Chapter 8
EIGHT
ASAD
“You ain’t taking my baby to Houston to be around that ho!”
I swore I wanted to knock Mila’s ass out. That was my fault. I shouldn’t have told her we were going to Houston. I just liked for her to be aware of Jayceon’s whereabouts and expected her to inform me of when they would be leaving the area as well. It was just common courtesy.
“Mila, you don’t get to dictate where I take my son on my time. The next time you call Ashanni a ho, I’m gon’ have something for your ass.”
“Oh, so you threatening me now? Really, Asad? That’s what you doing?”
“Respect my woman, Mila. This the last time I’m gon’ tell you that shit.”
“I would if she were a woman. She’s a slut.”
“If she’s a slut, then so are you. You forgot you fucked her brother trying to make a come up?
I been trying to respect you as the mother of my son, but you ain’t shit.
I was a fool to let you manipulate me into thinking differently.
My son is the best thing that ever happened to me, but I sure in the hell wish he was born from Ashanni instead of your hateful, jealous ass. ”
I ended the call before I crossed the line.
This was the second time I’d told her that I wished she wasn’t his mother.
I knew I probably hurt her feelings, but I didn’t give a fuck.
I’d already reported my lessened wages to the child support office.
I’d gotten laid off because of cuts. That was the government we lived in, where the president had control of the fucking media.
All I talked about was sports. What type of threat was I?
I supposed it didn’t matter. I was just thankful that I was in a financial position to where it almost didn’t matter.
My dad had set me up nicely. I wanted to work to feel a sense of accomplishment.
Had Mila played her cards right, she would have had access to all of that.
I never told her about it though. If she was with me for love, then that shit wouldn’t matter anyway.
I hated that I had even given her the option of working when we were together.
I was taking care of her financially. Unfortunately, she thought that was going to happen after we broke up simply because she was the mother of my child. She fucked around and found out.
When that child support dwindled, she was going to be sick.
I had only told Mr. Jasper that I’d gotten laid off yesterday when he called.
I begged him not to tell Ashanni. She had enough on her plate.
I missed her so much. I didn’t care that her mom would be with us.
I just needed to spend time with her. Eventually, she would understand how much I loved her.
I just couldn’t say those words to her right now.
I wasn’t sure how deeply she felt about me.
She’d said repeatedly how she would drop me if Mila got too out of hand.
I was doing my best to keep her from crossing that line. Legalities just took time.
My phone rang, and I saw it was my mama.
That was where Jay was while I came to Beaumont to pick up our clothes from the cleaners.
I’d forgotten to get them yesterday, because my head was fucked up about losing my job over bullshit.
I always used the dry cleaners in Beaumont, since I was out there for work. That was all about to cease.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Asad. Where are you, baby?”
“I’m about fifteen minutes away. What’s up?”
“Umm . . . Mila is here, trying to take Jayceon. He’s crying, baby. I’m doing my best to keep him calm, but she’s acting an entire fool.”
“Call the police, Mama. I’ll be there in a little bit.”
“Okay, baby. Hurry.”
I ended the call and damn near fucked up my console from hitting it so hard. “Fuck!”
I swore, Mila was gon’ have me in jail fucking with her.
I put the pedal to the metal, eating up road to get to Liberty.
When my phone rang again and I saw Ashanni’s name on the caller ID, I couldn’t answer.
She would have me too soft right now. Then I’d have to tell her about Mila.
Then her hands would start itching to get at her, as she would say.
The last thing I wanted was for Ashanni to get in trouble behind Mila’s bullshit.
I was doing my best to shield her from that.
I didn’t know how Mila’s ass knew Jayceon was with my mama.
She had to be following me. Stupid bitch.
What did that shit say about me? I fell for a stupid bitch.
I slowly shook my head as I pushed close to a hundred miles per hour, weaving in and out of traffic on a two-lane road like the woman in the movie, John Q.
This shit wasn’t safe, but I was trying to get there before the police did.
Hopefully, my mama didn’t tell her that she’d called the police.
