“T his boy is growing by the damn second. You know his young ass is going to be taller than you, right?” Tranquil , my teammate, said once practice was over and we walked over to the bleachers, where my son had stood up.

No matter how old my son was, I would forever look at him and be amazed that something so fuckin’ handsome came out of me. Serenity carried his ass, but he was just a younger version of myself. His young ass came to my practice dressed like it was going to be some girls there. I mean, he was decked out in an orange Balenciaga shirt with a pair of denim jeans that he had sagging off his ass. If his mama was there, she would have snapped on him for having his pants sagging so low. A nice ass pair of crème colored Balenciaga sneakers were on his feet, and the VVSs on the custom chain with his name on it had the diamonds on that thing dancing like crazy. He had the bracelet on to match the necklace, and his long hair was in two French braids. God really did his big one by giving this handsome boy to me.

“I already know. He can eat down the entire house, too. Siri always complaining about how much money she spends on groceries because he’s always in the kitchen, eating everything up,” I told Tranquil , who laughed.

We’d just gotten out of practice, and since I didn’t have a game tonight and no other business to handle, I was going to just kick it with my son. His young ass already told me he wanted to hit up the mall and do some shopping. Crazy how he was on suspension from school, but he was out in Cali with me, about to have a damn ball. I don’t want to sound like no soft ass parent, but I knew my son, and I knew he’d learned his lesson, so I didn’t have to worry about him fuckin’ up again in school.

For one, I felt like I scared his ass straight by telling him that if he kept on with that quick ass temper, he would limit his chances of getting into the NBA . Not only that, but just the disappointment he knew he had caused his mother and me was enough for him to get his ass back in order.

“Your Pops told me your ass got in trouble for fuckin’ up in school. Ima tell you like I tell Tank and Tory . Niggas are going to fuck with you, just off the strength of who your pops is. Them niggas probably don’t be having any kind of real beef with you, but they just be looking to pick a fight, and when you decide to fight with them niggas, you giving them exactly what they’re looking for. I know you got hands, and I know you can defend yourself, but peep the way that nigga was quick to pull out his gun and shoot at you.

“Anybody with a pair of eyes can see your talent. They know your future has greatness in it, and a hating ass nigga don’t want to see that, so they’ll try to demolish it in any way they can. Back when I was in school, when I would fight with niggas, the first thing they used to try to go for was my legs. Niggas was dead ass trying to break my legs, knowing I needed that shit to play ball. Think about the shit a nigga is trying to take from you the next time you find yourself wanting to get in a fight,” Tranquil stated, giving my son an earful.

I was happy he spoke on that shit because sometimes it just ain’t enough to hear that shit from his mama and me. My pops and Serenity’s pops got on his ass too, but to hear it from another man he looked up to, I knew he would get the damn picture this time.

“I hear you. Thank you, man,” Kari said and shook it up with Tranquil .

Kari then went around the court, speaking to the rest of the players, and had a long talk with the coaches before he came back over to me.

My gym bag was over my shoulder as I headed to the locker room to shower. Once I was done, I threw some clothes on and met my son out front.

“Let me drive the car,” he stated and put his hands out, really thinking I would hand him over the keys to my m8 when his young ass didn’t even have his restricts. On top of that, his ass didn’t even know how to drive.

“Hell nah. What you smoking? You talked to your mama?” I asked.

“Yeah . I Facetimed her while you were in practice. I put the camera on you, and she said you need to be quicker on your feet,” he shot, causing me to laugh.

“Ay , that’s one shit talking ass woman right there. I’m the quickest nigga on my feet that she ever met,” I let him know.

He laughed as we made it to my car.

I popped the trunk and placed my bag inside, then the two of us got in together, and I peeled out of the lot, headed to a nice little brunch spot where we liked to eat. Once we finished up there, we headed to the mall since Kari had just told his mama and me about his eighth grade dance that he had coming up in a couple of weeks.

“Why you waited until the last minute to say something about the dance?” I questioned him, and he laughed.

“At first, I didn’t want to go. None of my homeboys were going, so I didn’t want to pull up by myself,” he stated, and I shook my head.

