Page 29 of Rhodes to Love

Karima’s mama and Cassie came outside and ran to us. “Are y’all okay?”

“Yes, ma’am, but I think y’all need to go back inside. I’m going to take her to my house in Cheek. She’ll be safe there.”

Mrs. Keisha hugged me and said, “Thank you.”

“Y’all are more than welcome to come, too, if you need to get away.”

“We’ll be fine. KJ lives next door to Rima, and it’s a gated community. So we should be safe there. Take care of our baby.”

She kissed Karima’s head then hurriedly went back inside with Cassie. I helped Karima back in the truck then joined her. Thankfully, I was a good shot to where they could see who the fuck was doing a damn drive-by in the middle of fucking nowhere. This was some Oakland shit if I ever saw it.How the fuck you do a drive-by in the country?

CHAPTER11

KARIMA

“Who was that, and why were they shooting at us?” I asked my daddy.

“We don’t have a fucking clue. We suspected it was the Andersons, but that guy doesn’t even look familiar, and he was alone. They never do shit solo. It’s always a gang of them, because they know one on one ain’t gon’ work out in their favor. Eventually, they’ll learn that coming in groups won’t work out either. We decided to just call the police. We don’t know who this guy is or who he could be connected to. Where are you, baby girl?”

“I’m in Cheek with Rhodes.”

“Put your phone on speaker.”

“Done. He can hear you.”

“Rhodes, thank you for protecting my baby.”

“You don’t have to thank me for that. She’s my baby too.”

I leaned against him as we sat on the couch. My nerves were frazzled. That bullet could have killed me or Rhodes. It looked like he was about to get in his seat but paused to swat a bug off his pants. Had he not done that, I would have been grieving the father of my child… the love of my life. The tears came out of nowhere. I was no longer listening to their conversation. I could only hear my thoughts. They were loud and distracting.

I closed my eyes, trying to hear what I believed God was telling me. Taking deep breaths seemed to help.They are after Rhodes.That dropped right in my spirit as I looked up at him. He was listening to my dad.

“You had really quick thinking by shooting out that tire. It was smart, too, since you didn’t know who it was.”

Rhodes nodded as if my dad could see that, then looked down at me. He frowned slightly. I supposed he could tell something was up. Sliding my arms around him, I hugged him tightly. After kissing my head, I heard him telling my dad he had to go and get things situated for me. I felt like I was about to have an anxiety attack. I closed my eyes again and began taking deep breaths, praying in my spirit.

“Karima, what’s going on, baby?” he asked in a soft voice.

I could tell he was worried. He placed his hand on my belly and rubbed it in circles then kissed my ear and my cheek. “What’s up, baby? You making me nervous.”

“They are after you.”

His hand stopped its circular motion. I opened my eyes to look at him and saw the frown of confusion on his face. “Why would they be after me?”

“I don’t know, but if you look where the bullet hole is in your windshield, had you not paused, it would have hit you right in the head.”

He looked away from me and swallowed hard, I supposed trying to visualize what I was saying. When he reopened them, he looked right at me. “My parents…” he said in a whisper.

He closed his eyes tightly then stood from his seat and began pacing back and forth as I watched. “How would they have found you? And why are they coming after you now? Your parents have been gone for three years,” I said, trying to get him to think.

“I don’t know, baby, but maybe the safest place for you is back in Nome. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you or Roselynn.”

I went to him and brought my hands to his cheeks. “And how do you think I feel about something happening to you? I love you, Rhodes. None of this is your fault.”

“They could have easily found me, especially after I went out there to bury them. They told me not to do that, but I couldn’t imagine not being there to bury my parents.Fuck!”

He pulled away from me and swung at the air. I didn’t understand why they would have waited so long to come after him. Well… maybe they didn’t. He was in Prairie View when his parents were killed. A year or so later, he moved back to Cheek. Then not even a year later, he moved to Nashville. Now he was back in Cheek. Whenever they got a plan in place to execute, he’d move.

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