.”
“What? A whole house?”
“A whole house. On a lake. You know how granny used to say if that
man buys your groceries make him some food, if he buys you a house give
him some babies. I’m going to be living on my back and on my knees, I
swear,” Logan joked, free to laugh again.
“I bet you can’t walk straight right now,” Rahkel teased. “I think he
loves you.”
“I know he does. Without question. And no, I cannot walk straight. I
feel like I need to detach my pussy and pack it in his suit case next week,”
Logan continued to joke.
“A little pocket pussy keeps the nigga at home,” Rahkel added.
The laughter died down for a moment turning the conversation serious.
“Seriously, how are you?”
Rahkel pulled a deep breath in before releasing it. “I’m okay. Jackal
ain’t playing with my ass.”
“Can we blame him?” Logan posed.
 “No, not at all. He dragged me down to LO Community college to
enroll back in classes and has me working at this shop.”
“How’s the house?”
“It’s nice, a little bigger than the apartment but it’s just me. I miss you
though.”
“I miss you too. I’ll check Mari’s schedule and the next time they play
LO, I’ll be out there.”
“Good, because I really took advantage of the sister time. Being alone is
putting some things into perspective for me.”
“You know the things we need are the things we were reluctant to do. I
was reluctant to make myself a priority and you weren’t banking on
yourself. Now we’re in positions to do so and we have to hold each other
accountable.”
“We do. I don’t know if I’ve ever said this before, Lo. But I am so proud
of you. I know it was hard, but you pushed like no one else I know. Now
get that license open your salon, keep those WAGS in check and love on
that man you got.”
Logan smiled, feeling Khamari’s presence again. “I will. I’ll see you
soon.”
“I can’t wait. I love you, Lo.”
“I love you too, Rahk. Take care of yourself and please, make smart
decisions.”
“I will. I promise.”
Ending the call, Logan let out a sigh, swiped a lone tear and looked up
to see Khamari standing in the doorway of the closet with white boxes
stamped with his stylists’ logo. EverWear+Co.
“More of your stuff?” she asked, standing to make space.
“No,” he stated. “These are yours.”
Logan furrowed her brows. “What?”
“These are yours. She pulled a bunch of things from her warehouse.”
Khamari slid the boxes into the massive, shared closet. “Don’t give me that
look, Baby.”
“I’m not giving you a look,” Logan hummed teasingly. “I’m thinking
about how if I weren’t so sore, I’d ride you.”
Khamari’s length stiffened at the thought.
“But my mouth works, come here,” Logan waved him over while she
reached for the hair claw she’d placed on the dresser earlier. She pulled her
hair back and looked up at him. Happiness in her eyes as she tugged at his
team-branded basketball shorts.
“See, you’re turning me into more of an addict. How am I supposed to
act when I can’t have you? Or if a nigga grinning all in your face?”
Khamari grumbled, watching his lady free him. She kissed the head, licked
down the shaft, and up again before flickering the tip and repeating.
“Shhhhh, see, Lo baby. I’m finna be crazy behind you.”
“You beat an armed gangsta for me. Got arrested for me. Bought my
apartment building. Paid for my school. Bought me a house. You are crazy
behind me,” Logan spoke, licking and kissing him between every sentence.
Then she swallowed him whole making him hiss, whine, and grumble.
“You right. Fuckin’ crazy behind you.” Khamari took the claw clip out
of her hair and tossed it. Gathering her curls in a fist, his toes gripped the
carpet, teeth bit his lip, and his eyes beheld the beauty slobbing, slurping,
and spitting over his inches, making a mess of him. Logan’s eyes were love
drunk as she suctioned her mouth tighter and tighter, curling her tongue just
right and expanded her throat to drink him up.
She moaned, pushed her saturated hands up his sculpted midsection, her
nails clawing at his skin. Everything she was doing was driving him crazy.
He wouldn’t nut in her mouth. He had to be buried inside of her for that. He
pulled himself out and snatched her from her kneeling position, carrying her
out of the closet to the bed before he spread her legs open. A guttural groan
at the sight of her swollen treasure before him.
Khamari kissed up her thighs until he was face to face. A soft kiss
against her lips, another with the swipe of his tongue. The third kiss was
accompanied by parting her folds. “Little mama phat.”
He grinned as her center throbbed.
“You see what you do to me? Swollen and I still want all that dick
inside of me,” Logan whined, her hand over his braids that needed to be
redone. Khamari pushed his fingers inside carefully, mindful of her
soreness, and flattened his tongue over her folds. “Yes, baby, eat me up.”
On her, freedom looked so damn good. Khamari devoured her. Sucking,
licking, and slurping from her fountain as if the cure to everything was
between her thighs. He kissed his way up her body, stopping at her handful
of breasts to suckle them. Nipping and pulling at her perfectly round nipples
while still playing between her thighs.
 “Stop playing with me,” Logan whined, rotating and squeezing her
body around his fingers. “Please.”
“Please what?”
“Give me my dick,” she crooned.
Khamari lifted her legs and sunk into her. “Say that again.”
Logan moaned and held his face. “Give me my dick.”
“All yours, Baby. All fuckin’ yours.”

ake up, Baby,” Khamari hummed, kissing her face, neck and
“W shoulder.
Tiredly, Logan groaned and pulled the covers up over her head.
“Five more minutes.”
Khamari removed the covers then continued to kiss her bareness. “It’s
your first day. It’s six. You have to eat, get ready, look at your new car and
thank your man.”
Logan’s eyes fluttered open. “New car?”
“How am I supposed to get to class with no transportation?” he mocked
her, rolling his neck and imitating her squint. “You thought I was going to
get rid of that death trap and not get you something else?”
“I was sure you were going to have me locked up and dependent on
you,” she replied sarcastically. The comment earned her a yank of the
covers, exposing her bare body to the chill of the room and a smack on the
ass. Logan yelped, jumping up and on his back. “You play too much!”
“Ah, sleeping beauty is awake,” he laughed, carrying her to the
bathroom
“Cold and tired. One more day of being laid up would have done the
trick.” Hopping off his back, she walked across the heated floor to the
enclosed bathroom.
“Nah it wouldn’t have because I wouldn’t want to leave as much as
you.”
Logan relieved herself cleaned up and joined Khamari at the vanity. As
she washed her hands she asked, “You’re going to go to practice like that?”
 “It gives me some character. They’ve been calling me pretty boy,”
Khamari shared, running his hand over his frizzy braids.
“But you are pretty,” Logan quipped.
“Oh, I know, you called me ‘beautiful motherfucka’ at least four times
last night,” he teased.
Rolling her eyes, she responded, “I start saying shit when you hit that
spot.”
“I know, it’s my favorite nerve to get on,” he replied, smacking her bare
ass again. “Hop in the shower and meet me in the kitchen.”
She yawned. “How long have you been up?”
“Since four. I went for a run, came back and shot around. Showered,
finished the closet for you. Made reservations at PRIME for us tonight
because whose cooking?” he asked, watching her get in the shower.
“I would’ve cooked.”
“Not on your first day. I want you to come home and relax, not keep
working.” The longer he stood and watched her wash her body, the more he
stiffened.
Logan caught the look on his face. “I would invite you in, but you have
practice and a game tomorrow, Baby. I will not be the reason you play
sloppy. I heard they’re talking about me bad enough.”
“I don’t care what they say,” Khamari voiced. “Especially about you.”
“Breakfast, car, quickie. In that order,” Logan compromised.
“I got bacon, eggs, and fruit, what else you want?” he asked happily.
“You ready to feed me.”
“Sayless,” Khamari spoke, quickening out of the room leaving Logan
behind in a fit of giggles.
She joined him in the kitchen after dressing for her day in a black shirt
dress and a pair of his branded sneakers. Khamari ensured her sneaker
collection was just as expansive as his. Her steps faltered as she took in the
balloons and the chalkboard that read “Happy First Day of School”.
“Mari,” she crooned.
“Aw shit,” he gushed. He immediately took three photos of her with the
lavender disposable camera. “Look at my baby on her first day of school.
You don’t want a photoshoot outside with a chalkboard?”
“I sure do, silly ass. We can do this for the kids, too. Because if I have to
do it, you’ll have to too.”
 “I would do it only because I know you ain’t putting it all over the
internet. Matter of fact next game, I got you.”
“You’re right, I’ll just put it in the group chat,” Logan shared as
Khamari handed her a plate. “Oh no, Baby, you had me up all night in
competition with yourself. Choking, stroking and smacking. You’re
supposed to be feeding me.”
With a smirk, Khamari rounded the island, placed her on top of it and
plucked a grape from the vine.
“Thank you,” she hummed, spreading her legs and pulling her dress up
exposing her panty-less center. “What kind of car is it?”
“Mercedes-Benz AMG GLE 63 S Coupe. Pearl white, depending on
how the sun hits it, it glimmers lavender. Fully loaded,” Khamari said with
a grunt, feeding her another grape then pushing his fingers inside. “Love
how this pussy is always ready for me.”
“It is,” she moaned. “That’s why I can’t deny you from it.”
He pulled his digits from inside her and sucked the juices dry. Logan
freed him, pressed him at her opening. The moment he came in contact with
her heat, he hissed.
“Take what you need, Baby,” she whispered in his ear. Khamari pushed
inside, letting his groans fall in her ear. Her moan matched his sound, and
she held him close. “Take whatever you need.”
“I fuckin’ love you.” Khamari placed his hand around her neck and
kissed her lips.
“I love you too, Mari. I love you too.”
Being wrapped in the haven they created for two days just wasn’t
enough. If she could have him one more day, it still wouldn’t have been
enough. Parting from him this morning felt as beautiful as it was torturous.
She made it through her first two clients but wasn’t void of the feeling of
his body in hers. The way he tended to her. He kissed the scrapes and fading
bruises on her body from the brawl, massaged her scalp through her hair,
held her close, kissed her face, and assisted with whatever she needed his
help with. This love was theirs to build and Logan was bursting with
excitement knowing that he was hers.
“Girl,” the salon owner droned. “You’ve been doing a great job all day.
Smiling and engaging the clients. Like you never missed a beat.”
Logan smiled. “Thank you. Doing hair brings out something in me.”
 “I can tell. You’re last client rescheduled but we have a walk in I need
you to take,” she stated, pointing to the woman sitting in the lobby, casually
flipping through the magazine. Salt and pepper hair pulled into a sleek bun.
Patience was here to try her patience. Good loving glow be damned, her
lover’s mother was here to undo it all. So she thought. And out of all the
damn salons in Lavendale, why was she at this one? Logan fought her smile
from faltering.
“Oh, I see,” was all Logan could muster up. A million thoughts and her
anxiety flooded her ears.
“I’ll send her back,” the owner finalized as she trotted away.
Logan looked at herself in the mirror, then around her station to make
sure everything was clean and clear from Patience’s ridicule. Sure she
would have loved to despise this woman, but this woman was the very
reason for Khamari’s existence. So she sucked it up, swallowed her ego and
pride and awaited Patience.
With flowers in hand, she stepped around the wall separating the lobby
and styling booths.
“I got you these,” Patience spoke, handing Logan the vase of flowers.
“As a congratulations for going back to school.”
Logan took them, set them on a nearby counter, and politely nodded.
She was being watched, tested and graded and Patience would not be the
reason she failed. “Thank you, Mrs. Coleman. You can have a seat.”
Seated and caped, Patience continued, “You’re probably wondering why
I’m here?”
“Actually, I was wondering how a woman who stayed on top of
everyone else’s business didn’t realize her hair was in such bad shape,”
Logan said politely but only so Patience could hear.
Logan turned her to the mirror and held up sections. “Whoever was silk
pressing her hair only cared about how good it looked, not the health.
Almost how you only cared about what I would look like on your son’s arm
via Gizelle’s delusional comments and not the truth. I’m going to have to
cut the damage off.”
“I was wrong, Logan,” Patience said, finding her eyes. “Dead wrong.”
“For what part? Accusing me of sleeping with a married man, wanting
to trap your son or whatever other bullshit you said?” Logan shot back
graciously. “Was it the NDA? The Plan B? I threw that up by the way.”
Patience’s eyes grew big.
 “Aht aht,” Logan taunted. “Your hair is in my hands, I wouldn’t want
you to leave bald. Why are you really here? Khamari made you come
apologize?”
Truth flashed in Patience’s eyes. “Yes. And my husband fussed at me
about how I handled it and my daughter, oh my God did she tell me about
myself. Logan, I’m sorry.”
Logan couldn’t accept it immediately.
“I’m sorry for disrespecting you and everything you’ve done to get an
inch ahead. I didn’t realize that from the moment my son came into your
space, he was in love. He’s been telling me for years that he’s a man. I knew
that but with you – for you – he’s a different man. He says what he means,
and he does what he says. He’s intentional. He’s been that way, it was
fighting to get to the surface and now that you’re here, so is he. I wanted
my baby to stay my baby. To always need his mother. And with my ego in
the way, I wanted him to consider me in his decision. Selfishly. But he
followed his heart. He’s always followed his heart and that’s the best part of
him. But you know this because as much as he loves you, you love him. I
saw it all over you that night. The fight you had for yourself but the fight
you held for him.
“Denying yourself so he would be okay, even if that meant without you.
I’ve never seen anything like it and I’m in awe of that. But what else should
I expect from a woman who has denied herself for years to see after a sister,
to take care of a mother, to bury a grandmother. That type of strength is
pure, and it is powered by love. Love that most will never experience. But
my son does. That strength is going to take care of him, help build his
legacy, birth his children and help raise them. It’s going to carry you both
on the darkest days,” Patience said, tears falling from her eyes.
“I was so wrong, Logan. So wrong and I apologize to you for that and
anything else I’ve done to diminish you, to disrespect you, to devalue all
that you have done in the name of love and self-preservation. You are so
deserving – more than anything he can ever do. And he is so worthy of you.
I pray that he remains worthy of all that you are. And that he never stops
showing you and giving you all that you need.”
Logan nipped her trembling lip as Patience stood and hugged her.
Tightly. Warmly. Motherly.
The two released each other and rid their faces of the tears and slightly
laughed as all eyes were on them.
 “It’s bad enough half of them call me KC’s girl, now you got me in here
crying like a baby,” Logan sighed. “Thank you. In all of my life no one – no
elder has ever apologized to me. Nor looked me in the face and admitted to
being wrong. I appreciate that. I know that it wasn’t easy for you to do and
I’m sure that the conversations had weren’t pleasant either.”
Patience huffed. “They weren’t. And it wasn’t easy, but I hurt you and
that hurt him. Not to mention, I don’t want to miss out on the life you two
are building. And what may be growing.”
Logan chuckled. “I don’t think anything is growing. Not yet but if there
is, you’ll be a part of it. But I need you to understand this, I’ve been without
my mother for a long time. If you’re going to be here, I’m going to really
need you to be here. Because I’m not leaving him. I’m on that man like
white on rice.”
Logan began to part and cut the damaged hair.
“I see. That glow is all over you.”
Logan smiled wide. “I’m going to keep it too. The man bought me a
house, he’ll get whatever he wants.”
“Alright now,” Patience cheered with a snap of her fingers.
“And one last thing, no one else touches this hair but me. And we can
call it a truce.”
“Truce it is.

