11. Makari
Makari
T hese rookies are getting worse with each draft…
"Taven, showing up forty minutes late to an event for kids and spending the majority of the time you're there on your phone is not just unprofessional. It's disrespectful."
Taven McClain, the newly drafted wide receiver for Crescent Falls Sharks, shrugged and looked back at me unapologetically. "I had some shit to take care of. That call was about a potential endorsement."
"I understand, but you were at a community event where you were in the middle of teaching kids how to catch a football.
You were supposed to be focused and present with them, not treating your time with them like a publicity stunt.
Did you see the link I sent you? There's an actual photo of you turning your back to the group of kids you were in charge of to take a call. "
"I was there. That's good enough and damn sure better than most players."
"Most players, yes, but not the players on the Sharks’ roster. They're very serious about giving back and showing up is not the same as being in the moment or building bonds in the community. A community you are now a part of thanks to the very generous contract you were offered."
"Man, that contract don't have shit to do with the community. It's about me being on the field and securing wins."
"If that's what you think then find another team and fast. The Sharks are the community. These kids look up to the players and that means you."
"Damn, you're sure pushing hard for this. You on their payroll too?"
I grinned. "No, I'm an independent contractor, but I work closely with a lot of the athletes in the city, so I know how this works. Trust me, you don't want to be considered an outsider."
"Aight, I feel you but…"
Before he could finish that sentence by adding another dismissive comment, someone knocked on my door, interrupting the moment. I grabbed my phone and quickly checked the cameras, recognizing the large body on my porch.
"Taven, hang on for a second." I muted the video call, lifted from the sofa, and headed to the door. Omiri had his eyes on me as soon as I yanked it open with that lazy grin in place that had me questioning my entire life because why the hell was I so entranced by this fine ass man?
Because he's fine and fucks you unapologetically…
My eyes glided over him from head to toe, taking in the gray sweats with Sharks branding on them. His hands were submerged in the pockets of the sweats, giving him a laidback look.
"’Sup, you busy?"
"On a—" Before I could finish, he pulled his hands free. They landed at my waist and I was moved into his chest. His mouth was on mine, cutting off my sentence, and I moaned into the kiss until I found some sense.
"I'm on a call. I thought you had football stuff today."
"I did. OTAs were cut short. The rookies are feeling themselves a little too much so Coach made them run to adjust their attitudes and sent us home."
"Avi's not here."
"I know where my baby is. I just got off a call with her.
" Tiana asked to get Avi for the weekend and I welcomed the break.
But when I told Omiri he wasn't feeling it and only agreed to let her stay if he had all Tiana's contact information and dropped her off himself.
It was cute that he was so easily settling into being such a protective father.
"Do not harass them all weekend."
He grinned sexily. "Didn’t you say you were on a call?"
"Shit, yes. I need to go."
"Aight, I'm chilling." He stepped forward and I placed my hand on his chest.
"I'm working."
Him being around while Avi was here was easy. She was our distraction. Us alone was tempting fate.
"I said I'm chilling. Go handle your latest fuckup. Who you working with anyway?"
"I can't tell you that. Client confidentiality." I fought a smile when he frowned at me.
"Bruh, you aren’t a lawyer."
"No, I'm not, but if my clients can't trust me to keep their identities and private matters private, they won't hire me."
"Aight, I'll behave, but when you're done with that I have plans for us."
"What kind of plans?"
"The kind that requires you naked."
My face blazed and my pussy clenched. "Please go sit down, be quiet, and stay out of the way so he can't see you."
"He?"
"Omiri…" I warned.
"I'm straight. Go do your thing." He chuckled and settled on the opposite end of the sofa, out of view from my laptop. I unmuted the video chat and Taven grinned.
"There your pretty ass goes. I thought you dipped on me because I was being difficult."
From the corner of my eye I could see Omiri's frown surface and felt him glaring at my profile. I didn't have to turn his way to know he was not feeling the comment. His energy was so damn loud.
"Taven, focus please. I would like to discuss how to redirect everyone's energy with your community commitment."
"You're overthinking. It's not that damn serious. I showed up, signed some autographs, and took some pictures. What the hell else do they expect?"
