Chapter 9
SYNDER
By the time church ended, Sienna’s name was plastered all over social media.
@RIMOFGOLDSCONFIDENTIAL Billion…as in NAIRE? WTF?! I know I talk my shit, but not the courtside baddie @SiSiSoCool being a whole billionaire heiress! I'm too fuckin' intrigued and lost for words at the same damn time.
@SiSiSoCool got a lotta you niggas quiet as a mouse. She got a lotta you bitches quiet, too. I'd stfu, too, if I was y'all.
@SportsHunnidsIce it’s not like that.
” Although she talked under her breath, I activated my sonic hearing to pick up what she said.
She let out another round of laughter. “Sure, I’ll call you when I get home tonight. Bye.”
She hung up, and I was too ready to ask her who she was talking to. I was tripping hard. This girl wasn’t even mine…yet. Minutes later, she was still tickled, and I was too impatient to wait for her to bring up Domino, so I did.
“You and Domino good friends?”
Out of the side of her eye, she glanced at me. “No. He hates that I call him bestie. We’re cousins.”
Relieved, I damn near swiped my brow.
“Oh, aight. Y’all close?”
“Very,” she replied. “He’s a retired Army officer, who watches the boutique for me when I’m away. Are you close to your family?”
I snorted. “Mane, I wish. I can’t even trust my people to keep my baby.
My parents have been married for thirty-something years, yet they can’t stand to be in the same house with each other.
Truth be told, the only reason my pops probably stays with my mama is ‘cause I bought them a house. He ain’t tryna leave the mansion.
I pay all the bills, make sure they’re good.
Yada, yada…” Sienna’s eyes burned a hole through the side of my face, so I chuckled. “What’s up? What’re you thinkin’?”
“You sure you want me to say what’s on my mind?” she countered.
“I prefer ya raw thoughts, baby.”
She smacked her teeth. This time, I didn’t fix my mouth to fix anything I said.
“Well, in that case, don’t make me cuss you out,” she stated.
I burst out laughing. As prim and proper as Sienna was, a firecracker laid at her core. It was evident.
“I come from a wealthy family, and truth be told, I’ve always been spoiled.
To a degree, that is. Sure, my parents would do anything for me.
However, I’m inclined to do a lot for myself.
It’s not about being ungrateful about what they can and will do.
It’s about understanding the dynamics of adulthood.
Anything can happen and solely depending on the breadwinner to do everything has the potential to be detrimental.
Do your parents save money for a rainy day?
Are they setting aside money in case they one day have to take care of you?
Are they financially stable enough to carry on should your career slow down or worse? I mean, it’s common sense.”
While processing the thrashing she just put on me and my parents, it took me a minute to catch up.
“Plus, there’s the fact that they’re grown. Take care of your parents, but they should also take care of themselves. Do you take care of your siblings, too?”
Reluctantly, I said, “Yeah.”
“You’re crippling them. It’s one thing to give your family stable housing, the occasional shopping spree, and even pay their property taxes. However, funding their entire livelihoods is overboard.”
“Yeah,” I finally replied. Sienna said nothing wrong, but family was family. A part of me didn’t mind taking care of my people. I just wished I could depend on them one-tenth of what they depended on me. “I hear you.”
She simply smiled and skeptically rolled her eyes. “Sure.” She started typing on her phone, effectively dousing water on the topic. My family wasn’t hers, so I guessed she wasn’t going to argue about it.
My phone rang, breaking the awkward silence. I dreaded seeing Courtland’s name. However, I knew it was coming.
“Don’t ignore her call,” Sienna mumbled and continued typing away without a care.
Pressing the button to filter in Courtland’s call, I said, “‘Sup, Court?”
“I don’t like that new nanny,” she replied.
Sienna’s fingers briefly paused. She smirked, then started typing again.
“Well, I can’t help that. You can’t dictate who I have watchin’ my daughter.”
“Our daughter,” she corrected. “You seem to forget that. I think I will take yo’ ass back to court. Ain’t no way you ‘bout to play in my face like this.”