“L olo!” Celine squealed as Logan walked into PRIME hand-in-hand

with Khamari. “You listened!”
“It was hard work, Ms. Celine,” Khamari spoke, as she came in
for a hug. “She’s stubborn.”
“I could have told you that. Stubborn as a mule but her intentions are
beautiful. Speaking of beautiful, you see how radiant you are with some rest
and some continuous dick.”
Logan blushed for Khamari.
“I’m going to get our table,” Khamari spoke, excusing himself.
 When Khamari was out of sight, Logan nudged Celine, cutting her eyes
playfully at her. “Girl, don’t be embarrassing my man like that.”
“What I say?” Celine toyed. “That you’re getting continuous dick? It’s
true. It’s in your walk and your smile. That man in putting it down and
you’re picking it up.”
Logan rolled her eyes and waved her off. “Yeah, we’re doing
something.”
“A whole lot. I’m so proud of you. I’m so happy to see you in
something other than a uniform ripping from one job to the next. You look
good, you sound good, you feel good. Stay this way. Don’t let the lights and
all that comes with what he will give taint your soul.”
“No, I’ve seen the ugliness and I have no plans in joining in it. How’s
the kids?”
“Girl, on my damn nerves. But all with me is well. I want an invite to
the wedding, baby shower, all that. Go join your man, I’ll be over soon.”
Logan hugged Celine and slipped something into her pocket. “Alright.
Oh and I’m doing hair at In Bloom salon so if you need me to tighten that
up, I’m there Monday through Wednesday.”
“Oh, you know I’ll be there.”
They air kissed before Logan went and joined Khamari at their table. He
looked at her a smirked. “You going to tell me what’s good here?”
“I’m good here, but you should try the steak, medium. I’m getting the
salmon,” she commented. “But know your order and don’t keep me
waiting.”
Khamari leaned in. “I keep you waiting ‘cause hearing that whine is the
sexiest thing ever.”
“Oh?” Logan asked, popping a brow. “So let me make you wait.”
“I’m as patient as you are,” he muttered with a wink, sitting back as
Celine came into view.
“Alright, what are we getting?” Celine asked, pulling out her tablet.
“We’ll get the wagyu medium for the table, the fire grill salmon.
Broccolini and whipped sweet potatoes,” Khamari started looking at Logan
to see if he was missing anything. She waved him on, satisfied. “And a
celebratory slice of cake because my baby completed her first day of hair
school.”
“I’ll get these in,” Celine smiled and squealed. “So cute!”
Logan giggled as Celine walked away.
 “How was your first day?” Khamari asked.
“I had a special visitor to close my day out,” Logan shared. “She was
very apologetic. There were tears. There was a hug and an acceptance.”
Khamari smiled proudly. “I knew she could do it. Stubborn ass.”
“I can’t say that her ways didn’t upset me, but I understand. I just pray
that whenever we have a son, I’m not holding on so tightly.”
“Look at you talking about when we. All that us talk rubbing off.”
Logan shrugged. “You said it’s us so it’s us. Bossed up and all in love.
And all that requires your family to be whole. So for you and our future, I
choose to forgive, and I choose to have what I never did. A family that’s
whole and healthy and a mother who can teach me and show me what
having that in its entirety feels like.”
“How has that been?” Khamari asked. “Having parents then nothing?”
Logan inhaled. “I’ve been in deeper reflection when we were apart and
now that we’re together everything feels new, but I’m reminded. And in that
reflection, I realized and made peace with that fact that my parents were in
the streets, living the hustler’s dreams. He was the fly guy on the block that
had the baddest girl, married her, built a life and then let his life on the
street snatch his soul. When his soul left, he tried to beat it out of her. When
my father got consumed, my mother got swallowed up too. I lost her long
before she went to prison. She stopped caring, stopped loving. And I get it.
“I understand completely and if she gets released early, I fear that she’ll
turn right back to everything that tore us up. So it felt empty. It was like
being fed air and expecting to be full. No one gave me the love I needed,
the love I wanted. So I went into myself. I knew that Rahkel had to get
something, even if it was the bare minimum, I knew. I had to give her
everything I had because those who were supposed to give to me failed. I
want that so bad. But it scares the shit out of me. This… us, scares me. But,
Khamari, I need it and I won’t let it go and if God blesses us with children,
I won’t let them go.”
Khamari reached over the table and swiped the tears from her cheeks. “I
won’t let you go. I got you. I came ready made for everything you needed.
My parents, as crazy as they are, are yours now too. And as far as kids, we
might run out of space if you keep letting me take what I need.”
Logan smiled through the tears. “Thank you, baby.”
“Never thank me for loving you. It’s what I was made for.”
OceanofPDF.com
twenty-five
K
hamari sat comfortably between Logan’s legs, caressing the
smoothness as she massaged the oil blend she mixed up into his
scalp. The peace and serenity was what he found in her. Along with
the care and attentiveness to him.
“If you fall asleep, I’m leaving you down here,” Logan warned with
laughter in her tone.
A groan of satisfaction rumbled behind his lips. “I’m not sleep.”
“Not yet,” Logan quipped. “What’s your plans for the apartment
complex?”
 He lazily shrugged his shoulders.
Logan removed her hands from his hair and smirked as she silently
counted down. “Five, four, three, two, one.”
“Why you stop?” he whined, reaching behind him for her hand.
Logan giggled. “Because you’re falling asleep and I’m trying to talk to
you.”
Khamari wiggled his shoulders. “Alright, alright. I’m up.” He adjusted
himself on the floor and held on to her leg as if it were his security blanket.
“I wanted to gut them out. Update everything and then make them handicap
accessible and affordable. Rent is out of the roof.”
“That’s a good idea. Rent control? How are you going to recoup?”
Logan questioned, parting his hair and beginning the first braid.
“Now that’s Patience’s area of expertise. But afford not control, we’ll
keep everything reasonable and within an amount to keep it affordable.
What’s the vision for the salon?”
“In my mind, a dual complex. Hair salon and suites on one side, on the
other, beauty and wellness. But in reality I’ll just do one at a time and see
how it plays out.”
“You can do both. If you want it do it. Don’t stand in your way. If you
want, after you finish school, I can put you in contact with my business
manager. The world is yours, baby. Move like it.”
Logan finished one braid and started another. “I would love that. I got
big ideas, I just need to make sure I stick to them.”
“I’m going to make sure you do.”
“Follow my dreams and have all your babies,” Logan wryly laughed.
“How am I going to do all this?”
“You got me. Patience needs something to do so the babies will be good
but understand this, I won’t put what I want over what you need.”
“And what about what you need?”
“All I need is this leg, your hands in my hair and your body under
mine.”
Logan laughed at his silliness. “Just one leg and exactly how long are
you going to let me braid your hair?”
“I like them in pairs, but I don’t want your freaky ass distracted,” he
quipped. “And as long as those hands can do it, I want it.”
“You’re not going to be a silver fox with braids,” Logan retorted
finishing the last braid. “I’m done baby.”
 “Bet you I will.”
“I’d like to see it. Carry me upstairs?”
“Come on, little baby.”

