“Be honest, Sienna,” I said to myself. “The only reason you’re this bothered by his family is because of how thoughtful he was for making sure you still had a nice Thanksgiving dinner.”
It was true. That small act of kindness spoke volumes. Synder cared about family.
“And now you’re smitten,” I mumbled. Well, if it was up to me, Synder was going to have the best Christmas of his life. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Pausing what I was doing, I went to my laptop and ordered a few things. I was going to make Synder’s holidays magical.
The Jets were finally back home for their next game. I sat in my usual seat, and Whimsy sat next to me. By now, I thought I’d get tired of being in this atmosphere. However, the more games I went to, the more I enjoyed them. The only downside was the cameras all in my face. That was something I couldn’t see myself getting used to.
“Tee-Tee!” Whimsy shouted. She pointed toward two women walking courtside. Players were on the court doing shoot-arounds and a few were distracted by the women’s fierce struts toward their seats; one I recognized right away. Yakira Sneaux was just as beautiful as the pictures of her hanging up insideSynder’s den. The other one had her eyes on me, but I didn’t know her from a can of paint.
Yakira smiled brightly and came up to us to hug Whimsy, who clung to me as if she didn’t know Yakira. Yakira didn’t speak to me, which made me chuckle to myself. Her homegirl didn’t speak either. Clearly, they wanted me to know they weren’t fucking with me. Whatever they had against me was their issue. Seeing how I’d never met either one of them, their behavior was strange.
After Yakira made small talk with Whimsy, she and her homegirl walked away and went to their seats, which were directly behind me and Whimsy. Synder came onto the court looking magnificent in his uniform. By now, I knew his first order of business was to come fist bump Whimsy…and me.
His eyes held mine as he neared us. The softness that was there disappeared when Yakira called his name.
“Girl, yo’ brother is so fine!” the girl, who was with Yakira, stated. They giggled, then cackled.
Instantly, they unsettled my spirit. I went from enjoying being here to wishing I was back in Niceville Shores—
“You good, baby?” Syn questioned. It wasn’t his question that rendered me speechless and halted my thoughts, rather it was his touch to my chin. As if he didn’t just spark a fire inside me, he bent to kiss Whimsy’s forehead, then fist bumped her. Somehow, I found myself in order to connect my fist with his larger, tattooed waiting fist. “You good?” he asked again.
“Yes,” I replied while glancing up at his towering frame. As he peered down at me, the softness returned to his eyes and a devilish grin accompanied it. Maybe he could tell that he was breaking me down.
“Have a good game,” I told him.
Suddenly, he was close. His lips touched my ear. “I love when you tell me that.”
In an instant, he was towering over me again. The grin said it all. He knew exactly what he was doing to me.
“Syn!” Yakira called, interrupting our moment. Synder chucked his head at his sister, then kissed Whimsy’s forehead again.
“Be good for Sienna, aight?” he said.
“I be good!” Whimsy replied. Synder bumped fists with us once more before he joined his teammates on the court.
CHAPTER 13
SIENNA
Throughoutthegame,Yakiraand her homegirl’s snarky comments were drowned out by the roar of the crowd, booming of the music and announcer. The more Yakira attempted to get Whimsy’s attention, the more Whimsy clung to me. She didn’t even want to sit with her auntie. That had nothing to do with me. Of course, Yakira took offense. As the game neared the ending, she forcefully tried to make Whimsy come to her.
“She’s fine right here,” I spoke over the chaos of referee whistles that sounded off followed by the crowd’s loud jeering. The Jets were down by two points with fifteen seconds left inthe game. I was trying to root for Synder and his teammates, but these birds were adding stress to an already stressful situation.
Yakira rolled her eyes so hard at me that I laughed in her face. That set off her and her homegirl.
“Turn around before you get smacked, ho!” her homegirl warned.
If it weren’t for Whimsy, I would’ve dared this girl to smack me. I was on the job, though, and they weren’t doing anything except taunting me to get me out of character. With my blood simmering, I glared hard at her. I wanted to leap over this seat and strangle her.
“Sienna…”
Somehow, Synder’s low, deep voice broke through the cacophony of noise. I turned to see him standing a few feet away, on the sidelines. Intently, he stared at me. He did so until the referee tossed him the ball. Back in game mode, he threw the ball inbounds. Everyone held their breath as his teammate threw the ball back at him. Like butter, Synder spun away from his defender, stepped behind the three-point line, and shot the ball. His sideline three-pointer made the loudestswooshsound as it entered the net. The crowd went crazy. I did too. Fuck his sister and her cockatoo-looking friend. Synder was the star of this show.
On the ride to Synder’s house, he asked, “My sister or her friend say anything crazy to you?”
I glanced at his profile and shrugged. “You know how women can be. Sisters included.”
“Nah, that ain’t what I asked you, mama. You looked upset. What happened?” he questioned.
