Page 16 of Lost In You
“Yeah, for now. I’m going to wait and see what you can do about her. If something else happens, though, that bitch gon’ see me.”
SIX
ASAD
“Yo,let me holla at’chu for a minute,” I said, trying to take the calm approach with Mila.
She’d seen my angry, reckless side, and that obviously didn’t deter her from fuckery. If I didn’t do something to make her chill out, this was going to escalate into dangerous territory. I truly believed Ashanni wouldn’t stop until she killed her. When she slammed her head into the wall over a year ago, I was stunned. That action alone could have broken Mila’s neck. She was acting like she didn’t know she was in danger.
“What’s up?” she asked as I stepped outside.
“Why you tryna fuck with Ashanni’s brother?”
She rolled her eyes. “I guess he told you.”
“No. Our son spoke to him, calling him by name.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Fuck. I didn’t think Jay would be around him so soon, but whatever. I can fuck who I want to fuck. I’m single, remember?”
“This ain’t about you fucking. I don’t give a fuck who you with, except when I know you tryna fuck with Ashanni. You knew that was her brother. He went to school with y’all. And why you lying, talking ’bout you didn’t have anything to eat inthe house? That shit reflect not only on you but on me. Don’t be making it seem like I would let y’all struggle to where you couldn’t feed my son.”
“Oh, so you didn’t want to look bad in front of her family. That’s what this is really about.”
“This about you fucking with Ashanni. I told her I would talk to you. She is going to seriously hurt you next time, and I won’t be able to stop her. She wanted to get at youthistime. Your life is in danger, and you don’t even know that shit. My son needs his mother. Think about him the next time you wanna do some reckless shit.”
“Whatever, Asad. Where is Jay so I can go home. I don’t have time for your bullshit.”
I nodded repeatedly. “Okay. Just remember what I told you. You can act like you don’t know if you want to, but Ashanni will beat the fuck out of you without remorse. Play with something safe. I’m trying to protect you for the sake of my son, but if you ain’t looking out for you, then why should I? Jayceon, your mama’s here!”
She rolled her eyes at me as he came running to the front with his backpack. “Mommy!”
“Hey, baby! Did you enjoy your time with your dad?”
“Yes! I got to play with Renzo!”
She looked up at me. “Rylan’s son.”
She remembered Rylan, because I used to hang around him sometimes.
“That’s good! Well, let’s go so you can get to bed.”
When he walked out, she cut her eyes at me. She’d texted while I was with Ashanni saying she changed her mind about him staying the night and would pick him up when she got off work. Here she was, not letting me spend the time I wanted to spend with my son, and there were womenwishingfor a baby daddy like me to pick up the slack. Lots of single mothers wouldgive their left lung to have their child’s father dedicate as much time to their child as they did. She wanted to be difficult, because she thought that I would give in and give our relationship another shot. That shit would never happen.
I swore, she couldn’t just go on ’bout her life. We didn’t work out. She needed to find somebody she got along with. We were arguing all the damn time, and that shit was wearing me thin. I was tired of talking about it to my dad, but he could tell I was bothered when Jay and I visited before coming home.
I didn’t want Ashanni fighting. Baby girl was way too pretty to be scrapping. However, if Mila wouldn’t mind her fucking business and leave Ashanni alone, what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t take things out on her for how she responded to the fuckery.
Mila wasn’t like this normally. She didn’t start acting stupid until she noticed me watching Ashanni. Then she started accusing me of sleeping with her. Ashanni was fine as hell. I would have had to be blind not to notice that shit. So because I looked at her, I was cheating. I didn’t know where her insecurities regarding Shani came from. It probably stemmed from that fight. I never asked what they were fighting about, and Shani never said why the fight happened.
I had no experience with shit like this. My mama couldn’t relate. She wasn’t the jealous type. However, she cheated on the man I knew as my father with Red Anderson, because she wasn’t happy. I found that shit hard to believe, knowing the type of woman she was now. She said it was a messed-up decision, but what was even more messed up was her telling her husband that I was his son, knowing that I belonged to Red. It deprived him of five years of my life.
I went to my shower and started it, knowing I needed another one after being outside around the horses. That couldn’t wait until morning. Before I could get in, my phone startedringing. I took a deep breath and released it when I saw Red Squared’s number.
“What’s up, bruh?” I said when I answered the call.
“Maaaaaan, you ain’t gon’ believe this shit.”
I sat on the bed. “What?”
