Chapter 4 Javier
Four
Javier
Sometimes I asked myself what I was thinking by hiring Octavia Klein.
That feisty, slightly obnoxious, hardheaded woman was not my usual hire, but she was great with Aleesa.
She taught my daughter manners. Read to her two to three times a day. Made every single one of Aleesa’s appointments and classes on time. She even cooked healthy homemade meals for her, and that was extremely important to me.
It did not help that she was all my daughter talked about. Nonstop. For over half a year. Aleesa was at the point of refusing my bedtime stories completely because she wanted her Tava to read them to her.
All that was wonderful. Seriously. I was happy that my baby girl was happy, but I had to say I was surprised Octavia was still around. She really worked my nerves and was always finding ways to get under my skin.
I was not sure why I still allowed her to irritate me after so many months. She knew just how to scrape my nerves too. Never too much to anger me, but just enough to get inside my head and make me second-guess everything.
Most of the nannies I had hired had bailed after three or four months. Octavia was coming up on seven months and hadn’t shown any signs of wanting to quit. I was not sure if that was a good sign for me.
Most could not keep up with my demands; however, Octavia would take them like they were no big deal to her—as if having issues thrown her way could never set her back.
I guess I should have expected that from a woman as carefree as she was.
She had a strong spirit, one that reminded me a lot of Eloise. Was that why she got under my skin?
I shifted in my chair with a sigh as my deceased wife crossed my mind, watching the film run as Coach Harrison rambled about certain plays.
“You good?” a deep voice asked beside me.
I turned my attention to Deke Bishop, one of my best friends on and off the court, and the most famous of us in the room. He gave me a curious once-over, his eyes gleaming under the projector light.
“I am fine,” I answered.
“I’m just asking.” He threw two innocent hands into the air. “You’ve been huffing and puffing ever since you got here.”
That was because it bugged me that Octavia had asked if I wanted to take Aleesa to ballet. She knew I would if I could, but there was always shit interfering with my bonding time with Aleesa, like watching films and going to meetings, practices, and games.
Do not get me wrong; I love what I do. I love my career, and I love basketball. It is my heart and it is part of what centers me, but nothing centers me more than my family. I do everything for Aleesa so she can live a good life—one far better than mine was growing up.
I was not going to tell Deke all this, though. It was bad enough that he kept heckling me about Octavia. He said that I talked about her a lot. He assumed I was into her. But what else was I supposed to talk about when she worked for me and spent more time with my daughter than I did?
He claimed I never talked about my previous nannies as much as I did her. I called bullshit on that.
Some days, Octavia was amazing. On other days, she was a handful and I wanted to fire her simply because she agitated me. It was her mouth, really. So sarcastic and witty . . .
It had been a long time since I came across a woman with such a solid spine. A woman who was respectable and understanding but also took no shit from anyone, not even her own boss.
Perhaps that was why I found myself constantly talking about her around Deke. She was not afraid of me like the others were. Like many people were, actually. Almost like she could see right through me, down to my soul.
Once the film was wrapped up, I walked with Deke to the parking deck so we could get to our cars.
“Davina’s got some meeting in LA. Everyone’s all over her lately. She says being engaged to me is a gift and a curse.” He laughed.
“How so?” I fidgeted with my car key as we stopped in front of my Mercedes G-Class.
“A gift because she’s getting hella opportunities for Golden Oil.” Deke plucked his keys out of his pocket. “A curse because she’s busier than ever and her sleep has been shitty. And, trust me, that woman needs her sleep. She’s like a grizzly bear when she doesn’t get enough.”
“Do you think she has also not slept well because of the wedding?”
“Possibly. Her and Tisha have been planning in between working. I keep telling her to take it easy, but you know how she is.” He shrugged. “Always wanting to keep herself busy.”
“Well, the wedding is in four months. It is coming down to the wire, and all those little details matter.”
“Well, that’s why we hired a wedding planner—so she wouldn’t have to worry about all those little details. My girl has some control issues she has to work on.” He paused and looked around. “Don’t tell her I said that.”
I laughed. “Tell Davina I said hello. I should get home and check in with Aleesa.”
“Tell little Leese I said ‘What’s up.’ Octavia still giving you hell?” He grinned, like he wanted to laugh. Deke always got a kick out of hearing my stories about Octavia. He liked that there was someone giving me a taste of my own medicine, as he called it.
“She has Aleesa calling me GG now.” I scratched my head. “No idea what that means, but Aleesa giggles every time and Octavia thinks I do not notice when she tries not to laugh.”
“GG?” Deke mulled it over, tugging on his bottom lip. “Yeah, no idea what that stands for. I bet D knows.”
“Yeah, I am sure she does. Those two talk on the phone almost every day.”
“Y’all coming to the party tonight, right?” EJ’s voice echoed through the parking deck. I looked over my shoulder and spotted our starting point guard jogging toward us with a brown sweat suit and backpack on.
“Hell, no.” Deke walked to the driver’s side of his Ferrari.
“Count me out,” I muttered. “I told you I hate your parties, EJ.”
“Oh, come on. Y’all haven’t been to one in months!” EJ frowned as he looked between us. “It’s because both of y’all are pussy whipped now! Deke and his fiancée and Javier with that fine-ass nanny.”
I smacked the back of his head.
Deke busted out laughing.
“Bruh, y’all are gonna get enough of smacking me on the head.” EJ puffed out his chest. “Can’t be mad at me for speaking the truth. What’s her name again?”
“Octavia,” Deke filled in when I refused to answer. Then he smirked. I wanted to smack him too.
“Well, shit. If you don’t want her, I’ll take her from you, Valdez.” EJ did some weird thing with his face, biting his bottom lip and narrowing his eyes while running a hand over the top of his head.
“You are not taking anything,” I grumbled. “She would not even want you.”
“Damn. Watch out, EJ,” Deke called before settling into the driver’s seat of his car. “Javier might fight you over that, seeing as he secretly wants her to himself.”
“I do not.” At least, I didn’t think so . . .
Yes, Octavia was beautiful. Only a fool would deny that. I loved her hair—locs, as she called them—and how she styled them in a different hairdo every other week. And I would never admit this, but I looked forward to seeing which style she wore next.
There was something fascinating about it, especially when she put those little hair jewels on them. Some days the jewels were gold. Other days they were silver. Either one made her brown skin pop. Made her seem ethereal, angelic. Untouchable.
Yes, untouchable.
Because she was untouchable.
She was my daughter’s nanny. There was no crossing that line. Ever.
Deke closed his door, then started the ignition of his Ferrari, causing it to growl to life. He crept forward in it, rolling his window down and looking between me and EJ. “I’ll see y’all later.”
“At the party, right?” EJ asked.
“No!” Deke said, then he peeled off and left the parking deck.
EJ twisted around. “Javier, my boy. Come to the party. Just this once. I promise it’ll be worth it.”
“Goodbye, EJ.” I gripped the handle of my car door. “I will catch you later.”
“Y’all never have any fun, man.” EJ scoffed and walked away.
I’d have felt bad for him, but nothing seemed to bother that guy. And it didn’t matter, because he spotted the next targets to harass about his party, our teammates Jacobi and Brantley.
As I drove out of the parking deck, my phone chimed in my pocket. I dug it out at a stoplight and saw a text from Octavia.
Octavia: Aleesa bumped heads with a classmate during dance. Big knot. Icing it now. She’s still a little upset.
“What?” I hissed.
Below her text, an image appeared of Aleesa’s forehead, with a raised red bump on the center. My heart dropped.
I dropped my phone into the cupholder and pressed my foot on the gas, hurrying home.