One Final Shot

by Aubreé Pynn

Genres: African American Urban

Synopsis

When their love is put to the ultimate test and their foundation is cracked, can they repair the damages to their covenant, or will their life together be over as quickly as it began?

Young and deeply in love, Mone't and Austin have the world at their fingertips. They were the beacon of love in the hood of Ganton Hills; a couple worth protecting. But the hood politics don't exist outside of the nine blocks. With a sudden thrust into success, Mone't and Austin face trials and tribulations they never imagined nor have the tools to handle.

Release date: March 26, 2024

Publisher: Urban Books

Print pages: 288

Sample

“Ay, Mo!” Austin shouted her name throughout the 12,000-square-foot mansion. He checked all her usual places only to find her tucked away in a cabana on the far end of the pool. She was in her most natural state: thick, curly hair falling over her face and shoulders with one strap of her dress down so their 6-month-old son could nurse without obstruction. Her legs were crossed, and her eyes were trailing the words in Izzy’s princess book.

Austin was a few feet away when Isabella spotted him. Leaping from her mother’s side, she ran down the concrete-block path into her father’s arms.

“What you doing, stink? Hm? Reading with Mommy?”

“Yep. We got a lot of books today!”

Austin joined Mone’t and AJ in the cabana, giving them each a kiss. “You went out today?”

Mone’t shook her head no. “Your mother took Izzy to the store. They came back with a ton of books. How was practice?”

“Intense. Tomorrow is game one of the playoffs. Are you coming this year or enjoying it from home?”

Mone’t looked down at Austin Jr., who was grunting greedily as he nursed for the umpteenth time today. “I don’t know if I can leave him.”

“Bring him. I’ll get y’all a private skybox. You can do what you have to do. But I need you there. You know I go off when you’re there.”

“I remember.”

Austin chalked up the change in his wife to hormones settling post pregnancy, but deep inside of him, he feared it was something much more. That same fear kept him from asking. The thought of hearing the heaviness of her feelings and what it would take from him for her to feel whole again was stomach lurching. “What do you say?”

“Say yes, Mommy. Please say yes!” Isabella begged, clasping her tiny hands together while giving her mother puppy eyes.

Austin joined in with the plea, knowing that his wife couldn’t tell him no. “Please say yes. I need you.”

“Daddy needs you,” Isabella chimed.

“Are you two double-teaming me? Really?” Mone’t replied with a chuckle. “If I say yes, are y’all going to stop?”

Isabella and Austin looked at each other, sharing the same thinking face. Hell, they shared the same face. Austin couldn’t deny his children if he wanted to. Isabella was almost 4, with her father’s mannerisms and height. Austin was sure she was going to be the next WNBA phenom due to her inheriting his athleticism as well.

“Yes!” they said in unison.

“Okay, I’ll go,” Mone’t yielded. Austin hoped that getting her out of the house would change her mood.

“Izzy!” Aneica shouted from the floor-to-ceiling sliding glass door. She stepped out and proceeded over to the small family. Aneica was the star advocate of their marriage. She actually cried when Austin proposed after a few short months of being in the league. Their wedding wasn’t glamorous or announced in the blogs. It was simple, Mone’t in a dress that hid most of her growing belly, and Austin in jeans and a button-up. The wedding wasn’t the work. The marriage was, which was why Aneica vowed to be there for them as long as they needed her help.

“Yes, ma’am?” Izzy asked from behind one of the curtains of the cabana.

“Help me give your brother a bath,” she announced as Mone’t pulled her breast from AJ’s mouth.

Once she handed him off to Austin, she fixed herself and lay back, allowing herself a moment of peace.

“Thanks, Ma,” Austin spoke after covering both of his children with kisses. When they were alone, he closed the curtains and lay by his wife. “All he does is eat.”

“All day and all night. He won’t take the bottle either,” Mone’t said.

Austin swept her hair out of her face and adored how beautiful she was. His hand trailed from her chin down her neck to her full breasts. “They’re bigger this time.”

“Neither of you will stay off of them. Let me guess—that’s what you’re out here for.”

“I wanted to tell you.” Each word was trailed with a soft kiss to her exposed skin. “The Herb and Nutrition endorsement is a go.”

“Oh, that’s good. Congratulations, babe.”

“Nah, that was all your hard work setting up the events and making sure everyone who came into town had what they needed while managing a house, two kids, and me. Fifty percent of the shares are in your name.”

