Chapter 16 Octavia
Sixteen
Octavia
I know, I know.
It was stupid to arrange a date while being a full-time caretaker for an NBA star. Javier didn’t like to see himself as a star, but he was.
Most if not all of my time was spent taking care of Aleesa. Javier was busy about 85 percent of the year, with back-to-back games every week during the season and practices in between. The NBA season lasted far too long, if you asked me, but who was I to say anything.
With a schedule like his, there was no room for me to have a deep, personal life, and that was fine because I wasn’t looking for anything long term. I’d gotten out of a serious three-year relationship. I’d almost married the guy . . . until I stumbled into a rude awakening.
This was why I always told Davina that I didn’t care about dating again. I didn’t really trust men anymore, and if anything, they were only good for one thing . . .
Dick.
“You have really pretty eyes, you know that?” my date said after sipping from his tumbler of scotch. His name was Terry. We’d been chatting on Spark for four weeks before officially setting up a date. “They remind me of Cleo’s.”
My brows dipped, and I blinked with confusion. “Who?”
“Oh—nobody. Just the mama of my oldest kid.” He waved a hand, half laughing.
I refrained from rolling my eyes.
Unfortunately, Terry was not living up to the flirty text messages we’d shared before our first face-to-face meet.
Don’t get me wrong, Terry was handsome, with deep-brown skin and dark waves in his hair that melted into a fade.
One diamond earring pierced each of his ears, and he had really nice lips that I knew would be good for .
. . certain sexual favors. But what he’d failed to mention was that he was a father of three children, all under the age of ten, and that all those kids had different mothers.
This I found out when his phone rang and one of his kids’ mothers interrupted our conversation to ask if he could send money for formula.
He apologized once he was off the call, then proceeded to tell me about his children.
He then went on about how his last relationship hadn’t worked out but they were trying to coparent for the baby’s sake.
Three different mothers to his kids. It took everything in me not to get up from that table and walk out of the restaurant. The only reason I didn’t was because a part of me was considering sticking it out just to satisfy my hankering for sex.
I’d make sure he put on a condom, and it helped that I was on birth control, so I wouldn’t be one of his baby mama victims.
I squirmed in my chair, battling my sexual frustrations. It’d been so long since the last time I had sex. My vibrator, Rosie, had become my best friend, but I could go only so long without the real deal.
The one good thing about Terry was that he didn’t secretly want a serious relationship. Maybe that was because he was too busy popping his seed into every woman he met. That or he had too much on his plate already on top of a massive fear of commitment.
Regardless, it was good that he wasn’t seeking something deeper. No relationship business, no expectations, no attempts to be tied down. At least we agreed there.
Both Terry and I mentioned in our bios something along the lines of wanting a hookup with a person who isn’t full of expectations but likes having a good time. He probably should have added that he had a weak pull-out game to his as well. Thank God for birth control.
“I’m glad we’re finally getting a chance to hang out.”
“Yeah. This is nice,” I said, gesturing to the restaurant, feigning enthusiasm. At least he had good taste. “You chose well.”
He smirked. “Only wanted the best for a beautiful woman like you.”
I tried not to cringe as I wondered how many women he’d fed that same corny line to.
He’d made a reservation for dinner at a downtown steak house called Portman’s.
It was a bitch trying to reach the parking lot with all the construction going on.
The Uber driver had to go a different route and dropped me off half a block away.
I had to walk a good three minutes just to get to the front door, which caused me to show up ten minutes late.
Terry had thought I was ghosting him. I was starting to regret that I hadn’t.
Our food arrived, and Terry cut into his steak while I dug into my honey-glazed chicken. He spoke about his job being a local barber and how he had a good clientele. But as he chatted about opening his own shop and I sipped my tequila and lime, I heard a bubbly, familiar voice.
The voice of a child.
The voice of a child I nannied.
Giving my head a turn, I spotted Javier standing at the hostess stand with Aleesa behind him. She had one of her hands pressed to the glass of the fish tank, giggling as she tugged at the hem of her daddy’s shirt with the other.
“Oh shit,” I hissed. If I could have sunk and melted into the booth, I would have. It was one thing seeing him at his house, but for your boss to see you on a date . . . well, that seemed odd.
Please don’t look this way.
Please don’t look this way.
