8. Omiri #2
It was weird as hell that we were cool like this. Instead of cursing my existence, Makari and I were becoming friends, or at the very least co-parents, that weren’t at war twenty-four-seven.
“That’s your damn fault for putting me on the 4 a.m. feedings. I see you stay handing them shits over quick as hell when I’m here.”
She smiled big as hell. “You said you wanted the full experience.”
“Nah, you just want me to suffer.”
In the past couple weeks I had been here more than I had been at my own crib. I crashed on the sofa which meant Makari got to sleep through the night. I wasn’t mad about our new family structure because I was getting closer to Avi.
There were even times when she reached for me the minute I walked in the door and even chose me over her mother sometimes when the three of us were chilling. I knew Avi’s bond with me occasionally hurt Makari’s feelings but she was being a G about adjusting to sharing our daughter.
“I’ll get her changed ’cause she just blew this diaper up then I’m going to head out.”
“I can do it.” I shot her a look and she grinned and threw her hands up. “Fine, have fun with that. She had cereal today.”
I got Avi changed, handed her off to Makari, and was on my way downtown.
The routine I settled into over the past three weeks was a complete one-eighty from what I had been used to.
My morning started with bottles and diaper changes when I stayed at Makari’s spot, and when I was at mine, my baby’s pretty face was on my phone while I did a video call.
My nights were no longer bottles of Black Ops and running through women.
They were spent getting soaked while giving Avi a bath then chilling with Makari, watching random shit that usually had me crashing while she talked to the TV, yelling at the people on reality TV shows.
It felt like we had been doing this for years and I was starting to struggle with what we really were.
Even though my dick stayed bricked all the time, it wasn’t just about me wanting sex.
Makari was cool people when she wasn’t coming for my head.
The downside to all of this was that I wasn’t sure if I was clinging to whatever the hell we were settling into because it was easier than focusing on what I lost or if I just liked the idea of Makari and Avi being a constant in my life.
When I made it to my agent’s office and walked into the conference room where he was waiting, he glared at me and I chuckled, knowing he hated dealing with me sometimes. But with the amount of money I put in his pockets, he was going to have to roll with it.
“You’re late.”
“I’m here.” I took a seat next to him and leaned back in the chair. “What do you have for me?”
“Energy drink campaign.” He slid a folder in front of me and I scanned the proposal and shook my head.
“Nah, we can pass on this.”
“You didn’t even consider it.”
“I looked at the numbers and it’s not enough to be attached to that brand. They can’t offer me enough to put my name on that shit.”
The brand was known for its association with wild ass parties, build a body women, and questionable decisions. They alluded to a lot of stuff that was promoted with sexually explicit content and visuals.
“Do you want me to negotiate a higher number?”
“No, it’s not a good fit.”
“They’re offering seven figures for a photo shoot and social media post.”
“I already told you I was looking for endorsements that align with where I’m heading, not where I’ve been.”
“And exactly where are you heading because last I checked your brand was the NFL quarterback who never missed a party but still delivered championships. That’s what we’ve been selling for the past two years.”
He was right but I didn’t want my name attached to shit like that now.
I had to think about how that would look, and honestly, I didn’t need the money.
I also wasn’t about to explain that shit to him, mostly because I didn’t have to, but also because I didn’t want to tell him I had a daughter to consider and my face on print ads with women in thongs wasn’t what I wanted out there in the world.
“The final decision is mine and it’s a no for me.”
Tony’s expression tightened. “So I’m guessing the rumors are true then?”
“What rumors?”
“That you have a kid.”
My jaw locked tight as I glared at Tony. “Where the fuck you hear that?”
“Doesn’t fucking matter. It’s out there and I didn’t hear it from you, Omiri. Your agent should have been the first person you contacted about this.”
“Me having a daughter doesn’t have shit to do with the deals you broker for me; so there was no need to run this by you.”
“You just turned down three point two million because you want to be mindful of your image. You having a kid has everything to do with the deals I broker for you.”
I shrugged, still not giving a damn, and he sighed.
“But I can work with this. It will take some convincing, but if we get the three of you out there publicly, I can sell you as a family man and that will bring in different offers. Reformed playboy turned daddy of the year. That’s a good look for long-term money. More stability and a broader reach.”
