“How come this the first I’m hearing about this?” Ayla prodded.
“I told you about this two weeks ago, Lala.” Dane sucked his teeth. “Come on, man. You know if Ma on that bullshit, she ain’t gon’ let me go.”
“Watch your mouth.” Ayla aimed a finger at him as she checked over her shoulder before pulling off into traffic. “And I just forgot. It’s been a lot going on for me too. I might be out of a job after today.”
“For real? What happened?” her nephew queried.
“I don’t even want to talk about it,” she huffed, spotting her phone lighting up on the middle console inside her purse.
A picture of her and Qassen populated her screen, and she almost threw that motherfucker out the window. He had a lot of nerve calling her right now. She didn’t answer and fixed her eyes on the road. Seconds later, it went off again.
“You gon’ get that?” Dane looked down at the device, then up into her face.
“Nope.” Ayla popped the ‘p’ on the end and gripped the steering wheel tighter.
When Qassen hit her a third time, she reached down and snatched the phone up to silence it before tapping at the screen while driving until she had him blocked. She didn’t want to talk to him or hear anything he had to say. There was nothing he could do to defend his actions, and she refused to sit and listen to some bullshit.
Twenty minutes later, she whipped her car into the lot of Vintage Vault beside her sister’s Lexus truck. Dane had his head down in his screen, typing away. When she slipped out of the car with him, Ayla grabbed the bag of food.
The two-story building with the ‘antiques’ sign hanging in front was a staple in Ree Heights. Pieces from all over the world somehow ended up in their collection, stirring a lot of tourism in recent years. Inari had taken a position here nearly five years ago, and she got paid on commission. She was one of their top auctioneers and constantly took home awards for her achievements. Nobody was prouder of her than Ayla becauseshe knew everything her sister had to go through to reach these heights of success.
Inari was a survivor in every sense of the word. She made a way out of no way for both Ayla and Dane. It was why she always felt like she owed everything to her, even though Inari swore up and down she wasn’t keeping score. She was her sister, and there was no way she was ever going to allow the world to tarnish her. Both Dane and Ayla spoke to the owner, Ms. Vernon, before heading upstairs to Inari’s private office. Ayla tapped on the door before she pushed it open, only to find her sister wrapping up a phone call, wearing a serious expression as she placed the phone back in the cradle.
“What’s up, Ma?” Dane stepped around her desk to give her a quick hug and kiss on her cheek.
“Hey, baby.” Inari sighed and leaned back in her chair.
Ayla always thought her big sister was one of the prettiest women in the world. Full figured with golden honey skin and oval shaped brown eyes, she turned heads in sweats with no make-up and on days like today in the peach two-piece skirt suit with a white V-neck blouse. In no way was she petite, but Ayla didn’t know anybody more confident than her sister. Including herself. She was insecure on any given day, and it was Inari who was always gassing her up.
“Oh, thank you. I’m starving.” Inari stuck her hand in the bag Ayla dropped on her desk and removed the contents one by one. “How was school?” She unwrapped her bacon cheeseburger and said a quick prayer before taking a mouthful.
“Straight.” Dane shrugged and leaned against an accent table with drawers near the big office window overlooking the store.
He grabbed a few of her fries from the bag and shoved one in his mouth.
“Will and David are coming to pick me up so we can go grab pizza with the rest of the team tonight. Is that cool? I’ll be home around eleven.”
“Fine, Dane.” Inari chewed and then swallowed. “I just got word that one of our shipments that was delayed is coming in tonight anyway, so I have a shitload of inventory to complete. Make sure you’re home by eleven. What about you?” Inari took another bite of her burger and faced Ayla, who’d taken a seat in one of the chairs across from her desk.
She could read the troubles on her baby sister’s face, and she hated it. All Inari ever wanted to do was fix everything for everybody, especially Ayla. She’d been deprived of so much, and Inari honestly didn’t know what she would do without her. Cutting her eyes at her nephew, Ayla shook her head. It was hard not to fall apart, so she’d been trying her best not to think about how Qassen had turned everything upside down. Now, she was without a man and probably a job too.
“It’s over with Qassen, okay. I don’t need to hear your mouth or get some lecture about it either. I already know how you felt about him.” Ayla leaned forward in her chair.
Inari paused mid-chew to blankly stare at her sister across the table.
“Um, who you talking to?” She turned her nose up and took a couple of fries from the bag.
She’d had a smoothie for breakfast, and that was it. All day she’d been craving something satisfying. Someone had clearly shitted on Ayla’s day because she didn’t talk like that. Both of Dane’s brows went up in shock, too. Ayla was usually good natured and laid back. She didn’t cuss a lot, and overall, his auntie was one of the sweetest yet most timid women he’d ever met. All his life she’d been there for him, and aside from his mother, he couldn’t name a better person in the world.
“Well, I wasn’t going to say anything, but are you okay?” Inari spoke up. “I may not have liked him, but I know how you felt about him. I don’t ever want to see you hurt, Lala. You know that. Do you want to talk about it?”
“Talk about how he rolled through the drive-thru at Snack Shack today with a whole other bitch in his passenger seat like shit was sweet? Is that what you want to talk about, Inari?”
Dane’s jaw practically hit his chest as his attention volleyed from his auntie to his mother.
“Uh uh. See… who is this bitch?” Her sister tossed her burger onto the wrapper and threw her hands up.
“It doesn’t even matter,” Ayla muttered.
