Page 47 of Lost In You
When I came out of the bathroom, Asad and Jayceon were waiting for me with huge smiles on their faces. Asad’s faded when he saw the playfulness I once had was long gone.
“Jay, why don’t you go play in your room. I’ll be up there in just a little bit. I need to talk to Mommy, okay?”
“Okay!”
He took off for the steps and Asad turned to me and pulled me to him. “What’s wrong, baby?”
“I had too much time to myself in the bathroom and got in my head about shit.”
“Maui? I heard she’s staying with Uncle Legend. Carter called me.”
“Yeah and no. SS called me. He’s a loose cannon, and I’m afraid he’s gonna get killed. He’s trying to go out there and confront Mythic again.”
Asad’s eyes widened. “Shit. That nigga keeps a razor blade in his mouth when he on the streets. SS killed someone, but Mythic has killed with his hands. That nigga is dangerous. While he tries to keep the peace in the family, he ain’t gon’ let nobody run up on him. Please try to talk him down, baby.”
“I talked to him. I’m gonna tell my daddy when he gets home. He said my brothers were considering helping him. Not on Jasper Henderson’s watch. Hendersons ain’t to be fucked with, but we ain’t no damn thugs. Ain’t none of us street niggas except Uncle Marcus. Maybe I should call him too.”
“This is fucked up. Why can’t they just let Maui do what she wants to do? They’ve tried to get her to come back and in so many words, she said fuck y’all. So let her do what she wants, even if that has her falling on her face.”
“Because none of us want to bury her, Asad.”
My tears unleashed, and he wrapped his arms around me tighter. After kissing my head, he said, “She’s gonna be fine. PJ ain’t gon’ let shit happen to her, neither will Uncle Legend and the family. They love her too. Treasure, Uncle Legend’s oldest daughter, has been spending a lot of time with her.”
“God, I hope you’re right.”
I hoped he was right, because all hell and damnation was going to break loose if something happened to Maui. I just wished she would come home.
EIGHTEEN
ASAD
I was soglad I didn’t have to lift any of this heavy ass furniture. Ashanni had bought furniture from Howell’s Furniture, so their people delivered it, put it together, and placed shit where she wanted it to go. The only things we had to move were clothes, bathroom and kitchen shit, and personal shit. I’d gotten movers to box up stuff in my house and bring it here. I had nice bedroom furniture that we put in a couple of the bedrooms, and Jayceon’s bedroom things went into his room.
Ashanni had built a huge house, and I wasn’t sure why. This house had five bedrooms, a huge kitchen and family living area, five bathrooms, a game room, and a huge outside patio area with a bar and barbeque pit. This shit was set, for real. She also had a four-car garage and a barn. As I thought about it, I realized she invested a lot into her home, because she didn’t have any expensive hobbies. The twins had nice-sized houses as well.
Karima, KJ, and Rylan’s houses weren’t as big, but they also had careers they invested in. Horses and training for those horses weren’t cheap. The three of them all had huge trailers that they lived in when they were on the road. Rylan had joined the professional league, but he still wasn’t as active as Karima,Milana, or KJ. He still worked for the family, so he couldn’t take off as much as they did.
Ashanni’s only hobbies were shopping and reading. The closet near the bedroom was two fucking stories. I’d never seen no shit like that. She even had a library that was built the same way as her closet on the opposite side of the second floor. I learned that she loved to read even more than she loved to shop. Every night at her parents’ house, she read until she fell asleep. Most times, when I fell asleep, she was still reading.
Most of the books she read were fiction by black women. Every now and then, I would see a black male author. The names Quardeay, Author Kold, Norian Love, and R. Coxton stuck out to me. She said black male indie authors didn’t get enough love, so she made it her business to read at least one a month. She was checking out a guy by the name of Nate McGuire next month.
One day, I told her we could read together. I saw a cover that completely got my interest when we were putting things away. It was calledThe Filth Kingsby Masterpiece. A lot of the books Ashanni owned had fire covers. Between that and riding horses, we would be a team. She was even talking about starting a podcast to interview authors, starting with Mya. She said it was a dream of hers and Maui’s to do that. Although Maui was alienating herself from the family, she still had to pursue it.
As I relaxed on the huge sectional she’d purchased and watched the TV above the mantle, I heard a commotion outside. Shit could never be quiet for too long. I was sick of always having drama around this bitch. It was only our first week here in the new house. Jayceon was taking a nap. We’d run around outside earlier, throwing a football, and that shit wore that lil nigga out. After eating lunch and taking a bath, he passed out.
I made my way to the door to see Ashanni standing there and Mila behind her with a gun aimed at her head. My heart dropped to my feet. I expected Ashanni to have fear in her eyes, but I onlysaw anger. I peeked outside and saw Ali and Seneca with their guns drawn. I didn’t know how she got close enough to Ashanni to have her in this position, but here we were.
As I swung the door open, I said, “What the fuck are you doing, Mila?”
She smiled at me. “Getting my family back from this ho!”
“Keep your fucking voice down. Jayceon is asleep, and the last thing I want him to see is his mother holding a gun to his mommy’s head.”
What the fuck did I say that shit for? She fired her weapon in the house, taking out a huge window at the back of the house. Ashanni’s top lip twitched. This house was her pride and joy, and Mila was fucking it up.
“I’m his mother!”
“Ashanni, you okay?”
