Can't you tell a bitch is fed up with your nonsense?

It's so easy to take your clothes off and have sex.

But opening up to someone, letting them into your soul, thoughts, fears, future hopes, and dreams...

That's being naked.

Dave is the one and the only person that I've ever been naked with.

Each time he's withheld something from me, only to thoughtlessly reveal it later, makes me want to put my clothes back on.

I wonder if I could still trust him.

The theories that I vowed to dispose of continued to plague my mind. Even as the referee blew his loud whistle.

My eyes darted from left to right watching tall men in sneakers move swiftly across the court, shouting to each other to either pass the ball or shoot it.

On the opposite end of the glossy rectangle were a swarm of slim dancers adorned in glitter and short shorts, or batty riders as my grandmother would call them - waving poms poms that matched their uniforms.

Behind them stood a flock of photographers, journalists, and media reps, who didn't want to miss one ounce of the rousing game at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Tons of fans, more than I would've imagined, screamed and stared on the edge of their seats at every move a player made.

It might have only been a celeb charity basketball game, but all the hype and luster surrounding it would've made you think that it was the playoffs.

From my floor seats I watched intently as Dave dribbled the ball up the court, then expertly dodged a steal from the other team before shooting from the half-court line.

Next to me were his mom and dad, and two empty seats for Bri and Nene who all flew down with us to show support.

As soon as he made the shot, I stood up from my seat, almost forgetting to pull down my jersey with the team's name on it.

"Woooh! Get they ass baby!" I let the excitement take over.

He received a celebratory dap from another player; then looked up at me from the court, his face broken out into a fierce grin.

It matched those of everyone else around me including Maya as they beamed at me for cheering him on.

At that moment I completely forgot what we were currently going through and what I was thinking about.

"You alright Lay?" Maya leaned in closely after witnessing the grin dramatically drop from my face.

"I'm good." I smiled back at her, knowing that she could see right through me.

"AND THAT'S A FUCKIN' FOUL REF! GETCHA ASS OFF THE COURT!"

Both of our eyes widened and our heads turned to the six-foot-tall man that continued to insult the referee.

When he noticed the look on his wife's face, he almost immediately piped down.

"My bad baby..." He gave her a weary smile and kissed her temple.

And he knew why he did it too.

Before the game even started, I witnessed Maya set out ground rules for his behavior. Apparently, Senior's a very passionate sports fan. So passionate, that at last year's Championship game, he had to be escorted out by security for punching the ref.

Maya began to slowly turn back towards me when Bri panted at the end of our aisle.

"Okay I'm back. Damn you know how many stairs I had to climb to get back up here? Plus I'm in heels."

"I could only imagine." I rolled my eyes at her, then moved my legs to let her and Nene back into our row.

"We literally just saw you on the big screen!" Nene exclaimed.

"You look like a whole basketball wife out here in your Jersey and Bottegas." Bri checked out my entire outfit.

"And you can't forget the Birkin Bri!" Nene added as she pointed out the expensive ass orange bag on my lap.

"Eating all them hoes up across the way!" She referred to the flood of women, one could only describe as insta baddies sitting on the other side of the court dressed down in designer.

It's amazing how everything in this city easily turned into a social event, as long as the right people showed up.

Almost forgetting that Bri was struggling to sit with her hands filled with popcorn and drinks, I stood to help her out.

As soon as we sat down, I put my hand in the yellow bucket which she snatched away in return.

"Unh unh, this can't be the same girl who said that she didn't want any." Bri narrowed her eyes.

I laughed at her comment then replied, "But I changed my mind Bri, I want some now."

"Yeah? Well, go get your own." She playfully turned away and offered Maya some instead.

I eyed her shoving a handful of popcorn in her face, "Greedy ass." I teased.

Nene snorted out a laugh from the other side of Bri. "Laya you know this bitch act different around food."

It was warming to see her laugh and smile again. With the whole Blake situation behind us - for good, we both could continue living our best lives.

