Page 43 of Lost In You
“Yeah. I been hearing about it for a while, but never really had a reason to go out that way. Whenever I passed through, heading to Houston, it was before or after business hours.”
“Yep.”
“Well, I’m gonna let you go, man. I gotta pick up my sister from the airport.”
“Her name is Mila too, right?”
“Yep.”
I slowly shook my head. Hopefully she wasn’t crazy and mentally unstable like the one I was dealing with. “A’ight, dude. Hit me up and let me know when you gon’ stop through, and I’ll meet you at the diner.”
“That’s what’s up. Holla at’chu later.”
I ended the call and slowly shook my head at his foolishness. When my phone started ringing again, I figured it was him and he’d forgotten to say something, but when I looked at the caller ID, it was a number I didn’t recognize. I answered and hit the record button just in case.
“Hello?”
“Why the fuck you gotta record the call? Scary ass. I need to see my baby.”
“Ain’t nobody scary, and that’s gon’ be a negative. Not only are you a danger to me and my lady, you a danger to him as well.”
“Your lady?” she asked, then laughed loudly. “More like your ho. That girl got more miles than a sixty-fo’ Chevy.”
She laughed more as I slowly shook my head. I wanted to tell her ass to go check on the twins in foster care, but I couldn’tstoop to her level and drag her to hell, especially knowing they were the products of her rape. If she pushed hard enough, though, there was no telling how low I would go.
“You already asked what you wanted to ask. The answer is no. So there is no other reason for us to be on the phone.”
I ended the call on her before I really said some shit I would regret. I knew about Ashanni’s track record. She didn’t hide it. Baby girl was doing her thing. I didn’t give a fuck. She was mine now, so all that other shit was irrelevant. My phone started ringing again, and I saw her number again. I swore, she was already on my last nerve.
“Daddy, who’s that?”
I ignored Jayceon and answered. “What, man?”
“I’m sorry. I just wanna see my son, Asad. You really gon’ keep him from me?”
“I can’t say what I really want to say to you, but you got to be out yo’ mind to think that’s gon’ happen. Last week is still fresh on my mind, and don’t you dare act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. If I knew where you were, you would be a done deal by now . . . locked up without a chance for parole.”
“Nigga, fuck you! That ho come along, and you forgot how much you loved me! You used to eat my pussy down to the rind until your nose caught a whiff of her shit. I hope you get fucking gonorrhea in your fucking mouth!”
My nose was twitching. I was so fucking angry. I stood from the table and went outside. Ali was outside staring at me. I gestured for him to come over to hear her ass. “I’m not around Jay, now, so I can say what I want. You wanna see a kid? How about you go find the one you threw in the fucking river? Huh? You quiet as fuck now. You so fucking worried about Ashanni. You need to be worried about why there’s a warrant for your arrest.”
I showed Ali the number she was calling from, and he went to his phone, typing feverishly in that shit.
“How do you know about that?”
“Don’t worry abouthowI know. The point is that I know. That woman that shot at us last week was the grandmother. I’m not blind anymore, Mila. You need help, but I ain’t the muthafucka for the job. I got a son to take care of.”
“Does he at least miss me?”
She started crying. This bitch was crazy as fuck. I took a deep breath, waiting for her to calm down. When her cries stopped, I said, “He does. He asks about you all the time. But that foolishness you did last week? There’s no coming back from that shit. We could have died. Then Jay wouldn’t have had a mother or a father. That’s what you want for him? Is it?”
“No! I don’t want him calling another woman mommy!”
“That’s your fault! Your fucking fault! Had you been who he needed you to be, he would be with you right now!”
“Daddy, is that Mommy?”
I turned around to see my son standing in the doorway with hopeful eyes. I didn’t know how much he’d heard, but I could only pray that he only heard the last exchange. “Yeah. It’s her.”
