Brooklyn, New York

"...With the first pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, the Memphis Grizzlies select Knowledge Ali. UNC"

Knowledge sat for a moment in shock, until he heard his mother's voice.

He stood up and gave his dad a hug, before tightly hugging her.

"Don't cry ma." He chuckled, wiping his and her face.

Not to long after he walked back and settled down, Tay's name was called.

Amber sat in her the locker room preparing for the night.

According to Jaz, the club was already packed, and the VIP sections were starting to fill.

🤞🏽

imma nba wifey now

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i thought y'all been split😭

we been texting for a couple of months.. but yk he still always been my man

lmfaoooooo where my kid?

sleep, that's all shawty do.

HOLON

what??

you a nba wife too!!!

💕

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girl that nigga drafted too

what the hell is this drafting thing?

THEY IN THE NBA AMBER

oh, is that the same thing I'm here for?

girl yes, that's why it's gon be hella money..

Amber read the message and felt her stomach turn.

Before she could respond, Jaz came in.

"You on in like five minutes."

"Can yo ass smile?" Tay laughed as he, Knowledge, and a few other guys made their way into a strip club.

"What I'm here for?" Knowledge questioned, with irritation written all over his face.

"We celebrating my nigga, you the first overall pick."

Knowledge smiled and dapped him up. "I love you for real."

Tay scrunched up his face "I love you too, but don't ever say no shit like that."

Knowledge chuckled as they reached the door, and loud music blasted.

"We got sum new for y'all, she a Georgia peach. Give it up for Aunestiii." The DJ announced before he played the music.

played as the girl made her way into the stage.

As soon as she got onto the pole, Knowledge's eyes were on her.

He made his way closer to the stage, until he was right in front.

He caught her attention and she made her way over to him as he threw some money out of his stack.

Soon, she moved away to entertain others but she left him feeling a way.

Once her set was done, he headed back to his section.

"Mr. Ali, congrats man." The owner smiled and dapped him up. "Lemme know if you need anything."

Knowledge bit his lip before he spoke.

"Thanks.. and uh how do I get me a private dance or sum?"

Tay suspiciously eyed him.

"Well it starts at $150 for one song, then it goes up from there." He smiled.

Knowledge nodded "I wanna chill wit shawty.."

"Aunesti?" The owner asked, shocked since she was new.

"Mhm." He nodded.

"Well we have other-"

"Ight it's cool if I can't-"

"Nono we'll get Aunesti, Marie will get you set up in a room." He said pointing to one of the bottle girls.

___________________

"Do you have a specific request on music?" Aunesti asked as she made her way into the room where Knowledge was sitting.

He took one look at her, and clenched his jaw.

"Nah.. you pick."

Of course, she picked her go to song andbegan to play.

She made her way over to him, and got into his lap.

A minute into the song, he spoke.

"C-can we stop?"

She nodded "Everything okay?"

"Amber.. you don't know who I am?" He asked.

Aunesti or Amber was taken aback as she looked at the man.

She took a moment to really look at him, before her eyes widened.

She basically saw his face everyday on Mecca, but when she was at work, she made it a point to not carry or remember anything about it, including faces.

"Knowledge.." she mumbled as she started to get off of his lap, but he held her.

"How you been?" He asked taking her in.

He knew her face from the moment he saw her onstage.

Her body was the same, except for the widening of her hips.

She had a 40 inch blonde wig, colored hair was new for her.

But what really shocked him, was the tattoos.

Amber watched as his hand traced down her sleeve, then the dragon on her thigh. She froze as it came back up and touched the tattoo on her neck.

Mecca Valentine.

He finished looking at all her tattoos, so it was now Amber's turn to take him in.

Knowledge had cut his hair and now had freeforms.

Both of his arms were covered in tattoos.

And his a few tattoos ran up his neck, leaving Amber to guess he had some on his chest.

Once she was finished staring at him, he sensed there was something so he spoke.

"Wassup?"

Amber sighed.

She wasn't going to drag this out, no matter how much she wanted to avoid it.

So she spit it out.

"I have a baby."

Knowledge scrunched up his face in confusion.

"Congratulations."

Amber sighed again, realizing she didn't explain that well.

"No Knowledge, I mean we have a baby. Well it's a she, our daughter. She-"

Suddenly, she fell to the ground as he stood up.

"Amber ion wanna spazz out on yo ass." He said walking to the other end of the room. "Explain what the fuck you meaning."