O neLogan,
minute left on the clock and Lavendale Thunder was down by seven.
along with Jacari, and the rest of the Coleman clan were on the
edges of their seats. Khai Coleman stood, arms folded over the purple and
orange jersey stretched over his broad chest, eyes moving with every
motion of the dance Khamari was in. Patience whispered to herself,
Tatianna vigorously chewed on her gum while Jacari tweeted. But Logan,
Logan felt the anxiety in Khamari’s chest like he set up home inside of her.
“Baby, you got this. It’s yours, just push for it. Fight for it,” she
muttered to herself. “Fight for it.”
Khamari powered through the block, taking his shot, making it and
getting fouled.
“Alright, baby. Take your two,” she said louder than before. She’d been
watching film with him, lying in bed or on the couch watching other games.
Khamari made the first shot, then the second. “Alright, give me five more.”
The ball passed from player hand to player hand. The rock was back in
Khamari’s grasps. He shot a three point. Mere seconds were left on the
clock, Jaymerius had the ball, fouled and ended the game with a point
above Pine Haven Mountaineers.
“Whew, thank God!” Patience blew. “I told that boy about playing with
my emotions.”
“She loves her son doesn’t she?” Jacari questioned.
“Girl, let her have it,” Logan muttered.
“We’re doing dinner at your new house?”
“No we aren’t,” Logan shot back. “I’m trying to keep my house’s
energy balanced as long as I can.”
“What that means is you’re trying to fuck your man all over the house
without interruption,” Jacari snickered. “I’m not mad at you. I be trying to
do the same but there is always someone around.”
 Logan didn’t know what was the real deal between Jacari and
Jaymerius. Every time she asked, Jacari would say, ‘we’re just kicking it’.
“Well, you need to tell your man what you want.”
“Oh, not Ms. I Just Got My Man Three Seconds Ago checking me?”
“Oh, I am,” Logan said seeing Tatianna turn to her. “What’s up, Tati?”
“What does that knock knee’d negro want to eat?” Tatianna asked
balancing her attention between her phone and Logan.
KC: Sushi and pussy

Logan bit her lip and locked her phone before Jacari’s nosey ass could
read Khamari’s response to her text she’d sent earlier when she took her
seat. “Sushi.”
Tatianna looked up from her phone with a frown. “Oh y’all nasty.”
Logan gave her pointed glare then dropped her eyes to Tati’s phone.
“Takes one to know one.”
Tatianna feigned innocent. “No idea what you’re talking about. We’ll
meet you two at Sake, please don’t take too long.”
“Please, all that damn dribbling made me hungry,” Patience huffed,
following her daughter out of the family section.
Logan waited in her car for Khamari to exit the arena after the post-
game interview. He’d express to her time and time again that he hated the
post-game interviews. After all that work and fighting to win he wanted to
eat and sleep. In tonight’s case, he wanted to eat and have Logan ride a nut
out of him then wedge herself under him.
Khamari opened the back door, tossed his bag in and joined her in the
passenger seat.
“Good game, baby!” Logan cheered, grabbing his face and speckling it
with kisses. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Thank you, baby. I played like shit,” he huffed, letting his head fall on
her shoulder. “Can we skip dinner?”
“You want to tell your momma, or you want me to tell your momma?”
Logan posed.
“Shit.” It was his turn to huff. “Two rolls and we’re out.”
“Want me to order you some JoyEats for the house? I forgot to order
more groceries.”
“That’s fine, baby. No, All-Star weekend and eating like shit is
showing.”
 “Well, I’ll take care of that. Relax your mind, baby,” Logan hummed,
massaging his scalp. “Two rolls, we’ll go home, I’ll make you a smoothie
and put you to sleep.”
Khamari put his hand on her thigh and sunk into his seat. “Thank you,
baby.”
“Don’t thank me for loving you.”
A tired smirk crossed his face with ease. By the time Logan arrived at
the restaurant, Khamari was lightly snoring. Logan gently nudged him.
“You want to go in, baby?”
“Hm?” he grunted waking up. Once he gathered his surroundings, he
sighed. “Yeah, let’s go, baby. Faster we get in, the faster we get out.”
Khamari sat at the table engaged in minimal conversation and critiques
from his father, and inhaled the three sushi rolls he ended up ordering. He’d
even told the Itamae to make it quick tonight, no need for a presentation.
“Logan, what you do to this man to make him rush through dinner?”
Khai asked. “Usually, he wants the table side presentation, every roll on the
menu, and to make it himself.”
Logan laughed softly, she’d been rubbing his back since they sat down,
When she stopped, he’d grunt to make her continue. “It’s not me tonight.
He’s tired. Getting the house together, new team…he needs to sleep through
the night.”
“Son,” Khai chuckled. “Young and in love will have you up all night.”
“Been watching film,” Khamari rumbled. “Trying to get another
championship. I’m sorry I’m not talking but I can’t wait to sleep. I love
y’all. Thank you for coming out. Eat, drink, they have my card. But I’m
going to have Lo Baby take me home.”
The family parted ways and Logan took Khamari home, turned his
eucalyptus shower on and waited for him to drag his body into the shower.
“Can you wash my back, please?” he tiredly asked.
“Yes, what else do you need?” Logan asked eager to make him feel
better.
“I don’t have no energy, my damn back hurts, my hamstrings are tight,”
he grumbled, feeling like an old man.
“Sayless. I got you, Mari.” Logan removed her clothes and joined him
in the shower. She washed him and allowed him to sink into the moment.
Cleanse, body scrub, cleanse again. Once his body was cleaned, Khamari
didn’t move he just took it all in. Allowing his woman to take care of him.
He felt her love. Then felt her mouth wrapped around his length.
He lazily opened his eyes to peer down at her. Eyes closed, hair wet,
sucking and stroking his length with her mouth and hands. He groaned
feeling the rapid release he needed shooting from his sac through his shaft
into her mouth. Logan didn’t stop until he was empty. She kissed back up
his body.
“Go lay down so I can massage your back, baby,” she directed. Logan
stepped out, wrapped herself in a plush towel, then handed him his.
He craned his neck to kiss her face. “I love you, girl.”
“Love you too, go lay down. If you fall asleep, that’s fine.” Logan
grabbed her body butter, lathered her body before joining her man in the
bed. Body against body, skin against skin, she rubbed the body butter and
the CBD oil together and began massaging his back, arms and legs.
“Shit,” he groaned. “Who taught you this shit?”
“I thought I wanted to be a masseuse when I was seventeen. That was
short lived. Men are nasty.”
“Lolo babbbyyy,” Khamari hissed. “I’m a nasty ass motherfucka too,
then.”
“Baby, you’re my nasty nigga, though.”
“You motherfuckin’ right.”
Logan lifted up so Khamari could turn over. His dick at attention.
Honoring his request, Logan lowered herself down on his dick and rocked
slowly as she massaged his chest, arms and shoulders. Khamari gripped her
waist while she rode him.
“Baby, baby, baby, baby. Ride that shit,” Khamari moaned, not giving a
damn if he came quick again. Logan lifted off of his lap and sucked her
essence from his dick. The snores coming from him put a smile on her face.
She trudged back into the bathroom to get a hot towel to clean him off, then
herself. Moments later, she joined him in bed, cuddling underneath him,
kissing his chest and drifted off to sleep.

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twenty-six
T
he heat radiating from Logan’s pussy pulled her out of a deep sleep.
Khamari’s fingers and tongue did that magical dance over her pussy
that made her body react in such a way, she’d be floating all day.
“Ohh, baby,” she softly gasped, eyes still closed, her hands finding her
breast. Khamari reached up and knocked her hands out of the way. “Right
there.”
Khamari continued, slowly just like she liked it. Before she could
explode, he lifted up and pushed his way inside. Grinding in and out of her
slowly while moaning in her ear. “Happy birthday, beautiful.”
 “What a great birthday gift,” Logan slurred, holding his face. “You’re
going to make a mess of me. Two nights without this dick.”
“If you need me to talk you through that nut, you call me,” he
shuddered. “You got me cumming faster than a motherfucker. This shit is so
fucking wet.”
“You have a game, you’re not even supposed to be-” Khamari hit her
spot, ending the conversation. “Ah!”
Harder and deeper, he flipped her over, making a creamy mess of her
pussy. Pulling out, he ate her from the back, pussy and ass, before diving
back in again. Pressing a thumb inside of her ass, sending her over the edge.
Logan threw her ass back, making her hips rotate and grind on him.
“You pretty motherfucka!”
Khamari chuckled, pounding Logan’s spot adoring the way she creamed
and screamed for him. “You pretty motherfucka.”
Khamari fucked his birthday girl into a frenzy, and she dropped in the
middle of the bed. Khamari stepped off of the bed, went to get a warm
towel and came back to wipe her off. He trailed his swollen lips up her body
to her lips. “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you,” Logan hummed. “That was so so so good. I can still feel
you.”
No matter how he played or felt he played, Logan made him feel like
the MVP. “I got you something. It’s not much but there’s more coming
while I’m away.”
“Baby, the house, the car, the bank account. All of that is enough.”
“No it’s not,” he said, pulling a long, blue velvet box from the night
stand. “Sit up and hold up your hair.”
Logan followed his gentle command. She expected a small necklace
with a pendant. The cold, heavy platinum metal laid against her skin.
Khamari had done it again, the tennis necklace made her want to open up
and give him more.
“Mari, baby!” Logan gasped. “This is too much.”
“It’s not enough,” he said as he got her robe out of the warmer. “I made
you breakfast. Come.”
Logan eased out of the bed and followed him to the stairs; there was a
vase of flowers on every step in all variation of lavender, blush, and dusty
rose assortments. “Baby.”
 More arrangements of purple hued balloons, flowers and gifts filled the
foyer.
“Welcome to thirty. I know you weren’t looking forward to doing
anything but staying in bed and it’s the only day you’re not at the salon so
it’s Lo Day.”
“I can’t believe this, baby.”
He wrapped his arms around her from the back and swayed with her.
“Get used to it. When I get back, I have another surprise for you.”
All Logan could do was cry, shake her head and kiss his face. Louis
Vuitton, Christian Louboutin, Givenchy, Tom Ford, Jimmy Choo and so
many other labels. A gift for every year and one for good measure. Logan
sat at the kitchen table a smile a mile long stretching across her face.
“I got a question.”
“I got an answer,” Khamari spoke up loving how happy she was.
“How’d you learn to cook like this?”
“Bankruptcy. Couldn’t afford the staff and the chef and the prepped
meals around the clock so I figured out how to do it myself. Plus it brought
me down to earth and kept me there.”
Logan nodded, an idea of her own coming into her head. “Well, this is
good and thank you for making me feel so special. Now when I go crazy for
your birthday I don’t want to hear nothing.”
“You won’t get a complaint out of me.”
As the rest of the day went on, Khamari gifted her a massage and facial.
Manicure and pedicure, and a lunch date overlooking the pool of Lavendar
View hotel. The celebration was complete with a video call from Rahkel,
while surrounded by Jacari, Jaymerius, Jaylani, Navy, Tatianna, Makavelli
and his parents. Her favorite cake and an overwhelming amount of love.
Logan couldn’t stop crying. Even as she dropped him off to the airport.
She shared with Khamari that this was the first birthday where she was
celebrated, and no one asked for anything. Logan was full and couldn’t say
thank you enough. She wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Thank you for today.”
“You’re welcome. I’m happy you’re happy. I’ll see you when I get
back.”
“I’ll be right here.”