“That’s y’all niggas’ problem now. It’s a whole dance. Why you worried about if yo’ homeboys going to pull up? You supposed to be worried about the girls that are going to be there,” I let him know, and he laughed.

“To be honest, I didn’t think the principal was going to let me go since I got suspended for fighting, but he called Ma yesterday just to check in on me, and she gave me the phone. I asked him if I could go to the dance, and he said I could. Pops , I gotta be fresh. I want red bottom shoes like the ones you put on when you trying to impress my mama,” this lil nigga said, already trying to be funny. That was a good one, so I ended up laughing.

“Ay , son, if only you knew that if I wanted to impress your mama, all I gotta do is get a fresh haircut, get my beard nice and trimmed up, and she going to be all on me,” I boasted, and he waved me off like I was talking a bunch of shit.

“How you knew you loved Ma when y’all got together? Some of my homeboys be having girlfriends, and they be telling me how they love their girls. Pops , you know I be talking to a lot of girls, but I never looked at one of them and felt like I loved them. That makes me a bad person? Ma be getting on me when I start telling her about all the girls I be talking to,” he stated.

I laughed while shaking my head and turned the radio down a bit because I could see that I was about to have a deep, one-on-one conversation with my son about love. No conversation was off-limits between us. His young ass was only thirteen, and he knew a lot because I never hid shit from him. I would rather he learn that shit from me than go out and try to learn about something from his dumb ass friends. It was the same way with his mama. Serenity will have deep conversations with Dakari too. As a kid, you appreciate that shit. Growing up, my parents were the same way with me. There wasn’t a topic that was ever off-limits for us to have.

“It doesn’t make you a bad person, son. Your ass is just too young to know what love is, and that’s fine. When I was your age, I didn’t love no females either. I didn’t know what love was until I met your mama, and I was eighteen years old. To me, love is when you need somebody, you know? I had become so accustomed to having your mama in my corner that when she wasn’t there, I would crave to have her in my space. One of the things that I used to tell your mama back in college was that I was drowning without her if she wasn’t near me. She probably thought I was just saying that shit, trying to kick game at her, but that was truly how I felt. At thirteen, I don’t expect you to know what that kind of love is. You don’t need to, either. Focus on school and ball,” I stated.

“You told Ma you was drowning without her? Yeah , you was definitely trying to hit,” he responded.

“I had hit already, playa. Multiple times before I started telling her that,” I informed him as I got off at the exit to the mall.

“Aight , nah, chill out. That’s still my mama at the end of the day.” His young ass got defensive.

I cracked up laughing and turned up the music a little more, dropping the conversation. Both of us just bobbed our heads to the music, and eventually, we pulled up to the mall.

I handed my car over to the valet, who slapped it up with me. This was a mall that I often frequented, so I was cool with all the valet drivers, and they wouldn’t even ask me for autographs anymore. I knew the chance I was taking by coming to the mall with just my son and no security. People were going to be steadily walking up to me, either asking for an autograph or wanting me to take a picture with them, but I took that chance anyway.

We could have been inside the mall damn near five minutes ago, but the second we got to the front, I was stopped and asked to take a few pictures with fans. Once we were able to walk in, I was stopped again before we eventually made it into the Christian Louboutin store. Two of the sales agents damn near broke their necks trying to get to me because they knew I was going to come in there and spend a bag. I always did. Christian Louboutins were my favorite dress shoes to throw on whenever I stepped out somewhere nice.

“Good afternoon, Mr . Reed . My name is Christina . Are you looking for anything particular today?” the black sales agent who made it to me first asked.

I laughed, looking at her co-worker, who was standing nearby with a pissed-off look on her face. Shit , her ass should have walked a little faster.

“My baby boy needs some shoes for his eighth-grade dance. Get him right for me, please,” I stated, shooting her my signature smile that was known for getting a woman to drop her panties for me.

She blushed, tucked her hair behind her ear, and took my son with her to the men’s section to help him pick out a shoe.

