Chapter 6
I let her play in my face for two weeks.
For two weeks after our time in Londynville, I let her think she’d ghosted me.
Yeah, she wasn’t answering my calls. Wouldn’t respond to my texts.
And I let her make it. I figured she felt some kind of way about our connection based on her past relationship with Wilcox.
I didn’t get why she wouldn’t just talk to me about it, though.
But at this point, why she was doing what she was doing was neither here nor there.
Her time was up. She was on my time now.
I sat outside of her storefront in the back seat of my Mercedes truck. Axel, my security, was in the front seat watching the door, while I messed around on my phone.
“There she is, K,” Axel said.
I looked up from my phone just in time to see Wyndi locking up her place. “Get her.”
Axel opened the driver’s side door and got out.
I watched as he approached her. He didn’t get too close.
He was a few feet away while he spoke. She replied, and he said something else.
After a few additional sentences, she followed him to the truck.
He opened the rear door, and she slid inside next to me.
The entire vehicle was consumed with both her presence and the smell of her perfume.
“What’s good, Wyndsor Fairy?”
She rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth. “Hey.”
“So, you are alive. I wasn’t sure after two weeks went by without a response to any of my calls or texts.”
“I’m alive.”
I took her in. Really looked at her. “You don’t look so good. You sick?”
She turned to face me. “Look, Kaynaan.” She sighed heavily. “I know you’re . . . feeling however you’re feeling. But I’m in a low place. I can’t deal with all this passive aggressiveness and sarcasm.”
“Are you sick?” Immediately, I was concerned. I dug this woman. Even though we hadn’t known each other long, I cared about her.
Her eyes welled with tears.
Instantly, my hands cupped her face. “Wyn.”
She began to cry.
“Let’s go talk,” I told her, then I leaned up in my seat and spoke to Axel. “Ax, take us to my townhouse.” I wasn’t a flashy guy. I didn’t have ten houses, fifteen cars, and/or a fleet of yachts. I owned a home in Londynville and two homes in Illinois.
My main local residence was located in Lake Jackson, a few miles away from the Coyotes’ headquarters where we practiced and did almost everything associated with being on the team.
The townhome was a purchase I made out of necessity.
The Coyotes’ stadium was located just south of Downtown Chicago.
It was at least forty-five miles from my house on a good traffic day.
When we had night games, the drive home was a haul I didn’t like making.
I copped the townhome because it was barely five miles from the stadium.
Wyndi’s storefront was located in the North Side of the city. It was a quick fifteen-minute trip to my townhome. It made sense to take her there.
“Got it.”
“My truck.” Wyndi pointed out the window as we took off.
“I’ll have somebody get it and drive it to my house. All I need is your keys.”
She nodded, then scooted closer to me and laid her head against my shoulder.
I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and held her to me as we rode.
When Axel pulled up in front of my townhome, I realized that Wyndi had dozed off.
He opened the back door of the truck for me, and I eased her out.
I carried her up the stairs bridal style.
She awakened when I placed her on her feet in my foyer.
“Where’s the bathroom?”
I led her down the short hallway and pointed to the door. She went inside, and I waited for her to come out like a kid.
“Oh.” She jumped a little when she exited the bathroom and found me leaning against the wall opposite the door. “I wasn’t expecting you there.”
“And I wasn’t expecting you to disappear on me, Brown Eyes.” I placed my hands over my heart in a dramatic fashion. “You hurt me.”
“That wasn’t my intention.”
“What was your intention?”
She sighed like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. “To set you free, Kaynaan. To not get you caught up in all my drama.”
“What drama?” I was confused.
“You’re a good guy. You’re gorgeous. You’re successful. You’re . . . hell, kind. You’re a gentleman. You deserve somebody better than a chick that’s been thot-boppin’ through the Coyotes making bad decisions and ruining lives.”
“Oh, okay. When you said drama, you actually meant dramatics. Because you’re being dramatic as hell right now.” I took her by the hand and led her into the kitchen. I directed her to take a seat on one of the stools at the island. “Gimme your coat.”
Once I had her coat, I carried it over to the small dining table in the corner of the room.
The townhouse was built for people with more modern sensibilities.
There was no formal dining room, as the builders believed that younger buyers didn’t use that space.
Instead, it had a kitchen nook, where the interior designer who decorated it for me had placed a small dining table.
When I rejoined her at the island, I couldn’t help but notice that she looked really tired. Exhausted almost. “You hungry?”
Her eyes lit up. “Starving.”
“My personal chef came through today. Let me see what she left.”
I went through the contents of my refrigerator, calling out options to Wyndi.
After she decided on steak bites, roasted sweet potatoes, and lightly sauteed cabbage, I microwaved the food.
I placed the plate, silverware, and a bottle of cold water in front of her.
Then I took a seat on the stool next to her.
We ate in silence for a minute. Finally, when she’d had enough food, she took a long sip of water. “I’ve never been around you and not enjoyed myself,” she told me, turning on the stool so we were facing each other.
