“I don’t need to be knowing his name. He’s bad news and I thought you were smarter than this, my girl.”
“Auntie, please.” Guilt coiled around my heart. I didn’t want to disappoint her. Not when she was one of the last people left in my life who cared.
My visit home had been a d
isaster in more ways than one. My mom had barely been around, tied up at The Diamond with work. She’d invited me to hang out there with her, but I couldn’t bring myself to be in that place. To see her draped over Keelan, waiting on his every need, or even worse up on stage dancing for him and his friends.
A painful shudder worked through me.
When I’d given her my new cell phone number, she’d hugged me tight and told me it was the right thing. That she was real relieved I was finally letting go of Jermaine and my life in Fallowfield Heights.
A life that included her.
“Now you’re frowning like your whole world just ended. What is going on with you, Mya?”
“Mama just let me walk away.” I hadn’t said much about my trip and Aunt Ciara hadn’t asked. She knew how fickle her sister could be. It was one of the reasons she’d barely visited us when I was younger.
“Because she knows you’ll have a better life, better opportunities out of that place.”
“Yeah, but she’s my mother. I thought she’d at least seem sad.”
“Mya, she loves you something fierce, but she’s also different to you and me. Sofia needs to feel needed. She needs the validation a man’s love gives her. After your daddy left...” Aunt Ciara hesitated.
My father was never around. He left before I was even born. It had taken a while to accept I was never going to know him, but I had made peace with it a long time ago.
“He broke something inside her,” she went on. “Something that Keelan fixed. He might not be who you or I would choose for her, but he’s always provided. He kept a roof over your head and food on the table.”
“I know,” I whispered.
But it came at a price. And that price was her love. He’d demanded it to its fullest. And somewhere along the line, I had to compete for her attention.
Until somewhere along the line, I stopped.
“Now tell me about this Bennet boy.”
“Really?” My face lit up and part of me hated how much I’d already let Asher get under my skin. “You want to know?”
She clucked her tongue. “If it puts a smile on your face, I suppose I can listen for five minutes. But don’t get the wrong idea, Mya. I still think this is a bad idea. This town is more backward than you think. It won’t easily accept one of its football stars going out with one of us.”
“There is no them and us, Auntie.”
Her brows pinched and I knew she saw right through me. Because while I so wanted to believe my own words, part of me knew she was right. But it was too late now. Asher wouldn’t let me run anymore.
And I didn’t want to.
I wanted to do what I did best for something I wanted; for the people I cared about.
Fight.
“Are you going to get Asher a gift?”
Eight little words I never expected to hear. But I should have known Felicity would already be planning our wedding. She hadn’t stopped grinning ever since me and Asher entered her living room together, two days ago. Now it was the day before Christmas Eve and she was asking me about gifts.
“No, I’m not getting him anything. We’re not—”
“Oh my god,” she groaned. “If you say you’re not together one more time, I will explode. Have you seen the two of you? You can barely keep your hands off one another.” A smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth.
“We’re not that bad.”