Page 39 of So Special: Fanatic Love

“Aye, my boy, you doin too much.” Asher reprimanded. With creases in his forehead were telling. “Now, y’all two need to stop da bullshit. We know, our mamas and daddies know, and y’all know dat y’all like each otha. Get ova y’all damn selves.”

The deck was quiet. My phone notification alert broke through the silence. I picked it up from where it sat on the couch beside me. My head drew back when I saw that it was an email from The Milky Tea.The fuck!

Hey Katniss,

This is Malessa from Milky Tea. Look, I’m going to get straight to it. I know that as a gossip columnist, I am not liked by many. That is alright because gossip makes the world go around and the bank accounts fat. Although I tell the gossip in the streets of Charlotte, there are some lines that I will not cross. Yesterday, I got some information in my inbox that I think you should know about.

There are two reasons that I refuse to pay for this information and report it. One: I don’t believe it’s true and two: it’s about your son. The source claims that you neglect your son. You send him to day care dirty and hungry. They also claim that they’ve seen bruises on him. Please see attached emails and pictures that were attached to said email.

This usually goes against my protocol. However, considering the circumstances, I think you need to know who the source is. The information came from a Charia Edmond that works at the day care that your son attends.

With concern,

Malessa Warner

I opened the pictures immediately. I couldn’t believe what I saw. My baby was in dirty clothes that I’d never seen. They weren’t even his clothes. There was stuff on his face, and he looked to be crying.

“Katniss!” I jumped to Asher yelling my name. When I focused on him, he grabbed my face. “What’s wrong?”

Everyone’s faces held concern. I didn’t realize I was crying until Asher wiped my tears away. I handed him my phone without saying anything.

He took my phone from my hand, then looked down at it. Daisy moved on the other side of me as Asher read in silence. “What da fuck?” A venomous laugh escaped him. “I’m going to kill dat bitch.”

Asher

Just when I thought that I might have a clear passage to heaven this shit happened. I didn’t know who woke up and thought that it was smart to play with me and my family. First, Penny fucked with my lil one, now that bitch at the day care talking about we don’t take care of our child. After I read the email and looked at the pictures, I jumped up and moved toward the door.

“Asher, wha wrong wit you?” My mama asked after I pulled the door open hard. “Pullin my doe open like you fool. You break em, you ga pay for em.”

I paced back and forth. I heard my mama ask again what was wrong. I couldn’t respond because I was too busy formulating how this bitch would die. Katniss stepped in front of me to stop my pacing. Tears drenched her face. I cupped her face in the palms of my hand, then put my forehead against hers. “I promise I ga take care of dis, Fat-Fat.”

“Why are they doing this?” The hurt in her voice was overwhelming. “This is why I didn’t want you to know. No one would have messed with me if they didn’t know.”

My jaw clenched from her words. I refused to address it, because I knew she spoke out of distress. I kissed her lips softly. “Baby, I promise I ga handle dis.”

“Nah, you ain’t ga handle dis. We ga handle dis,” my mama bellowed from the front door. This time, I planned to let my mama act a fool on these day care folks. These people had to see me and mine.

I grabbed my baby’s hand and followed my parents and Katniss’s father out the door. Of course, our circle was behind us. Mama Raylen stayed behind to watch the children. We were about to go into the day care and fuck something up. After I handled them, I planned to take Katniss to file a joint order of protection against Penny. Her ass thought she was slick by making fake pages and numbers to harass me and my girl.

It didn’t take us long to get to the day care at all. Katniss was the first to get out and walk into the center. A part of me prayed that bitch was not at the front desk. From the sound of a slap, I knew miss bitch was in fact at the desk.

“You thought no one would find out that you want to lie to the blogs, ho? Well, let me give you some of this truth!” Katniss found the strength of a goddess when she jumped across the receptionist desk and was on that girl’s ass.

I can’t say that I moved with urgency to stop her because that ho needed her ass beat. The one thing I loved about my lil one was that she wasn’t a girl that pulled hair when she fought. It was straight shots to the face and sides. I wouldn’t be surprised if she took boxing classes. “All right, Fat-fat. Let her go!”

“What is going on? Oh my God! Get off of her!” The day care director Juliet had finally entered the chat.

It took a moment for everything to calm down. The director yelled that she was calling the police. I stepped forward to give her a few plans of my own. “Well, why you do that, I ga call my lawyer for slander, defamation of character, or whatever chargewe ca get on this day care. Oh, let me call the news station too. This gonna be an ESPN story rightcha.”

The receptionist, Charia, still sat on the floor crying. A couple of the other workers tended to her. The director’s face warped into the ugliest expression. She should never do that again because she was already facially challenged. “Wh-what do you mean? Why would you sue us?”

“Give dat lady ya phone and show ha what dis warthog lookin bitch been up to,” my mother instructed. “Y’all got me and mine fuck up talkin bout my son and daughta-law don’t take care my gran! You think my daughta-law did some damage! Wait till I jump on dat ass.”

I gave my phone to Juliet. I knew the exact moment it sunk in for her what happened and why we were here. Her hand went over her mouth and her head snapped over to Charia. That tear trickled from Juliet’s eye because she knew she was fucked. “Charia, how could you do this? Do you know what this could do? I could get shut down!”

When the door opened and a few parents walked in, Juliet panicked. It was the end of a workday, therefore, parents started to arrive to pick up their children. “Can we take this into my office please?”

My father, the peacemaker, stepped forward. “You may want to use an empty classroom or breakroom. I doubt your office will fit the parents and grandparents of Ashtan and Ashan.”

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