“Nah, that doesn’t work. I’m not putting my daughter out there for a check.”
“Then what is it you want me to do?” He was getting annoyed and I didn’t give a damn.”
“You’re the agent. Figure that shit out or I can find a new one.”
He locked his jaw and I could already tell this situation with us was no longer going to work.
We had been back and forth on a lot of things over the past year.
After I lost O’Rion, I bailed on a lot of commitments which meant threats of breaching contractual agreements.
He claimed it made him look bad but my name was in the companies’ mouths, not my agent’s. My pockets suffered, not his.
“And what about the kid?”
I angled my head to the side, grilling the fuck out of him. “My daughter is not your concern.”
“Have you talked to Vanessa? People are already whispering about it. It’s going to leak sooner or later. We need to get ahead of this.”
“ We don’t need to do shit. I’ll run it by Van and we’ll deal with it. Is that all you have for me?”
He nodded stiffly and I lifted from the chair. “Aight, I’ll holla at you and no announcements about this, Kari, or my daughter. We’re keeping it private. We’ll handle it on our own timeline.”
When he didn’t respond, I grilled his ass again and he threw his hands up. “Fine.”
As soon as I was out of his office, I hit Vanessa’s line and it went to voicemail.
I let her know I needed to holler at her then ended the call.
Tony was about to be replaced and I needed Vanessa to look into people already knowing about Avi.
She was going to be pissed that I hadn’t hit her up about it already but I could deal with that as long as she could deal with making sure we got ahead of this.
“You made it.” Makari seemed surprised when she opened the door and saw me. I took Avi from her arms and situated her on my left side while I grabbed the stroller with my right. She stepped out and locked the door while I headed to my truck in the driveway.
“We can take my car. You don’t have a car seat.”
“I have one,” was all I said as I moved to the rear of my Range and pressed the button to open the trunk after I leaned the stroller against the bumper until it was open enough for me to lift it into the back.
Makari rounded the truck, frowning at me. “You have a car seat?”
“Yeah, the same one you have.”
“When did you do that?”
“Last week. I took a picture of yours and showed it to the lady at the store. She hooked me up.”
She frowned hard as hell. “And did she put it in for you too?”
I smirked and nodded. “You gonna be mad if I say yes?”
Makari glared at me, walked to the passenger rear door, and yanked it open. I watched her, enjoying that thick ass body and plump ass while she checked the straps and made unnecessary adjustments before she reached for Avi. “She did it wrong.”
“Nah, she didn’t do anything wrong…” I paused and she opened her mouth to argue but I cut her off. “Chill, man, she didn’t do shit wrong because she didn’t help me. I did it myself and all that tugging and shit you were doing was unnecessary.”
I bumped her out the way and instead of handing off Avi I buckled her in myself. She stood there watching me, waiting, but I nudged her forward and shut the door ,knowing she was about to try and go behind me.
“Get in the truck, Kari. I know what I’m doing.”
“Oh, so you’re an expert now?”
“No, but I’m smart enough to not put my baby at risk.”
She smiled and turned her head but got in the truck. I rounded the front and got in the driver’s seat.
When I backed out the driveway she pulled her phone out of Avi’s diaper bag and unlocked the screen. “I didn’t think you were going to make it.”
“I’m trying this new thing called responsibility. I’m not crazy enough to get on your bad side again. Them little ass hands of yours got some work with them.”
“Cute.”
“Cute is for little boys and babies. I’m a grown ass man.”
“I was talking about your sarcasm, not you. Did everything go okay with your meeting?”
“Yeah, it was straight.”
Things were good with us. I didn’t want to start an argument by mentioning that Tony knew about Avi. I’d deal with that at some point, but right now, we were in a vibe.
“So how are we going to do this?”
“What do you mean?”
“The doctor part. We can’t just walk up in there…” She paused and frowned at me. “I mean, I can but I would prefer you didn’t. People know your face.”
“You scared to be seen with me?”
“No but if we’re keeping Avi out of the spotlight, then she doesn’t need to be attached to your face.”
I glanced at her. “You keep mentioning my face. You got a thing for my face, Kari?”
“Other than it’s recognizable, no, bring that ego down a few notches please.” She cut her eyes my way.
“I called yesterday and made sure we could be in and out without causing problems.”