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twenty-seven
H
e missed Logan already. Instead of going to eat with Jaymerius and
few other players from the team he’d rather be laid across his bed
watching her study and talk about nothing at all. He’d sat through
most of the meal texting her. Making plans with Tatianna to meet with the
jeweler and to secure more endorsements. He was future planning, planting
and growing his roots in Lavendale. The way his family stepped in to assist
only made this new chapter of his life so much more fulfilling.
But whenever you started something new without closing the old
chapter, something always seemed to spill over. Khamari stood to roam to
the front of the restaurant to settle his tab and take a JoyRide back to the
hotel. A familiar voice called his name and stopped him in his tracks.
“Oh my God, Mari?”
Khamari turned to find Kelsi looking up at him with stars in her eyes.
Before it made him putty for her, now, she was another woman. But that
didn’t stop the uncertainty from attempting to creep in.
“Kelsi. What’s up? What you doing here?”
“I’m in town for some business. I gotta eat. You’re playing tonight?”
“Nah tomorrow, headed back to rest,” he shared unaware of speculating
fans and women who wanted to make the blogs.
Kelsi hesitated between ending the conversation and getting something
long overdue off her chest. “Can I steal a minute of your time?”
He looked around briefly. “Uh yeah sure.”
He followed her to the furthest end of the bar and took a seat. “What’s
going on?”
“It’s been a minute, but it doesn’t mean that I haven’t thought about
you,” she stated with a sigh. “I rehearsed this a thousand times but now the
words are leaving me.”
“Say what you need to say.”
“Thank you,” Kelsi said. “Thank you for being who you were then so I
could be who I am now. Thank you for protecting me when you didn’t have
to. That night doesn’t go away for me, but you deserve for it to.”
Khamari sat with that for a long moment. He was too drunk to drive and
never thought about how inebriated Kelsi was when she hopped behind the
wheel.
“You don’t have to thank me for that. It was on me, and I’ve made
peace with it. I sleep well at night, and I finally got the chance to move on,”
he shared, his lips parting in a grin at the thought of Logan.
“She’s beautiful,” Kelsi complimented. “Very beautiful.”
“Her soul is even more beautiful. I appreciate this. I do. But I promise
I’m good. And maybe if you aren’t you should talk to someone about it and
make peace with it. I’ve forgiven you. Forgive yourself.”
“I look at my babies and think about it over and over again. But you’re
right, maybe I should talk to someone and release this.”
“You’ll feel better,” Khamari shared. “I’ve stopped drinking, I don’t
party despite what these internet clowns say. My version of fun is laying up
with my lady watching TV or teaching her how to shoot, swim, bowl, or
play spades.”
Kelsi smiled. “I can see she makes you happy.”
“Beyond it. It was good seeing you I told her I’d call when I left here.”
“Oh,” Kelsi quipped being pulled back to reality. “Yeah, yeah. Thank
you for talking to me.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Khamari gave her a hug and released her. Completely. Any lingering
thoughts about her well-being, what would have happened if it were him
driving or if the accident never happened all turned to vapor, the further he
walked away from her the more none of it existed to him.

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twenty-eight
 irl where are you?” Jacari asked through the Air Pod, one of
“G Khamari’s continuous gifts along with her new phone, in her ear. “I
thought we were meeting in the city to watch this game.”
“Oh noooo. Patience called me an hour ago and said she and Tatianna
are coming here to watch the game.”
“Did you tell them you didn’t want anyone in your house?” Jacari
snipped. “You fucked around and got the mother-in-law from hell.”
“No I didn’t,” Logan stated as she pulled the groceries she ordered for
this impromptu watch party and the next week inside the kitchen. “She just
needs a little nudge in the right direction. I’m making the food now, please
come.”
“Uhh I don’t know if I want to be sitting on chairs you and Khamari
been sucking and fucking on,” Jacari winced.
Logan scoffed. “Who said y’all were going to be upstairs?”
“Oh, not you got a mansion and a nigga and got bougie on me. Where
we about to watch the game and eat?” Jacari asked.
“In the basement. We haven’t made our way down there yet to suck and
fuck as you put it.”
“The basement?” Jacari dramatically jeered. “I’m not going to be eating
wings in a moldy ass basement with Patience!”
“You are and my basement is not moldy hoe. There’s a big ass couch,
recliner, a popcorn machine, a bar fully stocked with water and soda.”
“Y’all don’t even have liquor in that house? What the hell, Lo?”
“Stop complaining and bring your ass on. I’ll touch up your hair for
freeeee,” Logan negotiated. “Are you going to leave me alone to get ate
up?”
“I’ve left you alone for like a week and you’ve been getting ate up
around the clock.”
Logan giggled and wiggled her hips. “That I have been but that’s not the
case today. Pleasssseeeee. I’d do it for you.”
Jacari huffed. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you would. And because of
that I’m going to go ahead and come eat those wings. Make mine wet-wet,
like me.”
“Information I could have lived without knowing. But I will make your
wings wet. Hurry up,” Logan directed before ending the call and prepping
the food. Almost an hour later, Tatianna, Patience and Jacari arrived at the
same time heeding to her text about coming in the side door that led to the
basement.
“Hey!” Tatianna greeted loudly as she walked in holding a bottle of
wine. “I know you and my nappy headed brother don’t drink but I do.”
Logan laughed and embraced Tatianna. “Girl you’re fine. How are
you?”
“I’m good. You’re getting a little thick ain’t you?” Tatianna asked
spinning Logan around. “Uh huh. That’s why we can’t pop up or go
upstairs, huh? Y’all being nasty day in and day out.”
 Logan nipped her lip. Khamari’s road games allowed her to get in and
out the house unscathed, but she missed her man and nightly FaceTime’s
just couldn’t cut it. “I meeeaaannnn we do things.”
“Uh huh, filthy ungodly things,” Jacari added wiggling her bottle in the
air. “How are y’all so nasty and don’t drink?”
“High off love,” Logan said with a wink before hugging Patience.
“That’s how it goes,” Patience hummed and hugged Logan. “That
honeymoon stage, you know how you keep it going?”
“Uh uh don’t tell us how you and daddy stay nasty,” Tatianna whined
kicking off her shoes and making a b-line to the bar to grab a glass for her
wine.
Patience waved her daughter off and removed her shoes. “Advice you
can use so you can hook and keep one.”
“Oh the shade,” Jacari mumbled.
“All day every day,” Logan added, locking the door and turning the TV
to the correct channel.
“You see how she does me?” Tatianna huffed.
“Suck his dick and feed him naked. You got to keep his eyes on you.
There’s hussies and in y’all’s case, there’s thousands of women gunning for
your man and your position. Don’t let them have it. Keep that man eating
out the palm of your hand.”
“Like little puppy dogs,” Jacari said with a giggle.
“Speaking of little puppy dog,” Tatianna started. “What’s going on with
you and Jay?”
Jacari bounced her shoulders. “Girl, I don’t know, the man is allergic to
titles and commitment but wants me at his every beck and call.”
“Mm,” Patience hummed. “Stop coming.”
Tatianna whistled. “I didn’t wanna say shit. But make his ass come to
you.”
“How do I do that? I’m still trying to understand how Logan broke the
cheat code.”
“I didn’t break anything, I was just myself,” Logan shared with a shrug
of the shoulders. The truth was, in a room full of thirsty women vying for
attention, Logan was the one in a million. Catching the biggest baller was a
flex in the world of WAGS but having a woman like Logan made a man’s
chest swell.
 “That’s part of it. You got to be the one thing he can’t get anywhere
else,” Patience shared. “It’s the same rules with any man worth having. If
he can’t make up his mind, take the cookie, take your presence and watch
how he comes crawling back.”
“How many times did you make daddy crawl back?” Tatianna asked.
“Every six to twelve months I add a little razzle dazzle to keep him on
his toes,” Patience shared making the women laugh.
“How do you recover from a fight?” Logan asked. She never saw a
healthy relationship. She knew an argument, or a fight, was inevitable. They
were going to have a difference of opinion, be mad, frustrated and angry but
she didn’t want to stay there.
“Well first,” Patience started fixing herself a plate. “When you’re
fighting do not bring up the things he’s told you in his vulnerable moments
and use it as a weapon. I told Khai he was a crying ass nigga baby one time
years ago and baby he just forgave me for it. And when it’s time to cool
down and make up, be intentional, apologize from the heart then suck that
man’s dick like the world is ending.”
“Throat goat 3000!” Jacari cheered. “Okay, Mama P!”
Logan laughed. “Your ass is so ghetto and I love it.”
“You gotta know that,” Patience pointed in an agreement. “Been
married thirty-eight years. Been with that man for forty-two years of my
life. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been so worth it. Two kids, one in love and
talking shit about making me a grandma and the other is beautiful and
educated and running from her future husband.”
“Who?” Logan and Jacari said in unison.
Tatianna covered her face. “Makavelliiiii.”
“MAKAVELLI!” they said.
“Girl, why are you running, the man is fine,” Jacari said. “You better
stop playing.”
“She has a backstage invite to his fight next week,” Patience shared.
“She better have her ass there.”
“Ma, not I better have my ass there,” Tatianna whined.
“Not going to have me miss out on another son. I got another daughter
we got to make it a pair.”
Tatianna rolled her eyes at her mother. “We’re going to watch the game
and get out of my business.”
 “I got a feeling she’s going to stay in your business,” Logan told
Tatianna, settling into a seat.
“The same way she’s in your business,” Tatianna said with a laugh.
“Every morning she sends me a scripture, then a position. How to get a
girl, how to get a boy, and then a recipe. The lady is unhinged. This is the
same lady that had me signing papers and taking Plan B’s. Now she wants
the grandchild? Crazy.”
“Oh, Patience is out of her damn mind. But her apologizing and liking
you means you’re never getting rid of her. She’s going to demand you name
the baby after her. She’s going to be here every day making sure you eat,
sleep, and making sure Khamari is pulling his weight. Once she’s with you,
she’s with you. It’s all the crazy you gotta go through to get there. And
Khamari ain’t letting it be any other way.”
“I see. I can’t say I’m against any of it. All of this feels really…filling.
Like it’s what I’ve been missing,” Logan shared.
“Welcome to the family,” Tatianna said in a sing-song voice. “Now,
since you’re here with me, sister, you have to come to the match with me.
And if I’m right, Khamari already got your tickets.”
“I will be there. I will be cute. And I will watch you cheer for your man,
your man, your man.”
“He’s not my mannnn,” Tatianna whined.
“But you want him to be.” Logan gave her a look. “Don’t you?”
“Did you want Khamari to be your man?”
“Oh yes,” Logan spoke without missing a beat. “That’s why we’re here.
Night one. I just had to clear up some things.”
Tatianna rolled her eyes. “Then I might be on that too. Might.”
“I know it. Stop playing with that man, baby.”
This moment of togetherness felt good. Almost too good, the text sent to
Logan’s phone from one of the girls at the salon was threatening her
newfound happiness.
Amber(In Bloom): Hate to be messy but you should know what
your man is up to.

