AUGUST, page 10
Now, I had a headache and was nauseous again. I took some medication and laid back down to try and get some sleep before morning. Lotus and Eli were going to be here next. Lotus I wasn’t concerned about. Eli, on the other hand, had a temper worse than his dad’s.
“You should let me call August.” Faith peered at my damaged vehicle with her hands resting on her hips. I’d tried to get her not to show up here, but she was insistent on laying eyes on me to make sure I was feeling better. I finally broke down and agreed to go to lunch with her. As soon as she saw the Rover, she went off.
“Who the fuck did this shit?”
My mouth had dropped at her tone. I was used to Faith being all sweet and quiet. The Faith who stood here scowling looked like she tackled hoes for a living.
“Absolutely not.” I had already been ignoring him this morning. For whatever reason, I knew he would take one look at me and know something was up. “The adjuster is coming later this afternoon. I’ll have another car in no time. Now can we go to lunch?” My anxiety was already high. There hadn’t been a single peep from either Lotus or Eli, which was strange as fuck. I would rather they had just shown up and got whatever was up their sleeve over with. I was restless and paranoid as hell.
Faith shook her head. “No, we’re gon’ call lunch in, and I’m gon’ call August.”
“Why?” I whined because she was already on her phone calling him.
“Girl, he is about to blow a fuckin’ gasket,” she mumbled.
“Exactly! Leave him out of this,” I begged.
“Leave me outta what?” August’s voice came through the line. I groaned as Faith turned the camera so that he could see for himself what I wanted her to leave him out of.
“The fuck you at?” he barked. His ass sounded crazy, causing me to groan even more.
“I’m at Asia’s house,” Faith replied. She glanced at me with an unbothered smirk. August hanging up should’ve been clue one that this wasn’t about to go well. “Ooo wee… That man is furious.” She chuckled to herself as she went to go sit on the porch, crossing her legs and everything. I looked at her like she was crazy.
August must’ve been down the street. Faith had barely finished ordering the food when I heard his truck approaching. He swerved onto my street, causing skid marks on the pavement. I wasn’t prepared to see that look again—the one he wore yesterday. That shit scared the hell out of me and had me on mute as he got out of his truck and stalked toward the Range Rover. As he assessed it, his face never budged from the frown it held, and he was silent—too fucking silent. Taking my cues from Faith, since she was quiet, I was too.
He walked the entire perimeter, anger seemingly billowing from his perfect curly, low taper-fade. It seemed like forever before he’d seen enough.
“Oh, shit,” Faith whispered as he stalked toward me. I stood still, scared shitless to move. He looked so damn mean.
Tilting his head, he questioned, “When did this happen?” His voice was low, menacing.
“Two this morning.”
He closed his eyes and chuckled humorlessly. When he opened them, he looked like he wanted to strangle me.
“And nothin’ in that beautiful ass brain told you to call me?”
“August—”
“Anastasia,” he replied, shutting me up. It was absolutely horrible that my pussy reacted to him calling me by my given name. He said it so sexily. Yet he was mad as fuck.
“It was my half-sister, alright,” I explained. “I beat her ass before she went to jail.”
That made him chuckle a little deeper. It still held no humor in it. He stared at me for quite too long. Birds chirping and lawn mower sounds were the backdrop to him staring at me without a word coming out of his mouth. Then, he turned his attention to Faith.
“You should really put her on game, baby,” he stated.
Faith guiltily shrugged. “I called you, didn’t I?” She was back to being quiet, sweet Faith. I narrowed my eyes at her.
“Don’t look at her like that.” August took my chin and turned me his way. “I’m gon’ say this one muthafuckin’ time and one muthafuckin’ time only. You should’ve fuckin’ called me.”
“Okay…” I finally acquiesced. Just then our food arrived. Faith twisted off to go get it from the delivery driver.
“We won’t have this problem again, will we?”
I was so confused on why August talking to me like I was anything more than a friend to him. However, I found myself shaking my head no.
