"OH MY GOD!"Sade yelled as she noticed Rhegan's neck. The girls came running over to her and started to lightly touch the bruises on her neck. "Stop!" She hissed as they quickly dropped their arms.

"Looks like you had a fun night," Jora teased as we retreated to the living room. "You have no idea. I have to go to the Pharmacy to pick up my prescription so I'll tell y'all about it later ."We watched as she walked up the stairs to her room.

"So... what happened between you and Carson?"Elizabeth asked bringing her knee up to her chin." Nothing," I say as they all look at me like I've grown two heads ." And before you start— we agreed on being friends."

"Friends," Jora repeated as if she didn't believe me. " Yes. Friends who fuck occasionally." I smiled covering my ears as they let out ear-crushing screams ." Calm down. It is not that serious." I say as Skylar hits me with a pillow.

"Not that serious my ass." She paused, thinking of what to say next." You literally just became fuck buddies with your ex's biggest rival. Who might I just add, is literally better than him in every aspect." I rolled my eyes as the girls hummed out their agreement.

The truth was— I wasn't even thinking about Shawn "dickhead" Edwards when I agreed to be friends with benefits with Carson. Even if I was thinking about using Carson to get back at Edwards, I would've felt like shit. Carson was a good dude who didn't deserve to be thrown in the middle of my and Edwards's mess.

My phone rang again for the thousandth time with the same caller I.D. "Speaking of the devil." I turned my phone and showed them the caller I.D ." How long has he been calling you ?" Jora asked as Rhegan came and plopped into the spot next to her.

"He's been blowing my phone up since last night." I tell them as we stare at the buzzing phone.

"Answer it," Sade suggested. I looked at the girls who all shrugged their shoulders leaving the decision to me.

Deciding to hear what this fool had to say, I hit accept, putting him on speaker.

His tone was harsh as he spoke into the phone. "Well hello to you too asshole." I scoffed as the girls looked taken aback by the way he answered the phone.

The girls let out a scoff as my eyebrows rose up to my forehead at his questions.

"Because I'm single and can do whatever the fuck I want," I say, looking at the girls who were shaking their heads in disbelief. The nerve of this dude to cheat on me and then question me about my actions as a single woman.

Men these days.

I felt a sting go through me as his words settled in.

I'm the whore, me. The same person who stuck by him and never said anything while he was shooting himself up with steroids because he couldn't perform well.

"Ayanna," Elizabeth squeezed my shoulder pulling me away from my thoughts. I pressed the mute button as she begins to speak.

"That is not true in the slightest. He's just a jealous piece of shit who messed up the one good thing in his life." I nodded my head at her words before taking him off of mute

"Fuck you, Edwards," I said into the speaker.

I hung up cutting his sorry excuse of an apology off, and slouched into my seat.

All I felt was anger coursing through my body. I could fucking ruin him and this how he treats me. After I had been loyal to him, been through the hardest times with him and this is the thanks I get.

Sure I could be the scorned ex-girlfriend and feed all his dirty laundry to every tea account on social media if I wanted. But I wasn't going to do that, I would be the bigger person... for now.

"This fucker has one more time," Skylar said as she furiously typed away on her phone, most likely reporting to Kyler.

"Just say the words Ayanna, and his future in the NBA will be done for ." Jora's dad sat on the committee for the NBA draft. One word from Jora about a potential draftee shooting up was sure to have his career falling down a spiraling black hole.

"Not yet," I sighed, getting up and putting my hands on my hips ."Like Sky said —he has one more time to fuck me over. After that, you guys can do as you please. " The grins on Rhegan and Jora's faces were anything but angelic as I walked away from my friends.

You could say that I was too nice of a person and give one too many chances. But like J. Cole said—

Fool me one time, shame on you

Fool me twice, can't put the blame on you

Fool me three times, Fuck the peace sign

Strike three and he's done for.

"Alright hit the showers," Coach yelled after a gruesome practice. Just because we win one game doesn't mean the work doesn't stop. There are no off days and no slacking. We still have a championship to win.

