● 13 years ago ●

"And there goes Carter with another three!" The announcer shouted. Five-year-old Shai sat in front of the television in complete awe. He was watching one of his dad's basketball games on the television, and he was mesmerized.

The way his dad sprinted down the court, dribbling the ball left and right was unbelievable. Crossing up his opponents and then shot a three-pointer to tie the game. He got closer to the television while he held his pillow in his hand tightly. He saw the clock that was counting down, and he started counting with it.

"Ten...nine...eight...seven..." he counted, inching closer to the television. He knew he shouldn't be as close as he was, but he wanted to see what his dad was about to do.

There were only five seconds on the clock. His dad was guarding the Golden State Warriors player when he ended up hitting the ball out of his hand. Shai watched his dad have a fast break with only three seconds left on the clock. Sean stopped at the three-point line, stepped back, and released the ball out of his hand just in time. The buzz beater went off, and the basketball went right in the hoop.

At the same time, Shai made a swoosh noise with his mouth while holding his hand up as his dad did. He stood up quickly and started cheering like the dudes on the tv. Even though he was having the time of his life, his mother wasn't in the mood for his noisy self.

"Cut all that noise, Shai!" Addison shouted from the kitchen. Shai did as told, calming down since he knew his mom was currently upset.

Sitting at the glass kitchen table, Addison shook her leg rapidly as she stared at her phone. Picking up her wine glass, she took a small sip from it and looked at her watch. She'd been waiting for her bastard of a husband to come home, so she could confront him. She knew with both of them living a famous life that they'll always be in the media, but she didn't think she would be in the media for something like this. She drank her wine again, finishing it all. She slammed her glass down on the table and then picked up her phone. She reread the article from TMZ:

LA Clippers Basketball Star, Sean Carter, was spotted at dinner with another woman. Sources say that the NBA player has a child on the way with the mysterious woman, despite being married to supermodel Addison Payton.

As she continued reading the article, she grew more pissed at it. She had her suspicions that her husband was cheating, but to have another baby on the way broke her heart. He was the first man she laid her eyes on and fell in love with. Now that was all coming to an end because he decided to step out of their relationship. On the outside, their marriage was peaches and cream. On the inside, it was far from a dancing party.

Finally entering the house, Sean sigh to himself seeing the kitchen light on. He also heard the tv and knew that both his clingy son and annoying wife were still up. He purposely stayed out all night to avoid them at all costs, but unfortunately, that wasn't possible. Shai peeked around the wall that separated the living room and hall, and saw his father standing at the door. Sean had his back towards him since he was planning on leaving, but Shai stopped him.

"Daddy!" Shai exclaimed, throwing his arms up and running towards his father. Sean blew out a breath slowly turning to face the little boy that was running toward him. He put a fake smile on his face soon as the little boy hugged his legs.

"Hi, daddy!" Shai exclaimed, holding his dad tight. Sean tucked in his lips, leaning down and attempting to move the little boy off him.

"It's dad. Stop saying daddy like a little girl." Sean told him, slightly pushing his son off him. Shai frowned a little, but Sean didn't care.

"Where's your mom?" He asked since he was trying to avoid her. His mission was to head back out as if he wasn't even here. However, that wasn't going to happen.

"I'm right here." Sean looked up quickly seeing Addison standing at the end of the hall. Shai turned to look at his mother who had an angry look on her face.

"Shai, go upstairs and go to bed," Addison told him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Can you read me to sleep?" He asked his mother, but she refused to look at him. She was glaring at her disgusting husband who was staring back.

"No. Go now!" She yelled at him. Shai frowned, lowering his head and walking back down the hall. He pretended to go up the stairs, and instead hid behind the wall. He peeked from around it watching everything go down.

"We need to talk," Addison told Sean, her voice strong and filled with anger.

"No." was all Sean said, walking down the hall. He pushed passed his wife and entered the kitchen. Addison followed behind him, watching her husband grab the liquor bottle out of the fridge. She crossed her arms again as she lean on the island.

"We need to talk, and I don't give a damn what you say." She told him aggressively. After opening the liquor bottle, Sean drank the bottle with no care in the world.

Addison clenched her jaw, "SEAN!" she shouted at him. The grown man put his bottle down, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"What?" He growled, looking at the woman he sadly married.