Please don’t look this w—
“You okay?” Terry’s voice cut through my thoughts. He looked me over with a mildly confused expression. “Is the food not good?”
“No, the food is good. Sorry, I just . . . I thought I saw someone I knew.”
With a dip between his brows, Terry peered over his shoulder to look around, as if he’d know the person I was talking about. As he performed his scan, I did too.
Javier was still there . . . and he was now eyeing both of us.
“Oh, God.” I planted an elbow on the table and used my hand to cover the side of my face.
“What is it?” Terry asked.
I shouldn’t have cared that Javier saw us. Honestly, it was just a date, and my personal life had nothing to do with my job. But I did care because he was now walking through the restaurant with the straps of a to-go bag in one hand and his daughter’s hand clasped in the other.
He came straight for our table, eyes dark and hard, a giant among mortals.
Everyone stared at him in awe, some whispering and gasping, others snapping pictures on their phones.
As always, he wore basketball shorts and a T-shirt.
That day, the shorts were navy blue and his white shirt hugged his biceps.
Then Javier did something I did not expect.
He put on a charismatic smile as he approached the table.
“Hi, Octavia.” He looked from Terry to me. “I was not expecting to see you here. Everything okay?”
“Hold on.” Terry cocked a brow, looking from Javier to me. “Who the hell are you?” Before either of us could answer, Terry proceeded with “Are you in a relationship?”
“No, I—”
“No, we are just really good friends,” Javier said, glancing at Terry. Then he focused on me again. “Leesa wanted to come over and say hello. How is your night going so far?”
I dropped my gaze to Aleesa, who slipped her hand out of her father’s so she could hug me. I hugged her back, of course, but it wasn’t my strongest. I was so confused.
“Javier, what are you doing?” I asked through a forced smile.
“Just checking in. That is all,” he answered.
“Wait, Javier Valdez?” Terry was no longer confused and annoyed but starstruck now. “Oh shit, man. I knew you looked familiar! Look, I didn’t know anything about . . . whatever might be happening between y’all, man. She said she was single.”
“I am single!” I countered.
Javier held up a patient hand. “There is no need to apologize. We are not dating. I just wanted to check in and see if she was okay.”
“Hmm. That sounds real intimate for a couple of friends,” Terry said with a frown.
“Trust me, it’s not what you’re thinking,” I assured him.
But Terry wasn’t having it. He gave me a look, as if he didn’t believe a single word coming out of my mouth. He then shook his head, guzzled down the rest of his scotch, and peeled out of his chair.
“Look, I don’t know what’s going on between y’all, but I don’t have time for complicated-relationship shit.”
Um . . . that was hypocritical of him to say, considering the three women and children he was neglecting right now.
Terry started to walk off but caught himself and snatched his phone out of his pocket. “Actually, before I go, can I get a pic with you?” he asked Javier.
“Sure.” Javier crouched just a bit so Terry could snap a selfie.
Meanwhile, I was still in total disbelief.
Was this really happening? No, it couldn’t be happening.
There was no way Javier just barged in like that to interrupt my date.
Why didn’t he just leave the restaurant?
Why did he bother coming over to speak? Any other time in public he would have flat-out ignored me and acted like he never saw me.
If I told Davina or Deke this, they’d never believe me. Because it was totally unlike him.
“Bye,” Aleesa sang, watching Terry go.
Terry left in a flash. It was now I realized he hadn’t paid. Great.
“Would you like a ride home with us?” Javier asked, as if everything was perfectly normal.
“What?” I hissed. “No! Why would I want to go anywhere with you? You just ruined my date!”
“You did not want to spend another minute with that man, Octavia. I saw it all over your face.”
Okay . . . that was partially true. Terry wasn’t the man I expected, but Javier still had no right to interrupt us.
Did he not realize how it looked having a sexy-as-hell professional basketball player approach our table just to see if I was okay?
Terry probably felt intimidated. Had it been a woman coming up to Terry during the middle of our date, I would’ve assumed they had a thing going on too.
That was not the case between me and Javier, though, and never would be.
“You don’t know what I like, Javier,” I finally said after several seconds of stewing.
“Please, just come home with us,” he insisted, reaching for my hand. “I know you do not have a ride back.”
“Javier, I’m not going anywhere with you,” I snapped in a whisper. “I’ll catch an Uber.”
“Octavia, I insist. Please.”