“That’s how you run, nigga!Fast Moneyall day!” Runt was grinning as he put me back on my feet and I held up my palm before flipping imaginary dollar bills off of it. The cameras were moving around us as me and Grant crossed arms in the air before heading toward our sideline.
“You made that shit look easy. How many yards you going for this year?”
I laughed but I couldn’t do it too deeply because I’d run about forty yards and needed to catch my breath. “Keep feeding me the ball and we’ll find out.”
He grinned and nodded his head at my confidence. “That’s what I’m talking ‘bout, Money.”
The win was expected but it still felt good to get it out of the way. We’d balled out on both sides of the ball and damn it felt good. I almost threw out my damn back when Ant ran that pick back for a touchdown. He was carrying that shit high and tight just like I’d shown him and I was probably screaming as loud as Antwan was cheering him on. He and his girl were going to be all over the headlines this week and I was thankful they were both getting the recognition they’d deserved.
I did the media rounds as fast as I could, happy that they kept their questions brief because I wanted to see my baby, my girl and my mama. Ling had advised me on the outfit that I should wear tonight after we’d done that shopping with Ant and his girl. I kept it traditional for the first game with a dark suit and dress shoes. I wanted to keep the wilder stuff for later in the season and show up today looking to handle business. I’d done that so I could relax slightly. Besides that initial touchdown, I’d run for a second and racked up 162 yards. It was a good first game and I was grateful for a fast start.
I went to the area where our families were waiting for us speaking to everyone and handing out hugs before I saw my mama holding Ami in her arms. Sterling had gotten my jerseys and added these custom Mama patches over our last name. The tutu outfit she’d made by attaching the baby version of my jersey to a skirt she’d made of leftover jersey material had my baby looking adorable. Ami wanted to see more and do more and since she was almost six months old she was about to start solids in the next few weeks. Between her sitting up and starting to scoot, I couldn’t handle how fast she was growing.
Ami’s face broke into a grin as soon as she saw me and she started to kick her little bootie-covered feet to get to me. My whole body got that warm feeling only she could give me and I didn’t think I’d ever felt something so innocently perfect as my daughter being happy to see me.
I finally reached them and leaned over to kiss my mama’s cheek before I took my baby from her. “Where’s Ling?”
“She was handling the closing up of the suite and should be down any second.” My mama looked around before her eyes fixed on someone over my shoulder. “There she is.”
I turned around and, gotdamn my eyes wanted to roll out of my head like theHowlin’ Wolfcartoon used to. Sterling had the audacity to have her thighs out in these leather shorts that were tasteful but made her body look crazy. I had walked toward her without thinking but my mama laughing at me stopped me in my tracks. Her jersey was cropped showing off a sliver of her stomach and my chain was nestled comfortably on her chest. Her face lit up when her eyes found me but I wasn’t sure if it was because of me or Ami. She headed in our direction walking shyly and I needed her to cut that shit out. When she got within arm’s reach of me I wrapped my free arm around her to pull her into me and kissed her like I missed her. Which I did because it had been three nights since I shared a bed with her. We normally ended up sleeping in her room to be closer to Ami in case she woke up in the middle of the night. I didn’t even mind the lil ass bed in there because it gave me a reason to be right up on her all night.
I knew I was doing too much cause I felt my body responding to her in front of all these people. My hand dipped lower from her back and rested on the top of her ass, battling the urge to squeeze it in public.
Can’t be fondling my girl in front of all these people.
“Boy, turn her loose!”
My mama would of course be the one to bring me back to reality but I would’ve kept going if Sterling hadn’t pulled back slightly.
I cut my eyes at my mama and she had her brows raised in a silentsay something. Sonya liked to use her big kid words a lil too freely so I wasn’t about to test her gangsta in front of my teammates.
Sterling had her lips folded like she was fighting a smile and when I looked at my baby even she was laughing at me.
“Not you too, Ami.” She grinned harder, the little tooth she’d taken us through hell to break through poking out from her bottom gums. She looked completely unbothered at my getting in trouble with my mama.
“Let me get her before you go back to acting like I didn’t raise you to be a gentleman.” My mama reached for my baby who went straight to her without issue. The way my mama’s face lit up to hold Ami gave me that feeling of contentment again.
“You act like I didn’t catch you and Daddy many timesbeing amorouswith each other.”
“Shut up, Aldrich. I’m glad you learned something.”
“You look good as hell, Ling.” Her head dipped bashfully and when’s he looked back up she was grinning. “What’s so funny, Ling?”
“Your favorite girls got you a present.” She bit her lip as she grinned and I knew that my gift wasn’t pussy but I was going to be excited about whatever it was. When she lifted her hand it held a box that I knew was a jeweler’s case and my face frowned up.
“Tesoro, what the hell is that?”
“A gift. Open it.” She shoved the box toward me with a grin so I couldn’t refuse it.
“Ling, I know you didn’t—”
“Aldrich, I promise you don’t want to complain about this right now.” Sterling cocked her head to the side and folded her arms over her chest.
“Are you going to let me give you my gift?” I couldn’t believe she had refused jewelry from me but was handing me this box like she was my sugar mama.
“Maybe.”
My lips thinned but I said nothing. I opened the box and couldn’t believe what the hell was in the box. I shut it quickly and looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “You serious, Ling?”