"I-I found out I was pregnant a month after the party." She told him.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I tried, but you had already gone off to some basketball camp for school and I didn't-"

"Amber you didn't even try for real, you just- that don't even matter. Where she at?"

"She's in Atlanta, with Sky." She croaked, as she still sat on the ground.

Knowledge nodded and moved back over to the chair so he could sit.

"I wanna see her." He said feeling himself tear up.

There was a lot happening in his life, all in one night.

"I-I don't have my phone on me, let me go to the locker room. Okay?"

Knowledge just nodded.

But before she could leave he stopped her.

"Can we just go somewhere else? Ion wanna be discussing this here?" He said motioning to their surroundings.

"Okay I need to get my things, then I'll meet you out front."

____________________

"Her name's Mecca." Amber said as she passed Knowledge her phone.

They were sitting in a 24 hour gyro shop a few blocks away.

"Damn." He smiled, seeing how pretty his little girl was.

"Tell me about her." He said as he swiped through the pictures Amber had pulled up for him.

"Her birthday is February 14th, 2023. Which is why her middle name is Valentine." Amber smiled.

"Umm she's sixteen months, and she's crazy smart for her age. If you swipe you can see some videos of her."

Knowledge did just that and his smile widened, seeing her counting some blocks.

"I gotta tell my mama." He said aloud before pulling out his own phone and FaceTiming Ivory.

He knew she was awake since she never slept if she knew her son was out.

"Hey baby." Ivory smiled into the camera, she immediately frowned seeing the tears on his reddened face.

"What's wrong? Asahd wake up," she said shaking her husband.

"Nah ma I'm okay. Mama I gotta baby." He told her.

She scrunched up her face "A baby where? You told me you wasn't messing wit no one since Amber. Boy what you-"

"It's Amber's baby ma.. we gotta daughter."

He watched as Asahd took the phone from a crying Ivory.

"Where you at son?"

"I'm uh out wit Amb right now.." he said looking at Amber, who sat there in shame.

"Ight y'all just come back to the hotel.." Asahd said rubbing his hand over his face.

Once they hung up, Knowledge looked at Amber.

"You coming wimme?"

Amber nervously nodded before standing and following him out to the car.

His driver looked up from his phone, and turned the car on before they slid in the backseat.

"Where to?"

"The hotel." Knowledge told him.

Amber sat back and looked out the window as tears streamed down her face.

She had never felt something like this.

Knowledge on the other hand was ready to box with her.

lmfaooo

"We here." He mumbled, as the doors unlocked.

The driver opened her door, and she rushed to keep up with Knowledge.

"Amber!" Ivory smiled as she hugged her.

Asahd just stared the young girl down, not really sure how he felt about everything yet.

Amber melted in her hug and walked to the little sitting area, with Ivory's arms still around her.

"I'm so sorry." Amber mumbled.

"Just explain and be truthful with us." Ivory said as they pulled apart.

Knowledge shook his head as he leaned against the wall.

"I found out I was pregnant a month after graduation, and when I went to tell him, Sky had told me he was already in North Carolina.. I didn't wanna mess anything up for him."

"So you just ain tell me?" Knowledge scoffed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, it was wrong. Having a baby is a lot, I didn't want you to have to worry about that and-"

"Amber she mine too, you don't make no decisions for me. We would've figured sum out. You know me."

Amber watched as he teared up again.

"I'm sorry."

He shook his head and took a seat on the couch across from her.

"What's really important, is what's next. What are we going to do moving forward?" Ivory spoke.

"I got a jet for the morning, I'm going to see my kid." Knowledge said.

Amber nodded, although he wasn't looking for approval.

"Holon son-" Asahd started but Knowledge cut him off.

"Pops I need to see her."

"Okay that's actually what needs to happen, I wanna meet my grand baby." Ivory said.

"How do we know this yours, son? Ain she a stripper?"

Amber felt her stomach drop while Knowledge scrunched up his face. No matter how mad he was at her, he didn't like for her to be disrespected.

"Pops don't play wimme." Knowledge said.

Asahd shook his head and got up to go to the other room.

This was all moving too fast for him.

And it definitely didn't sit right that all this happened the night his son got drafted.

"O-kay.. we'll all go to Atlanta in the morning to see her then we'll move from there." Ivory said.

Knowledge and Amber nodded.

"Now let me see her."