Mone’t turned to Austin with shock on her face. “Are you serious?”

“Hell yeah. I wouldn’t be here without you, baby.” He kissed her lips tenderly and, in the same motion, pulled her on top of his body. Immediately she tensed up. “Mo, come on. Stop it.”

The self-doubt had embedded itself in Mone’t’s orbs. He was partially guilty for that, guilty of putting his needs above hers and allowing her to accept the minimum treatment. Not just from him, but everyone around her.

“I’m too heavy to be on top of you and . . .” Her words trailed off at the sensation of Austin’s thumb gliding over her bud.

He did it again, inducing her flood gates to open, and the arousal from his touch distracted her just enough to fall into his demand. Giving her an orgasm and a momentary release of endorphins was easy. Trying to understand the complexity of the woman he vowed forever to was a task he couldn’t wrap his mind around. So he didn’t. Austin provided her an escape while he got the release he’d been thinking about for most of the day.

Pushing her dress up over her thighs and hips, Austin removed his erection from his basketball shorts. It was second nature and muscle memory. He didn’t have time for foreplay or finding the new spots on her body. He wanted her with haste, and she yielded.

Mone’t’s walls wrapped around him, pulling him into her as deep as he could go, covering his erection with her silky wetness. Removing the straps of her dress from her shoulders, he palmed her milk-filled breasts and squeezed them. He latched his mouth around them. Austin’s obsession with her breasts started when Izzy was a newborn, and now he couldn’t get enough of them or her.

The more he desired her, the more it seemed that she pulled away from him. He hoped that his sex could undo whatever had been done over the last year and a half. She held him close, letting her mind drift off and relish the pleasure his sex provided her. Austin drove into her while her hips ground around him until they were spent, clinging to one another, panting, chests heaving against one another.

Austin kissed the center of her chest. “We should do that more often.”

“If you were home enough,” Mone’t replied.

Austin huffed as she removed her body from his. “Here we go. Can we have a moment without that shit? You know what it is, Mo.”

“Forget I said anything.”

“I just want to enjoy my wife and stay in a moment without a smart comment.”

“It’s not a smart comment when it’s true, Austin. I know you’re fighting for that playoff spot and another championship. I know it’s hectic. You come home and stay for a few hours and you’re out the door again. When’s the last time you really asked me how I was doing?”

“This morning, but you shushed me and fed AJ.”

“Austin, you slept last night, right? Your clothes are clean. The house is clean. I . . .” She stopped herself. “You’re right. I’ll do better.”

Yanking the curtain open once she fixed herself, she slipped her feet into her designer slides and stormed into the house. Austin’s eyes trailed his raging beauty up the concrete path and into the house. “She’s just going to leave me like this, dick in my hands and shit.”

His shorts were returned to their original position, and his body remained reclined. Austin grumbled to himself, “A man can’t even have pussy and peace. Something is always wrong with her, goddamn.”

He lay in the cabana silently, letting his mind turn over with ways to get to the root of what was going on with his wife. His mind didn’t get too far into the never-ending loop of Mone’t before his phone rang out.

Choosing to ignore the festering emotions in his house, he answered the call from Jermel. “Yo, what’s up?”

“Tell me you can get downtown in the next hour,” Jermel started without so much as a “Hi, how’s the family doing?”

“Man, I just got home. My wife is trippin’ over something. I got to tend to this.”

“You just gave her half a million. What’s there to trip over? Listen, her attitude isn’t going anywhere. This money might.” Jermel dangled the carrot in front of Austin’s face. “Trust me, I’ve had three wives. They come and go, but the money, that’s the sweet spot.”

Ignoring the latter part of his comment, Austin asked, “Who is it?”

“Ian Sanders from Sanders Tech.”

“The HOOPS developer?”

“Yeah, and he wants King Austin. So what do you want me to tell him? You can’t come because your wife has an attitude, or you’re on the way?”

Austin removed his tall body from the cabana and walked toward the house. He could see Mone’t moving around the kitchen, fixing Izzy’s dinner while his mother did bath time with their little ones upstairs. The scowl on her face said it all. He was damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. The decision was made for him.

“I’m on my way.”

He hung up, dropped the phone into his pocket, and strolled into the kitchen. “Don’t make anything for me. I have an endorsement thing to head to.”

“I thought you were free tonight,” Mone’t chimed back, looking at him over her shoulder. “We promised Izzy movies tonight.”

