Jackie D. - Life After A Balla

“So, I guess the money I’ve been giving your ass isn’t good enough, huh?” It was clear from his facial expression that he was pissed.

Skye gave him another evil look. “I guess not,” she said before turning around to go back inside.

Le Le pulled up at Kareem’s apartment after receiving a call from him telling her his mother and sister had been in a car accident. After hearing how upset he was, she told him she would be right over. Grabbing her charcoal grey Birkin bag, she got out of the car, and walked towards the building hoping Payton was okay. She could care less about Skye. Even though they’d only met once, it only took a few seconds to get on her bad side and Skye was at the top of the shit list. Approaching the door, she knocked twice before Kareem yelled for her to come inside. As soon as she turned the tarnished brass knob and walked in, Kareem quickly came over and planted a big kiss on her lips.

“Hey baby, damn I’ve missed you,” he said with a smile.

Le Le stood looking at Kareem’s bare chest. His 6’2 muscular frame that exposed the recent Enzo abstract tattoo she paid for covered his entire arm. To be as young as he was, he definitely had the body of a full grown man.

“I’ve missed you too my young stallion. Is your sister okay?” she asked, rubbing her hands through his curly hair.

“Damn, did you forget about my mother?”

“Oh…yeah. I’m sorry. How’s she’s doing?” she asked with an unenthused appearance.

“Both of them are fine. My sister is out of surgery and everything went well, but she still has to stay for a day or two.”

“Aww. Poor thing,” Le Le responded. “Where’s your brother and that guy Cruze?”

“My brother is over at a teammate’s house and I don’t know where the hell Cruze is and don’t give a shit. In fact he’s the damn reason my mother was in the fucking accident in the first place. She was out looking for his ass,” Kareem said slightly pissed off.

“Well, go shower and get dressed. I want to take you out to eat to cheer you up,” Le Le told him.

“Sounds good, I’m starving,” Kareem said, jetting in the bathroom and closing the door.

At that moment Le Le immediately started snooping around the apartment. Known to be nosey, she was curious to find out anything she could about Sandino Washington’s family. Le Le couldn’t help but wonder why Skye lived in such an average apartment complex since they were an ex NFL family. She also wondered why Skye wasn’t smart enough to stack some cash away for a rainy day. After fumbling through a stack of mail on the table, Le Le opened the coat closet in the foyer and jumped back when a bunch of football equipment fell out.

“Oh shit,” she said, quickly picking up the smelly grass stained shoulder pads, cleats and a helmet. Not finding anything interesting, Le Le decided to go into Skye’s room next.

“I know it’s gotta be something in here worthwhile, I can feel it,” Le Le said, looking under the mattress. When nothing came up, she looked on Skye’s dresser and frowned at the bottle of Brittney Spears perfume.

“Cheap bitch,” she said, opening her small jewelry box on top of the dresser.

Le Le turned her nose up at all the cheap looking costume jewelry until she came across a diamond heart pendant necklace. It was the only thing she admired since Le Le herself had owned a necklace just like it at one time. She’d misplaced the beautiful piece of jewelry about a year ago.

“I should take it since she talked so much shit the other day,” Le Le said until a picture of Skye and a man suddenly grabbed her attention. She picked up the crystal glass frame off of the dresser. “This must be Mr. Cruze.”

Le Le studied him long and hard before noticing the Tom Ford blazer he had on. “I have to give it to that bitch…she does have good taste in men.”

Le Le sat the picture back down and opened one of the drawers. While tossing several socks and t-shirts to the side, it wasn’t long before she suddenly came across a journal. She stared at it for a few seconds before opening it and reading the first page. Within seconds she slammed the book closed and began to rock from side to side. She then grabbed the bottle of perfume and threw it across the room like a professional baseball pitcher. The strong stench of the perfume immediately entered her nostrils.

Le Le was just about to throw something else when she heard the shower water shut off. Thinking that Kareem must’ve heard the bottle crash up against the wall, she quickly stuffed the journal in her bag and headed toward the door. As soon as she walked out of Skye’s room, Le Le bumped into Jordan who had just come into the house.

“What were you doing in my mother’s room?” he asked.

Thinking fast, Le Le looked at Jordan with a straight face. “I was looking for another bathroom.”

Jordan studied her body language as he turned around to go into the kitchen. She watched him as well from the living room that overlooked the small kitchen as Jordan grabbed a bag of chips and an orange Gatorade out of the refrigerator. He then placed the items under his arm and walked toward Skye’s room still eyeballing Le Le. He knew something wasn’t right by the way she acted.

“Stay out of my mother’s room. She doesn’t like strange people in there.” He made his way toward Skye’s bedroom and closed the door before making his way back into the living room. He stood close to Le Le and stared. “I’m watching you. My mother said it’s something about you that she doesn’t like and she’s right,” Jordan continued.

“Look, I told you I was looking for the bathroom now get the fuck out my face,” Le Le said, clenching her purse tight and walking out of the door. “Tell Kareem I’ll be in the car.

Two hours later Skye sat slouched down in a chair inside Payton’s hospital room with bloodshot eyes from all the crying she’d done. She stared, unamused at the old, corny episode of Raymond playing on the T.V. As tired as Skye was, she couldn’t sleep or eat.

Getting restless, she got up and stared out of the hospital window in a zombie-like state. She thought about a hundred things at once, not knowing what she would’ve done if she’d lost Payton in the accident. The thought made a single tear race down her face. Skye wiped it away thinking about how much she loved her kids, and would do anything to protect them.

The craziest thing is, I left Sandino to make sure my kids had a better life. But now I’m going back for the same reasons , she thought.

She then drifted to Asia’s scandalous ass. Just the mention of her name irritated Skye. She knew Asia didn’t like kids and the fact that she went through an entire pregnancy and gave birth was strictly to get Sandino’s money. That poor little boy doesn’t stand a chance with that bitch as his mother.

Her chain of thought was suddenly distracted when Cruze walked into the room. His clothes were all wrinkled and it looked like he’d been drinking.

“What the hell are you doing here?” she questioned with a disgusted look.

“Skye, I don’t want you to go back. I know I’ve done some things to make you upset, and I apologize for that,” he mentioned. “I’m also sorry that I betrayed your trust,” he said getting louder.

“Sssh. Lower your voice before you wake up Payton. I told you it’s nothing else to talk about. You need to leave.”

“No, not until you hear me out,” Cruze responded. “I want you to be with me. It’s crazy how you’re considering going back to Sandino.”

“And it’s crazy how you didn’t come home last night. It’s crazy how I trusted you and you’re turning out to be a liar just like Sandino.”