The photo attached burned Logan’s ears, made her nostrils flare, and a
flood of unwavering anxiety to settle. Who was this and how’d they get her
new number. While everyone laughed, joked and ate Logan balanced her
attention between the game and the looming image.
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twenty-nine
 ’m so happy to be home,” Khamari muttered as he trudged his body in
“I the door, he found Logan in the kitchen putting his last set of prepared
meals in this glass Tupperware containers.
“Ohh what you doing?” he gleefully asked.
Logan replied dryly. “I prepped some food for you for this week.
Breakfast, smoothies, protein shakes, lunch and dinner the nights I’m
coming in late.”
“Woah, woah,” he blew dropping his bag. “What’s up? Ain’t no
jumping on me, happiness or eye contact.”
 Logan picked up her phone and pulled up the article sent to her from
one of her stalking ass classmates, she slid the phone over to him. “I do not
like looking like a fool, Khamari. I don’t like finding out things from
cackling women. I don’t care what happened or who she is I just want to
know before the world does. Please, if that’s not too much.”
“Nothing happened,” he quickly responded to erase whatever her
overthinking mind caused. He rushed around the island turning her to him
and lifting her chin. “Look at me. Nothing happened.”
“Who is she? I know I said I didn’t care. I do. I fuckin’ care. I don’t
want women around you just as much as you don’t want niggas smiling and
grinning in my face.”
He respected that. “That was my ex. I was leaving the restaurant
heading back to the hotel and she walked in and asked if we could talk.”
“But y’all were all hugged up.”
“It’s the optics.”
Logan gave him a look that read, “I don’t give a fuck about the optics.”
“You need to tell me something Khamari, please. Tell me something. I
cannot end up like my mother and I won’t let you take me down that path. I
will leave with what I came with.”
“Stop talking crazy, Baby.”
“I mean it.” Logan placed her hands on her hips. “Don’t ever make me
feel like I want to punch your ass in the face. Please. Please don’t make me
choose violence. I’m trying to evolve.”
“You’re a little ass firecracker you know that?” he asked with an
amused smirk. While he’d seen parts of her attitude and how she could pop
off. He also knew the softer side of her, and he wouldn’t deflect this
moment. Logan needed his words – his assurance.
“Don’t play with me, Mari.”
Khamari picked her up, placed her on the counter and sighed. “I didn’t
go bankrupt because I was foolish with my money. I filed for bankruptcy
because Kelsi and I were drunk leaving a party. I was too drunk to even
think about what the fuck I was doing, I just put the keys in her hand. Kelsi
sped off from the curb. We started arguing about something and she got
distracted. She took her eyes off of the road for a second and never saw the
girl crossing the street.
“Patience swooped in promising the family a fortune to keep everything
under wraps. A fortune that eventually drained my pockets dry. Medical
bills, rehabilitation, around the clock care and every day I prayed she would
walk again. Meanwhile Kelsi got to move on like the night never happened.
I couldn’t ruin two lives. That’s just not the man I am. That night changed
everything for me. But it taught me so much.
“Kelsi needed that closure. For me, I handled that years ago in
preparation for this. For you. For us and our family. I would never ever do
anything to hurt you or take away your trust and I damn sure ain’t never
going to make you feel like you’re traveling down the same road as your
mother. You hear me?”
Logan nodded. “I hear you. Shit, now I feel like a bitch.”
“Don’t. This is on me I should have known eyes were on me. Even if
they weren’t I should have told you about this and her. It won’t happen
again.”
Logan bit her lip only for Khamari to swipe his thumb over her chin.
“You hear me?”
“I hear you.”
“You trust me?”
“I do.”
“Your man needs a kiss and some lovin’ and no more attitude until
tomorrow when I have the energy to fuck it out of you,” he joked.
Logan wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed his lips. “I’m
sorry about your game. You didn’t play that good.”
“You got notes for me?”
“Mmhmm,” she buzzed between kisses. “You weren’t trusting yourself
or your team. Your fouls were stupid because you were playing sloppy. You
missed like eight shots and two free throws. Moral of the story don’t be
hugging no more women before or after a game.”
“Your wish is my command.”
“But seriously you’ll get it next game. Stop being so hard on yourself.
You’re human not a machine. You’ll lose some and you’ll win some more.
Just trust yourself and tune out all of the noise.”
Khamari kissed her passionately then pressed his forehead against hers.
“Thank you.”
“For?”
“Loving me. I know it’s real cause you’re little attitude met me at the
door.”
 “You better believe it. Don’t thank me just keep giving me what I need.
You treat me good, I’ll do you better.”

“G ahhhdayum,” Khamari hissed as Logan walked down the stairs in a

white silk wrapped dress with her thigh out.
“It’s not too much is it?” Logan asked wearily. “It’s a boxing
match, I have no idea what to wear. I went through like six outfits.”
“Nahhh,” Khamari trilled shaking his head. “That’s that shit right
there.”
Logan blushed and nipped her lip. “You know how I get when you start
talking that shit to me.”
“We don’t have time for me to bend your fine ass over,” Khamari
winced.
“Are we taking the Cullinan?”
“Yeah.”
“There’s a driver?”
Khamari let the devilish smirk cross his face. “Bring your ass on.”
“Wait I’m going to need another pair of panties and some wet wipes,”
Logan said as she spun around and trotted up the stairs in her heels. Every
step making her ass bounce and Khamari’s dick swell in anticipation.
Returning moments later with a pair of panties for her, boxers for him and a
handful of wet wipes she switched her hips past him. “Come on, but don’t
fuck up my hair. I worked on this all day.”
Partition closed in the back of the Cullinan, Khamari freed himself from
his slacks and boxers pushing them down enough for Logan to mount him.
She bunched the fabric of her dress over her hips and pulled her panties to
the side.
“Mmm mmm, Lo Baby,” Khamari breathed as Logan’s heat
encompassed him. “Pussy wetter than a bitch.”
Logan took him in sighing in relief as her pussy expanded for him. It
throbbed and gushed over his dick making the ride to the JoyRide Arena a
slippery one. Khamari palmed her ass, pumping upward into her depths.
 “Yes, baby. Right there. I think I’m addicted,” Logan moaned wrapping
her arms around his head and holding it tightly to her chest. “Yes, yes, yes.”
Khamari fucked up while Logan squeezed her muscles and grinded
against his stroke. Throwing her head back, she held on to his shoulders and
placed her hand between them to feel the motion and stickiness between
them.
“So fuckin’ beautiful, you know that?” Khamari grunted, holding her
heck. He was happy they had an off day, but he was even happier now.
“Yes,” Logan whined. “Yes, baby I know. So are you. I love you inside
of me.”
“You make me so damn happy,” Khamari pulled her close tonguing her
down while making a mess of her. “So damn happy.”
Logan licked the side of his face and grinned drunkenly. “You make me
happy too.”
They came together and Logan pulled herself off his lap, kneeling in
front of him to suck him clean. Khamari carefully cleaned her up and
helped her pull herself back together. Just in time for the driver to open the
door and expose the glowing couple to the flashing cameras.
Posing for photos on the red carpet, Khamari palmed her ass and
whispered in her ear, “when we get home, put it on my face.”
Logan smiled for the cameras and replied through her freshly reapplied
red lips. “Oh I will.”
Inside the arena was packed. Fans spilled in by the thousands to see
Makavelli go head to head with Prince Charles. Logan waited until after
Khamari shook hands and pictures with fans before asking, “tell me the deal
between Mak and Prince Charles.”
Taking his seat by her, he placed his hand on her exposed thigh and
leaned in. The feel, the smell and the attachment to his spirit caused chills to
cover her body. “Makavelli holds the title for the welterweight champion of
the world. He’s held that title for the last year. He beat Jaquez Langston.
Now, Prince Charles is challenging him for that title. If he wins tonight he
gets the title and Makavelli will have to fight him again for it. If not, Mak
keeps it.”
“What’s the strengths of each?”
“Mak has a powerful punch and has the skill but he’s thirty-six. He’s
considered old. He’s slower than Prince but he can see a hit coming.”
Logan winced. “Is blood going to get on me?”
 Khamari laughed. “Maybe if we were three rows up. Can’t have my
baby getting bled on.”
“Do me a favor,” Logan started her request.
“Anything for you.”
“Explain it all to me.”
Khamari’s eyes smiled. “You got it baby.”
True to his word he talked her through the eleven round knockout.
Prince Charles gave Makavelli a run for his money but came up short in the
end.
“Prince used all his energy and ran out of gas and Mak paced himself.
That was so good!” Logan cheered. “We’re going to the next one.”
Khamari chuckled, balancing his attention between his lady and his
sister who was in the ring, hugging Makavelli’s neck and jumping up and
down. “Look.”
Logan turned to the ring, a wide smile crossed her face. “Ohhh shit. I
told her.”
“All that shit she was talking to be in the ring crying and kissing that
man. You think they’re joining us for dinner?”
“Mm mm, no,” Logan said in a fit of laughter. “Let’s go home. I can
feed you.”

L ogan laid next to Khamari adoring the way he looked when his being
was at peace. She prayed that nothing would interfere with this – not
even her.
“Why are you staring at me, Baby?” he questioned with his eyes closed.
“I like when you’re the last thing I see before I go to sleep,” she shared,
rubbing her hands over his bare chest.
Khamari tiredly chuckled. “Stop playing like you love my ass.”
“I do,” Logan said without missing a beat. “Want to know something?”
Khamari turned to his side so he could face her. Eyes still closed but
present. He prided himself on being present. Even if they were just starting
out he wanted to set the foundation now. “I want to know everything.”
 Logan’s smirk was audible as she moved her hand to caress his jawline.
“You’re the first man I’ve loved.”
“So buddy I was mopping the bar with never got to this level.”
“Never got close to it. I know everything isn’t always going to feel like
we’re standing in the sun. Some days we’ll stand in rain, tornados,
hurricanes or whatever. But I just want to stand with you.”
“Can’t nothing or nobody make me move out of position. If I drop you
that means someone else can pick you up. I’m a lot of things but I’m not the
type of man to let my lady be loved by someone else. I’m not sane enough
for that. So I’m standing with you, in front, behind, beside, whatever.”
Khamari pulled her bare body close to his and kissed the top of her head.
“Get some rest, Baby. I love you more.”
Logan threw her leg over him, settled in his protection and drifted to
sleep.

