SECRETS, paige bueckers

five

CHAPTER FIVE
"friends again?"

"MALIA."

Malia sucked her teeth in annoyance. She had just entered the household, shopping bags still in hand—and someone was already calling her name. "I just got here and people already calling my name," Malia muttered to herself.

"Yes," Malia yelled, followed by silence. "Yes?" Malia questioned again—this time a little louder, but was still followed by silence. She sighed, assuming the person wanted her to go to them. She dropped her bags at the door, deciding she would come back to put them in her room later.

She made her way to the living room, where she predicted the person to be at. She turned the corner, seeing her mom lying comfortably on the couch. Savannah turned her head as she heard foot steps approaching.

A smile greeted her face as she saw Malia, "Hey baby, I just wanted to let you know I have everything ready for your trip. But there is one thing that your dad wants you to do." Malia raised an eyebrow in confusion, letting her mom continue. "We want you to bring Steve with you."

Steve was one of the families personal bodyguards. He's been with them for Malia's whole life, with her at almost all times. He was always with them—from court side games to just walking around the mall. He's in his mid-30's and is pretty buff. Let's just say, nobody wants to mess with Steve.

Sometimes Malia wondered if he even had a family. He was with a member of the James family most of the time, how'd he even have time to care for a whole family?

"That's fine," Malia said without a thought. She didn't mind having security with her, it was expected from even herself to have security with her when she went out. If not, she would have just hired someone in Connecticut herself.

"Great! He'll of course have his own hotel room, you'll just let him know when you go out and stuff." Malia nodded in response as she took a seat next to her mom, opening her phone. "So now that that's out of the way, can I speak to Paige now?"

"Uh, I'm actually supposed to go speak with Treasure. She asked me to talk before I left and I told her when I come back," Malia said as she stood up swiftly from the couch, making her way out of the living room.

Savannah sucked her teeth. "Mhm, all I know is when you finish that conversation you better bring your ass to me so I can talk to her," she spoke loudly.

Malia sighed in response, making her way to Bronny's room. She stood in front of the door before knocking, not wanting to walk in on anything she didn't want to see.

She stood there for a minute before Bronny finally opened the door halfway.

"Whats up?" he asked out of breath, making Malia's face automatically scrunch up as she looked him up and down. From the way he spoke and his appearance, she's already assuming that they were doing something very inappropriate.

"Eww—boy what the fuck y'all was doing in there?" she questioned. Before Bryce could even get a sentence out, she spoke again, "You know what, ion even wanna know. Thank god for knocking you know."

Bronny chuckled at Malia's antics, "I was just taking a shower, chill." Malia looked at his face, trying to figure out if he was lying or not. She rolled her eyes sarcastically, figuring it wasn't that important.

"Anyway, tell Treasure when she ready to come that my doors open."

"Okay, I'll let her know. Is that all my wonderful sister," Bronny asked with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"Yup," Malia turned on her heel as she spoke. "Thank you so much brother."

She made her way to her room about to lay on her bed, but suddenly remembered the many bags she left at the front door. She sighed before turning back around to get the bags.