I was about to respond, but she kept talking.
“I had such a good time at homecoming. Golfing, riding on the float, the game . . . everything was so much fun.” She rolled her eyes. “The sex.”
That made me smirk.
“I really like you, Kaynaan. And I haven’t liked, liked anybody in a really long time.”
“I like you, too.”
“Let me finish.”
I nodded and gestured for her to keep talking.
“When I got home from Londynville, I was looking forward to seeing where things could go between us. I was willing to put the fact that I messed around with Preston behind me. But the day after I got home, I found out that I’m pregnant.”
I sat back on the stool. I wasn’t repulsed or anything. I was just taken aback. “Damn,” I muttered.
“I know. I know.” Her hands went up to her face, covering it.
I gently took her hands in mine. “Take your hands down, Brown Eyes. You ain’t gotta hide your face.”
“I’m so . . . not ashamed, but remorseful?
I’m better than this. I’m better than being pregnant by somebody who could give two fucks about me.
Not that I want him to,” she added quickly.
“I don’t care that Preston doesn’t care about me.
I don’t care about him. And that’s not how pregnancy should happen.
That’s not how the gift of new life should start—with two people who don’t give a fuck about each other. ” She started to cry.
Once again, I scooped her up bridal style. This time I carried her to the living room. I sat down on the sofa with her in my lap. I held her, stroking her hair, her back, and her thighs. The room was silent except for her soft, strangled sobs.
Eventually, she pulled herself together.
There were a few lingering sniffles, as she reached into her crossbody purse and pulled out a few tissues.
She dabbed at her eyes and blew her nose.
“Thank you for being so nice about all this. I know some men would’ve put me out after I told them I was pregnant by the next man, especially since the next man is your teammate. ”
I waved my hand dismissively. “You were on your hot girl summer shit. You weren’t trying to be serious with his ass. Things happen. Protection fails.”
“Be that as it may, I slept with two people on the same team. You can’t tell me that doesn’t look like thot-boppin’ to people.”
“People outside of you and me? I don’t give a fuck about what people outside of you and me think about us.
Who you slept with before me is a non-motherfuckin’ factor.
I don’t care about that. That’s not none of my business.
Who I slept with before you is none of your business.
” I squeezed her tightly. “All I care about is who you sleep with while I’m busy trying to make you mine. ”
She sat up and looked into my face. “While you’re trying to make me yours?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Why would you want me?”
“Repeat that?” I knew I had to have misheard her.
“Why would you want me, Kaynaan? We barely know each other. We’ve been on one date . . . Granted, it lasted an entire weekend, but still. I ghosted you for two weeks. And when you finally track me down, I’m pregnant by your teammate. I’m not a catch.”
“Sometimes we can be harder on ourselves than other people ever could be.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“It has to do with everything.” I gave her a strong squeeze. “You don’t see you like I see you, Wyndsor Fairy.”
“I hate I told you that,” she muttered.
“I see a physically gorgeous woman. A woman, who if I was Wilcox’s lucky ass, I would hope my baby came out looking just like.
I see an ambitious woman who took an idea and ran with it.
A woman who took a risk on herself and ended up creating a whole artistic, creative lane for herself.
A self-employed black woman who’s a licensed vendor with every professional team in the city.
I see a smart woman. A woman who likes to have fun and whose smile lights up the room.
I see a woman with a giving heart. And some good ass pussy. ”
She chuckled and shook her head.
“Why would I not want to make somebody like that mine? Why would I want to let another dude have the opportunity to claim you for himself? That’s dumb as fuck.”
“Kaynaan, I—”
“Pregnancy isn’t a deal-breaker for me, Wyndi. I don’t give a damn about who the father is. If you’re still willing to see where this thing goes, I’m wit’ it.”
“Okay.”
We were both silent for a little while. “You tell Wilcox?” I asked, finally breaking the silence.
“Yeah.”
“What’d he say? Something stupid?”
“Yeah. He told me that I was a trick, accused me of trying to get money out of him, and suggested that if I am actually pregnant, I should terminate ASAP.”
Anger boiled up inside me, and I had to mentally talk myself down from fucking his young ass up.
I couldn’t really be mad at him, though.
His response was pure emotion and probably some fear.
He didn’t sign up for parenthood. He signed up to have fun with Wyndi for a minute and then move around. “What’re you thinking?” I asked.
“I’m having a baby by myself.” She sighed. “It’s not the baby’s fault that he or she was conceived during a hot girl summer, as you called it. I just won’t have any expectations of him.”
I nodded. It wasn’t my place to comment or offer any advice. She didn’t need that. She needed support and a listening ear. “Yo, it’s been a long day. You wanna lay it down for the night? You still want me to have Axel grab your truck, or you want me to take you back to it and follow you home?”
“If you want me to go, I can go.”
I cupped her chin, making sure she gave me eye contact. “I don’t want you to go.”
Her eyes blinked about three times in rapid succession. “Okay. Let’s go to bed.”