Sterling #4
“Having to regain it after you let yourself go. I can’t imagine having to cut forty or fifty pounds like some of our guys do when it’s time for camp.
Or the ones that are getting older and they have relied on their metabolism instead of discipline, and now have to rely on bullshit gimmicks to get the weight off. It’s fucked up.”
“But not you.”
“I’ve known my career has a finite amount of time. I’m not one to think that I’m going to last over eight years. Ten if I’m lucky and twelve if I can do the impossible. But nobody wants to be knocked around on their ass for years at a time. It takes its toll.”
“That’s why you have all the fancy stuff in the basement.”
“Yeah.”
“I understand. And all I can say is I’ll try to do better.”
When he reached across the table to take my hand it caught me off guard.
Aldrich had never contacted me on purpose that way and I had to wonder what was up.
I didn’t tense up and I guess he realized his actions didn’t bother me.
His eyes were looking deep into mine as though he were trying to ensure I wasn’t offended.
He gave my hands a squeeze as he watched me and now I was curious as to what he had to say.
“I’m not trying to change shit about you, but just like you checked me on my shit I gotta do the same for you. You can’t be passing out because you’re malnourished or something crazy like that.” The concern on his face surprised me but I needed to remind him I could do my job.
“I wouldn’t do that to Ami.”
He frowned and I knew I’d said something to piss him off. “This isn’t just about Ami, it’s about you, Ling. I would want you to be at your best and it’s not because of Ami. Dang, I can’t worry about you as a person?”
Aldrich’s eyes were boring too deeply into mine and I needed him to look away or blink or something.
He had the type of look that would have me spilling my guts if he kept on.
No one looked out for me. Not unless they’d been paid to do it.
No one besides Dalton so this was in fact a novel experience.
“You can.”
He squeezed my hand before he leaned back and grinned. The remnants of our meal were spread out between us but I felt as though we were still linked. “I was going to anyway but I’m glad to have your permission.”
“I've got a request to make of you.”
I had finally plopped my body down onto one of the benches that were littered throughout the room. This was a part of the house I’d never been in and hadn’t ever had a reason to. And after today I never wanted to come back again. “A request? After you just tried to kill me?”
Aldrich wiped sweat off his face and grinned at me as he watched me try to raise my arms. He’d had me working out with him while Ami slept and while I wasn’t lifting weight anywhere near as heavy as is, I felt like my arms were going to fall off.
It was crazy that I could help lift patients and I had no muscle weakness when doing tasks in the hospital, but these types of movements were killing my muscles.
“Your body will get used to it.” He did that thing again. Letting his eyes flicker up and down my frame and I felt my body get even hotter. When we’d been lifting weights and he’d been correcting my form during squats I’d almost lost my mind when he’d accidentally brushed against me.
I tried to find something else to put my eyes on but he kept drawing my eyes to him.
I swallowed heavily hoping that my actions would’ve been seen as the pain from the workout instead of what they really were: lust. I was lusting after this man like anyone with two eyes and libido would but I knew better.
Too bad my hormones were not getting the memo.
“None of that sounds like something I actually want to happen. Why in the world would I want to get used to feeling pain?”
He motioned for me to stand up and I did it reluctantly as he made a move to pull his body into a stretch and stared at me until I mimicked his movements.
“You can’t lie and say you didn’t feel good moving your body differently.
I feel you’re the type of woman who enjoys feeling capable.
That translates into power in your mind, which is why you have multiple degrees.
” He shifted into a calf stretch as he casually read my soul like it was an open book.
“Don’t talk about me like you know me.”
“Is that sass coming from Ms. Sterling? I see you, ma. I like that you don’t just take shit. You don’t have to be afraid to speak your mind around me. I don’t know what weird-ass situations you’ve been part of before but this ain’t that. You’re always safe here.”
I don’t know why he said that. Why he told me that I was safe.
That wasn’t something I needed to hear from anyone.
I didn’t need them to have that type of insight into what my deepest desires were.
I was always the kid left alone or the kid left behind because I didn’t fit into the mold that had been built before my parents even knew me.
Once the glamour of being lauded for reproducing wore off my parents were all too happy to return to the lives they had before me and leave me to survive with a stranger.
The fix-it baby who fixed nothing with the two of them because their marriage was over and I was tossed into a sea of randoms for the next half a dozen years.
My mother threw herself into work to prove that she was a smart and accomplished woman all while growing more bitter, and my father could find another woman who was lonely enough to want to give him everything without him having to do much.
His being a high-profile lawyer didn’t save him to still being a user.
His marriage to my mother put him into the upper echelon of Black society in the tri-state area and he was more than happy to capitalize on it.
My stepmother was proof that money didn’t make you smart.
She had a lot of it and while my mother had met a man with ambition and he turned out to be a user, my stepmother went into their relationship with eyes wide open to the bullshit.
And then drug two kids into it when she knew he didn’t really pay me any attention.
She could brag that she got her man, though so it was worth it to her.
I nodded and continued to move the way he’d been before I switched subjects. “I appreciate that. But I’m still waiting to hear what you think I need to help you with after you tried to murder me.”
He stood up straight and stretched out his arms and the pensive look on his face had me even more concerned about his request. Is he about to ask for some ass? And why does that thought not have me looking for a weapon?
“Ami’s room.”
Not at all what I was thinking but clearly my thoughts had run along the lines of perverse. Of course he’s asking something about his child that he pays me to take care of. “What about it?”
