Page 14 of Lost In You
I rubbed Asad’s hand between mine as we walked to the table, trying to calm him down. When Crew joined us withJayceon, he ran to Asad. “Daddy! He has a ton of Hot Wheels cars! He said I could have them!”
“That’s awesome, man!”
I leaned over and kissed Asad’s cheek and said, “You wanna go riding after dinner?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Let me go see if Chas needs help.”
“Don’t get embarrassed, Ashanni!” she yelled from the kitchen.
I chuckled and made my way to the kitchen. I was fuming, because that bitch was tryna fuck with the wrong muthafuckas. I didn’t want to show how pissed off that shit had me in front of Asad, because I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire that I could clearly see raging inside of him. She was gon’ get the shit she was asking for. Royal was laid back like Daddy, so he wasn’t going to do shit unless she pushed him.
That didn’t matter, though, because I would fuck her all the way up. She knew that shit, so I didn’t know why she was fucking with me. I tried to be peaceful. Nobody ever tried to cross me. I didn’t fuck with people like that. Most of us Hendersons didn’t fuck with people outside of our family like that. She was trying to pull me down to her level, but she didn’t know, I woulddivedown to that shit with fucking gusto if I had to.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Why that bitch fucking with Royal?”
“What bitch?” my mama asked, pulling off her oven mitts like she was ready to go to war right now.
“Mila. Royal fucked her.”
“What is it with these Henderson men fucking these stupid hoes? I don’t get that shit. It started with your grandfather and trickled down to his sons. Now his grandsons are following the pattern. Christian, Jacob, and now your damn brother. All I know is that ho better not pop up pregnant.”
“Mama, I swear, y’all gon’ be bailing me out of jail until my trial, because I will kill that bitch. I know she fucking with him to get at me. Royal is way too kindhearted for bullshit like this.”
“Don’t let your brother fool you, Shani. That nigga ain’tthatkindhearted.”
I frowned at my mama. “What’chu know, Chas?”
She gave me the side eye as I laughed. I swore she needed to get over herself. “Chas my ass. That nigga tight as hell when it comes to his money. Buying a meal is one thing. He ain’t buying shit else, no matter what type of situation a ho come up with. He ain’t so kindhearted to where he can’t see when a ho tryna scheme.”
“Well, whatever. All I’m tryna say is if that ho keep campaigning for this ass whupping, she gon’ win the fucking election.”
My mama chuckled. “I know that’s fucking right. I’m gon’ have to use that line.”
I slightly rolled my eyes, then helped her get the food to the table. It smelled so damn good. I loved her homemade mac and cheese. It was so creamy. I remembered when she was experimenting with it. She hated that it kept coming out like “restaurant” mac and cheese. She said she hated that powdery taste. It tasted good to all of us, but she kept experimenting until she figured that shit out. When she did, we were all impressed. She had that shit down perfectly now.
When I set it on the table, I could see Jayceon lick his lips. I smiled slightly. He was such a cutie. My mama set the pork and rice on the table, so I went back for the snap beans and cornbread, and she came back for the pinto beans. We were about to eat good. Hopefully, this food would push the awkwardness to the background and dinner would be cool. That ho was gon’ get what she was looking for the next time I saw her ass though.
As we rode, Asad was somewhat quiet. After dinner, we talked to my family a little while longer, then we came outside to go for a horse ride. These rides were therapeutic for me, and I was hoping it would serve the same purpose for Asad. Ferris and Milana had come by, and they took Jayceon with them to go visit Rylan and Angel. They had a son that he could play with also.
We were riding close enough to hold hands, so I grabbed his hand. He glanced at me and gave me a slight smile. “I’m sorry, Shani. That just caught me off guard. I don’t give a damn about who she fucking, but I never want another man to get the impression that my child isn’t taken care of. I don’t like my son being used as a pawn in her fuckery. I surely don’t like that it was your brother, because I feel like that shit was intentional.”
I nodded. “I feel like it was intentional as well, and when I see her, it’s on sight, unless my lil suga is around. That ho don’t realize that we run deep over here. When one of us has a problem, we all have a problem. Aunt Tiff, Jess, and my mama will drag her ass before I even know anything happened. I don’t want that, but clearly, she does.”
“And see, I don’t want you fighting her. I hate drama,” he said, pulling his hand away from mine.
I lowered my head and remained quiet. He couldn’t get upset with how I responded to his ratchet-ass baby mama. He needed to checkherass . . . not me. Something needed to be done about her ass, and I was the perfect person to fuck her up, since I was the one she was fucking with. This was what I was afraid of. We hadn’t been together a whole day, and shit was already trying to hit the fan.
We continued riding in silence. If he thought I was going to let her get away with her bullshit, he had another thing coming. I liked Asad a lot, but not enough to let a bitch do what the fuck she wanted to me or my family. We may as well kill this shit before we even get started if that was what he expected.
I glanced at him to see him looking straight ahead. Choosing not to bite my tongue, I asked, “What do you expect from me regarding this situation, Asad?”
Without hesitation, he said, “To let me handle it.”
I nodded repeatedly, and my petty was kicking in. “Okay. But just like you said I had more than enough time to make a decision regarding us, you’ve had ample time to get her ass put in her place. That was a year ago that I slammed her head against that wall at your house, and she still fucking with me.”
