“Thank you.”
I stepped closer to her and pulled her to me. With one hand on her hip and the other on the stroller, I gave her a deep, quick kiss. I might be eager to get her home, but I wasn’t going to compromise having my eyes on my little one even if we had a bunch of people around us.
I turned and kissed her neck before I whispered in her ear. “Whoever you ordered them from go buy every color. I know them boots gone feel soft as fuck on my shoulders later.”
I moved away quickly and bent to the stroller as Ling’s ass stood there too flustered to speak for a moment.
“Aldrich!”
“Yeah okay, you know what name to call me when I’m deep in—”
“Money!”
The insistent way the person said my name had us both turning abruptly even though we’d both been trying to avoid speaking to anyone we didn’t know.
We were on the outskirts of my teammates greeting their family and the woman who’d called me was wearing a facility crew outfit. I relaxed and hated that I hadn’t immediately recognized who she was. I never wanted to be one of those players who overlooked the people who kept everything going, but I couldn’t place this woman. As she approached us I noticed she was older than we were, with olive-colored skin and light brown hair that washed out her features. She had the type of eyes that showed her family kept it in the family and her family tree was probably a garland instead of sycamore. They were extra recessive blue and rhuemy like they were chronically wet with too many popped blood vessels.
Branches crossing back and forth over one another.
When she stopped in front of us her eyes landed on Ami and Ling immediately tensed and stepped in front of her stroller. That put me on guard and I moved toward the woman so that they were behind me. “Hi, I’m sorry for not remembering you, but is there something you needed?”
“Aldrich Dinero? You’ve been served.”
The woman’s grin was so triumphant I didn’t have the time to be angry that she’d thrown this at me. I didn’t have a problem with being served. I knew she didn’t understand the grave mistake she’d made by using whatever means she had to get back into this area instead of waiting to serve me when we got out into the parking lot or hunting me down in the street.
“Thanks. Do I need to sign anything to attest that I’ve received the summons?”
I was playing it cool, both dimples popped out of my cheeks and I knew that I had thrown her for a loop. She expected me to go off. To rage or rip the paper up — and I couldn’t be more proud of myself for keeping it cool. It was clear this setup was twofold: to get the paperwork to me and then for someone to catch my reaction on camera so they could make me a headline. I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of either.
The process server stood there and shuffled her feet as though she were waiting on something and Sterling couldn’t help but be petty.
“Are you looking for a tip, or something? I’m sorry whoever hired you isn’t paying you well but I don’t have any cash, do you, Money?”
The impenetrable professional mask was broken momentarily as I slid my now seductively narrowed eyes toward her. She knew what she was doing. She only called me Money on two occasions: when she was rocking the mic or when I was making her cum. The distraction worked because my body instantly relaxed.
“Nah, I don’t. Sorry for you.” I shrugged as I turned to look and the woman and then smiled when I realized that her day was going to get so much worse.
“Money, you good?”
Oh, this was about to get good.
I watched Parker with his hands intertwined with Tiana’s head our way. She was sporting a grin that was bigger than the rock he’d put on her finger. He’d proposed to her at their Thanksgiving gathering at Stew’s house privately in the backyard but only after asking her parents’ permission. He didn’t want her to feel pressured to say yes in front of a bunch of people but in true Tiana fashion she’d said yes then run intothe house screaming she was a fiancée. The video that Rachelle sent around to the girls’ group chat was the funniest shit ever. Their dinner was smaller this year because of the new baby, but their core family was there. There was only one picture of them together when she said yes because he wanted the moment to be private but also wanted it captured for them. Parker had that shit blown up and was hanging behind his desk in his office.
Cupid got another one.
There was no mistaking that he adored this woman and everyone had better take note or feel his wrath. Just like this sneaky bitch standing between us was about to.
Flanking him was the security that watched over him and Tiana whenever they were anywhere besides home and the facility. They looked like NFL royalty with Tiana wearing Desperados blue leather pants and a long black silk shirt beneath a black floor-length fur and boots.
Fur had to be the WAGs theme of the day because everyone seemed to be wearing it.
“Well, I’m done—”
The process server tried to walk away but one of Parker’s security guards stepped in her path.
“No, don’t leave. Who are you? I sit in on every change that happens within this facility and I don’t remember hiring anyone new.” Parker had released Tiana’s hand and moved to stand in front of her. They looked like a chessboard with everyone protecting the queen. When he slid his hand into his pocket I had to smirk because I knew that look.
She looked around realizing that we surrounded her and now she needed to talk her way out of this situation. “I’m—”
