Page 22 of Lost In You
“I don’t give a fuck. The time you spent giving me her address, you could have said that shit. Are you sure you weren’t trying to protect her? Because I don’t need protecting. You said you had handled things with her, but here we are the fuck again.”
My stepdad walked over to us. I knew he was hearing every word, so I said, “Ashanni, this is my stepdad, Reverend Jeffrey Lewis. Pops, this is my lady, Ashanni Henderson.”
I was hoping that if I introduced him as a preacher, she would calm down some. He extended his hand to shake hers, and she obliged him.
“Henderson, huh?” he said with a smile, then looked at me. “She don’t need protecting, son.”
When he chuckled, I wanted to go upside his head. Ain’t nobody was fucking joking right now. Everyone had heard about how the Hendersons took over Nome and fucked the other Andersons all the way up while the police practically turned a blind eye to the shit. I was glad we weren’t related to those people. My nerves were shot when I saw we had the same last name. They ran those Andersons right out of Nome, along with some other people.
He walked away. “Ashanni, you have to see that what I did was best. I can’t stand out here and argue with you. I need to go check on my son.”
She turned her lip up and nodded repeatedly. I knew this conversation was far from over. I glanced at her car to see Mila had fucked her G-Wagon up. By it being black in color, it was extremely noticeable. I would have to pay to get that shit fixed. Unfortunately, Mila was connected to me, so I felt responsible.
I walked inside to find my mama sitting on the couch with Jayceon in her arms. I took a deep breath and released it, knowing that he was probably traumatized by all this. “Hey, Mama. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t owe me an apology, son.”
“Daddy!” Jayceon yelled.
He hopped off my mama’s lap and ran to me. I picked him up, and he hugged me around my neck. “Mommy was yelling at Gigi. She scared me.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head, doing my best to subdue my anger in front of my son. “I’m sorry, man. Are you okay though?”
“Yes, sir. Am I still going to be with you?”
“Yeah, man. We will have to go do something fun. Let me talk to the people outside. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Stay in here with Gigi. I’ll be right back.”
I walked outside to see Ashanni showing the cop the damage to her ride. Mrs. Chasity was standing on the porch with my stepdad. She gave me a closed lip smile. “Hi, Asad. How is Jayceon?”
“He’s okay. How’s Ashanni?”
She looked out at her daughter, who was nearly a replica of herself. “She’s angry.”
“Yeah. Besides that?”
“I’m sure she’s hurting, but she won’t let that overpower her anger right now. It’ll kick in later. Now, had she had the chance to work off her aggression, we would be seeing the hurt by now. I’ll talk to her, because I doubt we’re going to Houston now. She’ll have to file an insurance claim.”
“I’m going to take care of it. No sense in her filing a claim. That’s just going to make her insurance premium go up, regardless of if it’s her fault or not. I feel like it’s my fault.”
“Why? You can’t control that girl.”
“But I told Ashanni I would handle things and that if something else popped off, she could handle things her way. Mila is determined to make sure if I’m not with her, that I’m single for the rest of my fucking life. Excuse my language.”
I walked off the porch and headed toward Ashanni, Jessica, and the police officers. The glare she shot my way was icy enough to make my veins freeze. The police officers let her know they would be in touch and said they would email her a copy of the police report. Once they got in their squad car, Ashanni shot Mila the finger as they drove away.
Mrs. Chasity stepped off the porch and headed our way. I walked closer to Ashanni. “I’m sorry, baby. Don’t file an insurance claim. I’m gonna take care of it.”
“Too late. I already called the insurance. I gotta go.”
“Ashanni, please wait,” I said as she gave Jessica her key fob.
Once her mother and Jessica were inside the vehicle, she stepped closer to me. “I don’t know what I was thinking when I thought I could deal with that bitch. She is bringing unnecessary drama to my life. Whoever is meant for you, Asad, will come along. It must not be me.”
The hurt her mom was speaking of had made its arrival. I could see it in her eyes. I reached out to her and grabbed her hands. “Ashanni, it has to be you. You know why?” I paused for a moment while she stared at me. “Because I love you. I’m trying to handle this situation the right way. Legalities don’t happen overnight. I can’t risk losing my son behind her bullshit.”
