whatever it takes - odell beckham jr.

chapter nineteen

he swings his head side to side in denial and mumbles something under his breath i couldn't understand, before leading me to a set of french doors and nodding his head towards them.

"want me to show you outside quickly?"

"lemme see." i mutter, shortly before getting a quick tour of his beautiful backyard. he points out a large pool and then a hot tub, ushering me back inside.

"let me show you upstairs." i follow along, careful to keep my eyes off his ass as we head up the staircase.

he gestures to the door that was his bedroom, leading me down the opposite hallway. "this will be your room." he refers to the door in front of us.

i can't help but to notice the irony here. i mean, when odell moved in with my dad and i all those years ago, we were also on opposite ends of the hallway.

i'm sure that had been my dad's plan of course, to try and keep us away from each other. obviously, that didn't work. but, i can't help but wonder if odell was tryna do the same. i doubt it.

i take in the immaculate four poster bed covered in soft white linen, complete with a wide array of coral and marine blue throw pillows.

there's a large white long-thread rug underneath the bed, and then another matching rug in front of the fireplace which is flanked with two high-back white leather chairs with thick silver decorate studs.

"no way did you design this." i blink, literally in awe once again.

"no." he chuckles, leading me into the bathroom. "i hired someone."

"it's way too nice for a servant."

"you're not my servant, ira."

"i'm your housekeeper. a housekeeper who has no idea how in the hell i'm gonna manage to keep this place clean. it's massive, odell."

he broadcasts a wicked smile, opening another door. "not the first time i've heard you say that. although, i liked hearing it a lot more the last time."

i ignore his dirty reference, reaching over to grab adonis out of his arms. "we're gonna have to set out some ground rules in order for this to work out."

"whatcha mean?"

i spin to face him, careful to avoid full eye contact as i adjust adonis on my hip.

"what i mean, is that if this is gonna work out, this needs to be a business only relationship. no innuendos like the one you just made, no calling me baby or any of that crap. i'm here to work for you, odell. and that's it. i need you to treat me like you would treat anyone else who would work for you."

he nods slowly, looking me up and down. "fine, i guess i can try to do that."

"yeah. you will."

"i–" he shakes his head, before laughing. "okay, okay. i can do this. see? i almost made a comment there. but i let it go. and that was a good opportunity." he points a finger at me.

i laugh, rolling my eyes and brushing past him. "adonis has his own room?" i step through the doorway.

a white wooden toddler bed covered in sports themed bedding sits in the corner. above the bed, adonis's name is displayed across the wall in navy letters; sitting next to the bed is a large white armoire with a football lamp placed on top of it.

there's a bookshelf filled with age appropriate books, and a large toy bin in the corner completely overflowing with stuffed animals and toys.

i turn towards him in sheer astonishment. "this is too much. you really didn't have to do this."

"i wanted you guys to feel at home, as this is your home now." i feel the air leave my lungs as he takes several steps towards me, noticing how he comes even closer.

"all jokes aside, i'm glad as hell to have you here. both of you here."

we stand like this, staring at each other until i turn my body away from him with a step back. "thank you." is all i can muster out.

"i'm gonna go head and let you get settled." he turns and heads for the door. "i'll leave your bags here. you know where i'm at if you need anything."

"okay." i swallow, as he goes to shut the door. "oh, odell. wait a second." he glances back at me, feeling myself take a deep breath. "you kept mentioning a code. but, you never told me what it was."

"you right." he nods slowly. "21295."

"wait, i should probably write that–" understanding dawns and my eyebrows furrow. "your code is my birthday?"

"yeah." he nods once, shutting the door without another word.

the ice that surrounds my heart for this man begins to melt as the door clicks shut. it can't be a coincidence. the only explanation that fits is that he changed the code right before we got here.

that would of been pretty slick and hard to pull off. although, he did manage to have adonis's entire room set up for him, so maybe–

but if not, has that always been his code?