“Good girl,” he muttered.
Chapter Sixteen
AUGUST WELLS
With each repair I made to Asia’s ride, a new set of anger washed over me. I got so bothered that I had to stop several times. It occurred to me that the reason I couldn’t finish this shit was because I didn’t want her riding in anything someone had even thought to lay a hand to.
Buying a car for a woman who wasn’t technically mine was crazy as fuck. Still, I called a nigga I knew at the dealership who owed me a favor or five.
“The more you say there’s nothin’ between you and shawty, the more I know you’re full of shit,” King said when he rode with me to the dealership. Within a couple of hours, I drove off the lot with Asia’s new ride.
King followed me to Ensley Shores, where I had Asia meet me outside. Her mouth fell open when I pulled up. Speechless, she watched me get out of the new black-on-black Range Rover, with the black custom rims. I walked up to her and handed her the keys.
“Everything else is inside the glove compartment.”
“August, this isn’t my Range Rover.”
“It is,” I told her. “Now, take these keys and go for a test drive while I go see Mary.”
Her gaze shifted between mine and the sparkling black vehicle.
“You might as well accept it,” King chimed in. He approached us, carrying the box of books that I’d had in my truck for Mary. He handed me the box, then backtracked to my truck.
“Are you serious right now?” Asia fanned her eyes to stave off the tears.
“Yeah, now get yo’ ass on somewhere. And be careful,” I added.
She sniffled and carried on as she climbed inside the driver’s seat. For a minute, she just sat there looking at all the upgrades her new ride had. This was definitely better than giving her back her old shit. Especially after a muthafucka tainted it.
Leaving her to it, I went inside Ensley Shores, signed in, then went up the elevator to Mary’s apartment. At her door, I stopped short at some nigga grumbling under his breath.
“That ol’ ugly wench thinks she’s too good to speak to anybody?”
Face balled up, I glanced to my right to find an older, brown-skinned nigga walking my way. He used a cane to help him walk and judging by how slow he moved, walking was a chore.
“Ol’ ugly act like she can’t speak when I say something to her,” he mumbled.
Mary’s door swung open. She stood there with her walking cane, her face balled up tighter than mine.
“I may be blind, Harold the Hunchback, but I can hear you rusty, shriveled up dog.”
Mary’s reads always hit home. Harold surely looked just like what the fuck she said.
“Fuck you, ol’ horse,” he shot back.
“Aye,” I warned his old ass.
“Aye, what? You gon’ defend Mary the Killer? Probably why she blind now.” Harold moved so slow that he was just now within arm’s reach as he passed me.
“Say, watch what you sayin’ to her. You got a problem with her, you got a problem with me. Stay the fuck away from her too.”
The old man busted out laughing. “I’ma burn her unit down one day,” he said.
Mary gasped. “I’m gon’ report you, Harold, for threatening me.”
“Do what you want, old cow.”
Having had enough I barked, “Get the fuck on!”
He laughed and continued walking down the hallway. I wanted to follow behind him and push his ass down. It would take him the rest of the year to get the fuck back up.
“I apologize for that. Come on in,” Mary said.
“Don’t apologize, Mary. I’m gon’ report him, though. And if he continues to give you trouble, let me know.” I wasn’t above beating that man’s ass about Mary even if I was curious as to why he called her Mary the Killer.
She giggled. “Sure, August. Have a seat and let’s just talk today. Is that okay?”
I swallowed hard and replied, “That’s cool with me.”
She got settled in her recliner and I put the box on the table, then plopped on the couch. The way she crossed her feet and fiddled with her fingers let me know that she expected me to kick off this conversation.
“Asia tells me that your son’s name is June.”
“Yes, ma’am. He’s turning five next month.”
“Aww, how sweet!” Sighing, she added, “I remember when Asia was five. That little girl had the biggest smile and cutest dimples. I swear those things get deeper the older she gets.”
We both chuckled.
“Has she told you that her birthday is coming up?”
Tilting my head, I replied, “Nah. She didn’t tell me.”