If she didn’t tell her, I knew her ass would still be there. My phone rang, and I saw Ashanni’s number again. Fuck! I couldn’t keep silencing her calls. I answered her call, despite that voice in the back of my head telling me not to. “Hello?”
“I’m in Liberty. Where the fuck that bitch live?”
“What? I thought I was meeting you in Houston, baby. Why you looking for Mila?”
“That bitch keyed my fucking car!”
“And we going key her fucking face!” somebody else said.
“Ashanni, baby, I’m on my way. Who you got with you?”
“Asad, you asking irrelevant questions. I asked you for her address. Where the fuck she live?” she asked, sounding calm as hell.
God forgive me. I gave her Mila’s address, knowing she wasn’t there, and she ended the call without a word.
Mila was trying to die. Ashanni had plans of killing her.
She didn’t need help, yet she had one of those rowdy ass Hendersons with her.
The fucking police was gon’ get a workout in Liberty today if I didn’t put a stop to this bullshit.
When I turned into my mama’s driveway, my stepdad was outside talking to the cops, and Mila’s stupid ass was handcuffed against the cop car.
When she saw me, she started screaming. I swore I wanted to go over there and put my gun in her mouth and blow her fucking brains out.
I got to the porch, and my stepdad said, “This is Jayceon’s father, Asad Anderson.
They have some questions for you, son. You listed our address on your restraining order, so they plan to take her in. ”
Thank God. I had forgotten all about that.
The police officer questioned me about our parenting agreement as the other cop put Mila’s loud ass in the car.
When I saw Ashanni park on the street, I could have fucking disappeared.
She would know I intentionally sent her to Mila’s address, knowing she wouldn’t be there.
I didn’t know how the fuck she knew where my mama lived.
Then it dawned on me. We shared our locations.
Fuck! If I had sent her here, she would be in another cop car, going to jail too.
As Ashanni approached, I noticed her cousin Jessica with her.
Yeah, they were going to kill Mila’s ass.
Jessica was older than me, but I could remember how much she used to fight.
However, I was shocked when I saw Mrs. Chasity get out of the car too.
I slowly shook my head when Ashanni glared at me.
“Hello, ma’am,” the officer said.
“I need to file charges on her ass too. She keyed my car and took off. I’m just catching up with her.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Where?”
“In Nome at my aunts’ diner, Jen and Chrissy’s.”
“I know that place. Are there cameras out there to prove the allegations?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Judging by the way she’s acting, I’m not doubting you. I just know you will need proof.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, then gave me the saltiest side-eye I’d ever seen.
“Give me a second. Let me get my computer from the car.”
When he walked away, she said, “You knew she wasn’t there.”
“I did, but had you given me a chance to say something, I would have told you that my mama had already called the police on her ass. You wanted to be in a cop car for fighting?”
“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. ”
“I have nothing to do with you losing your son. I asked you to let me handle things my way. My daddy gave you information. I would have held that shit over her head and have her wondering how I knew about it after I beat her fucking ass.” She shook her head and a couple of tears escaped her. “I have to go, Asad.”
She didn’t verbally respond to my confession, but I was willing to bet that was what her tears were for.
I’d touched her heart, but she couldn’t handle this situation.
Maybe my timing was off, or maybe we were supposed to go through this so I could see who Mila truly was.
Had Ashanni not come along, I would still be dealing with her bullshit, because it wouldn’t have escalated to this.
I watched her walk to the driver’s side and get in her vehicle and drive off.
When she turned the corner, I went back inside to see my son staring at me with wide, hopeful eyes.
The last thing I felt like doing was trying to have fun, but I promised him.
My heart was aching, and I didn’t know how to make it stop.
“Mama, you wanna ride out to Houston with us?”
She gave me a soft smile and said, “Of course, baby.”
Jayceon yelled, “Yay!”
I smiled slightly at him, then pulled my phone from my pocket and shot Ashanni a text. I’m not giving up on us, Shani. I love you.