The One She Loved

Chapter twenty-two,

sorry for the wait. the chapter is a filler.

please bare with me.

thanks. 🦦

"You've been okay, Tay?" Tyra asked Asanté as they sat at a booth in one of their favorite diners for lunch.

The friends decided to meet up with Luvie and Asanté on their lunch break, wanting to catch up with the couple since none of the friends had seen them since the weekend.

Asantè was somewhat hogging up Luvie's attention. Since their talk in the park, Luvie had been keeping a much closer eye on him, it scared her to think about the thoughts that were possibly going on in his head.

It was evident that he needed her more than ever now.

While she was scared of his mental health deteriorating, she was also afraid for his safety. She made sure that he stayed in the house, whether it was at his grandmother's or hers.

And if he did go out, he had to check in with her.

Since his visit to see Dante, Asanté hadn't heard from Blaise for his next job. That only made him more on edge than before, and left him to wonder if his brother had actually fulfilled his promise to fix things.

He wasn't holding Dante to his word, simply because Dante wasn't reliable. If he decided to put all of his eggs in one basket, he'd be setting himself up for failure.

"Trying to be," Asanté shrugged, keeping his attention on the window, watching the cars on the road. "If it weren't for Sioni, I probably wouldn't be,"

"Aww," Tyra and Faven cooed, their eyes darting between Asanté and Luvie who sat next to him, occupied on her phone.

"Well, that's good. Just know we're here for you if you need us, okay?" Faven assured, giving him a weak smile. Asanté simply nodded, not bothering to look in her direction.

Mali sighed as he stared at his friend across the booth, he looked at Easton, who was also sporting a concerned expression. They locked eyes, the same thought going through their minds.

They needed to figure something out.

Mali had seen Asanté down about this many times before, but never this bad. He was witnessing his friend falling into a downward spiral right before his eyes.

He tried talking to Asanté more about possibly moving to Atlanta but Asanté remained undecided on the matter.

The only thing that was holding him back was the possibility of his grandmother being targeted.

"You're Dante's brother, right?" The friends all heard a voice say.

Luvie quickly looked up from her phone, instantly frowning. Asanté rolled his eyes, huffing.

"He's not," Luvie answered for him, watching the girl closely. She was holding a drink in her hand, the lid of the cup removed.

"I'm not talking to you—" The girl tried to say, until Luvie placed her phone down on the table and turned her body a little to face the girl.

"I don't give a fuck who you're talking to. I said that he isn't, and from the way you're holding that drink, you look like you want to throw it—let me just warn you right now, we may walk out of here wit' wet clothes but you're gonna leave this bitch wit' a bloody face, I promise you that," Luvie snapped, the rest of their friends sporting amused expressions.

"You got an issue wit' Dante? Channel that anger in a fuckin' letter and send it to the penitentiary where he's located because Asanté don't got shit to do wit' that nigga's actions—now walk away,"