Page 56 of No Remedy for Love

“That’s why we keep passing the ball to the same nigga,” Ferris said as he and Vinnie laughed.

They were happy when the halftime buzzer went off and everybody piled into the locker room. Blaze was the last one to enter and Mav stood up when he walked in. He walked pass him and bumped his shoulder hard enough to knock him down.

“I know your lil feelings hurt and shit so you got that one for free.” Blaze smirked.

“Nigga, fuck you! Like you a big dog outchea.” Mav frowned.

“What’s good, bruh? You tryna box this shit out or what? You too old to be moving like a bitch.”

Blaze didn’t do no arguing and he was ready to rock. He had never seen a nigga act so possessive over a woman that wasn’t even his. Mav didn’t even do all that behind his own girl.

Ferris and Vinnie jumped up and held Mav back when he tried to get to Blaze. He was doing too much and the smirk on Blaze’s face wasn’t helping.

“We gon’ see each other again nigga, believe that.”

“Nah, nigga, I’m trying to see you now. Y’all can let that nigga go. The money for the game has been collected already. We don’t even have to finish that bitch.”

“Come on now, y’all. It’s a damn charity game. It ain’t even that deep. We’re too damn old to be outchea fighting and shit.” Vinnie was trying to be the voice of reason but he had it all wrong. Their beef had nothing to do with the game, but he didn’t know what was going on.

Ferris pulled Mav to the other side of the room and away from everyone else. “You need to chill, fam. You got a family at home and you outchea trying to fight over Remi.”

“This ain’t got shit to do with Remi. That nigga is too cocky and I don’t like that shit.”

“This is me that you’re talking to, Mav. That dude ain’t never did shit to you. Hell, you was singing his praises just a few months ago. You got too much going for yourself to even go out like that.”

Mav calmed down a little because he knew that Ferris was right. He drank his water while replying to text messages from Kiva and another chick that he sometimes messed around with. He and Blaze stayed out of each other’s way for the duration of the recess. Mav decided to walk outside for a few before the game started up again. He wanted to get a few hits off his blunt before he had to go back in. His fist clenched in anger when he saw Blaze and Remi standing off to the side by his barbershop. Blaze had his hands placed firmly on Remi’s ass cheeks as they kissed in between talking.

“Lying ass bitch!” Mav mumbled to himself as he headed back inside. He didn’t even feel like smoking anymore when he felt that familiar tightness in his chest.

“You good, bruh?” Vinnie asked when he walked back into the locker room.

“I’m straight.”

Mav had a slight attitude so he left him alone.

He sat there deep in thought until the buzzer went off, signaling the end of halftime. Mav followed some of the other men back on the court and resumed the game. Just like before, Blaze was the star of show. Aside from Mav, everybody who got the ball passed it to him. Mav put a few points on the board during the second half and he was satisfied with that.

“You don’t have to do too much when you’re that nigga,” Blaze said when he shot a three-pointer with little to no effort. He usually wasn’t the bragging type but he knew that he was getting under Mav’s skin. He saw when he came outside during halftime. His eyes stayed on Remi the entire time until he went back inside. Blaze knew that it was childish but he was trying to provoke him.

“Are we playing or talking?” Mav frowned.

“I do this shit for fun so I can do both.” Blaze ran down the court backwards and threw the ball behind him. The entire room erupted when the ball went into the basket.

“The fuck! We doing magic tricks on the court now.”

“I just might be a magician with the way I can make a nigga’s bitch disappear.”

Blaze was taunting him while dribbling the ball between his legs. That was the comment that ended the game, and Mav was done being nice. He tried to take the ball from Blaze like they were on opposing teams and all hell broke loose after that. Mav pushed him and Blaze delivered a blow to his face that sounded throughout the entire rec room. The crowd went crazy as the two men locked up like two savage beasts. Blaze was onsome MMA shit and Mav was getting punished. He looked like he was trying to wrestle, and Blaze was throwing haymakers. It was pure chaos as people either ran to the fight or to the exit. It took a minute, but the other men on the team were finally able to separate the two men.

“You a straight up hoe, nigga!” Mav was fuming as he was being held back by three men. He had a knot forming over his eye already and his lip was leaking blood.

“That’s what you been asking for my nigga. Y’all don’t like when a muthafucker is humble and out the way.”

Aside from his hand throbbing, Blaze didn’t have a mark on him. He was over letting shit slide with Mav and he deserved exactly what he got. Shit went from sugar to shit with them in a matter of weeks, all because Mav couldn’t have his way. Blaze thought back to all the shots he was throwing at the shop and the way he bumped him in the locker room. Mav was trying to punk him and he had to let him know that he wasn’t that nigga.

“What the hell happened?” Remi asked when her and Tracy rushed over there to where the men were. She grabbed Blaze’s face and inspected it for injuries.

“I’m good, love. That was light work.” Blaze grabbed her hand and kissed it.

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