Asylum, p.1
Asylum, page 1
Asylum
B. LOVE
PROLIFIC PEN PUSHER
Copyright © 2024 by B. Love
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epilogue
Afterword
The Loyal Wife
About the Author
Preface
Mood: “Asylum” by John Legend
Chapter
One
Asylum
Late October
Some things you had to see to believe. Some things you never wanted to see. Two of my tenants having sex was at the top of that list. I’d been getting complaints from the tenants at my asylum on Jefferson that Michael and Unique were having sex two and three times a day.
The problem with that was they were housed in an open space for all to see. When I welcomed a tenant into the asylum, they had to agree to spend their time working, going to school, or attending therapy sessions depending on why they were temporarily in my care. If they didn’t take their agreement seriously or handled their responsibilities quickly, I could understand them getting bored easily. Being bored was no excuse to have sex on a bunk bed for ten other people to see.
They were so deep in what they were doing, they didn’t even hear me come in. The closer I got, the worse the smell became. I wasn’t sure if they’d come in and got to business after working or what, but they had the space funky as hell. Since they wanted to act like animals, I decided to treat them like animals.
I wrapped my hand around Michael’s neck and lifted him off Unique’s body.
“Agh!” he yelled as I tossed him onto the floor.
“Didn’t I tell y’all not to be having sex in here?” I confirmed, looking from one to the other.
The six tenants that were at the round dinner table playing cards began to laugh and whisper among themselves as Unique quickly shuffled to cover herself with the thin blanket on the bottom bunk bed. I didn’t know why she was acting shameful now. She was just moaning with her legs spread wide for this nigga.
“Asylum,” Michael called, trying to step in my direction.
Lifting my hand, I turned slightly to avoid the sight of his naked frame. “Put some clothes on, man. Don’t nobody wanna see that shit.”
As irritated as I was, the laughter coming from the dining area lightened my mood. I was all for freedom and being comfortable in one’s sexuality, but this was too much. They scrambled for their clothing while I headed into the kitchen. Dan was standing by the refrigerator. He opened it, and I grabbed a bottle of water to sip on while I waited for them to get dressed.
My eyes scanned the area, and pride filled me over what I’d created. The one level space was two thousand square feet. It had enough beds to sleep twelve and an area for four cribs in case any of my tenants had babies. They had a living room, dining area, kitchen, and gaming area for adults and kids. The only area that was closed off to provide privacy were the bathrooms. I had six walk-in showers, sinks, and three garden tubs for each gender.
Creating asylums all over Memphis wasn’t my original plan, but after a brief stint working for the Memphis Police Department, this seemed like a better fit for me. I offered a haven for people from all walks of life. Some came to my asylums through witness protection or police custody, which allowed me to receive government grants. Others came through referrals and recommendations. Regardless, I never turned anyone away.
The only time a person was forced to leave before their contract expired was if they disrespected me or someone on my team or broke the rules. Unique was hiding from an abusive ex whose gang was actively searching for her, and Michael was waiting for a murderer’s trial to be completed before he returned to his normal life. Several threats had been made against Michael, and that was the only reason I would allow him to stay in my program.
When they were presentable, I had them meet me outside so we could talk. The amount of space between them wouldn’t have suggested they were just fucking like they’d been together for years. Crazy part was, Unique hadn’t been here for more than three days.
“Why my tenants been sending word through the team that y’all around here fucking like rabbits?” Michael opened his mouth to speak, and I could tell he was about to say some bullshit. “And before you lie, I literally just caught y’all, so please don’t waste my time.”
While he released a frustrated huff, Unique stepped toward me. She grabbed my hand and looked up at me with pleading eyes. “I’m sorry, Asylum. Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do. Just please… don’t put me out.”
“I’m going to separate y’all. And since y’all seem to have too much free time on your hands, I’m putting you both on cooking and kitchen duties at your new locations.”
Relief covered both of their faces as I pulled my hand from Unique’s. Being here, you were bound to connect with someone unless you were intentionally closed off to it. I urged them to have a family mentality, and one of the ways I did that was making sure they cooked and had dinner together. They were allowed to volunteer for other duties such as cleaning, but when people needed more structure, I selected jobs for them.
“Thank you so much, Asylum,” Unique said.
“I really appreciate this,” Michael added.
“Just follow the rules,” I tossed over my shoulder as I walked away.
I couldn’t help but chuckle as Merc grinned at the sight of me. He was probably my closest confidant and the head of security. While he was never stationed at one asylum for too long, he bounced from one to another throughout the day. If I trusted anyone with my life, it would be Merc. Between him and my best friend Haley, I kept my circle small.
“Mannn, say,” he dragged as we shook hands. “They really in there getting busy?”
