Hate the Game ( Urban Sports Romance )

Emergency

Thursday, July 16

Sabrina woke up to someone repeatedly ringing the doorbell to her apartment.

"Hang on!" She yelled through the door as she looked through the peephole. Seeing it was her son's father, she tied her robe closed then opened the door and let him inside. "What's going on? Is everything okay?" She questioned, once she shut the door behind him. She dug her phone out of her robe pocket and checked it not seeing any missed calls or texts.

"Sabrina imma ask you somethin...don't lie to me, please?" Nick cautioned looking at her like a crazed man.

She looked at him carefully, realizing he was under the influence of something. "Where's Niko?"

"He's with moms." He quickly responded before straightening up, then continued, "Sabrina, you gonna marry that NBA nigga?"

"What?" She frowned her face at his question. She knew he'd find out, but she still wasn't prepared.

"You heard what I asked you."

She tried to evade the answer, "Nick, have you been drinking?"

"Man, don't start that shit." He warned her getting angry, "ANSWER MY FUCKIN QUESTION!" He shouted, startling her, and causing her to back away from him.

With her eyes, she instinctively began searching her living room for something to defend herself with, in case he got violent.
"Come sit down with me." She tried to reason with him walking toward the couch.

"Brina, please. Just tell me the truth." He stared at her through glossy eyes,  "Is ya'll serious, you really gon do this? Niko said y'all getting married and that he saw him propose to you."

"Why are you questioning Niko—"

"DON'T DO THAT, SABRINA!" He shouted, cutting her off. "I didn't ask him nothing, he told me about it, 'cause we seen some shit on tv about weddings."

"I'm gonna call you an Uber, Nick. You need to go home."

Tears fell down his face and he quickly swiped them away with the back of his hand, "Man, fuck you, Sabrina. After all we been through together. This how you do me. You all over the place with this dude, fine, that's fair. But now y'all getting married?" He shook his head, pacing the floor, "I didn't do that to you."

Before Sabrina could respond, her phone started ringing in her hand. She quickly silenced it without checking the caller ID.

"Who's that?" Nicholas demanded.

"I don't know. I didn't look."

"Go head and check. It's probably him."

"That's not important right now." She said as she swiped the call away.

Amir was calling, but she declined it and went to her contacts to call the one person who could talk Nick down at the time. She put the phone on speaker, "Yoo," the man's voice came through.

"Hey, Bobby."

"Hey, Brina, what's happenin', cuzz?" BJ greeted her, cheerfully.

"I was calling to see if you guys were down for a grown-up weekend. LA is stressful. We need to get away." She rambled on before Bobby could ask any questions, hoping he'd catch on.

"Hell yeah, y'all come on down to the house, we can ride some ATVs, swim in the pool, and shit."

Nick finally chimed in, "Aye cuz." He paused, trying to wrangle his emotions. "I miss you, man. Life been beating my ass. I feel like everybody forgot about me." He vented.

"Don't even worry bout that right now, book y'all a flight. Let me know what time to pick y'all up from the airport, aight?" Bobby instructed.

"Thanks, BJ. I'll text you." Sabrina told him, before ending the call.

Nick looked at his child's mother with tears streaming down his face. He knew he didn't deserve her, "I'm sorry Sabrina. I'm so sorry." He stepped closer and then fell to his knees in front of her. She opened her arms to embrace him and began to cry herself.

It was then that Sabrina regretted coming back to her apartment to pack some of her clothes to bring to Amir's home. Amir told her she had time to do it later, but she was stubborn and wanted to get it over with since Amir would be busy all day shooting a commercial. By the time she realized she underestimated how much stuff she had in her walk-in closet, it was too late. She was exhausted and decided to take a nap.

Now here she was, her and Nick crying in each other's arms. This wasn't Nick's first relapse, but this was the first time he directed his anger at her.

"Lay down and rest. I'm gonna get our flight situated." She said as he stood. He didn't say anything, he just nodded in agreement and laid down on the couch.

She went into her bedroom closet and took off her robe then pulled on a pair of sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt. She slipped on some crocs and grabbed her purse. "I'll be right back." She told him before she left.

As soon as she exited the front door, she dialed Nick's mother.

"Hey, mama E. Can you keep Niko for the weekend? Me and Nick are gonna go visit BJ and Meeka."

"Oh lord. Is he okay?" she asked. Nick's mother already knew Sabrina was trying to separate herself from him, so a trip was out of the ordinary.

"You know I don't like to lie, but I don't want you to worry. He'll be okay, just say a prayer for us." She explained, without explaining, as she climbed into her SUV.

"From my lips to God's ears. Don't worry about my grand-baby. Just let me know when y'all land."

"Will do. Love you. Kiss Niko for me, and thank you." She said before hanging up.

Next, she called Amir. As soon as he picked up before he could greet her properly, she started trying to explain, "Baby, I'm really sorry but I won't make it to dinner tonight. A family emergency came up."

"Everything aight?" He asked, with a worried tone.

"Yeah. I just... I need to be there for support."

"You need me to come over?" He asked.

"No, I have to go out of town." She said trying to hide the fact that she was now crying. Her heart hurt for the way he was for her, and she felt bad knowing that she was canceling plans on her husband, for her ex.

"When will you be back?"

"In a few days." She said while quietly sniffling.

"Rosalee," He spoke her name, with genuine concern. "Why I feel like you not tellin' me somethin? What's really goin on?"

She breathed out, "It's Nicholas, he relapsed and came to me. I'm taking him to his cousin down in New Orleans to see if we can get him help, without the league finding out. He needs me right now."

Amir stayed quiet on the line keeping his opinions to himself but he didn't like this one bit.

"Are you there?"

He sighed, "I'm here. You sure that's a good idea? He don't have folks for that?"

"Amir, he's Niko's father, and I just..." she trailed off, unsure of what else to say.

"Handle your business. I'm here if you need anything, and I mean anything. Don't stay away from me too long."

"I won't."

He tightened his jaw, conflicted, "On God, I adore everything about yo ass. Even that big ass heart you got."

She smiled, wiping her tears, "I love you, Mr. Walker."

"I love you too, Mrs. Walker."