Page 168 of Anything Necessary for Her
I couldn’t imagine letting niggas sexually assault a woman in front of me, let alone a woman I had a kid with. I didn’t give a fuck how much I hated the bitch.
My hand rested on her frail back as I rubbed gently, watching her lids fall shut at the feeling.
“I see,” I murmured.
“I love you and your siblings, even though I don’t act like it. I just get so angry when you guys don’t love me or I can’t do things for you, and it makes me lash out, which only makes things worse.”
“I do love you,” I admitted something I never wanted to. “That’s why you even still under this fucking roof, Whitney. You raised a callous ass nigga, and if I ain’t have no love for you, you would’ve been out on ya ass or six feet deep somewhere. And I wouldn’t give a fuck about you getting better.”
“How could you love a mother like me?” She whimpered, turning to face me with a tear-stained face. “My mother wasperfect and so was my father. I hate that they died before you could meet them. But me, I’m horrible, and I don’t get how you could love me when I treat you the way I have.” She cried.
“Most of my memories of you are terrible, I ain’t gon’ front. But I do have some good shit I can’t ever forget either.”
“You do? I don’t remember anything good.”
“I remember how in first grade you would pick me up early one day a month, and we’d get McDonald’s and eat inside so I could play in the PlayPlace area.”
I watched her eyes widen a little bit, telling me she actually did remember.
“I do remember that.” She smiled, something I hadn’t seen in forever.
“Or how you’d come home and bring me Peeps in like November and shit, knowing they were hard to find outside of Easter.”
“I do.” She smirked, looking off, clearly recalling the memory. “I heard you call Banks Peep. Any connection?”
“Yeah. Those muthafuckas used to turn a bad day on its head when you’d walk in with ’em. It was like a salve to the soul or some shit.”
“And that’s her. She’s a Peep for the grown-up Willow, huh?”
“She is.” I leaned forward some, pressing my elbows into my legs. “It’s hard for me to feel bad, have bad thoughts, or even feel down when I’m with her. I legit forget about a lot of terrible shit when she around. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but I love it.”
It was frightening as fuck to love someone as much as I loved Banks, but it was too late to try and reel that shit in now anyway. I wouldn’t know what the fuck to do if we parted ways, but I knew Los Angeles’ murder rate would skyrocket.
“So I should be getting a daughter-in-law then, huh? Wyatt seems like he’ll be a player all his life.”
We chuckled.
“That’s the plan. I want you to be better, though, so when that happens, you can be in the mix. So when I have kids, you can meet ’em, be a grandmother, which is some shit I never had.”
“I want that too.” She sighed. “Miss Banks also mentioned therapy, which I think would be good for at least us two, if I can’t get my youngest ones to agree.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“That works. You have some time since I’m gonna go back to rehab. I want time to tell Waverley and Wyatt when they get home this evening, so I won’t be going in until tomorrow morning. You think you could give me a ride?”
I was surprised, so my response sort of lagged.
“Ye-yeah, . . . I got you.”
Fucking Banks, man. Peep. My baby.
Entering the side of Prolific Pointe, I hopped on the elevator and made my way up. Meandering down the hall, I stopped at the door belonging to the head of the school, Cary Kirby.
Knocking lightly, I listened to some rustling as if he were standing from his desk before he trod to the door, pulling it open.
His pale face fell as he took me in.
“Hi. Can I help you?” He smoothed down his tie.