"What's the score Laya?" Maya asked from two seats down in her Cartier sunglasses and let me tell you, mama didn't come to play with these young girls either.

Maya Brewster also sported a jersey with her son's name on it and jeans. What really completed the whole look were the gold knee-high boots on her feet and the Chanel bag slung across her shoulder.

"They're about to go into halftime. It's 54 - 61. Dave's team is in the lead." I answered.

"They better stay like that too, I got money on this," Bri added all too seriously.

"Everybody does Bri!" Both Nene and I exclaimed at the same exact time.

"I hope you know that you don't get any of it if they win," I told her.

"Why the hell not? ..." Bri looked side to side at all of us.

"It's a charity game. All the money goes to the organization they're sponsoring." Senior finally peeled his eyes from the game and answered Bri for us.

"Ohh I wish I got the memo, so I could've kept my funds." She joked while wiping her mouth.

The crowd around us erupted into loud screams, as Dave scored yet another three points for his team.

"Ya boy got skills! Ain't nobody seeing him on this court!" Nene exclaimed with her eyes affixed.

Dave's team consisted of more than just a few popular rappers and athletes, also on the court with them were Shoota, Jay, and Freaky who played in his team.

"Yeah, he aight." I tried to shrug nonchalantly when all I wanted to do was brag about him.

My eyes caught Bri's face holding in a laugh on the side of me. She knew exactly what I was thinking.

"Chall please...I know that if it was Dev out there playing... I would've been like, 'Yeahhh baby! Show them that white men CAN jump!'" Bri mocked herself.

Nene hunched over in laughter, as Maya and I did the same.

"I'm gonna go to the restroom," Maya announced between laughs.

Just as Maya left our row, Nene stood up abruptly to cheer in response to the points that Jay just scored, while another player shoved him to the ground.

"Ohh hell no! Ref you better get him!" She shot up almost hitting Bri and spilling her snacks.

"Damn bitch....just go ahead and take my eye out." Bri cried.

"I'm sorry boo...I'll just go...see if Jay needs some help and if that ref needs some too," Nene said half-minded with her focus on her husband.

"Yeah, you go do that." Bri ushered her out of our row with her foot.

"And I'm gon' help her." Senior abandoned the strict instructions his wife left him and followed after Nene.

Now that it was only the two of us, Bri moved closer to me.

"You talking to him yet?" She flicked her chin towards Dave.

With my eyes on the game in front of me and my hand in the popcorn bucket, I replied as indifferently as I possibly could.

"No...not yet."

Bri sighed in annoyance and shifted in the hard plastic seats. "He say anything about what went down?" She added a follow-up question.

We heard through an inside source, also known as Eva, that Dave completely severed all ties with Zora.

Allegedly, he banned her from booking any sessions at the studio and it was rumored that he was in the process of removing her from his label too. That meant she'd lose all her brand sponsorships and most of the influencer deals she held outside of music would fall through.

None of it mattered to me though; he should have done all of this a long time ago, along with telling me about their past.

I shook my head to answer Bri's question.

"Ok then...did you at least tell him about what happened that night?"

I didn't answer right away. Bri referred to the pregnancy test I took the night of the party. After venting to her about what happened, we ended up at her place where the topic of sex and kids came up. With a look at my calendar, I realized I was late and well...

"There really isn't anything to tell Bri. It was negative, we ate wings, got drunk off Casamigos, smoked a celebratory blunt, watched Living Single, and fell asleep on your couch. That's it." I shrugged.

The buzzer beeped loudly and the announcer's voice rang through the stadium, signifying the end of the second quarter and the beginning of half-time.

The players cleared the court and made their way back to their courtside seats for cool down and the halftime performance.

Dave swiped his forehead with a team-branded towel and stopped to take some photos with a few fans before making his way to the empty seat beside me.

"I'm gonna check on Maya in the bathroom." Bri made an excuse to leave me alone with Dave.

I nodded my head at her and pulled out my phone to pretend like I was busy, just so he wouldn't weasel a conversation outta me like he's been trying to do all week.