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thirty
 ou have a call from an inmate at Nevaeh Women’s Federal Prison,”
“Y the automated voice resounded through the bathroom. Logan was
defusing her curls and Khamari was washing his face.
“I’ll accept,” Logan spoke loudly, making the call connect. “Hey
mommy!”
“Hey baby, how are you doing?”
“I’m good, haven’t heard from you in a minute,” Logan stated. “You
must not be buying snacks for everyone.”
 “Well Jimmy came up to see me,” her mother stated making Logan
freeze.
“What do you mean Jimmy came up to see you? Mommy…”
“My books are fine, girl. I was just calling to check on you. I heard
through the grapevine you’re dating a basketball player. I always knew all
that hips and ass you got would catch you a good fish.”
Logan huffed, closing her eyes and shaking her head.
“Make him buy you whatever you want.”
Logan started, “there’s a lot more to our relationship than that.”
Her mother scoffed. “I’ll say. Got you in the club fighting family.
Telling your uncle you’re not dealing with him anymore. Sending your
sister off.”
“What does any of that have to do with what I have going on. GFK isn’t
family, if they were I would have never had to run packs in return for a light
bill or Rahki wanting hood fame. GFK would have helped bury grandma.
Shit they would have helped bury daddy. They did it all and wanted
something in return. What did Jimmy want?”
“To make sure I had somewhere to go when I get out.”
“You say when I get out like you’re getting out tomorrow.”
“Good behavior. I can get out tomorrow or next year it just depends.
And now that you got that baller I can stay with you.”
Logan didn’t miss a beat. “But you can’t.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said you can’t stay here. And before you start it has nothing to do
with me forgetting where I came from or being embarrassed by you. It has
absolutely everything to do with the fact you’re not done with the streets.
You’re not done with Jimmy. I am. I will not have my man suffer because
my family can’t leave well enough alone.”
“Logan I taught you to always look out for family.”
“And I missed the lesson in honoring myself. My peace, my space my
happiness. I won’t do it anymore mommy. I love you with all my heart. But
you can’t stay with me or Rahki until you’re certain you’re done with the
bullshit. And if Jimmy has you doing what I think you are, you won’t be
home for a long time.”
The line fell silent. Khamari didn’t move a muscle.
“I have to respect that,” her mother said finally speaking up. “You’re a
grown woman now. And you’re right. I might not be home anytime soon.
Just do me a favor. Don’t be too busy to answer my calls and entertain me.”
“I’ll always answer. I haven’t missed a call in all these years, I won’t
start now.”
“I love you, Lo. I do.”
“I know.”
“I’m going to let you go. I’ll call you soon.” She didn’t let Logan reply
before hanging up.
Logan quickly swiped the tears from her eyes. “This is so stupid.”
Khamari pulled her into him and kissed the top of her head. “No, it’s
not. That’s your mother.”
“And as long as she’s caught up with her husband’s brother and that
gang she can’t be around anything we have going on. I won’t allow it. I
want a different life, a better life.”
“And you got it. You want to run with me real quick before you got to
get to class?” he posed wiping the rest of the tears from her face.
“Yeah.” She pulled herself together. “Let me get dressed and I’ll meet
you downstairs.”
Khamari gave her an assuring kiss. “You can cry all you want. Even if
it’s all day.”
“I can’t there’s so much to do and crying about it isn’t going to fix it.”
“What’s going to fix it?” Khamari asked prepared to do whatever she
needed.
Logan shook her head. “Unfortunately baby, nothing. I can’t make her
think differently. That’s something she has to do on her own. I don’t think
that after fifty years she’s going to change her mind. I think she likes that
life. It reminds her of her prime. And I hate that.”
“Do you want to go see her?” Khamari quizzed willing and ready to
charter a jet for her to go out and see her mother.
Logan shook her head. “No. I can’t do that. I did it once and it was
horrible. I can love her from here. That’s all I could do.”
“If you ever need that promise you’ll tell me,” Khamari voiced. “Don’t
just go alone.”
“I’ll tell you. But I don’t think I’ll ever need that. I’m embracing what’s
here right now. And I was thinking that we’ve been enjoying this house by
ourselves maybe it’s time for us to host a family dinner after your game this
weekend?”
 Khamari looked at her with raised brow, “so what you’re telling me is I
got to wear clothes to dinner?”
“Yes,” she giggled softly. “That’s what I’m telling you so let me know
what you want or if Patience is particular.”
“You know Patience is particular,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “But
she will not complain about anything. What did Sunday dinners look like
for you when your grandma was here?”
“Mm,” Logan hummed. “A roasted chicken because I refused to eat
shitterlings.”
“Lo, what?” Khamari asked with mild laughter.
“You heard me. Shitterlings. I don’t care how much money we didn’t
have I wasn’t eating a pigs shit pipes.”
“Not even with hot sauce?”
“I don’t care if the best chef angel came from heaven and cooked it, no.
It’s not happening.”
Khamari dropped his head in laughter. “No shitterlings, got it.”
“It will never come in this house, my love.”
“Aight, roasted chickens and whatever else you want to go along with
it. Use my card,” he directed.
Logan squint up at him and huffed. “You just put money in my
account.”
Khamari bounced his shoulders, “that’s for you to get whatever you
want for you. Not to feed five big ass men.”
Logan’s squint intensified. “Five?”
Khamari nodded. “Ishmel Domineaux is my boy from college, we’re
playing his home team, Monday night. He’s back in town all weekend.
Talking shit about them boys beating me. I want to whip their asses and
then bring him over and rub it in his face.”
“Ohh you’re petty,” Logan laughed.
“I am but this man likes to act like Lavendale won’t beat Whitestone.
He’s been in Lavendale since he could talk. So whatever you need to get,
whoever you need to get to do it, go crazy.”
Logan finished pulling her hair into a ponytail. “Alright don’t holler
when you see the charges.”
“I won’t. You ready for this run?”
“No but come on. You said you needed some motivation, I hope my ass
is enough.”
 Khamari smacked her ass as she walked out the bathroom. “It’s more
than enough and then you put on the orange fit for your boy. Yeahhh, let’s
go before we don’t go.”
“You’re so nasty.”

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thirty-one
 h uh not you stepping out without me,” Khamari jeered from the
“U propped position on the dresser.
Logan slid the jean jacket on her arms and adjusted her fitted cap
in the mirror. Looking from the mirror to the screen of the phone where
Khamari was on FaceTime. “I’m going to Miomi’s track meet as promised.
I get hold the baby and shout in the sun. Might have dinner with Jacari after
and then come home and watch you play. You ready to play your old
team?”
 Khamari rolled to his back holding the phone over his face. “Eh, I’m
cool.”
Logan moved in closer. “That doesn’t sound like the confident man I
know. What’s going?”
“When I left I didn’t think I’d be back so soon which was stupid on my
part. Old fans, old teammates, old shit. I wish you could’ve come,”
Khamari admitted. “It’s on me though because I didn’t ask.”
Logan picked up the phone while taking a seat on the ottoman. “I
would’ve been there.”
“I know. I just…” Khamari sat up and scrubbed his face with his free
hand. “Don’t want you to see what the pressure looks like on me.”
Logan wryly laughed. “You asked me if you could be my soft place to
land. It’s been cashmere and rose petals. So what makes you think that I
wouldn’t jump to be that for you. You’ve endured my attitude, and I can’t
see what pressure looks like on you? You’re talking about our future,
having kids, being yours forever and while I love that idea and I love you
let me have it, Mari. If you saved me why can’t I save you?”
Khamari licked his lips and stared at his woman. “I ain’t never had
this.”
“You do now. I told you I wasn’t playing with you. Now get your mind
right and get out of your head. I love you. You got this. Always had it. Now
what you gonna do?”
“Shoot my shots.”
“Shoot your fuckin’ shots, Baby.”
Khamari gleamed. “Aight, I’m good.”
“Mmhmm, I’ll be watching.”
“I know. Tell Mimi to run her shit.” They ended their conversation.
Logan shuffled into her closet packed a quick bag, texted Rahkel, and
dashed to Miomi’s track meet.
Lo: Flying out for a game. Sister time?

Rah: Jackal has me delivering cars to Emerald City. Next time?

Lo: Sure.

“Run Mimi, run!” Logan cheered from the stands. Jaylani jumped up
from her seat and joined in on the shouting while Navy, Oliver and Duncan
were on the sidelines of the track racing to the finish line of the final heat
with their girl.
“Yes baby!” Jaylani shouted blowing her blow horn. “That’s how you
do it Mimi!”
“That girl is fast,” Akira shouted out of breath from watching her niece
run her final 4x4.
“My damn legs are burning,” Pierce laughed. “Whew now we can eat.”
“That part!” Jacari added fanning herself. “I need a steak or something.”
“You and Pierce have been killing the concessions,” Akira pointed out.
“Oh you in my business,” Jacari defended herself.
Pierce waved her friend off. “Girl leave me alone. Logan is here let’s
drill her.”
Akira turned her attention to Logan. “How have you been Lo?”
“Great actually,” Logan replied collecting her things. “But I have a
flight to catch so let’s talk about this relationship thing over lunch when I
get back.”
“Where are you going?’ Jaylani asked with amusement on her face.
“Yeah where the hell are you going?” Jacari asked squinting at her best
friend.
“To go pep my man up,” Logan said with a smile. “Give Miomi the
flowers and tell her I owe her lunch.”
“You owe all of us,” Jacari chimed before smiling and smacking
Logan’s leg. “But I’ll allow it in the name of love.”
“I will,” Jaylani said as she hugged Logan. “Be safe.”
“Y’all too.”
With that Logan was off to the airport.

