Page 124

She scoffed. “You better, because we both know she don’t want these problems with me.”

And with that, she snatched her phone back and walked out, slamming the door behind her.

Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting on my bed, my head in my hands, phone on speaker. Jailah answered on the third ring, her tone way too casual. “Hey, baby.”

I closed my eyes, trying to keep my cool. “Jai, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

She acted innocent as hell. “What are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” I snapped. “Those posts. Why the fuck are you doing that shit?”

She sighed dramatically. “Oh, so now I can’t tweet my thoughts?”

“When your ‘thoughts’ are attacking the mother of my child? No, you can’t.”

Jailah was quiet for a moment, then let out a bitter laugh. “So, you’re really defending her?”

I clenched my jaw. “I’m telling you to stop being insecure.”

“Insecure?” she repeated, her tone sharp.

“Yeah, insecure,” I said flatly. “Ain’t shit going on between me and Serenity. Yeah, we have a past, but we been done for years. We’re co-parenting, Jailah. That’s it.”

Jailah huffed. “You say that, but you’re living with her.”

“Temporarily,” I corrected. “If you feel like you can’t handle this, let me know.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means what I said, if this is too much for you let me know.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

Despite the drama,I was focused when I stepped onto the court for my first home game as a Clipper. I had something to prove. But when I scanned the stands, I spotted Serenity, Cree, and Gio sitting court side—all wearing my jersey. My heart clenched because damn, this was exactly how I always wanted it to be.Cree, my baby girl, was cheering the loudest, her little hands clapping excitedly as she pointed at me.

“Daddy!” she screamed.

I smiled, giving her a small wave before locking in. That game? I went off. I dropped a triple-double, scored 35 points, and led the team to a blowout win. The energy in the arena was electric, and when the final buzzer sounded, I felt like I had truly arrived in LA. But as soon as I got to the locker room, my phone blew up.

30 missed texts from Jailah. All of them cussing me out. She was tired of people tagging her in posts asking why she wasn’t at the game and my baby mama was. Asking if she had met my kids yet—which she hadn’t. Tagging her in pictures from the game so she could see my little family.. I sighed, scrolling through them, shaking my head. But what caught my attention the most was the fact that she had posted again.

I froze, my stomach twisting. This was bad, real fucking bad. I knew as soon as I made it to the car, Serenity was going to be pissed. That’s why I took my time walking to the parking lot. My hands were in the pockets of my sweats, hood over my face.

She and the kids were already in the car when I approached but when I made it to the car she got out stopping me so we could have a private conversation.

“I already know SB.”

“You said you was gon’ handle it. Why am I still her topic of discussion? I am literally minding my fucking business. What’s the problem?”

“We both know what the problem is.”

“That’s not my fault she’s insecure. That has nothing to do with me. All I did was offer a place to stay.”

“Aight Serenity.”

“Creed,” she said through clenched teeth taking a step closer to me. “Check your bitch or I’mma check her for you.”

35