Page 48 of Rhodes to Love

I nodded and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I probably messed up your wall.”

“To hell with that wall. As long as you good, that’s all that matters.”

I smiled at him as he set my coffee and donuts in front of me. After thanking the Lord, I dove right in, not leaving a second for communication.

“Well, damn. You gon’ mess around and get indigestion from eating so fast. It ain’t going nowhere, KD.”

I covered my mouth and laughed then pushed him. “Shut up! We’re hungry!”

He slowly shook his head. His phone started ringing, and when he picked it up, he answered it on speaker phone. “Hello?”

“What’s up, Rhodes? Is Karima close?”

“What’s up, Mister Henderson? She’s right here.”

“Hey, baby girl.”

“Hi, Daddy. You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m good, baby. How about you?”

“I’m okay. I just woke up a little while ago, so I’m rested.”

“Good. I just wanted to let you know that Ace is out on bond. After the judge was informed of Dad’s death, he changed the remand to a million-dollar bond.”

That was high, but I supposed so being that three men were killed. “Okay. How is he?”

“He’s angry, baby. I can imagine so. Dad’s funeral is going to be this coming Saturday at Antioch Baptist Church. The church in Nome isn’t big enough to accommodate the family, let alone everyone else.”

“Okay. We’ll be back day after tomorrow unless I need to come back sooner. I love you so much, Daddy.”

I glanced at Rhodes as he gently rubbed circles on my back. He gave me a tight smile.

“No, baby. Relax. I love you more. See you in a couple of days.”

“Oh! Before you get off the phone, can you check on Aunt Tiff and go by my house and check on Milana?”

“Yeah. Something happen?”

“I’ll let Aunt Tiff tell you. She put Milana out, and she’s staying at my house.”

“Aww shit. I’ll check on them.”

“Thanks.”

After I ended the call, I looked up at my man and said, “You are so good to me.”

“Not as good as you are to me. I’m just tryna catch up.”

* * *

When we got to my house, my breath got caught in my throat. There were a ton of flowers and balloons outside the door, and a few of my family members were standing there. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I was ready to get out of Rhodes SUV to find out. We’d enjoyed our time away, simply relaxing and shopping. I didn’t want to go overboard, but Rhodes wouldn’t hear of it. The back of the vehicle was filled to capacity.

Despite him not getting an update on Ryan’s meeting with that guy in California, he seemed at peace as well. He had a lot of faith in that man’s abilities, so I could only hope they didn’t let him down. He looked over at me and smiled then got out to help me out of the vehicle. As he got to my side, my daddy was approaching as well as my brothers.

When he opened the door, he helped me out of the seat. I refused to slide out, because I didn’t want to mess up a damn thing in this beautiful vehicle. The minute my feet touched my cement driveway, my daddy pulled me into his arms. “Daddy, what is all this?”

He released me with a slight smile as my brothers hugged me one at a time. He didn’t respond to me until we walked to my porch where my mama, Cassie, Jacob, Mekayla, Yendi, Decaurey, and Milana were standing.

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