“Like they getting paid for it.” We laughed. “Lights on, room full of people, and they goin’ at it.”
“Damn. I guess they gotta get it how they live.”
“Not in here.”
“Where you puttin’ ’em?”
I thought it over for a while before saying, “Have Bully take Unique to the asylum in Lakeland and Michael can go to the one in the east.”
“Aight, bet.”
We shook hands again before I headed to my truck. Out of my two cars, the RAM 1500 was the one I drove throughout the day. I usually pulled my Challenger out at night and on weekends.
After getting into my truck, I grabbed my phone from the cupholder to check my notifications. True had called me twice, which was unusual. Usually, my girl didn’t call me unless she wanted something before I got back home. We had a routine in place, and she knew if I wasn’t there when she got out of school that I was working, so she didn’t bother me. The fact that she had called twice was a bit unsettling.
I called her back and maneuvered my way through the wooded area filled with trees that allowed my asylum to remain hidden. The only way a person could find it was if they were brought to it.
It took a few rings, but True eventually answered with, “Hey, Daddy Sy.”
Every time I heard her say that, it made me smile. I hated when people called True my stepdaughter. Having my DNA wouldn’t have made her more my child than she already was. The twelve-year-old princess had embedded her way into my heart the moment I knew there was a chance she was mine. When her mother and I had the DNA test done and we learned she shared the DNA of another man, it broke my heart. But holding her in my arms after Sierra gave birth restored me. True had been my girl ever since.
“Hey, baby girl. You good?”
True sighed into the phone. She was hesitating, and I wasn’t sure why. “I’m OK.”
“What is it, True?”
“Mama isn’t here, and I was wondering if you could have me something delivered on Uber Eats. I tried to do it, but I don’t have any more money in my account.”
My grip on the steering wheel instantly tightened. I hated how independent Sierra wanted True to be. To me, she was too young to be worrying about ordering food for herself, making appointments, or even being at home by herself for long periods of time. I understood why Sierra wanted True to be able to do certain things on her own, but to me, she needed to remain a dependent child for as long as she could. Still, there were certain decisions Sierra could make without me since True wasn’t my child biologically. Even with them staying with me, on some things, I had to yield.
“Did Sierra tell you where she was going?”
“No, sir. She wasn’t here when I got home.”
That was odd. Sierra didn’t have a job and she hadn’t called to tell me she had anything to do, so I was surprised to hear that she wasn’t at home.
“Aight, baby girl. I’ma put three hundred dollars in the account, and you can order whatever you want. I’ll cook dinner for later when I get there.”
“OK. I think I want the tamales with chili and cheese. Do you want me to get enough for you?”
“Yeah, go ahead and get the twelve piece.”
We talked for a few seconds more before ending the call, and as soon as we did, I called Sierra. She didn’t answer, which alarmed me even more. I tried not to think the worst, but in my line of work that was hard to do. I called again and texted her, asking that she hit me up ASAP. At a red light, I checked my security cameras to see when she’d left and how her demeanor was. Because I had cameras in and outside of my home, I had the notifications off most of the time.
My concern grew more when I saw that Sierra had temporarily cut the cameras off.
What the fuck was she doing that she didn’t want me to see?
It was nearing nine p.m., and I still hadn’t seen or heard from Sierra. The moment I made it home, True became my priority and I cut my work phone off. Regardless of the connections and government contracts I had, nothing came before True—not even her mama. I spent a few hours making sure she was good. We did her homework and studied for a vocabulary test she had in the morning. After that, we watched a movie, and I made her favorite fried chicken wings with honey and pepperoncini peppers. I’d gotten her hooked on eating it like that, now she wanted it once or twice a week.
True had retired to her bedroom after taking a shower and reading a chapter in her bible. Since eight, she’d been free to do whatever she wanted until her ten o’clock bedtime. I didn’t want to alarm her about Sierra, but I’d been calling and texting her nonstop. At first, my calls were going through, and she just wasn’t answering. Now, it was as if the phone had been cut off altogether. There was no point in me reaching out to the police until after twenty-four hours had passed, but I did check hospitals and the intake database to make sure she wasn’t sick or hadn’t been arrested for anything.
I checked the room and quite a few of her clothes were missing. My ego didn’t want to accept the fact that she’d left me. My heart wouldn’t allow me to accept the fact that she’d left her child. None of it made sense. I went out to her she-shed, and that was where she had a letter, signed divorce papers, and her wedding ring waiting for me. It shouldn’t have surprised me that she left it in here, because she knew I hated coming out here. This, to her, would be the last place I came—giving her a good head start to wherever she was going.
After making my way to the egg-shaped chair in the center of the room, I plopped down and tried to steel myself for what I was about to read.