"Who the fuck is she?" Addison went straight to the point. There was no reason in sugarcoating anything or playing dumb like she didn't know. She wanted the truth and was gonna get it whether he liked it or not.

Sean shrugged his shoulders, "Who is who?" He asked playing dumb. He already knew who she was regretting to since he had seen the headlines.

People were dming him left and right wondering if it was true. He ignored all of them because he didn't care about social media. He did what he did, and had no regrets. He just didn't think his wife would find out so soon. It wasn't like he was going to tell her either way though, and he honestly didn't care how she felt. Basketball players always step out on their wives, so it wasn't a big deal. Addison thought otherwise.

"Who the fuck is she, Sean?" Addison asked again with more sternness in her voice. Sean drank from the liquor bottle again, keeping eye contact with the woman. He ended up finishing the whole bottle and then tossed it on the floor, breaking it.

"Seriously?" Addison questioned, Sean, shrugged his shoulders.

"You're such a fucking bitch!" Addison exclaimed, stepping to the big man. She stood in his face since she wasn't afraid of him right now. She had always thought their relationship was perfect in their own interesting way. She soon realized that it was nowhere near that. She was a fool for Sean, and she hated that she was.

Sean chuckled to himself then spoke, "Are you mad?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer. He was just fucking with her and he didn't care about it either.

"Do you think you're funny?" she asked through gritted teeth. She was getting herself ready to smack him across the face. She was pissed off, and the way he didn't care pissed her off more.

"I think I'm hilar-" his sentence was cut off when Addison smacked him across the face. Sean chuckled to himself, wiping the side of his face and then quickly gripped his wife's throat.

He held onto her neck tightly. She was sure a bruise was going to form. Still gripping her neck, Sean pushed Allison against the refrigerator door. Addison opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Sean gripped her neck with both hands, holding onto her tighter to the point where she was having a hard time breathing. Addison started hitting his hands wanting him to let her go, but he refused. She shut her eyes, trying to focus on her breathing.

"Look at me!" Sean grunted, but Addison didn't listen. She shut her eyes tightly, her eyes beginning to water.

Sean's grip tighten, "I said look at me." he growled. This time Addison did as told, and opened her eyes. The two of them stared at one another. Addison could see the anger in his eyes, and Sean could see every last breath leaving her body.

He wasn't going to kill her. He couldn't since she had to take care of their son. He was showing her that no matter what the circumstances were, he was in control always. He could cheat and beat her as many times as he could and she wouldn't left. He was in charge.

"From here on out, you don't question me on no woman." He told her through gritted teeth.

"If you wanna continue being relevant then just shut the fuck up, and stay the same naive bitch you always been. Do you understand?" He asked.

Tears cascade down her cheeks while she hit her husband's hands again. She was definitely about to pass out soon if he didn't let go of her. Sean knew it, so he finally let go of her neck and threw her to the floor. Addison started coughing as she tried to catch her breath.

Sean wiped the sweat from his upper lip, "I'm going out, so don't ask about my whereabouts." He aggressively told her as Allison cried to herself on the floor.

He stared at his wife before saying one last thing, "You don't have to worry about that woman or her child, I already took care of it." He walked out the kitchen and back down the hall, leaving the house.

Shai jumped when he heard the front door being slammed shut. He peeked around the wall seeing his mother laying on the floor. Hearing her cries made him sad, and seeing his father hurting her didn't feel good either. Even though he was a child, he knew what his father did was extremely wrong.

Hesitatingly, Shai crawled from behind the wall and into the kitchen. He made his way to his mom, her cries getting louder the closer he got. Her face was covered as she bawled her eyes out. Shai lay beside her, placing his hand on her side and rubbing it to console her.

"It's okay mommy." He told her with the softest tone in his voice. "It's okay, I got you, mommy."

🏀

Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction meaning all names, characters, places, and incidents are all a product of the author's imagination and are completely fictional. Any resemblance to any actual person, events, and/or incidents is completely coincidental. No face claims, imagine characters whoever you want. A playlist was made for this story on Apple Music and Spotify under Love and Basketball: Freshmen.

If you need anything or have any comments, concerns, or story ideas please feel free to contact me anywhere.

Twitter: itsmebennji

Instagram: misstanzanite
TikTok: bennji_tales
Wattpad: MissTanzanite

I hope you all enjoy.