“Motherfucka,” he grunted, trying to grab me. I dodged his reach and tried to get to Jason who was still whaling on Jermaine, the two of them trading insults as well as fists. Felicity had her arms wrapped around Mya who looked desperate to step into the fray and I shot her a pleading look to stay put.
“The police are on their way,” someone yelled, but it wasn’t the three of us who needed to worry. We were Rixon through and through and I knew the attending officers would take one look at us and know who we were.
“You need to walk away, Son,” Dad commanded, but I ignored him, jogging over to Jason. Blood dripped from a deep cut in his lip, but he didn’t look worried. Once upon a time, he’d lived for this shit.
“You should go before the five-o arrive,” I ground out. Jermaine flashed me a wolfish grin.
“Me and you, preppy, let’s go.” He bounced on the balls of his feet, taunting me with his eyes and crooked finger. “Come on, you know you want to.”
“Jermaine,” Mya cried as Hailee and Felicity tried to pull her away. “Just go.”
“You should listen to him, man.” Jason hacked a mouthful of blood and spat it out at his feet. “This is our territory. Raider territory.”
But Jermaine’s eyes were set on me, jealousy etched into his expression. “Bet it kills you knowing I had her first. Once you taste black you never go—”
Several people yelled as my fist drove straight into his nose. Jermaine staggered back, blood splattered over his face and hoodie.
“You’re dead, motherfucka.” He pointed two fingers at me and pulled the trigger. Mya rushed to my side, yanking me backward by the arm just as sirens sounded at the end of the street.
“J, let’s roll,” one of his guy’s said.
“Yeah, a’ight.” He scratched his jaw, indecision flickering in his eyes. He didn’t want to leave Mya, to walk away; but to everyone’s relief he did. The three of them piled into a beat-up Chevy and peeled out of the parking lot.
“What the hell were you thinking, Jason?” Felicity shrieked, throwing herself into his arms. He tipped his head at me, understanding passing between us.
He had my back.
Which meant he had Mya’s back.
“Are you okay?” Mya asked, gently cradling my hand in hers. My knuckles were split open, blood seeping through my fingers. “You need this looked at.”
The adults swarmed us, the moms fussing over us like we were little kids needing some TLC, while the dads quietly watched on, waiting for their opportunity to strike.
My father would never let me hear the end of this. He’d told me as much inside, when Mya left to talk to Jermaine. It’s why Jason had gotten to them first; something I wouldn’t forgive myself for in a hurry.
“Ash... please, say something.”
But I couldn’t bring myself to look at her. I was angry and confused and my hand hurt like a bitch.
“Oh, Asher, what a mess.” Mom offered me a sad smile. “We should probably get you home and take care of this.”
Mya slowly released my hand, her fingers lingering as if it pained her to let me go. “I should probably go,” she said so quietly it cut right through me.
“That’s probably a good idea,” Mom replied, sounding more like my dad than she ever had before.
“I never meant for this to happen, Mrs. Bennet.” The vulnerability in Mya’s voice coaxed me to look at her. She looked so broken... so defeated. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and tell her everything would be okay. But before I could get out the words, Mom ushered me away.
“Now do you believe me?” my father said as we approached him.
“Not right now, Andrew,” Mom brushed past him, leading me to the car. I noticed Jason’s dad talking to the police officers, no doubt smoothing things out with them.
Mom climbed into the car, but Jason jogged up to me, shoving his hand against the door. “What are you doing?” he asked, his brows knitted in confusion.
“Leave it, Jase.”
“No fucking way, man. I didn’t just take a beating from that punk so you could walk away from Mya with your fucking tail in between your legs.”
“It’s complicated.” My teeth ground together.
“Looks pretty simple to me. She’s shaken up and you’re running.”
“I’m not...” I let out a weary sigh. “Jase, please, drop it.” My eyes went to my dad and then found Mya across the parking lot. Her breath hitched, unshed tears glistening in her eyes.
“Asher, Son, it’s time to go.” Dad’s tone was final, the coolness in his voice making me wince.
“There’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there?” Jase asked.
“I’ll talk to you later, okay?” I yanked open the door and slid into the car, slamming it behind me, the sound reverberating deep inside my chest.
My father climbed in a second later, the temperature turning subzero.
“How is your hand, sweetheart?”
“I’m fine, Mom.” I clutched my bloodied hand to my chest, staring out of the window as Bell’s grew smaller behind us.
“Those boys were—”
“Gangbangers, Julia. Those young men were gangbangers and thanks to Asher’s friend they have tarnished the team’s victory and our son’s reputation.”
“Lay off it, Dad,” I grunted, the adrenaline finally subsiding, giving way to the pain radiating deep inside my metacarpals.
“I’ll lay off you, Son, when you do the right thing and end it with the Hernandez girl. She is nothing but trouble. You saw her. She knows one of them; intimately might I add.”
“Asher,” Mom glanced back, “Is it true? Did she... have a relationship with one of those... those men?”
Mom was visibly shaken by the night’s events, but I didn’t like how easily persuaded she was by Dad.
“Jermaine is Mya’s ex. It ended badly,” I admitted, hating that I was proving my father right. “But it’s over and she’s here to escape that life. He wasn’t supposed to know she was in Rixon.”
“See, Julia. She’s dragged her gangbanger friends into our lives and now none of us are safe.”
“For real, Dad? Don’t be so melodramatic. It was a fight. It was hardly a gang war.”
“No.” He caught my eye in the rear-view mirror. “But what happens now? Do you think he’s just going to go on his way?”
I didn’t want to think about it. I wanted to go back to earlier, before I ever laid eyes on him. When I was thinking of how badly I wanted Mya. When I was foolishly making idle plans for our future once graduation was out of the way.
But for as much as I wanted to ignore his words, the reality was, my dad was right. Despite how fucking hard it was to admit it. Jermaine had been nothing more than a faceless name; an imaginary guy that couldn’t touch our relationship. A guy I hadn’t had to compete with.
But now he was real.
Now, I knew he had a wicked glint in his eye, an arrogant swagger, and a mean left hook.
And worst of all, I knew he wasn’t going anywhere fast. Not unless Mya knew some magical way of sending her ex on his merry fucking way.
Fuck.