Going in the opposite direction, I went to the women’s shoe section to pick something out for my mama. I made sure to keep her closet nice and full of red bottoms too, and she be shutting shit down in church, walking in with her Christian Louboutins , having all the other women hating and shit. On top of that, my mama’s sixtieth birthday was coming up in a few weeks, so this could very well be one of the many gifts to her from me.

As I took the shoes off the shelf and put them on the table behind me, saving them so the sales rep could check for my mom’s size, I came across a nice pink heel that had shiny stones on them. The heel was high as fuck, which was right up Serenity’s alley. I took that one off the rack along with the hot pink purse that would look good as fuck with the heels. Sometimes , I didn’t seem to have any knowledge of the fact that Serenity and I were no longer together. When I went shopping for myself and my son, I always found a way to slip something in there for Serenity too. It was something that I’d grown accustomed to since I had done it for so many years when the two of us were together.

“You like these, Dad ?” my son asked, walking over in a pair of black velvet Christian Louboutin dress shoes with black stones near the toe. The shoe was nice as fuck.

“Hell yeah. I’m fuckin’ with them,” I responded.

The sales rep looked over and smiled. I showed her all the heels that I had lined up for my mama, along with the one pair that I’d picked up for Serenity , letting her know the sizes along with a request for her to get a new purse from the back for Serenity to match the shoes. After that, I just sat down and waited for her to bring everything out. Once she did, and I checked everything, we went to the front, where I quickly spent ten bands just on shoes.

Once we left the Louboutin store, my son wanted to go into Nordstrom next. I’m not even going to lie; I wanted to come up with a million and one excuses for why we couldn’t go into that store, only because I knew that was where Lia worked, and I didn’t feel like running into her, especially while I was out with Dakari . We weren’t on fucked up terms or anything, but I just didn’t want to run into her ass. She had been hitting me pretty hard lately, and I had been busy, so I hadn’t spoken to her since the last time we fucked. If her ass was working, she would bring up all of that.

We made it inside Nordstrom after I took pictures with fans and shit again. Once we were inside, Dakari found the section he wanted to go into, and I found a nice little sitting area and placed the bags by my feet as I pulled my phone out to entertain myself. My son had his own style and was going to pick out his own shit without needing my input, so I let him be.

“You like this?” he asked, coming over and showing me an Armani dress shirt with a pair of slacks.

“Yeah . You gon’ cut your hair for homecoming?” I asked.

He looked at me like I was crazy. My son’s hair was down his back, and sometimes I would say little shit like what I’d just said to him in hopes of him cutting it, but as you can see, he didn’t have any plans to ever cut it.

“Nope . The hair is what gets the girls. Let me try this on, and then we can dip. All these people walking up on you is making a nigga feel nervous,” he stated.

I laughed at him, and then he walked over to the fitting room that wasn’t too far from me. I swear, not even two minutes later, I heard heels clicking. It wasn’t long before those same heels made their way over to me, and the figure was standing right in front of me. Without even looking up, I already knew it was Lia . The Dior scent was one of her favorite fragrances, so that’s one of the many reasons I knew it was her.

“I put this pussy on you, and you start dodging me?” she asked, looking down at me.

I dropped the phone in my lap, so I could look up at her. She was in a tight ass black dress that stopped at her knees, showing off every curve on her body. Her name tag was on the dress, and she wore black heels that had her standing up taller than she really was. She had a long ass wig on that went down to her ass with the nice baby hairs that I loved to see on women. There was makeup on her face, but it wasn’t anything too heavy. I was actually one of the few men who didn’t give a fuck about a woman wearing a bunch of makeup. I loved a natural beauty, but because I stayed my ass out of women’s business, if a woman I was dealing with wore makeup, I wouldn’t speak on it because women were allowed to do whatever the fuck they wanted if they felt like it enhanced their beauty.

“Nah , I been busy. What’s good with you?” I asked.

“You’re always busy when it comes to me. Come to my department. Spend some money with me,” she invited.

“I got my son with me. He shopping for his eighth-grade dance. That’s all we really came in here for,” I let her know.

Her eyes drifted down to all the Christian Louboutin bags that I had on the floor, and then she looked back at me.

“Damn , I see you cut a check in there. You got me something?” she asked, and I laughed.