At first, he sat in silence, chugging water from a bottle. Every now and then when someone he knew passed by our seats, he reached over to greet them.

All the while, I pretended to text Cara about the hotel on my phone.

"I 'preciate you for hyping me up out there." He lightly tapped my thigh with his hand.

I brushed it off and crossed my legs in response.

"I wasn't cheering for you. I cheered for your entire team."

I caught the small smirk that sneaked onto his full lips.

I prayed that he didn't catch me staring at them. It's been almost four weeks, actually, 3 weeks, 5 days, and 14 hours since the last time we had sex, if he accidentally bit his lip right now I just might buss.

"Nah I'm almost certain you said, 'that's right baby'. Unless you was talkin' bout somebody else?" He chuckled. "Who we messaging?"

He slipped the device from my fingertips and placed it on the other side of him.

My annoyed expression couldn't be masked.

"Let me take you out tonight. We could skip the after-party, go get sumn to eat, have our own lil' night at the hotel; maybe just talk and vibe. We ain't did that in a while."

"I'm good Dave, I've got plans." I quickly responded. "May I have my phone back please?"

If I was being real with myself and with him, I'd say that I don't know what we were doing anymore.

I felt like we were wasting time, too busy moving one step forward then five steps back.

The way he stopped and stared at me, let me know that he was using all of the patience he had to deal with my indifference.

"So you don't wanna talk?" He made it sound like I was obligated to do so.

"Talk about what? What is there to talk about my love...hmm?" I twisted my body in the seat to finally look at him. "Dave... we already had a conversation the night that you told me. You've been saying that you're sorry ever since, I'm not mad anymore. I really don't have the right to be mad. So as far as I'm concerned, we good." I shrugged my shoulders before facing the front.

Dave sighed loudly and extended his arm on the back of my chair.

"You still bullshittin' Laya." His husky voice entered my ear and his warm breath tingled the hairs on my neck. "We ain't good. You'd be able to look at me if we were."

He was smarter than he looked, but he still did dumb shit.

"I don't want to go another night without being able to touch you or another day without you talking to me. So we gon' work this shit out. I don't care how much makin' up I gotta do." His lips grazed the spot right underneath my ear lobe.

My eyes nearly rolled to the back of my head then, I caught myself.

"You don't get to do that Dave. You don't, not after that big ass speech you gave me in Turks. This shit goes both ways."

That's exactly what this all boiled down to, him being a hypocrite.

"I know what I said Lay-"

"And you know I love a nigga that'll stand on what the fuck he says." I pursed my lips at him. Then I prepared myself to ask the question whose answer would determine the course of our relationship.

"If I did what you did would you be able to move past it? Or would I be a hoe...a slut...for sleeping with your brother...and only telling you about it because I couldn't take the guilt anymore?" I was ashamed that my eyes held tears in them.

"Would you be able to look me in the eyes, if all my friends knew about it and didn't say anything to you? All that embarrassment and hurt you have because I know how important trust is for you and I went out my way to break it. Do you think that dinner and a night-in would be able to fix damaged trust Dave? That a fuckin' vibe would be able to repair it? Is that all it's worth to you?" I quickly caught a tear that spilled from my eye with my finger.

He didn't answer me.

His silence was a reply within itself.

It didn't matter that Zora wasn't really my sister or that it was just sex or that it happened before we were together.

Dave was supposed to be the one I could always trust.

I hate that word now.

My eyes held onto a figure walking on the sidelines with a small entourage in tow.

Of course, it would be the woman in question, sauntering over to seats opposite mine across the court.

Almost as if she sensed me, she looked up, crossed her legs, and waved. Dave didn't notice her until I looked back at him.

"Allaya I-"

"No, it's alright." I half-smiled while his thumb grazed my cheek. "Go play the game, Dave." My chin flicked towards the court.

"Baby just let me-"

The whistle blew again, half time was over.

"That's your cue..."

