Page 62 of Intercept My Heart

“Wait, why on earth would I need that kind of money a month? Not to mention the fact that you just handed me this enormous duffel bag full of money, which looks like more than eighteen years’ worth of child support. This is insane!” I shrieked. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t complaining about him wanting to give me money, but this was a bit excessive. If Iwalked into a bank with this amount of money, they would think I was doing something fraudulent.

“The money in that bag is for you only. Do whatever you want with it. If you want to blow it on vacations and a new house, then do that. There are no limits. However, the child support is to cover my children’s expenses. You shouldn’t be spending your money on them because that’s what my money is for,” Dinero explained, stepping closer to me. My breath hitched, and I tucked my hair behind my ear as butterflies rumbled in my belly.

“How expensive do you think they are? There’s no way I could spend twenty thousand every month.”

“Well, I plan to upgrade their wardrobe this weekend. I can’t be walking around in designer from head to toe and my kids aren’t. They’ll have their own rooms stocked with brand-new clothes and shoes, so you don’t need to send them with anything. Even if you don’t spend all of the money, it will be available to you to use how you see fit. If they want to take a family vacation, you can use the money for that as well.” My mind swirled as I listened to him tell me all this information. It was all happening too fast for me.

“I still think it’s too much, but I’m not gonna argue with you about it.” I conceded, still staring at the bag.

“You would have lost the argument anyway. When it comes to my sons, I’m gonna do what I want. Ain’t no such thing as too much concerning them.”

“Yeah, okay. Go right ahead and create a monster if you want. I’ll be sending them straight to you whenever they start asking for ridiculous things,” I fussed. We weren’t poor, but we lived a simple middle-class life. I wasn’t sure how I felt about them having access to this kind of money. However, there really wasn’t much I could do but pray it didn’t go to their heads. I didn’t raise spoiled and entitled children, and I wanted it to stay that way.

“That isn’t a threat to me, baby. They can have whatever they want,” Dinero declared.

“Well, they should be here soon. I’m sure they would appreciate it if you didn’t smell like you bathed in whiskey.” I rolled my eyes, pointing upstairs where the bathrooms were.

“I see you’ve got jokes. Alright, I’m going. Do you think you could order some food? I need something to soak up this liquor.”

“Yeah, I can.”

“Just make sure there are no toma?—”

“Tomatoes. I know what you like and don’t like, Money. You don’t need to remind me.” Dinero smirked as I pulled out my menus to decide what I wanted to order. The boys weren’t picky, so they would be happy with whatever.

By the time the food arrived, Cash and Moolah were coming through the door. Cash was excited to see Dinero, but Moolah didn’t share the same feelings. I blamed myself for his dislike for Dinero. We were going to sit them down and let them know about the results tonight. My only hope was that they would be able to rebuild now that there were no questions about their paternity. Only time would tell.

“Position your body like this;that way, you can protect your chest.” Cash and I were in the backyard practicing. The twins had begun coming over to my house for the last few weeks, and things had been going pretty well. Moolah hadn’t warmed up to me the way I would have hoped, but we would get there eventually. I wasn’t going anywhere, so I didn’t mind.

“You don’t want to give your opponents access to this part of your body. Plus, the lower you are, the more impactful your tackles will be. Now, let’s run the play again. I want you to focus on my body and the way I move. We’re gonna run a few plays, and I need you to pay attention to the way I run and the side I favor. You need to get familiar with your opponents, down tothe hand they use to catch the ball and the side of the field they prefer to run down.”

“Like a lion? They study their prey and their habits so they can attack them at the right moment,” Cash informed me. I loved the fact that he was his own person. He loved animals and science almost as much as he loved football. Sometimes, when Moolah decided to be alone in his room, we would sit up for hours watchingAnimal Planet, and he would fill me in on all the facts that they didn’t cover on the show. It amazed me to see something I created with their own passion and ambition.

“Exactly. You don’t want to move prematurely because you may miss your mark. You need to be able to predict their next move so you can always be ten steps ahead of them at all times.”

“Alright, I got you.” We dapped fists and continued making plays until dinner time. I wasn’t a cook, so we ordered Chinese for the night.

After we finished eating, I cleaned up the kitchen and watched TV in my man cave for a couple of hours until I decided to head to bed. On my way there, I noticed the screen door leading to the backyard was open. As I walked over, I saw a figure in the backyard running. I watched him for a moment, admiring his formation. Cash was feeding the football through the Jugs machine I’d recently purchased for them, while Moolah ran to catch the pass.

Moolah possessed a hunger in him that many players his age didn’t tap into until they were in high school. He knew what he wanted, and he was determined to do everything he needed to be great. I wrestled with whether or not I wanted to interrupt him because things had been so awkward between the two of us. However, I decided to go for it. We weren’t going to get past this stage if I didn’t put in the effort.

“If you extend your body a little more, you’ll have a better chance of catching your passes.”

“I ain’t never had a problem catching a pass.” He never even glanced in my direction when he spoke.

“It will also eliminate the chances of you pulling a muscle or landing wrong. See, there’s a difference between leaping this way and going at an angle like this.” I passed a football to Cash so I could demonstrate for him. These were some tips that saved my life.

“Is there a reason you’re out here? I didn’t ask for your help,” Moolah spat.

“Cash, do you mind if I speak to your brother in private?”

“No, problem. I’ll be in my room.” Cash hurriedly jogged into the house. I went ahead and turned off the machine because it was obvious my son and I needed to settle a few things.

“I don’t need permission to go anywhere in the home I pay for.”

“Yeah, well, I can always go home if it’s a problem.”

“You’re the one who has an issue with me. If you’ve got something to get off your chest, let that shit out,” I urged, holding my hand out for the ball. He eyed me for a moment before he passed it to me. The power behind his pass let me know he was holding in a lot of anger.

---