"They expect you to be genuine and care. You have to be involved and not just going through the motions for positive PR."
"I feel you, but for real though, you're fine as shit when you're all serious and on my ass. I think we should get dinner later so you can discuss my community engagement in person and I can see that pretty face of yours up close and personal."
Omiri's stare was blazing the side of my face and I could feel his irritation weighted as hell in the room.
"I'm not having dinner with you, Taven. My only commitment to you is fixing your image, not stroking your ego. Now will you please focus so I can explain what's next?" I kept my voice professional but wanted to laugh at Omiri glaring at me.
"You sound mean as hell but I like that. I don't mind working for your attention." Taven's sexy young ass leaned in closer to the camera with a cocky grin. "What I gotta do to get you to say yes? I'm persistent as hell when it comes to getting what I want."
"What you're going to get is dropped as a client if you don't?—"
My laptop slammed shut with more force than necessary and I jerked my head to find Omiri standing over me with his jaw locked tight and his eyes narrowed on me.
"What the hell? You just ended a client meeting." I was annoyed but also amused because clearly he was jealous.
"Nah, you were in the middle of that disrespectful muthafucker trying to get you in his bed. Fuck that call."
He locked his arms over his chest, making the muscles in them flex while he mean mugged me.
"You can't just…" He glared at me and I almost laughed. He was definitely jealous. It was all over his face and in that hateful ass attitude. "You are really pressed about this."
"I'm pressed about him trying to fuck like I'm not sitting here."
"He doesn't know you were here."
"Oh, so you're cool with him pushing up on you like that?"
"No, and you shouldn't care. You do realize I'm not yours to be worried about, right?" I arched my brow and tried incredibly hard to fight the smile that was surfacing.
"You're my daughter's mother."
I rolled my eyes and lifted my phone from the sofa to send Taven a text.
Me: Sorry, technical difficulty. I'll draft your responses for next week and set them up to post. I'll also send a list of community activities to your publicist that will show your commitment to being a Shark and will check in next week.
Before I could lock my phone, Omiri took it from my hands and started scanning the messages.
His frown got deeper the more he scrolled.
"You aren’t checking shit with him next week.
Not if he thinks it's cool to shoot his shot instead of handling business, and why the hell does he keep calling you beautiful every other text? "
He was scrolling through my phone, mumbling to himself. "We just drafted this little disrespectful ass muthafucker."
"He's a kid and unprofessional, but I'm working on that…"
Omiri grilled the hell out of me. "That's not your job, Kari."
"His online presence is my job and part of that is making sure he understands the importance of being professional, even with me."
"Nah, that's not your responsibility. He has an agent and team for that. He says something dumb, you fix that shit. He says something dumb to or about you, I fix that shit."
I stood and reached for my phone but he held it out of the way and stepped back.
"Will you please give me my phone?"
"When I'm done, yeah. I need to read the rest of y'all's conversations."
He dropped his eyes back to the screen and continued scanning and swiping with his jaw clenching tighter. There wasn't anything there besides Taven's endless flirting and compliments and me shutting him down or redirecting him back to business.
"You're acting crazy right now."
"I'm being protective of my daughter's mother." He glared at me and handed my phone back, looking like he wanted to snatch me up. "And I'm knocking that young muthafucker on his ass at camp tomorrow."
"No you are not." I shoved a finger into his chest trying hard to stay serious but really wanting to laugh.
"Yes the fuck I am."
"You are not going to touch him over me. I can handle it."
"Yeah aight," he mumbled.
"Omiri, I'm serious."
"Shit, me too." He stepped to me. "But now that I know how these niggas are getting down with your so-called business, we need to address some stuff."
"Like what?"
"Like the fact that you're cool with shit like that knowing you’re not single."
I laughed hard. "I'm very much single."
"Nah, not the way I've been in them guts every night over the past week. That's plural like a muthafucker. Single is one. Your pussy and my dick make two."
I rolled my eyes. "That's just sex. Not a relationship. I'm single, Omiri. Nothing with us is defined."
"Aight then, let's define things." He dropped his hands to my hips and yanked me flush against his body. "We're in a little situation and I'm cool with keeping that exclusive. No other niggas getting your attention and no other women getting mine."