Dominic, Kyler, Marcus, Abel, and I had scouts coming after us this season so we had to be on our A-game. The rookie still has another year left but they would no doubt be back to look at him.

"So what's up with you and Rhegan ?" I ask Dominic as we get into the locker room. "What do you mean what's up with me and Rhegan?"

I've known Dominic for a long time and he's never looked at a girl like he looked at Rhegan. He could flirt with girls all he wants but I know him.

"Okay." I laughed as I headed to the ice bath. "What about you and Heart? I saw her leaving your room this morning." He catches up to me.

We walk into the room to see Marcus, Kyler, Abel, and the rookie in four of the tubs. Dominic and I took the last two and sat in.

"We have an agreement. I'm pretty sure she's not trying to hop into another relationship after Edwards." I hiss out as I lower my body into the water.

Ice baths were no fucking joke but it was all a part of the process.

"How did she even end up with Edwards in the first place? The guy is a fucking ass-hat with a speck of talent ." That coming from Marcus says a lot. Marcus was always quiet and 9 times out of 10 would never bad mouth anyone. Unless they were nasty people.

"They went to the same high school together with Rhegan. Started dating in 11th grade. He wanted to go to UCLA, she wanted USC. I think they got into a huge fight over it because he wanted her to go to UCLA with him. Ayanna's dream school was USC so no way in hell was she be giving that up for his sorry ass. " Kyler said all of this with his eyes closed. "How the fuck do you know all of this?" Haze asked.

"Ayanna is literally an honorary McKay at this point." Kyler shrugs opening one eye ."The number of times I've listened to her cry over that bastard is too many to count. That's why I hate him so much— he treated her like shit and she didn't deserve any of it."

I wasn't in the least bit surprised to hear that. One look at Edwards and you could just tell that he was no good. It was just something about him that screamed cocky and arrogant.

"Do you know what she has on him ?" Dominic asked referring to the threats that Ayanna and the girls gave him at the game."It has to be bad if it shut him up that quick."

"Not a clue, but he'd be wise to leave her alone. Ayanna isn't too forgiving if you cross her one too many times."Kyler sunk further into his tub.

Not only did Ayanna threaten him but so did Rhegan. Had it been Jora threatening Edwards then we would've known it had something to do with his career being over. If Edwards was a smart man he would be the ex who minded his business, but even a blind person could see that he was the complete opposite.

After we got out of the ice baths, we got dressed and headed towards the SUV.

"What do y'all want to eat tonight ?" Abel asked pulling up yelp. " Tender greens." Haze suggested hopping in the back.

"Man I want a fat juicy burger ." I sighed putting the truck in drive. "And then have you complaining during practice when coach has us running suicides," Marcus said from behind me.

I thought about it for a moment before nodding my head, "You right , you right." I pulled out of the parking lot ."I know I am." Marcus responded back.

"Don't get smart Marky Mark."

Dominic plugged his phone into the aux and started playing some Kendrick. I cranked the music to the loudest setting and we set off towards the nearest tender greens.

When we got home the house was cleaned and everything was back in place. "Food," we shouted as we walked into the house. Like a herd of cows, these hungry motherfuckers came stomping down the stairs.

"God bless." Xander, a sophomore said as he grabbed the bags from our hands. I shook my head chuckling as we followed them to the kitchen.

About ten of us lived at the basketball house.

The rookies had to bunk together in the dorms, and if you didn't want to stay in the basketball house then you stayed in an apartment complex. As the starting five, we automatically got our spots in the house. As captain, I got first pick of the room I wanted.

We ate and joked around about practice and the party last night. A rookie threw up at practice because he had one too many cups of jungle juice last night. Xander also got stuck in the sticky webs of Tiffany last night. I wasn't complaining because maybe then she would hop off of my dick.

Still feel bad for Xandy-cakes though.