“Man , gone on. I got some shit for my mama,” I responded, not bringing up shit about Serenity because her ass acted so insecure when it came to my ex-wife.

“That’s it?” she wanted to know.

“Damn , bruh. This a fuckin’ interrogation?” I asked, putting my hand on her hip and moving her out of the way.

Dakari was coming out of the fitting room, dressed in his outfit, and I wanted to see him in it, so I stood up. He came over with a smirk on his face once he saw me standing next to Lia .

“He’s so handsome. Hi , Dakori ,” her dumb ass said, making me shake my head.

“That’s the most special thing I got, and you can’t even get his name right. That’s why I fuck and dip,” I mumbled to her before making my way over to my son.

“Dakari , bruh,” he corrected her and shook his head as well.

“Yeah , Dakari . My bad. I heard you have an eighth-grade dance coming up. Look at you, looking all handsome. You know what would look perfect with those pants? A Gucci belt,” she bribed, trying to sell that shit to us, but my son had plenty. His ass had been rocking Gucci belts since he was a youngin’.

“I got a bunch already,” he stated, keeping shit short with her.

I turned behind me to look at Lia , and she just nodded. I adjusted the shirt a little that my son had on, unbuckling the first couple of buttons so his chest could stand out a bit. Then I fixed his pants, just really pulling them up a little more at the waist. Once I did that, I stood back, admiring how handsome he looked. After he got him a nice lineup, some fresh braids, and wore some silver jewelry, my son would be the flyest one at the dance.

By that time, Lia seemed to have gotten the hint that I ain’t really feel like talking to her, so she walked off, and then Dakari went to the fitting room to change back into his clothes. Once he came back, we went to the counter to pay for everything, and then we were done shopping.

“Mama be talking so much trash about her. She always talking about her BBL going wrong,” he cracked once we made it out of Nordstrom .

“Your mama is going to talk about every woman I deal with. She knows they ain’t her,” I responded, and then we made it out the double doors of the mall.

As we walked out, about three niggas were walking in. All three niggas had on wife beaters and jeans that were so low that it exposed their whole fuckin’ ass. Look , even as a forty-year-old man, I sometimes had my jeans hanging off my waist a bit, but I never went as far as having my shit hang that damn low, even when I was a teenager. Niggas were talking all fuckin’ loud, but the second they saw me, all of them started pointing.

“Yooooo . Look at this nigga. I put a lot of my money on you, Mr . Man , and you never let a nigga down. It’s good seeing you and all, but where Siri at? That’s the one I want,” the nigga in the front asked, which caused his two homies in the back to laugh.

I’d just given my son a whole sermon a week ago on picking his battles, learning when to walk away, and controlling his temper. It was as if God Himself was testing me right in front of Dakari , putting me in a situation to see how I handled it.

“She somewhere laid up, living where your mind can’t even afford to dream about,” I stated and tapped my son on his arm, telling him to walk and lead the way. He started walking, and the niggas started laughing at what I’d said.

“Oh , so I just gotta have a couple of dollars, and then I can get her? Say less, nigga, because if it’s a question about money, then I got it,” he came back.

“Yeah , but not enough, nigga,” I challenged.

“You must still be getting the pussy—”

“Ay , watch your mouth, motha fucka! You got my son standing right here, and you ain’t about to stand your goofy ass there and disrespect his mama. I let the first couple of comments slide, but you keep on going, and this size fourteen is going to be on your fuckin’ chest. The same nigga that you bet your money on will be the nigga to stretch you out on this pavement. Watch your fuckin’ mouth, my guy, because if I have to lay hands on you, I got enough money to bail out today. I don’t know if I can say the same about you, with that dingy ass wife beater on. Fuck outta here with that shit, yo,” I snapped.

One of the homeboys who hadn’t said shit tapped his shit talking ass friend on his shoulder, telling him to chill out and just drop the shit. That was exactly what he did, too, and walked his ass in that mall, which is what he should have done from the get-go.

Although I was a ball player, and motha fuckas were used to the professional image I projected, don’t get it twisted because shit could go left real quick. Niggas seemed to have a hard time understanding that part, though.