Book 3 [ The Untitled Series ]

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Ashley

" I'm not a crackhead."

I raised my eyes brows, unsure of how to respond to the confession. It was close to five in the morning, nobody aside from my mother and the children were asleep, and everybody was on edge. We were taking turns making pots of coffee. It was my second turn and I was in the kitchen alone, readying the Keurig when Amy marched in.

" okay." I said, chuckling softly to myself. I closed the machine, put the carafe underneath the opening to catch what would be steaming hot liquid, and started it. " thanks for letting me know... I guess."

" what's the attitude for?"

I laughed again, against my own will. " I'm sleepy and irritable as hell. That's what the attitude is for."

" so you think I'm a crackhead."

" truth be told, I don't give a damn. Excuse me." I tried to walk around her, only for her to block my path back to the living room. " oh?"

" I'm saying, I'm not a fucking crackhead, so don't ever call me a crackhead again."

Smirking, I shook my head. " you been holding that on your chest for the past seven hours, huh? What? You about to threaten me or something? I would love to fucking hear it, babe, so come out with it."

" it's not a threat." She pointed two fingers in my face.

" girl..." Another laugh bubbled up before I could catch myself. " normally, I wouldn't say anything... but you got the right fucking night, sweetheart. You need to watch what the fuck you say because im tired of holding my damn tongue. Now, move."

" or what? You gone make me?"

" I sure the fuck will. It'll be a cold day in hell before I get punked out by a crackhead."

" I said I'm not a -" She made a quick move-too damn quick for my liking- and it looked to me like she was about to punch me and so I got her first. Two to the face. In hind sight, she may have just been trying to move her hair from her face, but all I could think about was protecting me and my baby.

She stumbled to the side, using the wall as support, and I passed her. Several times in the short walk from the kitchen to the living room, I thought about turning back to apologize but just didn't have the energy. The long night of stressful worrying and lack of sleep had drained me.

The kids were asleep with blankets and pillows on the floor and on the two couches the adults were squeezed together. Some people were slowly drifting off to sleep while Alexus, Symonee, and I  were the only three still completely awake.

I took up my place between my mother and Whitney and grabbed my phone from where it had been on the charger in front of us on the floor.

" did I hear something in the kitchen?" Alexus asked.

" nope."

" hmm."

I tried calling Leon again, not expecting the call to go threw at all, but still hopeful. His calls were going straight to voice mail, but so were everyone else's.

This call was no different. I threw my phone back onto the floor and sighed in frustration.

" so did you really cheat on Leon with a banker?" Symonee asked. "Like, I'm curious how you went from a street nigga to a banker."

My agitation peaked. " do you really think that this is the time to bring up-"

" no, I'm just asking, seriously. Ever since that dinner a while back Leon won't talk about you. Anytime anybody brings you up he gets so defensive."