Sienna’s fingers paused again, and her eyes flickered up to the dashboard’s screen. She peered at the screen as if Courtland would hop through it and choke her.
“Do what you gotta do,” I suggested. “I’ma hang up now.” And I did so. Courtland wasn’t about to ruin my gameday with her bullshit. Hell, I was already tight about Sienna leaving in the morning.
A few hours later, I took the court and quickly spotted security ushering Sienna and Whimsy to their seats. Sienna drew attention with the cameras all in her damn face. She took it in stride, smiling shyly and ducking her head from all the attention.
I approached them, catching Whimsy’s attention first.
“Daddy!” she squealed. I picked her up and kissed her cheek.
Awkwardly, Sienna looked everywhere to avoid looking at me. Doing something I figured would upset her, I tweaked her chin.
“You good?” I asked her.
She blushed but nodded. “Have a good game,” she stated.
“Thank you, baby. I will.” Placing Whimsy on her feet, I bumped fists with my daughter, then did the same to Sienna. Inwardly, I grinned while walking away. Play one went well. I was breaking her down.
Through all four quarters, my mind was on her.
Every opportunity I had, my eyes were on her.
Her eyes were on me, too. She fought to contain any smiles she wanted to offer me.
Whenever I stared, she tried even harder not to blush, especially after a tough shot when I pointed at her, stuck my tongue out, and flexed only for her.
The crowd went crazy. Meanwhile, she hid behind Whimsy.
After grabbing the win, I answered a few questions from a courtside reporter.
Out of all the things she could’ve brought up in this courtside interview—like the way I mopped the floor with those other niggas, or the way I dunked on the center multiple times tonight, or the way my jump shot was like butter tonight—Sienna became the main topic.
“How do you feel about all the attention your nanny is receiving?” the reporter asked, beaming like a spotlight.
“She’s bad as hell. I wouldn’t expect anything less,” was my reply.
The reporter’s laughter was forced, but that was her problem and not mine. Shit, I was ready to get home and enjoy dinner with Sienna and Whimsy.
Sometime later, dinner was filled with Sienna recounting her favorite plays from the game.
Noticeably, all the plays were mine. She was lively while recounting how impressed she was of my jump shot and defensive skills.
Unfortunately, she steered clear of my on-court antics concerning her, but I wasn’t going to push the issue for now.
Honestly, I could listen to her talk forever.
By morning, I was thinking of a way to beg her to stay. The ease with which she said, see you later, Whimsy, got in her car and left poked me in my chest.
Two nights later, I couldn’t take Sienna’s absence.
Last night, I slept in her bed just to see if she’d meet me in my dreams. In fact, she did.
She met me there, kissing me softly on my neck and shit.
I woke up with my dick hard as hell, craving kisses I’d never felt before.
Neck kisses weren’t my thing, but I’d let Sienna bite a hole in me.
Even with Whimsy blasting The Chipmunk’s Christmas song all through the damn house, it felt too quiet. I wasn’t about to start with the way I missed Sienna’s breakfasts.
Glancing down at the notebook of ideas I’d written down to help me snag Sienna, I went down the list to determine which play would be my next one.
“Daddy!” Whimsy called, breaking me out of my thoughts. I was in the middle of the living room floor, half-worried about Sienna, half-singing along with the Chipmunks, and the rest scanning my notes. Whimsy had toys scattered all
“Yes, baby?” I replied.
“Shi-Shi?”
Forehead creasing, I asked, “Si-Si?”
“Yes!” Her little gapped-tooth grin caused me to chuckle. She handed me the teddy bear Sienna made her. “Shi-Shi, Daddy.”
“You know what. You right, my baby. I think I heard Sienna call my phone, too.” I laughed at my own delusions. “Thank goodness you got my smarts and not ya mama’s. We’d both be fucked up.”
She giggled. “Mama?”
“Hell, naw. Shi-Shi,” I replied in her tone.
She giggled again. Little did Whimsy know, she just threw me an alley-oop. I was about to dunk it. I couldn’t wait for morning to run this play.