He threw the white towel in his hand onto the chair next to me. But, before jogging back to his team on the court, he approached one of the security guards on the sidelines.

As if on her own cue, Bri returned to our row squinting her eyes to look in front of her.

"Is that...it is!" She got up. "Hell yeah, that's her scrawny ass imma-"

"You about to sit back down in this chair." I shook my head. "Ain't none of that."

Hesitantly, she returned to her seat next to me.

"Security's taking care of her ass now..." We observed Zora being hauled from her seat after not cooperating.

"You know I love you and support you. I'm with all that non-violent shit you be on, but Laya...." Bri looked directly at me.

"That bitch needs a kick in ah she neck."

/•/

"YESSSSSIRRRRR!!" One of the guys on Dave's team yelled as we walked through the tunnel to the locker room.

They were all hyped as hell since winning the game. Dave was several feet ahead of me, he seemed less enthusiastic than his teammates but still held the gold trophy in the air.

Every now and then, he turned back to look at me and I'd give him a small smile.

I was still proud of him.

"Them niggas ain't had shit on us! We the first to ever do it!" Someone shouted from the middle of the crowd. I could only guess that it was Soulja.

When they arrived at the locker room, they all filled in with the exception of a few who remained out in the tunnel to socialize and conduct interviews with the press.

Shoota happened to be next to me as I walked towards the area to wait on Dave.

"Wassup witchu Lay?" Shoota asked.

"I'm alright, what's up with you'?" I looked up at him. It had been a long time since we had an actual conversation by ourselves.

"I'm aight too. You still giving my boy a hard time?"

I smirked at him, knowing that he was only messing with me. "Your boy gave himself a hard time."

"I heard ju." He chuckled at my response then remained silent for a few seconds. "I know it ain't none of my business but I heard some of y'all conversation."

"You eavesdropping on me now?" I joked.

"Not on purpose." He put his hands up in defense then laughed. "But I want you to know that Dave never told nobody about him and old girl. So it wasn't like all of us knew and was like laughing at you behind your back or anything like that."

"Shoota you really don't have to-"

"Nah Laya, I do. After the shit I pulled at Jay's wedding I know we ain't cool no more." He scratched behind his head. "Man you was lowkey my little sis' before all that shit and if I ain't said it before, imma say it now-"

"Shoota...we're cool. I know the kind of person you are." I bumped my shoulder with his.

"Okay but what I'm really trying to say is...niggas do stupid shit all the time and it takes a real smart bitch not to put up with it. I ain't trying to call you a bitch or nun but I'm just sayin'. We do fuck up from time to time and sometimes we need to be taught a lesson and..." He stopped and held his head. "Fuck what am I trying to say again?"

His frustration made me laugh. "Shoota I get it," I said, understanding his unspoken words.

"You sure?" He asked suspiciously. "Cause if that nigga come to me on some depressed shit cause you left him, I'm gon kill myself Lay. You laughing and I'm being deadass." We continued to walk toward the locker room when Shoota slowed his pace.

"Oh shit." He mumbled from beside me.

"What's wrong?" I looked up to see Zora turning the corner into the tunnel, stopping right in front of the locker room door. Judging from her obnoxious shouting with the security guards who stood in front of it, she was trying to enter the locker room and they wouldn't allow her to do so.

When she spotted me from the corner of her eye, she completely abandoned her argument with the security and advanced towards me.

"Aye yo Freak! Handle her!" Shoota shouted at Freaky who stood near the door talking to some girl.

He reached out to catch Zora's arm, but she easily slipped past him.

"Shoota it's fine. Really it is." I said calmly, as I placed my bag into his hands. "Hold that for me please."

He sighed before taking a step out of my way so that I would be face to face with Zora.

I placed both of my hands in my pockets and waited for her to reach me.

"Laya, it's nice to see you." She plastered on a fake smile and folded her arms.

"I can't say the same, Zora." I smiled back at her.

She ran her tongue over her teeth, clearly thinking about what to say next.