Page 29 of Shooting his Shot

"Well, I had been seeing some of Akari's game, and he hadn't been playing well. I wondered if you knew what was going on with him. ESPN has been talking badly about him and his performance. They even brought you up."

Laisley was fishing for information, but I didn't know if I wanted to tell her we broke up. I didn't want to talk about it to anyone, not yet. The wound was too fresh to open back up. Plus, with all the crying I was doing, it was best I left it alone.

"You might as well spit it out, or I'll come to your house and make you talk to me."

I grunted, knowing she'd do just that. So, it was best that I said something to her.

"Oh well, I don't know what he has going on. We haven't talked in a while." I sat on the bed and almost groaned out loud. My head was pounding from all that crying I was doing. It was time I stopped.

"Why haven't you talked? What's going on, Avani?" Laisley questioned.

I closed my eyes, not wanting to replay what happened between us.

"Please, Laisley, I don't want to talk about it. Just know that what happened was my fault. I didn't believe or trust in his love for me. I am a failure. The one person who wanted to love me, I couldn't trust him enough to know that he'd never do anything to hurt me." A tear rolled down my face. "All Akari has ever done is be there and care for me. I messed up big time, Laisley. I lostthe best thing to ever happen to me." More tears rolled down my face.

"All may not be lost. I don't want you to ever think like that. You have overcome a lot. Plus, you're not having any nightmares since he made sure you took your medication. I'm sure you're still taking it, right?"

I smiled. "I am. Akari left a reminder on my phone with an alarm. So, I have no choice."

She laughed. "Good. Well, now you need to pull yourself together and go get your man. You made the mess, and now it's time for you to clean it up. I'm sure Akari still feels some type of way about you. Hell, the way he has been playing, he needs you."

I burst out laughing. "Please. Stop. Don't pick at him. It's my fault, so I've got to make things right before he won't be going to finals."

"Yes, please go get your man. We need him to take his team to the finals."

I didn't know how I was going to get Akari back, but I had ways of doing so.

"Thank you, sis. You always come through for me. I love you so much."

"I love you, too."

After I hung up the phone with her, I laid back down for a nap. I needed this headache to go away. I'll worry about everything else later.

Antonio huffed,glowering at me. "Man, you need to get it together and play the game right," he spat at me. He and Aisha were at my house, going off on me.

I deserved everything they were telling me, too. We were in my meeting room, and while they sat on the couch, I was looking out of the window, trying to get my thoughts together.

For the past three weeks, I played basketball as if I sucked. Although we were winning some of the games, we were losing like hell, too. If we kept losing, we wouldn't be going to the finals. That was something I didn't want to happen. If it did, it would be my own fault.

ESPN was having a field day with my name. I was getting talked about badly. The negativity was still there when I wasdoing well, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was now. They were bringing up Avani too. I didn't too much know how to feel about that. I wished they'd leave her where she was, and that was away from me. Everything that was going on was her fault, too. She messed my head up badly, and I didn't know what the hell to do about it.

I missed her a lot, too. She had been reaching out to me, but I couldn't reply to anything she was saying. I wasn't ready yet. Every day, I had to stop myself from calling her back. As much as I wanted to, it wouldn't change anything. She'd probably still doubt me. I didn't need that type of energy around me.

"Akari! Do you not hear Antonio talking to you?" Aisha snapped.

I snapped back into the present and shook my head. "Man, I heard him, but what would it change?" I shoved my hands in my basketball shorts pockets and turned to face them.

"It would change a lot if you picked the phone up and call the damn girl. It can't be that hard to reach out to someone. You know you want to."

I shook my head, removing my hands. "Nah, I don't." Yeah, I really did, but he didn't need to know that.

"You need to stop basing your relationship on our parents. They got through what they had going on together because look at them now, back together," Antonio fussed.

I glared at him. "That's not what I'm doing. You weren't in my relationship to know what the hell was going on. Avani didn't trust me. She thought I would do something to hurt her. That meant she didn't trust me. Why should I be with someone who thought I'd hit everything that walks? Nah, man. I am big on trust, and she thought I wasn't trustworthy. Make it make sense to me."

I hated airing out my problems to my siblings, but they got me in line sometimes. We were known to put each other in ourplaces, but they were making me feel bad. They had that right since they didn't want me to fail. Hell, I didn't want to fail myself.

"Okay, so maybe you need to ask why Avani feels like she can't trust you," Aisha voiced.

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