Mary threw her hands up. “That hardheaded girl. She bugs the stew out of me sometimes. Well, anyway, her birthday is this Thursday.”
I smiled. That was the day before the grand opening and Asia mentioned nothing about her birthday being the day before. Which was crazy as she’d had plenty of opportunity to tell me.
“My grandbaby is the sweetest girl. Life has just been a lil’ mean to her.”
I understood that.
“Life can be crazy sometimes,” I mumbled. Scanning the pictures on Mary’s wall, my gaze fell on a picture of Elijah with his family. I’d seen that picture of him in his Army fatigues plenty of times. This time, my eyes narrowed on him and the woman in the photo who was Asia’s sister. Anger returned in full force. However, the closer attention I paid to the picture, the more I realized how fucking stale those smiles were. Without wanting to, I recalled a piece of my childhood. I knew those stale smiles all too well. Glancing at Mary, the question of whether Elijah put his hands on her burned on the inside of me.
“I’ve been here two years, August. Two years of living in a place I’m forced to be happy in. Sure they treat me fairly nice, but this isn’t my home.”
“So why stay?”
Her frail shoulders briefly lifted. “I made a terrible mistake.”
“You don’t believe in second chances?” I asked because I wanted to see if there was any hope for my own future. Mary had a pure soul. If she didn’t believe in second chances, a nigga like me was doomed.
“I do believe in second chances. There’s going to come a day when I can leave this place. Until then, I’ll just be content with visits from you and Asia.”
She never once mentioned visits from her kids and that shit tore me up on the inside. Fuck any of Mary’s family if I was being for real. They could burn in fucking hell for abandoning her.
“You’d be good for Asia, August.”
Mary’s softly spoken words floated to my ears.
“What makes you say that?”
She smirked. “The fact that my son is sitting in jail because he put his hands on her. Asia doesn’t think I know. However, I know more than she tries to hide from me.”
Without measuring my words, I said, “I wanted to kill ya son, Mary.” I wondered if Asia told her about her sister. Any mother would’ve balked at my statement. Mary simply released a heavy breath.
“Has he ever put his hands on you?”
The tiny, sad smile on her face was heartbreaking. “Surprisingly, no,” she whispered. “That sounds crazy as hell. However, Elijah’s father wasn’t exactly a nice guy.” Her shoulders lifted again.
“He abused you?”
“It went from a casual cussin’ out to a hand across the face within the first four years of our marriage. Elijah was two when we married. To think in those two years, I never once saw the man my deceased husband became before we wedded.”
Thankfully, Mary couldn’t see the look on my face. It wasn’t anything nice.
“Needless to say, I wasn’t the least bit hurt when he passed. For too many years, he made my life hell. I hate that the son we created turned out just like him. He’s still my son, though. A mother’s love never fades. Our hearts break when the love we’ve poured into our children is overshadowed by evil.”
Fuck. To think this was how Granny thought of me had me sick. I lost the best fucking thing I ever had in my life all behind my bullshit.
“Elijah hates that poor child as if she asked to be here. A part of him thinks that if he keeps threatening me, I’ll make Asia stop coming here. Even though all of my family has turned their backs on me, I’ll never turn my back on Asia.” The passion in Mary’s voice mirrored the same passion Granny had for me. I blinked back tears.
“You remind me so much of my granny.”
“Oh?” She grinned.
I smiled back, “Yeah. She died some years back. She’d raised me since I was eight. Well, her and my brother, Kingston.”
“I see,” she replied. “Does sitting with me heal some part of you that still grieves her?”
Gulping, I nodded. “I’ve made some mistakes, too, Mary. Very costly mistakes. I just want to feel right again, ya know.”
She nodded. “I do know. So where do we go from here?”
“I’m not sure.” A confession hang from my lips, but a nigga was too scared to utter that shit.
“We’ll go day by day until you’re ready. Remember, though. I’m not the one who has to forgive you. You have to forgive you. And you have to trust that the only one whose seals that forgiveness has already forgiven you. Understand?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Now back to what I said before.”
