Chapter twenty

22:47, 9 December 2024

A'ja Wilson-Love

The moment hung suspended. Frozen.

Te'a moved first. Quick. Panicked. Her movements were sharp, calculating. She grabbed her things—phone, jacket, keys—in one smooth motion.

"I'll, uh... I'll call you later," she mumbled to Jordyn, not even looking at me. Her eyes darted around the room like a trapped animal.

And just like that. She was gone.

The door clicked shut.

Jordyn stood there. Frozen. Caught.

"A'ja," she started. One word. Loaded with everything and nothing.

"Don't," I said. My voice was calm. Too calm. The kind of calm that precedes a hurricane.

She took a step forward. I took a step back.

"Baby, it's not—"

"Not what?" I interrupted. "Not what it looks like? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like exactly what it seems."

Jordyn's face crumpled. The tough athlete persona dissolved. What remained was something vulnerable. Broken.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. Tears already forming.

"Sorry you got caught?" I asked. My hand unconsciously went to my stomach. To the secret I'd been carrying. The hope we'd been planning.

"No," she said. Her voice broke. "Sorry I destroyed everything we built."

The room felt suffocating. Every memory we'd shared seemed to press against the walls. Our wedding photos. The moments we'd planned. The future we'd imagined.

"Tell me," I said. Not a request. A demand.

Jordyn sank onto the bed. Looked up at me. Her eyes were a storm of pain, guilt, desperation.

"It started small," she began. "Te'a... she was different. Confident. Always around during the tournament. The team was stressed. We were all living this intense moment."

I didn't move. Didn't speak. Just watched.

"The first night, we were at this bar. Drinks. The atmosphere. Something felt... electric. She kept touching me. Small touches. Professional, but not. A hand on my back. Fingers brushing mine."

Her voice was monotone now. Like she was reciting a script she'd rehearsed a thousand times.

"I should have stopped it. Should have been clear. But I was weak. Tired. The tournament was consuming everything. And she... she made me feel seen in a way I hadn't felt in months."

"Seen?" I repeated. The word felt foreign. Dangerous.

"Not just as an athlete. As a person. Someone struggling. Someone who felt... lost."

I wanted to scream. To break something. To make her feel a fraction of the pain I was feeling.

"How far?" The question escaped my lips before I could stop it.

Jordyn's breakdown was immediate. Ugly crying. The kind that comes from a place of complete emotional destruction.

"Everything," she whispered. "We... we slept together. Multiple times. During the tournament. In her hotel room. After games. Before games. I..."

She couldn't finish the sentence.

My world tilted. Shifted. Broke.

My hand found my bag. Fingers wrapped around something. The pregnancy test I'd been waiting to surprise her with. The hope we'd talked about. The future we'd planned.

I pulled it out. Positive. Clear as day.

And I threw it.

Directly at her.

It hit her chest. Fell to the floor.

Then my wedding ring followed.

Gold. Glinting. A promise broken.

"You're pregnant?" She asked. The words felt foreign. Full of regret.

Jordyn's cry was primal. Raw. A sound of pure, unadulterated pain.

"A'ja, please—"

But I was already moving. Bag in hand. Future destroyed.

She tried to grab me. To stop me.

"Don't touch me," I said. Cold. Final.

The hallway swallowed me. The hotel became a blur.

My phone buzzed. Jackie.

I didn't answer.

My world had just ended.

And no one—not Jordyn, not Te'a, not anyone—could put it back together again.

The elevator doors closed.

I was alone.

Pregnant.

Betrayed.

Broken.

I stormed out of the hotel, each step heavier than the last. The cold night air slapped me in the face, sharp and unrelenting. My breath came out in quick, shallow bursts, the weight of the last hour pressing hard against my chest.

The pregnancy test had been an anchor, holding me steady in the storm of uncertainty. Now, it felt like a cruel joke.

I reached my car and collapsed into the driver's seat, gripping the steering wheel like it was the only thing keeping me from falling apart completely.

I thought about calling Jackie. Or Angel . Or anyone who might say something to make this unbearable ache subside. But I couldn't. I couldn't say it out loud.

The tears came, unbidden, hot and heavy. I'd spent so long building a life with Jordyn, a future I thought was unshakable. And now...

Now, I was pregnant. Alone.

A wave of nausea hit me. Not the morning sickness I'd been quietly dealing with for weeks, but something deeper. Something that came from the pit of my soul.

And then, the thought came.

I could end this.

The moment it surfaced, it shocked me. But it didn't go away.

I stared at the dashboard, my hand drifting to my stomach. The child growing inside me didn't deserve this chaos. This betrayal. This broken home.

It didn't deserve to be born into a world where its parents couldn't even keep a promise to each other.

I pulled out my phone. My OB-GYN's number was saved at the top of my contacts. My finger hovered over the call button.

This isn't right, I thought. Not like this.

I closed my eyes, trying to steady my breathing. The thought kept circling back. It wasn't just about Jordyn or Te'a or the betrayal. It was about me. About what I could handle.

Could I do this? Could I bring a child into this mess?

My thumb pressed down, and the line rang. Once. Twice.

"Henderson Obstetrics ," a voice answered, calm and professional.

"Hi," I said, my voice trembling. "I need to make an appointment."

The words hung in the air, final and terrifying.

"When would you like to come in?"

"As soon as possible," I replied.

The receptionist gave me a date and time. I scribbled it down on a crumpled napkin from the passenger seat.

"Thank you," I said, ending the call.

I sat in the silence of my car, the enormity of what I'd just done sinking in.

The appointment was a week away. Seven days to decide if I was strong enough to face this.

Seven days to figure out who I was without Jordyn.