“Tell her I’ll do it this weekend.”

Mone’t turned to face him. “Let me guess. Jermel has an opportunity you can’t miss? You can tell your daughter why you’re breaking your promise. I’m not being the bad guy another night.”

“Why can’t you help me out?”

“Because helping you out puts me on the shitty end of the bargain. Perhaps if you stood where I stood, you’d understand.”

Not wanting to fight with her, he fell back. “All right, Mo. You win. I’ll be back later tonight.”

“King Austin is in his zone tonight! The Monarchs are on the verge of securing that playoff spot,” one announcer spoke through the surround sound of the skybox.

Typically, Mone’t would be on the floor, almost courtside with the rest of the fans, but AJ had ruled her life since he came by breech birth into the world, kicking and screaming. Not to mention, Isabella loved the snacks that came along with watching her daddy play from the skybox.

Mone’t’s eyes watched the screen as she swayed from side to side while nursing the newest addition to their family beneath the receiving blanket. Austin dribbled down the court, sweat pouring off his golden skin covered with intricate art in permanent ink. His tapered cut and curly locs had been traded in for a low-cut Caesar.

Even in the last minute of the game, Austin still looked put together. He looked, moved, and embodied every part of a franchise player. These ticking seconds were crucial. After three years in the league, Austin was hungry to bring home another championship for Ganton Hills.

He had affectionally been dubbed the King of the Hills, and he proudly carried the title and city on his back. It showed on the etch of his brow as he drove down the court, passing the ball to Cypress Jones. The play was fast, but Mone’t had seen it over a dozen times.

Mone’t knew this play. Before juggling two kids and a household, they ran this screen together. Cypress would pass the ball back to him, and Austin would take it to the hoop for a game-buzzing shot. Except they weren’t accounting for Ramsey Edwards of the Lavendale Vipers to steal it and drive it down the court. It was a fight to the finish. Lavendale was down by three. A stolen shot and foul would tie the game.

She smirked at the determination on his face. “Don’t sweat it, baby. You got this.”

“You got this, Daddy! Take it to the hole!” Isabelle cheered from her hoisted position on Musa’s shoulders.

Austin was in a race against the clock. The seconds felt infinite as he ran down the court to retrieve the ball that had the game tied. Twenty seconds, and the rock was in Austin’s palms. Mone’t held their son tightly while he peacefully suckled.

“Come on, come on, come on,” she anxiously chanted to herself. “Three-peat, baby, three-peat.”

In the blink of an eye, Austin rushed mid-court, and the ball hit the glossy floor twice before he curled it back and released it. It was poetic the way the ball glided off his fingertips at the perfect arch.

The anticipation almost caused her to clamp her eyes shut. She couldn’t. She had to see this. She’d missed so many games in person due to tending to their growing family. The swoosh of the net in concurrence with the buzzer could be heard throughout the skybox.

“Yes!” she shouted, startling AJ in the process. “Oh, sorry, bubba.” Adjusting herself and her breastfeeding-friendly top, she held him upright and kissed his head through his thick curls. “Sorry, bubba. Mommy got excited. Daddy won.”

“He did it again. Playoffs here we come!” Aneica spoke proudly as she removed AJ from Mone’t’s arms. “Three seasons back-to-back. He owes you a vacation.”

Mone’t smiled convincingly. It was a trait she’d adapted over the years with Aneica’s help. “Let’s hope he gets another ring, and then we can think about vacation.”

Aneica’s expression remained the same. If it were up to her, Mone’t would have found a backbone when it came to her son and demanded his time. Unsure of what it would take for Mone’t to finally step into herself, she settled with the answer she was given and gathered the children.

Mone’t tried not to internalize Aneica’s words, but she knew home life really hadn’t really felt like home since giving birth. The off-season schedule was just as hectic as the actual season. If Austin wasn’t training, he was shooting commercials, appearing on sitcoms, and making appearances at nightclubs or lounges. Mone’t tried to be present at everything until she couldn’t. Traveling while maintaining their home life resulted in her on bed rest for the final four months of her pregnancy.

She expected things to get easier after giving birth. AJ’s entry into the world wasn’t nearly as easy as Isabella’s. Mone’t couldn’t snap back or get her mind together. When she needed Austin, he was away, too busy to talk or be present, all too involved with the business side of his brand.