I laughed, knowing she was circling back to Asia.
“You have my blessing to court her. Just don’t break my baby’s heart, now.”
“Nah… I’d never do that, Mary. You have my word.”
The giddiness she expressed was the same energy I remembered my granny having whenever I made her proud.
I left Mary’s apartment and went downstairs to report that old nigga. Katrina claimed Harold was a sweetheart and that Mary liked to start shit with him. I begged to differ and told Katrina so. Her slew-foot ass had better stay the fuck away from Mary. The whole interaction had me side-eying her. At this point, I just wanted Mary out of this fucking place.
Asia wasn’t back yet, so I walked back to Lily’s. King had parked my truck and left my key chain in the office. Tez was in the bay where Asia’s busted Range Rover was.
“If you put it back together, you can have it,” I told him.
“Say fuckin’ less!” he declared.
Chuckling, I went next door to chop it up with Jericho. J Cutz IV was finally complete, just in time for the grand opening on Friday.
Chapter Seventeen
ASIA ANTHONY
A knock at the door jarred me awake. I wasn’t sure when I fell asleep, but to wake up and see that it was morning gave me some relief. Last night wasn’t the best. I was so sick that I had to call Dr. House’s emergency line. He made me an appointment for two weeks from now which had my nerves back in the pits of worry. I must’ve cried two hours straight.
Rising from the sofa, I went to the door and opened it for the delivery man and accepted the edible arrangement he handed me. My grandmother’s gift was the first to arrive this morning. Although I’d had a rough night last night, I was still determined to fight my way through today.
The edible arrangement and teddy bear were both exactly what I needed to start my birthday off. I planned on spending the day curled up on the sofa and binge watching the Bad Boys movies. If at all possible, I wanted to just feel like myself today.
I called my grandmother to thank her for my gifts, with a promise that I would see her later this evening. She nearly cussed me out and told me to spend my birthday doing something besides keeping her company. Truthfully, I didn’t argue with her because this nausea was getting the best of me.
As noon approached, I was settling in to start the first movie when the doorbell rang. Throwing back the blanket I’d snuggled under, I went to the front door. Seeing who was on the other side, I hurriedly snatched the door open.
“Happy birthday!”
Surprised to see Nesha on my doorstep, I rushed to hug her.
“What are you doing here?” Excited, I started squealing with her when we stood back to assess one another.
Her face briefly balled up. “Who the hell hit you? And when did you get a new Range Rover?”
Ignoring her question about my new car, I touched my face, forgetting that the marks hadn’t faded. The skin on my neck was healing, but that was still tender to the touch. Nesha showing up unannounced didn’t give me a chance to throw on any makeup if I wanted to.
“Elijah,” I said, ushering her into the house. She motioned over her shoulder for one of her security guards, Lew.
“Bring her stuff in,” she told him.
“Nesha…”
“Don’t Nesha me. You know I always come through on your day. Now tell me why the hell yo’ sperm donor thought it was okay to hit you.”
We stood in the foyer with me hating to relive that fucking day. I even told her about Tera showing up and her getting arrested. I wasn’t sure whether or not she was out of jail as I hadn’t heard a peep from her, Lotus, Eli, or Elijah. Truthfully, it was concerning that they weren’t raising hell all over Pensacola.
After explaining to Nesha what happened she gasped. However, in everything I said, the only thing she focused on was the mention of August’s name. She opened her mouth to say something when the man on both of our minds pulled up along the curb. Him coming here had my heart beating so fast, I felt like it took wings and tried to fly out of my chest.
“Is that him?”
Nesha had too many questions. Meanwhile, I was trying to make my breaths catch up to the rapid beat of my heart. August rounded his truck as his eyes bounced over Nesha’s crew, who stood in my yard like they were guarding my house. Lew approached August, who held a vase of flowers and two gift bags. Seeing the names on the bags caused me to blush hard.