L ogan was standing in the visitor side of the Crystal Ball Arena. Front
and center in the family area she avoided the glares and whispers from
the women surrounding her. Shoulder to shoulder with Khai.
“Why is he playing like this?” Logan muttered more to herself than
Khamari’s father. She looked up at the time on the clock and then back at
Khamari who wasn’t playing like himself at all.
“This arena haunts him,” Khai shared. “But he’s got to shake that shit
off.”
“He does,” Logan huffed. She’d watched enough of his old games, film
and helped him with passing drills when he couldn’t sleep. Khamari was
missing passes, dropping balls, bricking shots. Old fans and new booed as
the second quarter ended.
Logan wiggled past Khai and rushed down the stairs hoping to meet
him in the tunnel. Security, a fan of the budding love playing out on social
media let her through just as the team was headed to the locker room.
“Mari,” she called, making his towel covered head look for her.
Khamari found his woman, clad in his jersey, cargo pants and his branded
sneakers. He was always tuned to her voice no matter how horrible his
mood or how loud the room was.
His brows furrowed from underneath the towel. Stepping to her
Khamari removed the towel from his head and holding either end as it
rested on his shoulders. “What you doing here?”
“You needed me, I’m here. Now I need you to get out your head. Forget
all the bullshit that happened here. Forget who you were when you were
here and be who you are now. Fight for this, put your heart on your sleeve
and win me my game.”
“Lo I don’t-”
“If you don’t win this, okay cool. You’ll have to play them again. You’re
going to lose every time you play here? Or are you going to get that shit
back in blood? Where’s the passion you told me about?”
Khamari pointed to his chest. “Right here.”
“Then play like it. No more bricks. Shoot that shit,” she spoke directly
to his uncertainty. Unknowingly to her, that sealed the deal for him. “Your
coach is waiting.”
With a quick kiss, he muttered, “I love you.”
“I love you more. Go.”
Back in the stands, Logan took a seat by Khai and sighed, “he should be
better now.”
“You talked to the dawg in him didn’t you?” Khai asked.
Logan shrugged humbly. “That’s what he needed.”
Khai looked at her with amazement. “You’re what he needed. You’re
exactly what he needed. I’m going to tell you before Patience does,
welcome to the family.”
Logan smiled and shook her head. “Thanks. He’s what I needed too.”
Halftime was over and Khamari and his team were back on the court
communicating the way they were supposed to. They didn’t win but they
were in sync trusting each other. Their heads, held high as they walked off
into the tunnel.

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thirty-two
 don’t want to let you go,” Khamari hummed hugging Logan tightly.
“I “Can’t believe you got on a flight to be here.”
“I don’t know why you thought that. Next time tell me what you
need,” Logan hummed rubbing his back. “Go do what you need to do. I’ll
see you tomorrow.”
“Aight, you know I’d be on that flight with you if it wasn’t for this
meeting tonight, if Kendrick but I’ll be home in the morning.”
“You and pops take care of business, I have to feed five big ass men
after your home game tomorrow. So let me go before I want to stay.”
 Khamari craned his neck and tilted her chin one last time to kiss her.
“Thank you, Lo. For real.”
“Don’t thank me for loving you. I’d do it again and again and again. Go
handle your business.”
Khamari reluctantly parted from her, watching her proceed through
TSA precheck to board her flight back to Lavendale. He stood there until
she was out of view.
Lo Baby: At my gate. Go handle your business

Mari: How’d you know I was still standing here?

Lo Baby: I feel you

“Yeahhhh,” he muttered to himself. “I’m about to bag her up.”

Rejoining his father at the rental car, Khamari found his father arguing
with the airport security. “I told you my boy is coming. I’m not circlin’
‘round this bitch again.”
“Pops,” Khamari called with laughter. “Relax.”
“KC,” the airport security looked Khamari up and down. “This your
pops?”
“Uh huh. He gets testy when I lose,” Khamari stated.
“Yeah, so do I. Your big, brick throwing ass cost me five hundred
dollars tonight. Now I’m working overtime, so my wife doesn’t kill me.”
Khamari dug in his pocket peeled off a few crisp hundred dollar bills
and handed it over. “By her something nice and don’t tell her about that
dumb shit you did. That’s for putting up with him. But watch your mouth
talkin’ about me like that.”
“Putting up with me?” Khai screeched. “You need to pay me for putting
up with him.”
“Have a good night,” Khamari said with a head nod nudging his father
to the awaiting car.
Khai shook his head and climbed in behind the stirring wheel. “Talkin’
about that’s for putting up with him.”
Khamari joined his father inside the rental and sat his seat back. “It is.
Causing a scene for what reason? You got to relax, Patience is rubbing off
on you.”
“I can’t wait to get home to your momma and tell her how you out here
judging me.”
 “You’re whipped.”
“And you ain’t?” Khai queried.
Khamari grinned focusing back on his phone to read a text from Logan.
Lo Baby: Want my notes now or later?

Mari: Hit me

Lo Baby: COMMUNICATION. That’s it that’s all.

Mari: What’s my punishment?

Lo Baby: I’ll tell you when you get home

“Boy you got that glow on you,” Khai playfully cheered trying to grab
his sons hand.
“Ay you got to chill!” Khamari chuckled yanking his phone back.
“You got something special on your hands. You ready for what that
comes with?”
Khamari engaged his father. “What does it come with?”
“More houses, kids, you finding balance,” Khai counted off as he pulled
off from the curb.
“I’m all in.”
“All in?” Khai asked. “Like a ring all in?”
“Already got it, just waiting for the right time. I’m not going to lie
though, her popping up here tonight sealed the deal.”
Khai smiled genuinely happy for his son. “I’m proud of you son.”
“Thanks, pops.”
“Stop that shit before I cry and you record it and put it in the family
group chat,” Khai huffed merging into LO traffic.
From the airport to Saxons Steakhouse for a late night meeting with
Kendrick and his team. Khai didn’t know that sitting down with the owners
of S&J Holdings was going to put him and his wife in position to do their
own thing and worry about their son less.

L oganEmpty dinner plates, full bellies and a table full of happy guests.
Logan looked over the table and smiled recalling the dreams she had when
she afforded herself the luxury. She dreamt of this, a table and house full of
love and happy people. The emotions threatened to choke her up, but she
held it together.
Jacari picked up Jaymerius’ plate as Logan chose to get ahead of the
pile of dishes. Khamari put a stop to it by squeezing Logan’s hand and
whispering in her ear. “I took care of that. You cooked all this food, you can
relax the rest of the night.”
Logan looked at him half parts confusion and excitement. “You did
what?”
“I took care of you. You’ve been up all night, on your feet all day.
Tending to me and everyone else. Relax baby,” he sealed his statement with
a kiss. “Y’all we’re going to go to the balcony for an announcement.”
Couple by couple everyone started to trickle out of the dining room onto
the patio. Heat lamps and blankets were provided for their guest. On a table
was a cake that read happy retirement.
“Who the hell is retiring?” Patience asked as Tatianna stood close
enough to Mak to make Logan’s mind wonder. She was definitely in like
with the man, and it was starting to show in her actions. From Tatianna and
her soon to be beaux, Logan looked back at Khai, Patience and Khamari. “I
didn’t give you permission to retire.”
Khamari laughed and threw his arm over his mother’s shoulder. “I’m
not retiring woman. But listen and don’t say nothing until I’m done. I know
how you like to get.”
Patience rolled her eyes. “You don’t know nothing.”
Logan shook her head in laughter.
“Remember when I told you that when I got on I’ll retire you?”
Khamari asked his mother.
“Yeah and I told your tall ass that I wasn’t going to go nowhere,”
Patience huffed.
“Well I’m in good hands,” Khamari said flashing a look to Logan who
was glowing even more than before. “So rest assured I’m going to be
alright. As for you and pops you’re the new owners of a new resort being
built on the mountain. Until it’s time for you to be the boss over there I’m
sending y’all on vacation to enjoy being retired.”
Khai knew about the resort he didn’t know about the trip. Sure Khamari
had sent them on several trips over the years, but this one was to an island
he’d purchased for his parents to run to whenever they wanted. Handing
each and envelope, he kissed his mother’s cheek then embraced his father.
 “You never ever have to think about street life, or hustling, or if we’re
going to make it without you. You’ve worked hard enough now enjoy that
shit, aight?” Khamari muttered in his father’s ear.
Khai held his son tightly before pulling away and wiping his face. “I
love you, boy.”
“I love you too.”
After cake and drinks, for their partygoers, Khamari and Logan stood on
the front porch snuggled and seeing their guest off.
“Logan dinner was so good. Sunday dinners have a new spot,” Patience
giddily said.
“No they don’t,” Khamari sounded off. "I had to behave myself all day
and my baby is tired.”
Patience smiled even wider. “I can’t believe I tried to stop this from
budding. Logan you’re glowing.”
Logan smiled although she was shivering underneath the blanket.
“Thank you. Happiness does that, or so I heard.”
“Alright Patience we got a trip to plan, come on now,” Khai said
standing by the open passenger door. “Let the young folks do what they
do.”
Logan shook her head and watched as Khamari’s parents climbed into
the car and drove off. Back inside she let a sigh of relief out as Khamari
secured the door behind her. The staff he hired was finishing up the dishes
and the cleaning of the entertaining spaces.
Picking her up off of her feet, he carried her upstairs bypassing the bed
and straight into the bathroom. Sitting her on the countertop, he stepped
into their water bar and filled the large tub with water.
“Thank you for anticipating,” Logan yawned. “I can’t wait to sleep.”
“Me neither. That was a lot.”
“Who are you telling? But we pulled it off.”
“You pulled it off,” Khamari said proudly. “You keep surprising me.”
“I’m an onion,” Logan quoted a line from her favorite movie making
Khamari chuckle.
“Thank God you don’t look like Shrek.”
“And thank God you don’t look like Donkey.”
Khamari undressed her gently massaging her arms, hands, neck, and
thighs in the process. “Before you go to the salon tomorrow, I want to take
you up to the waterfall to watch the sunrise.”
 Logan smiled tiredly as she shuffled to the steaming tub. “I don’t have
to run do I?”
Khamari watched as she slipped in. “No, we’re driving.”
“Good,” she yawned again resting her head on the side. “I’m so tired.
Which is crazy considering I used to run from job to job.”
“Good love and rest would regulate your body,” he stated entering the
space and grabbing her loofah. Squeezing her soap on to it he began
washing her tired limbs. She hummed sweetly with her eyes closed,
allowing him to take care of her.
From the tub to bed where he massaged her body with body butter.
Logan drifted off the moment his weight left the bed. When Khamari
returned clean and moisturized, he joined her under the covers and kissed
her face.
Tomorrow, things changed for them. Things were going to be cemented
in love. For as long as God would allow.