Six months later, she was finally out of the house at a game, by persuasion of course, and it all felt surreal. This had to be the best he’d played all season. As they traveled down to the media room where the after-game press conference was being held, she fidgeted with her top.

Musa and Keyston were back to work securing Austin and his prized possessions. Angie sat in the media room with her pass, awaiting a juicy story to post on her blog. Aneica and Mone’t were the last to enter with the children.

“Stop fidgeting. You look fine.” Aneica grabbed Mone’t’s hand and squeezed it. “You look beautiful. Stop.”

Mone’t didn’t feel fine. She’d gone from slender and petite to thick. New curves. Full hips and breasts placed her outside of her comfort zone. This was her first public appearance, and the last thing she wanted the media to say was that she was fat, homely looking, and an embarrassment to Austin’s brand.

Austin was showered and dressed in the latest threads from his clothing line, waiting for her to enter. Isabella captured his attention first. Happily scooping her in his arms, he covered her face with kisses, making her giggle loudly.

“You did it, Daddy!” Isabella shouted, making the journalists and sports analysts “aw” or laugh at her outburst. Her daddy may have been the superstar, but she stole the show.

“You saw that?” Austin matched her energy.

“Mm-hmm, it went swoosh. Mommy was ascared though. But I wasn’t,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Austin’s attention shifted from Isabella to Mone’t, who had no idea what to do with her empty arms. He observed her from head to toe, a smirk forming over his lips. Mone’t’s full lips were painted with clear gloss, her wild hair pulled into a high bun. The loose-fitting draped top fell over her full breasts effortlessly, and her hips in distressed denim made his mind swirl with thoughts of removing the articles of clothing from her body and burying himself deep inside.

“I wasn’t scared. Nervous maybe. Good game, baby.” She smiled at him and took a step closer, sure to position herself behind Musa so the cameras wouldn’t get a good photo of her.

“I knew you were up there chewing on your lip or swaying,” Austin teased. “You look good.”

A genuine grin formed over her lips for the first time in a while. It was wide enough to make her small eyes disappear. “Thank you.”

Austin’s gaze became more lust induced by the passing seconds. “Dinner after this is over?”

“Just us?”

“Yeah. Just us.”

“Austin, they’re ready for you,” Jermel interrupted. It was a nasty habit Austin hadn’t corrected yet, and for the sake of not causing a scene, Mone’t didn’t say anything. “Oh, Mone’t, nice to see you out supporting King Austin. Didn’t think we would see you tonight.”

Her narrow eyes squinted at him before turning back to Austin. “Go do your thing.”

Austin gave her a quick kiss on top of the head and proceeded with Izzy in tow to the setup at the front of the room. Mone’t inhaled sharply and scanned the room. Angie caught her eyes and swooped her finger over her face and mouthed, “Smile, beautiful.”

Just like that, Mone’t’s face lifted in the practiced smile. She stood on the other side of Musa and watched Austin explain how he brought his team this far, crediting his teammates for the success although the reporters in the room made him sound like a basketball god. One reporter even called him the GOAT while praising his ability to save his team in the clutch.

“Your nigga is that nigga,” Keyston proudly stated in a low tone. “You got to be proud of that.”

Without a doubt she was. However, Mone’t knew who Austin really was when the lights turned off. He was just the boy who stole her heart.

“I am proud.”

Musa added to Keyston’s commentary. “The king ain’t shit without the queen. Don’t get so caught up in the hype.”

Tuning out their back-and-forth, Mone’t watched how Austin and Izzy effortlessly kept the post-game conference entertaining. It went on for almost ten minutes before Austin looked in her direction.

“Thank you. I have a beautiful woman to take to dinner. Cypress and Paul can take it from here.”

When he stood to leave, all the attention in the room turned to Mone’t, who could’ve disappeared behind Musa’s large frame. The questions were being fired off, and shutters of the cameras were almost deafening. Behind Musa’s lead, Austin clasped Mone’t’s hand and trailed them into the hallway.

Aneica stood in the hall holding a sleeping AJ. She watched her son walk out hand in hand with his wife and felt a sense of hopefulness for the two. Being a young couple with two children and a demanding career was taking a toll on them. She could only pray it wouldn’t swallow them whole.

“Good game, son,” she greeted him once he entered her space.

Austin proudly smiled. “Thanks, Ma. Do you mind keeping an eye on them? I want to take Mone’t out to—”

“Austin, Austin!” Jermel shouted down the hall behind him.