"Alright, I have to go study so keep it down please, and thank you," Kyler said as we both made our way up the stairs. "Tell yaya I said wassup." He called after me as I walked down the hall.

How did he know I was calling her? I could've been going in my room to watch porn.

After turning on my highlights I plopped onto the bed and called Ayanna, three rings later she picks up.

"Hey." She said rubbing her eyes as she set up her phone. "Hey." I say back as I watch her unhook her hoops ."How was your day ?" I ask studying every feature of her face as she undressed.

"It was good until it wasn't. " She sighs pulling her braids up into a bun. I lifted my brows towards her and she gets the hint that I wanted to know what's wrong.

"I got called a whore today." She grimaces as she repeats the words."By who ?" I'm sitting up now and ready to walk out of the door. "Who do you think ." She sasses giving me a pointed stare.

Of course, it would've been him. Who else just goes around calling people whores for no reason. "And why is this?" I ask sliding into my slides and leaving my room.

"Where are you going ?" She asked as I pounded on Kyler's door. "What?" he asked as he opened the door. "Tell him what you just told me," I demanded.

"It's not that big of a deal." She rolled her eyes. After Kyler and I glared at her through the phone she eventually caved.

"Edwards called me a whore because someone sent him a photo of me and you from last night. He said it makes me look like a whore for going from one successful college basketball player to another."

At this, I had to laugh. Edwards was hardly a good player, sure he had some strengths here and there but the most important one was teamwork, and he lacked in that department.

"First of all, you're not a whore. You're single grown-ass women and he should stay in an ex's place and mind his damn business." I said as Kyler slipped on some sneakers.

" Second of all, the man has way too much dip on his chip because I would hardly call him a successful player ."

Stats don't lie.

"I'm kicking his fucking ass." Kyler grumbled pushing past me ."Rookie, Dom, King, Creed. Get your ass's ready." he shouted as we marched down the hall.

"Um no. No ma'am, No ham, and No fucking turkey." Ayanna objected, waving her hands in front of the screen.

"Give us one good reason why we shouldn't go kick his ass?" I ask with raised brows ." Ok for one, y'all are literally the captains of the basketball team. We can't have the team leaders getting suspended over some bull shit."

You aren't bullshit but whatever.

"For two," she sighs taking a deep breath."I have it handled."

Now I was really curious to know what she had on him. It couldn't have been that bad that she is waiting on him to fuck up even more to spill it.

"What do you have over him anyways ?" Abel asked peeking over my shoulder at the screen. "Career threatening information." She spills.

'He'd do well to remember who was with him during his darkest times. Any other bitch would've left his ass ." She spat before taking a deep breath and rolling her shoulders.

"I'm sorry ." She apologizes. I'm guessing that the Ayanna that doesn't come out as often.

As I said— Ayanna was a nice person but if you cross her or fuck with the people she loves then it's ww2 up this bitch. "I just want the last four years of my fucking life back at this point."

"But that brings me back to my point, I'm handling it ." She glared at us through the screen."If he gets out of line again I'll let you know, but for right now y'all have scouts to worry about, not suspensions."

"Am I clear ?"

I looked towards the guys who had made no move to answer that question. "I know y'all aren't deaf, Am I clear ?" she repeats again.

"Yes." We all groaned out ."Good. If I hear or see so much as see a bruise on any one of y'all, I will personally beat y'all's ass."

Was it weird that I got slightly turned on from that?

"Good," she smiles," I'm about to go stuff my face with some shake shack. Mmbyyee." She waved as we said goodbye to her.

Damn, I wanted a burger so bad right now.

"I really want to teach that little bitch a lesson." I groaned and walked down the stairs. "I think we all do." Haze said as they followed me down the stairs.

" Shots."

Four minutes late... SORRY

Don't worry guys, you'll see a Carson vs. Edwards real soon.

Carson is not playing about his FWB. Edwards better count his days before Ayanna blows his shit up. Trust and believe that it's coming.

Thoughts on the book so far???

Xoxo