I enjoyed the quietness of my home. It was the space that I most cherished. There was no music, no TV, no one asking me for anything, no nothing. Just quiet, the way I liked it. I worked best when I was free of distraction and in my own element. My mind had a funny way of working. At 3:00 in the morning, while the rest of the world was sleeping, my wheels would burn my brain forcing me to wake up. That was usually when I got the most work done.

It was now 8 am and I was sitting in the same spot that I had been in for the last four hours. I had been spending my days and nights working on creating a new game that recognized autism awareness. Yes, I had turned my love for gaming into a career and I wanted to do something different, so here I was. I closed my MacBook Air and decided that was enough for now. I didn’t want to end up getting burnt out and not being able to finish the project, or Microsoft would kick my ass.

I stepped into the scalding hot shower as the jets rained down on me. The water soothed me and the sound of it crashing down took me to another place. A place where all my past sins were washed away and I was given ultimate forgiveness for anyone that I had ever hurt. I handled my business for another fifteen minutes before getting out and preparing for the day. I worked from home mostly; however, I checked in to the office on a weekly basis for staff and interest meetings. But for the most part, I was my own boss. Today I was going to meet my boy to shoot some hoops and check on my mom and sister.

I slipped on some balling shorts, a t-shirt, and sneakers and got ready to meet up with my shit-talking homeboy. He loved coming with all that rah shit and then ended up getting his ass smoked on the court. I put some baby spinach, banana, almond milk, yogurt and bee pollen into the blender so that I could have my daily breakfast. To practice discipline and growth, I was doing a fast where I didn’t eat until sunset, so this smoothie would hold me over until then.

I heard the sound of my door opening, so I knew it must’ve been someone who had a key, which was only a handful of people. I didn’t even bother checking because I heard the person before they even got to me.

“BROTHHHHERRRR, where you at?” I heard my older sister, Danni, yell. She was always coming to my house without an invitation being ratchet and shit. She literally yelled until she finally heard the blender going in the kitchen. I just looked at her.

“What did I tell you about that? Don’t come into my house causing all of that discord, yelling and shit,” I said calmly while looking at her like she was simple.

“Whatever Jahfar! I was just in the neighborhood and decided to stop by,” she said, going into my fridge.

“You’re always in the area I see. Tell me this, you live thirty minutes away from me, so how is it that you are always in the area?” I said, more like a statement than an actual question, but she only ignored me.

“You need to go shopping. You don’t have anything in this fridge boy!”

“I’m fasting. And when I’m not, I’m not filling my body with all that swine that you like. You’re looking a little unhealthy anyway, so you might want to get it together,” I joked.

“Boy, you want to be a white person so bad, don’t you?” she joked.

“Gone head with all of that mess. I’m a black man with two black daughters. Why would I want to be anything other than what I’m destined to be? Watch your mouth,” I said seriously.

“Okay, lil’ dirty. I didn’t mean to get you upset. I know you’re all about protecting your energy, so my bad.”

“Yeah, respect my energy too. What’s Mama been doing? You still staying there, right?” I joked.

“Man, hell yeah, and she’s been churching me to death. She and her husband. I got to find me another place ASA,P or I’m just going to go back home to Mario.”

“Well you know I’m here if you need help with anything. If I got it, you got it.”

Even though Danni was my big sister, I tended to act the oldest, getting her out of shit and helping her out when I could.

“I know bruh, but you have helped enough. I got to do something on my own, but thank you.”

That was just like Danni and me. We were arguing one minute and loving on each other the next. My mom had raised us to be close, so we lived by the principle that family came first.

“Well, I’m about to get out of here. Lock up when you leave and don’t fuck up my shit,” I teased her but was serious as hell. On the way out, I noticed that my picture of Nipsey Hussle was a little crooked, so I fixed it. I would call myself obsessive compulsive, but I liked shit how I liked it. I grabbed my gym bag and made my way outside. I was a damn fool to had come out with some damn shorts on, but I would definitely warm up when I got to my location. I was bobbing my head to Nipsey’s Victory Lap album as it blared through my speakers when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

“Hello,” I answered.

“Ohhh, so I see that I have to call you from a different number so you can answer, Game. That’s messed up.”

“What’s up Ko? You called me to complain? Or do you have some real shit to say?”

“Yesses, I miss you daddy,” she whined into the phone. That was my biggest turn off with some females. And Ko needed to grow the fuck up and realize that her being fine as wine with a nice ass didn’t move me when her head was empty.

“Yo, don’t call me Daddy. I’m not that nigga that fucked you up in the head, and you’re not my kid.”

“Well damn. I guess we just gon’ say fuck all the pleasantries, so why don’t you come through.”

I shook my head at Ko’s frankness, but it wasn’t unexpected. This had been her attitude since I rescued her off the streets two years ago, and it was also her biggest downfall. She didn’t give a fuck about anything, and that shit was unattractive to say the least. But that didn’t mean that I wasn’t a man with needs.

“I will see you tonight Ko, and don’t keep me waiting. If you’re not home, I’m leaving.”

“Okay. I will see you later,” she said seductively, and I could’ve sworn my dick jumped.

I hadn’t been in a relationship for two years, and honestly didn’t want to. Over time, a few women had occupied my time, but KoKo was the one that I just couldn’t seem to stay away from. I didn’t know if it was her head that she blessed me with daily, or if it was the need for me to fix broken people. It seemed like those were the women that I was most attracted to. I called them fixer uppers; even my kids’ mom. When I first met her as a teen, she’d come from a broken home where her dad was an alcoholic and used to beat the shit out of her and her mom. I headed to the indoor court making a mental note to add Ko to my to-do list, literally.