Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
ASAD
“Daddy, that sounded like really loud fireworks. What was that?”
I took a deep breath and sat on the bed next to my son. “They were shooting guns.”
“Oh! Like when you went hunting that time?”
Choosing to keep him as innocent as possible, I said, “Yeah, just like that.”
They were hunting alright. They were hunting humans.
My nerves were on edge, because I could hear the bullets whizzing by us.
I could also hear them hitting my truck.
Had they hit it in the right place, that shit could have blown up with us in it.
Our lives were suspended in mid-air all because we needed to fuck.
I knew we should have gone to a hotel. Listening to Shani, I decided to stay here.
That shit was so fucking good too. I hate this shit had overshadowed it. “Daddy needs to go back downstairs to see if they need help getting their target. Go on back to sleep, man.”
“Okay. Good night, Daddy.”
“Good night, man.”
I kissed his head and helped him get back under the blanket.
Leaving the room, I quickly walked down the hallway to the stairwell and saw Ali and Philly coming inside.
Making my way down the stairs, I was glad to see Mr. Jasper found some shorts to put on.
Ashanni met me halfway and wrapped her arms around me.
“How is baby boy?”
“He’s okay. I told him somebody was outside hunting.”
She took a deep breath. “Well, you didn’t lie.”
We walked back to where they were, and Ali stared at me. “That wasn’t her. That was Milana’s thorn. I supposed she asked her to help take y’all out. Next time y’all wanna fu— Get a room,” he said, glancing at Mr. Jasper.
The nigga was already high and unfiltered. He looked over at us as his face reddened. I could play connect the dots with his freckles. I just knew he was angry, until that fool said, “I guess our demons got into y’all. I apologize.”
Ashanni rolled her eyes. He was definitely high, because there was no way he would have joked about that shit, especially not in front of me.
“So it was Nita?” Ashanni asked.
“Yeah. Her ass should’ve been got back when we were in World War III out here. Better late than never. I knew she was shady. How she gon’ roll up on Milana and offer her money and then turn around and do some fucked up shit like this?” Ali said.
“She was tryna get everybody to relax, thinking she was cool,” Seneca said.
“She could have just stayed quiet to convince us of that,” Philly added.
“No shit. So now what?” Mr. Jasper asked.
“Just keep your eyes open. Ashanni, you and Asad limit your time outside. I know that’s your son’s mother,” he said, turning his attention to me. “That’s the only reason we haven’t hunted her ass down.”
I frowned at him. “Hunt her ass down. This is getting way too dangerous. What if that woman would have hit one of us tonight? Had Seneca not been out there, we wouldn’t have had a warning. How the fuck did she even know we were outside?”
“I’m pretty sure Mila has some type of tracker on you.”
I closed my eyes. “Fuck!”
Everyone stared at me as realization hit me. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
“I forgot about that tracker on Jayceon’s backpack. I threw it to the floor, and it showed movement. That’s how she knew at least one of us was outside.”
“Is your truck still unlocked?” Seneca asked, then instantly shook his head. “Hell naw. You gon’ have to get that shit. I’m not finna touch that door.”
Ashanni giggled as her face reddened. I shook my head at his foolishness.
I didn’t blame him though. Ashanni’s shit was everywhere back there.
It didn’t matter to me though. I’d get in and lick those fucking seats clean.
Her taste was so fucking good; by the time I finished I wouldn’t even need a detail.
I kissed Ashanni’s lips, then headed outside.
I tried to pay attention to my surroundings, but Seneca said, “We got your surroundings. Just get that backpack and get back inside.”
I nodded, then hurriedly did what he said. I couldn’t help but notice that car was gone. Once we got back inside, I asked, “Was she dead? I noticed the car is gone.”
“She wasn’t when I opened the door. She is now though,” Ali said.
I assumed he didn’t want me to know anything more, so I didn’t ask. I gave him the backpack, and he took the tracker off it. “Maybe she’ll come to me.”
He shrugged his shoulders. I hated that Mila would have to die, but at this point, it was either her or us.
I sat at the table after warming some of Mrs. Chasity’s leftover pasta.
She cooked a lot of it yesterday, so there was plenty for us to enjoy today.
I was sick of being in this fucking house.
It had been five days since the incident with Nita shooting at us.
My baby was at work, and I couldn’t wait for her to get home.
Ashanni ended up sleeping in bed with Jayceon and me that night, and she hadn’t left the room to go back to hers yet.
I didn’t think her parents cared, especially after the cover was blown on our activities that night.
I thought Shani was going to be angry at me for forgetting about that damn tracker.
She was just happy that we were okay. Her temperament had calmed all the way down.
A month ago, she would have been ready to do serious jail time for getting at Mila.
I had to admit, I liked her feisty side. I just didn’t want her to be reckless.
Jayceon was tearing that food up. There hadn’t been anything cooked here that he didn’t want to eat.
One thing I knew the Hendersons could definitely do was cook, even the women that married into the family.
It must have been a damn requirement. Mr. Jasper could cook too.
He said that Storm and Marcus were the only ones who couldn’t cook.
I had to laugh at that, because the youngest kids were typically the ones who couldn’t seem to do shit for themselves.
As I enjoyed my meal, my cell started to ring. I recognized Brian’s number from the news station. I hadn’t heard from him since I first got laid off. I smiled slightly and answered. “Well, damn. I thought I was liked around there. I know better now.”
He laughed. “Shiiiiid, I been tryna manage myself, nigga! They cut my hours. With all this shit going on, you know our people the only ones being cut, and it ain’t shit we can do about it. What’s been up though?”
“My bad, man. I just been chilling with my lady and my son.”
“You and Mila got back together?”
“Hell naw.”
“Don’t tell me. The chick you been after for like a year finally gave in.”
He chuckled as I said, “She sure in the hell did. We a full-fledged couple and shit, living together.”
“Damn! I’m not gon’ lie. I thought you were crazy as hell for waiting for her.”
“Hell, before she finally gave in, I thought so too.”
We laughed. “How’s your people?”
“Dad is dad. My mama good and so is Pops. He and Nick are still running Sheffield Infiniti. They keep trying to get me over there. He trying to create a place for me on their marketing team for commercials and shit. Then I can tell the news station to kiss my ass. The great thing for us is that neither of us needed those fucking people. We just liked what we did. I hate it for everyone else though.”
Brian’s mom married a self-made billionaire.
Her brothers weren’t pushovers either. One of his uncles owned an accounting firm, and his wife was an attorney for the Hendersons, Sidney Taylor.
He would be well taken care of if he couldn’t find a job.
The great thing was that we both wanted to get shit for ourselves, despite the family’s wealth.
“I feel you. You gone have to come out here and kick it sometimes. I ain’t doing shit right now. I’m living in Nome now, so that’s a little closer.”
“Okay. Yeah, that’s only thirty minutes away instead of an hour. You know what? I heard there’s a good place for lunch out there. Umm . . . I think it’s Jen and Chrissy’s or something like that.”
I smiled like it was my family to brag on. I supposed it would be soon enough. “Yeah. That’s my lady’s aunts. The food is good as hell. I thought that before my interest in her.”
“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’t stoop 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.”