Page 25 of Impacted by Love

"Please don't let me pass gas in this woman's presence, God," I say when a cannon goes off, causing my face to twist and contort from the smell and sound.

In all my thirty-plus years of living, this has never happened to me, and I'm struggling to understand why I'm reacting to a simple date.

Brrnng. Brrnng.

My heart pounds in my chest like an African band when my phone starts ringing, causing me to open my eyes. Seeing Annalise's name flashing on the radio dashboard, I sigh.

"Hello." My voice is unsteady and foreign even to my ears, and I shift my body from side to side, trying to shake off what's going on with me.

"Is something wrong? You don't sound right," Annalise says by way of greeting.

"I'm straight. What's up, sis?"

Hm, I didn't know repeat and bomb detonating gas is a sign of being okay.

Ignoring the statement from my conscience, I stare at the numbers on the clock, grateful for a few minutes to get through this call and extinguish my stomach mishap before I have to exit my vehicle.

"I'm gonna come home next week." Annalise's voice is softer than it was at the start of this call, which raises my brows.

"Oh yeah?"

"Mhm. I want to ensure that you aren't neglecting yourself in the midst of everything going on with Andre and Valerie. I know how hard you go for them, but I also know that you do it in silence. I want to lay my eyes on you to ensure that it's not becoming too much for you to bear."

Although Annalise refuses to deal with our parents' issues, she never fails to keep her hands on my well-being. Despite our age difference and my ability to keep Annalise away from our parents' chaos, she understands the gravity of the situation.

"You don't have to come home, sis. I'm cool. Pops refused treatment and signed himself out of the hospital. For now, Mom says they're recovering."

The call from Mom about Dad leaving the hospital almost had me blowing a gasket last night, but I have to remember myself through all of this. Five minutes into the call with Mom, I had to reel in my frustration, because no matter how I feel about their situation, my mom and dad are grown. While knowing that doesn't negate the tightening in my chest at the thought of their demise from the drugs they refuse to let go of, I have to release myself from the stress until the next incident, anyway.

"I hate you won't walk away from them. Don't let their demons kill you, Asaiah. I worry about you because you refuse to let that sinking ship hit the bottom of the ocean," Annalise says, cutting into my thoughts.

Moistening my dry lips, my gaze returns to the clock, and my grace period is over, which means I must get out if I plan to be on time.

"Listen, I'm heading to meet someone for dinner, so I have to go. Don't worry about me, I'm gonna be good. I love you, sis."

"I can't help but worry. Love you more, Asaiah."

* * *

"Oh my God! Did you really do that?" Onesti asks, cupping her mouth while laughing.

An abundance of warmth stretches across my chest from watching the bright light reflecting from Onesti's face. The stars twinkling in her eyes have a goofy grin on my lips, and the urge to continue providing the laughter within Onesti pushes me forward.

"I did. One thing about Valerie Harrison that I've always respected is her need to give me the blueprint for kicking ass and taking names. Shoving that little ninja's head in a shitty toilet was payback for the constant ridiculing he refused to release me from. I think the kids thought I was a punk because I would stay to myself, but I was anything but."

The little boy from elementary school who teased me about Mom didn't learn his lesson when I told him off with her permission the next day. In middle school, that same boy became the class clown who I had to show better than I could tell to leave me alone.

"Wow. How did you keep from getting it on you?" The lines around Onesti's eyes accompany the humor dancing in her eyes.

"I didn't, which made me madder, which led to me wiping my hand on his shirt. While he might have been able to rid his face of the evidence, his shirt made the encounter stay with him all day," I say, releasing a low chuckle at the memory of what I did to my first tormentor.

"Remind me not to make you mad." Onesti laughs while shaking her head and taking another bite of the slice of pizza she's consuming.

My gaze shifts to her mouth, and my dick twitches at the unconscious sensual way Onesti is consuming her food. I'm sure Onesti isn't aware of the low mewls escaping her mouth, causing my body to heat.

I've got to think about something other than Onesti's lips wrapping around my dick. Damn.

Remember the time Dorothy Trainor sucked your dick after letting you stick it in her ass?

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