“I need it to look like…”
He was wavering and I could hear the unspoken words as though he’d said them outlaid. He wanted her room to reflect how he felt now and not the way he’d originally thought of her when he knew she was going to be coming into this world.
“Like?”
“Like a princess lives there. I know the room is okay but it doesn’t look as loved as I want it to. I thought about having a decorator come and do stuff but I figured between you and my mama y’all could probably put it together in a way that really reflects her and not what some random lady wants.”
“Reflects her? She’s nine weeks old, Aldrich.”
He shrugged and I knew he wanted the full princess experience for this room without him saying it. “You know what I’m saying. You think you can handle it?”
I stood up to face him finally done with the stretching and hoping I could walk to the other side of the house once all this was done. “You know I would love to do it. Should I wait on your mom or—”
“Nah. That’s your job based on your position in her life. You’re going to be here all the time so it’s your call.” He did that thing with his eyes like he was trying to say something but he wasn’t going to verbalize it. Like I should know what it was he was trying to say.
“Aldrich—” He kept looking at me with the same intensity and it was like all the blocks he’d placed up were falling the longer he looked at me. Aldrich took one step toward me and I held my breath, wondering what he was about to do.
I didn’t say a word as he came closer but we both jumped back as the doorbell rang and shook us out of whatever trance we’d been in.
With his eyes still on me, Aldrich pulled his phone out of his shorts and I went to grab mine to check the baby monitor.
“Were you expecting someone?”
“Yeah, kinda, they just got here quicker than I expected.” Aldrich was now looking down at the phone with an odd look on his face. I watched to ensure the doorbell hadn’t woken Ami up since she hadn’t been asleep for an hour yet. When I looked up Aldrich was walking toward me and then took my hand.
“Come on, we gotta head outside real quick.” Aldrich hit a button and spoke into the phone. “I’ll be right there, don’t ring the bell again.”
Aldrich started to pull me toward the front of the house and only stopped to toe off the sneakers he’d had and waited on me to do the same.
“What are we doing?”
He was walking ahead of me tugging me along so that I couldn’t stop and make him answer me.
Aldrich glanced back with those two dimples popped out again as we made it to the front of the house.
“You've gotta promise you won’t get mad.”
There was no way in hell I was going to promise that so I simply glared at him as he pulled open the front door. My mouth dropped open when I saw what was going on outside.
“You really went overboard with this.”
I tried to hide my pleasure as I watched the car roll off of the flatbed and into the driveway. The Q7 that was being delivered was a gorgeous car and exactly what I would’ve picked.
“I got one with the prestige package added so we don’t have to worry about maintenance or anything.
Not like I wouldn’t cover it if there were an issue.
The only interior they had available was the cedar brown but just like you suggested, it seats seven and has great safety reports. So, did I do good?”
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and he had the playful look of the character Murray in the movie Clueless when he gave his speech about street slang and misogynistic undertones. All he was missing was his sticking his tongue out gleefully since he knew he’d exceeded my expectations.
“You know it’s amazing, so why are you even seeking my validation?”
“The last thing I was going to do was come up here with a bullshit car and think you weren’t going to check it out or check me if it wasn’t right for Ami.” The look he gave me was playful seriousness. Like he knew I would insist he take the car back if it was some bullshit.
I bumped him playfully with my shoulder causing the bun that had barely been hanging on to fall to one side. “You make me sound like a taskmaster or something. I work for you, remember?”
“Do you though? Cause I thought for sure that you were real good at telling me what I can and can’t do.”
I rolled my eyes as he pointed down to his shoeless feet as I fixed my hair. “Nobody should be wearing outside shoes in the house, Aldrich. Ami will be mobile before you know it and the last thing you want is her licking the bottom of a shoe that's been walking through who knows what.”
“Gotdamn that’s a visual I ain’t need. I agreed with you off you knowing more but now I got visions of my baby eating dookie crumbs and I wanna throw up.”
“You’re a mess, Aldrich.”
A young man walked up with a smile on his face and a clipboard in his hand.
“Just sign right here for me, please, sir.”
“‘Preciate it.”
“We also had the car seat installed inside to your specifications but I’m sure you’re going to have someone check it out again.
We had it double-checked with the fire department to ensure it was done correctly if that eases your mind.
” The man was wearing a suit and didn’t look like a car salesman, but I hadn’t been to a dealership so I wasn’t exactly sure what they looked like.
And Aldrich probably didn’t go to a regular place to get this car, even though it wouldn’t be considered a top-tier luxury car by most people.
Aldrich grinned and handed the paperwork back. I could tell by the way he didn’t look at anything that he’d paid cash for this car and was just signing the release forms. “It does, but we’re still going to look at it.”
“I don’t know from personal experience but I understand wanting everything to be safe.
” He held out the keys and Aldrich nodded toward me.
With a nod of understanding, the keys were moved to me and I took them but I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.
I was sure that a bunch of NDAs had been signed before this company was hired but I didn’t like the idea of someone thinking there was more between us than there was.
Despite whatever might be there, it could be nothing and I didn’t want there to be questions about me lingering.
Call it a lifetime of PR training and having to be perfect but I wasn’t in the mood to change the narrative about what this was later.
They made small talk as Aldrich looked over the car to ensure everything was good and then they shook hands and the flatbed rolled back down the driveway.
Once they turned around the bend, the trees that kept the front of the house hidden blocked them from view.
It wasn’t until then that Aldrich walked back toward me.
“I got Ami when she gets up, go take your car for a ride.”