Page 21 of Nothing Like Your Ex

“I understand that, but the Knights aren’t a bad situation for you.”

“I didn’t say they were.”

“Then don't look at it like they’re sending you somewhere to fail. You’ve got an opportunity here.”

Jabari was quiet for a moment. Kwinn watched him from the passenger seat, and her heart sank as she listened. She knew how much he’d wanted to stay in Kansas City, and she knew how much uncertainty had been eating at him since the trade rumors began.

Marcus continued, “You need to get your head right, handle your rehab, and be ready when you get there. I’ll take care of the contract details and everything else on my end.”

“A’ight.” Jabari sighed, having no other choice but to agree.

“And Jabari?”

“Yeah?”

“Congratulations.”

Jabari didn’t reply right away. There wasn’t shit to be celebrating. “Yeah,” he finally muttered, “appreciate it.”

“I’m gonna send you everything as soon as I get it. Call me if you need anything.”

“I will.”

The call ended, and for several seconds neither of them spoke. Jabari flexed his hand around the steering wheel, with his eyes fixed on the road as he processed what had just happened. Kwinn looked out the windshield, realizing everything had changed in the span of one phone call. She’d known a trade was possible, everybody had, but knowing something could happen and being told it was happening were two completely different things. Knowing she had to say something, Kwinn finally turned toward him.

“New York isn’t that bad. You like it there,” she offered, knowing he visited more than a few times a year.

Jabari sucked his teeth. “Yeah, if you say so. I wasn’t trying to play there, but I guess I have no choice.”

“No, but everything will be fine,” she reassured, rubbing his thigh.

“Yeah.” He sighed. “I’m just thinking about all the shit we gotta pack up. Some of your things can go into storage if we need to, but we only got a few days.”

Kwinn’s perfectly threaded brows scrunched as she stared at him, trying to make sure she’d heard him correctly. “What? Pack up whose stuff?”

Jabari looked at her as if the answer should have been obvious. “Yours. Who else?”

Chuckling, Kwinn shook her head. “Jabari… I’m not moving to New York, honey.”

His expression hardened. “What you mean you’re not moving? You just heard what Marcus said.”

“Yes, I heard him, but your trade has nothing to do with me.”

Jabari let out a short laugh with no humor behind it. In fact, he was pissed the fuck off. “So, it’s just fuck our relationship? Kwinn, I just got traded to the fucking Knights in New York. Why wouldn’t you move with me? What’s the problem?”

“The problem is you’re assuming I’m supposed to automatically go with you and that’s not how life works,” she expressed.

Frowning, Jabari shook his head. “This is our life. Why wouldn’t you?”

She stared at the side of his handsome face, noticing more gray hairs that had sprouted seemingly overnight. Kwinn refocused her attention out the window. Her answer was bigger than the Big Apple and bigger than whether she loved him. She did. At least she thought she did, enough to uproot her life. That was before Jabari showed her a different side of him.

She had spent countless nights listening to his frustrations, reassuring him when he questioned himself, showing up when he needed somebody, and making excuses for the parts of their relationship that had slowly begun to disappear, all while he barely seemed to notice she existed.

Now that he was being traded, his first instinct was to assume she’d simply pack up her life and follow him, as if she didn’t have a life of her own. Jabari truly had the game fucked up.

“I have a business here, Jabari.”

“So?” he asked in such a nasty tone that Kwinn damn near broke her neck looking at him.