Asylum,
I’m sorry. I had to leave. It was too much for me. I know you could find me if you really wanted to, so I’m asking that you let me go. I’ve tossed my phone so you can’t track me and I’m not taking the car. Tell True I love her, and I had to do what was best for me, which is going to be what’s best for her. Sign those divorce papers. You didn’t want to be with me anymore anyway, right? I don’t know when I’ll come back, if ever, but when I do… you’ll be free to be with someone else.
I love you... maybe too much.
SiSi
All I could do was chuckle as I read the letter over again. Sierra and I had known each other for thirteen years. A one-night stand tied me to her for what I thought would be for life. Even after finding out True wasn’t mine, I stayed. Sierra had gone through a lot to get me, and even with the problems we’d been having lately, it didn’t make sense for her to leave.
Was she trying to make me miss her?
Was she trying to teach me a lesson?
I wasn’t sure.
The only thing I was sure of was that this little disappearing act of hers wouldn’t just drive a wedge between us; but it would break her daughter’s heart too.
After leaving her she-shed, I went back inside and contemplated what I wanted to tell True, if I told her anything at all. I hoped this was just a stupid game Sierra was playing and that she’d be back in the morning. If not, I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do.
Chapter
Two
Dauterive
My divorce was officially finalized, and for the first time in a year, I felt like I could finally breathe. Trey insisted on months of mediation, and the only thing that made him finally sign those papers was my lawyer threatening to add his new baby by another woman to the record—which would not only force him to pay me alimony but also go against the morality clause his family business had. Trey’s family was all about their reputation, and that was why all of Trey Clark’s dark and dirty deeds were done privately. I was just grateful he agreed to the divorce to avoid them coming to the light.
I had no desire to remain tied to Trey in any way, and that was why I declined monthly alimony. My sister, Dallas, swore I was a damn fool for turning the money down. Instead, we agreed to Trey removing himself as co-partner of my staffing agency. To me, having one hundred percent ownership of my company and freedom from him was worth more. He requested to see me once the decree was filed, and I agreed to speed up the process of him signing. So my parents accompanied me to my attorney’s office, where Trey was supposed to meet me with his.
As I sat at the conference table and waited for him to arrive, I couldn’t help but think back on how I’d gotten to this point in my life. When I met Trey, he was perfect. Not the kind of perfect where he said and did the right things suspiciously, but the kind of perfect where we vibed and put forth effort that made me trust we’d have forever together. Forever turned into five years married after a year of dating, and though that was disappointing, I’d rather get over that feeling than remain in a toxic marriage that drained me of my peace and happiness.
The sound of the door creaking caused me to turn slightly and look. Trey looked good, as always. He favored the actor Michael Bolwaire… body and all. His wide, stocky build was one of the things I loved about Trey. It always made me feel safe with him. Now, I felt the opposite. I didn’t feel safe with the man who valued me enough to give me his last name in marriage, a holy and sacred union, and that was probably the most heartbreaking part of all of this.
Confusion covered Trey’s face as he took slow steps into the room.
“You couldn’t come alone?”
My head shook. “I didn’t know what you were up to, so I asked my parents to come just to be safe.”
With a chuckle and shake of his head, Trey made his way over to me. “You scared of me now?” Between his wide stance and crooked grin, I wasn’t sure how serious of a question that was.
“Whatever you want to talk to her about, you can do so in front of us,” my father, Hamilton, said.
Toward the end of our marriage, Trey and I did a lot of arguing. He’d pushed me and grabbed me, but he had never smacked or punched me. Mama said that was more than enough. One night, our argument was so heated he choked and dangled me over the balcony, threatening to drop me if I even considered leaving him. That was my breaking point. I went home to my parents, and after my father saw the handprint around my neck, he grabbed his pistol and took me right back home—where he expected me to beat the shit out of Trey while he had a gun pointed at him to make sure he never thought about putting his hands on me again.
As angry and hurt as I was, I’d always loved Trey too much to want to do anything to intentionally hurt him. All I did was pack my bags knowing Daddy would keep me safe. What was even crazier was the fact that, the following weekend, Trey found out he had gotten the woman he cheated on me with pregnant. He hadn’t planned for me to find out about her, but she showed up at the house demanding he stopped ignoring her. I watched the whole thing play out on the security camera while the rest of our neighbors got a front row seat to his ratchet ass drama.
By that point, I had already made up my mind to divorce him, but that caused me to expedite the process. I wasn’t sure what made my husband cheat on me. I gave him literally any and everything he wanted and needed. Oftentimes over the past year, I wondered if I was too good of a woman. Maybe I loved him too easily and he wanted someone who presented a challenge. Either way, I was glad to finally be divorced from Trey, and I hoped today would be the last day I ever had to lay eyes on him.