T rue to his plan, Logan and Khamari rode up Mt. Lavender in silence
before parking at the waterfall and walking the rest of the way to the
wooden fence. The water rushed into the river, loudly but so peacefully. The
sun was just starting to peek over the horizon as the couple stood back to
front with Khamari’s arms wrapped around her.
“This rivals how beautiful you are when you’re sleep,” Logan stated. “I
could watch both.”
“This was one of the reasons that I didn’t mind being picked up by
Lavendale.”
“What was the other reason?”
“You.”
“Good answer,” Logan hummed sinking further into him, her legs not
needing to do any work while in his arms. She was spoiled, in a good way
and she would never turn back to life without this – life without him.
He turned her around making her legs come off of their break. Khamari
peered down at her longingly for moments, setting every inch of her body
on fire. A power only he possessed.
“This is my subtle reminder that life keeps going. It doesn’t stop. And if
we stop we waste time. We can’t get it back, can’t erase it. But we can
recover.” Khamari boxed her in with long tattooed arms she loved. “I can’t
take back the years we lived without this love, but I can secure the future. I
was always told you’ll know when you find your wife, it won’t be a
question about it. I found my forever in the Scarlet Room, masked up,
staring at me. Then she was talkin’ shit at PRIME, and then at this party, she
put her hand in mine and there was no turning back.” Khamari dug in his
pocket and pulled out the ring box and lowered himself to one knee like his
father taught him. “I want forever. Forever is you and everything we’ll
build. What do you say, Logan Taylor. Will you do me the honor and be my
wife?”
Logan clutched the diamonds around her neck, then covered her mouth
because, things like this for girls like her, only happened in her dreams. But
the sound of the rushing water, nature singing and Khamari Coleman on
bended knee was a very real thing. “Are you serious?”
“With everything in me. What you say?”
“Yes! I say yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!”
Adorning her finger with a pear shaped diamond ring, set on an infinity
band. He kissed her hand, stood and showered her face and lips with kisses.
“This is how you turn my life around. Fairytales just might be real,”
Logan tearfully gushed.
“Nah, we just made our own and didn’t give a fuck what anyone had to
say about it.”
“Ohhh, I love you.”

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thirty-three
F
amily day was here, and the complex was packed from wall to wall
with families. Logan and Jacari stood in a free corner watching their
men run around with a group of kids.
“Jay looks like he has a thing for kids,” Logan stated feeling a flutter in
her stomach she’d been keeping to herself. She chalked it up as nerves and
wasn’t going to say a word until she knew. All the stress she’d been under
for all the passing years maybe her body was just waking up.
“He really does. And I really hope so,” Jacari muttered making Logan
snap her head to her.
 “Are you…”
“Well you know how we always get our period around the same time.
Well the time came, and my period didn’t.”
Logan chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Mine didn’t either.”
“Bitch are you pregnant?” Jacari gasped loudly making Logan cover her
mouth.
“Will you shush?” Logan whispered harshly. “I don’t know, and I might
just have sympathy symptoms from you. Did you take a test?”
“I don’t have the nerve,” Jacari whined. “Do it with me?”
“Right now?” Logan asked frowning her face. “Here?”
“I brought two. Everyone is busy we can go now,” Jacari stated pulling
Logan out of the corner and to a private bathroom. “You pee first.”
“No this is your stupid idea, you pee first,” Logan replied pushing Jacari
to the toilet.
Jacari huffed. “Fine. At least Khamari is expecting you to be pregnant,
you got that big ass ring on your finger. Jay and I aren’t even anything
official worthy.”
Jacari took her test, flushed and washed her hands. Logan hadn’t uttered
a word until Jacari nudged her. “It’s your turn. You don’t get to flake out on
me.”
Logan huffed. “I’ll take this test but I’m telling you I am not pregnant.”
Taking the test, flushing and washing her hands, Logan waited with
baited breath next to her best friend. As the timers rang so did alerts.
Jacari checked the alerts while Logan checked the test both letting out a
tandem, “bittccchhh.”
“We’re pregnant.”
“Woman names Lanez, Khamari, Jaymerius and a slew of athletes in
sexual assault case. Says ballers drugged and raped her and carried her out
of the room in a duffle bag during All-Star weekend,” Jacari read. “What
the fuck? I know this is a damn lie.”
Logan shoved the test in her bag and rush back to where she left
Khamari who was checking his phone. Along with everyone else who’d
gotten the alert. He quickened to her, his phone pressed to his ear. “I didn’t
do this.”
“I know. I know you didn’t. Let’s go home and figure this out,” Logan
spoke while the rest of the husbands named in the article attempted to quiet
their wandering wives. Logan’s feet moved double time to stay in stride
with Khamari. In the car his phone connected.
“Logan I’m on my way to the house. We’re going to get ahead of it.”
“It wasn’t him. I know that to be a fact.”
“I do too but the court of public opinion is the only thing that seems to
matter these days.”
“I have brand deals on the table, Tati. We got a wedding to plan. I got
shit to fucking do. This is Gizelle. I swear it is! Lanez can’t keep his dick to
himself so all of us have to pay? Hell nah. Get my name out of this shit!"
Khamari sped out of the parking lot every passing moment he became
increasingly more angry.
“Baby, please calm down.” The excitement was too much for Logan at
once. “We’re going to be okay.”
“How do you know that?” Khamari semi-snapped. “Huh?”
He looked at her with wild eyes Logan clamped her mouth shut
understanding that right now wasn’t the time to go back and forth with him.
For the remainder of the ride she was silent.
Khamari cursed and smacked the steering wheel. “Motherfuckin’
Lanez!”
The news Logan was carrying and the horror she was faced with coaxed
the roaring flames of anxiety raise higher and higher. Khamari swerved in
and out of the lanes until he reached their home. Patience and Khai already
in the driveway.
Logan hopped out without Khamari opening the door for her. The best
thing for her at this moment was to put space between them. Khamari was
on edge and Logan’s feelings were raw.
Cari: Jaymerius is pissed!

Lo: Khamari snapped on me, I’m staying away

Cari: This is some crazy shit

Lo: Whoever the bitch is, is a liar

Patience’s hollering distracted Logan from texting Jacari back.

“Khamari what the fuck is this!”
“Patience,” Khai called. “Stop it give him a minute to get his head
together.”
 Logan stood in the living room as Khamari paced the floor.
“I wasn’t even there!” he roared. “How is my name in this?”
Tatianna whisked through the door. “Khamari calm down.”
The swipe of trinkets smashing to the floor in his rage caused Logan to
jump out of her skin. All of this was too much.
“Hey! That’s enough!” she heard the voice, that was too small before,
roar making the room stop. She wasn’t the scared little girl holding her
sister in the closet while her parents fought. Images of shattered dishes,
holes in the walls, torn shirts and bruised faces placed her back in a place
she never wanted to relive. “Khamari calm the fuck down! I know you
weren’t there you know you weren’t there. You’re not going to lose who
you are over a lie.”
Khamari heaved in and out and looked at his fiancé who was across the
room, strong and mighty but her eyes held the horror of the things she’d
seen.
Patience took a seat as if she were the one being scolded. Khai
followed.
“You’re not going to tear up my house because of some bullshit. I’m not
having it. Y’all figure it out calmly. All this screaming and mayhem I
cannot and will not deal with.”
With that Logan stepped outside on the patio that over looked the lake.
Full steady breaths, grounding and centering all these techniques she had to
teach herself over the years. It seemed like hours went by before, Khamari
stepped out remorse covering his being.
Finding himself in front of her, he kneeled and placed his head in her
lap. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. Or scare you. I just keep seeing
everything I worked my ass off being snatched away.”
Logan wasn’t reluctant to place her hand atop his head and softly stroke
the top of his ear. “Why don’t you have faith that you’re protected. That
you’ve given enough good that you’re covered?”
“Because sometimes it doesn’t feel like I deserve it.”
“You do deserve this. Everything you have, you’ve worked for. You be
who you are. The man I love. The man the world loves. No, I’m not saying
not to be angry or not feel it, but don’t lose your head. “She lifted his head
and peered into his amber orbs. “And don’t you ever yell at me again or
break something. If you feel like you need to, go outside and touch some
grass.”
 Khamari took her hands and kissed them. “I’m so sorry. So sorry.”
“Just have some faith that this is going to work itself out.”
“Why do you have so much?” he questioned. He’d had all the answers
but now he was looking to her for it.
Logan sucked in a deep breath and fluttered her eyelids. “Because God
gave me what I needed, right on time. I thought all those prayers in the dark
fell on deaf ears. But He was always listening.”
“What’s that?”
“Us. Or family,” Logan softly spoke placing her hand on her
midsection. “I’m pregnant, Mari.”
“What?” Khamari and Tatianna asked in tandem.
Tatianna stepped out on the patio moments before the couple was
alerted that she was there. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be in your business.”
Logan smiled through the tears that were finally safe to release. “It’s
okay. I’m pregnant. I don’t know how far but I know my body.”
Khamari pushed himself up slightly and kissed her lips. “I love you, I
love you, I love you. How do you make a shitty moment so fuckin’ good?”
“Trust me, Mari. It’s going to be okay. All of us are going to be fine. We
create our own fairytales, and we boss up every time.”
“You right.” He sighed composing himself fully. “Tati, I really need you
to work your magic.”
Tatianna nodded wiping her face of the few tears, elated to see her
brother get what he’d been longing for. “I will, Mari. I promise.
Congratulations guys.”

Tune in to the next episode of WAGS…

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 about the author

About the Author

Hailing from the illustrious South Carolina State
University, Aubreé Pynn is a self-proclaimed “lover of
love!” With multiple titles published under her pen,
she has no plans of slowing down. Her mission:
cultivating enticing tales centering Black love. Her
hope: you’ll buckle up and enjoy the ride.
Aubree Pynn also writes contemporary and small-
town love romances under Cassandra B.

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also by aubree pynn
In order of release

Dope Boys: The Collection

Everything is Love
Her Goon, His Eden
Run From Me
My Love For You: The Collection
Love 101
Color Me, You
Because Love Said So
Sweet Valentine
Get Me Back
Impulsive Emotion
The Last Christmas
Concourse D With Love
Edible Arrangements
Summer Love
Wants and Needs
Santa, Baby
Gemini: A Soul Unloved
When It All Falls
When The Clock Strikes
Remember the Time
New Year, New Us

Ganton Hills Series

Olive and Oak
Red
Gangsta Lovin’
Purple
Green
Come to The Ghetto
 Gas Station Drug Money
Pressure
Keeper of My Soul
Yellow
Orange
Leather and Wood
The Trenches: Loyalty Over Everything
A Christmas Creed

Ganton Hills Adjacent

After-Tines
Pretty Little Lies
Holiday SZN

Homecoming Series
Homecoming SZN
Homecoming SZN II

Beatsville
Make Me Feel It

Ganton Hills Romance Standalone Series

The Remnants Love Left Behind
Because of You
A Lonely Christmas
Holiday in the Hills
Spinning’ the Block
Give Good Love

Lavendale
Savage
Gunner
Judah
Menace

LeFleur Mafia
A Date For The Mayor
A Wife For Sale
Come Thru
 The Way You Lie
The Way you Lie: The Aftershock

All to Myself 1
All to Myself 2

Love the Series

Love Over All
The Game of Love
Love Knockout
Fight for Love

Indigo Haze: The Collection

Indigo Haze 1
Indigo Haze 2
Indigo Haze 3
Indigo Haze 4

Forbidden Lust Series

As We Lay
As We Lust
As We Lie
As We Wade

Poetry Collections
COLDEST SUMMER EVER
SUMWHEREOVARAINBOWS
QUEENDOM
THE ESSENCE OF YOU
STRANGER THINGS

Honorable Mentions
Five Whole Summers
One Final Shot
Impermissible Love
Incensed Love
Inconvenient Love

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