Aneica and Mone’t shared a twin expression of annoyance in response to Jermel’s rude behavior. By now she should’ve been immune to his ways, but they only seemed to aggravate her more.

“There’s some investors here to see—” Jermel started, but Aneica happily cut him off.

“Can’t you see we’re in the middle of something? Did your mother ever teach you manners?”

Jermel cut a coy look over at Aneica. “Actually, I never knew my mother. I’d love to get into that, but money is calling.”

“Mel, can it wait?” Austin asked, hoping to ease some of the tension. “My kids are tired. I want to spend time with my wife.”

“The offseason wasn’t enough?” Jermel sarcastically asked.

“Nigga,” Austin grunted, forcing Musa and Keyston to close in.

“That was a joke. Right, Mo? It was a joke!” Jermel attempted to backpedal to no avail.

“Don’t call me that,” Mone’t replied with a harsh undertone. Looking up at her husband, she pressed her lips together. “Go do what you have to do. I’ll wait in the car.”

“Five minutes, baby. I promise.” Austin bent over to put Izzy down but not before kissing her face. “I’ll tuck you in when I get home.”

“Okay, Daddy!” Izzy shouted before trekking over to her grandmother.

“All right.” Mone’t hummed, feeling the sting in her ear when he released her hand.

“Five minutes, baby, and then it’s you and me,” Austin assured her while taking two steps back from her.

The group watched Austin venture down the long hallways with Jermel. Once they were behind a closed door, Mone’t turned on the heels of her feet. “Key, can you make sure they get home safely?”

“You got it,” Keyston spoke up.

“I’ll let you know when we get home. You two try to enjoy tonight, okay?” Aneica said, touching Mone’t’s arm.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Mone’t was left in the empty hall with Musa, who was more than keen to what was happening between them. It was a slow, gradual distancing. If their ship didn’t get back on track soon, this ordeal would be too far gone.

“You got to tell him you don’t like that man or what’s happening between you two,” Musa shared, leaning on the wall adjacent to Mone’t. “You got to communicate, Mo.”

“There’s been enough fights over his job and his agent. I’m tapped out.”

“You better tap back in. That pull leads to trouble. I’m telling you.”

“I hear you, Musa.”

“I hope so. Let’s wait in the car.”

Five minutes turned into ten, ten turned into twenty, and soon an hour had passed when Austin met them in the car. “Baby, great news.”

Mone’t couldn’t pretend to be interested in what he had to say. She was visibly irritated. Musa was standing outside the car in the once-buzzing players’ parking lot, smoking. “Yeah? You rented out a restaurant or something? Everywhere we go to is closed now.”

Austin groaned, swiping his face with the palm of his hand. “Shit, I’m sorry. We got caught up.”

She said nothing.

“Damn, do you want to hear my news at least?” he asked, taken aback by the show of her festering feelings. “They want to headline me on the next HOOPS video game.”

She was still silent.

“Damn, at least pretend to be happy,” he snapped, climbing into the back seat of the Cullinan. “Can you do that for me?”

“I do. All the time, Austin. I’ve done it for years, and I don’t ask you for much in return. Five minutes is what you told me, and you couldn’t bother to tell me that it was going to take longer? You have no consideration for me.”

“Mo, it was business.” Austin’s hunger to never return to the ten blocks of the hood had skewed the vision of what was really important. If he didn’t have Mone’t, he didn’t have anything.

“No, it was Jermel finding another way to impede. It’s getting old. This is getting old.”

Austin’s face scrunched, and he drew his head back. “What’s getting old, Mo? This?” Austin twirled his finger around the interior of the luxury car he paid cash for. “I busted my ass tonight. I expected my wife to be excited about that. It’s the same shit day in and out. You have an attitude about this and that. You have help!”

“Help isn’t you!” she shouted back.

“Two part-time nannies and my mama. I’m out here providing. The least you could do is meet me halfway and be grateful for this shit!”

“Whoa,” Musa interrupted. “The Hills have eyes and ears. Don’t give these people a story. Table this.”

Mone’t sucked in a deep breath and looked out the window. “No need. Just take my ungrateful ass home.”

“You know damn well that’s not what I meant.” Austin slammed the door of the truck and sank into the leather. His words were echoing in his head, but pride had sat itself between the couple and refused to move.

Austin’s frustrated wife sighed heavily and rose her eyes to the . . .