Page 52 of Rhodes to Love

“Storm, wait until the meeting next week,” Mr. WJ said. “Jenahra, Chrissy, Tiff, and Marcus need to hear about it too… along with Jakari, Nesha, Rylan, and Philly.”

He frowned at him. “How many of y’all actually take care of the cattle? I don’t hear shit…” he said, putting his hand to his earlobe. “Just me, Kenny, and Jasper.”

Mr. Jasper frowned as he blew out smoke. “Leave me out of your fuckery before you fuck up my high. You want a pull, nephew?”

“Thought you’d never ask,” I said as he chuckled.

Before Storm could continue, his daughter interrupted him. “Daddy, we need you outside… you and Uncle Ryder,” she said as she glanced at him.

I glanced toward the kitchen table to see Karima was still talking to Marcus and Ace. For her to need both of them, it had to be about Milana and Mrs. Tiffany. When all the men took off outside, she looked over with a frown on her gorgeous face. Making my way to her, I knew she would want to be out there.

By the time I got to her, she was already standing and grabbing her phone from the table. The worried expression on her face only caused me to embrace her. Tuesday, while I was getting my tatt, I would make sure she was in someone’s parlor getting a pregnancy massage to rid her of all this tension and stress.

CHAPTER21

KARIMA

“Mama! I said I was sorry! What the fuck more you want from me?” Milana yelled.

She was crying her eyes out and so was Aunt Tiff. “I want you to perform a fucking miracle and bring us back in time before you did that ho ass shit you did!”

I closed my eyes and lowered my head.God, please intervene.I didn’t know why Milana thought it was wise to approach Aunt Tiff out here. Aunt Tiff had already slapped the piss out of her. Uncle Ryder was holding Milana in his arms, and Uncle Storm was holding Aunt Tiff.

“Tiffany! That’s enough. She is still our daughter,” he said.

“Is she? Because I don’t recognize her ass!”

She jerked away from Uncle Storm and went back inside as Milana fell against Uncle Ryder. He slowly shook his head and embraced his baby. “Lana, you have to accept that you fucked up. You can’t make your mama come around in your time. When she is ready to deal with this, she will go to you. She’s still angry, and you know how hotheaded she can get. You know how much I cut for you, baby, but you deserved that slap.”

“I know, Daddy. I just miss her. I hate what I did to our relationship. I hate what my actions did to Grandpa.”

“What’chu mean what your actions did to Grandpa?” Uncle Storm asked.

Aww fuck.Milana turned and walked away, heading to her car. She really messed up by saying anything in front of this nigga. I thought everyone knew by now. That was probably another reason why Aunt Tiff was so angry. Milana should have waited until they had a private moment to do this. She made me wonder if she waseverthinking clearly.

Uncle Storm frowned hard and said, “Oh hell naw. Somebody gon’ tell me what the fuck she talking about.”

Everyone was frowning, and I knew this wouldn’t be good. Uncle Ryder slid his hands in his pockets and said, “One of the men Ace killed was her ex-boyfriend. She’d never brought him around the family because she said she felt like he was on bullshit. Well, she found out he was cheating on her. Instead of her just breaking up with him, she slept with his brother.”

Uncle Jasper choked on the smoke from his blunt and dropped that shit to the ground. “What the fuck you say?” he asked.

“She slept with his half-brother that he didn’t get along with. This happened months ago, but she just told Tiff and me about it a couple of weeks ago. They were harassing her about what she did, and she was gonna call SS, Ace, and PJ to protect her, but Karima stepped in and called us. Well somehow, although they don’t like each other, they joined forces to get at her. His brother was also one of the ones that attacked Pop.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, so I said, “There is no way Milana knew something like this would have happened. That would be like blaming Jacob for everything that happened by him sleeping with that girl. While we are all angry about her actions, we cannot fault her for Grandpa’s death. Aunt Tiff is just angry that she’s even connected to this. Please, y’all. Don’t push her away at a time like this. She feels guilty enough.”

I walked away from them and went to Rhodes’s arms. “I’m sorry, baby. Are you ready to leave?” he asked.

“Yeah. Let me go and kiss my aunties and everyone inside.”

I walked away from him, but he followed me inside. Aunt Jen and Aunt Chrissy were talking to Aunt Tiff on the couch, and Uncle Marcus, Heaven, Aunt Syn, Malia, and Ace were still seated at the table. When I got to them, Ace asked, “The niggas I killed fucked around with Milana?”

“Two of them… yeah.”

He nodded. “Good. Another reason I don’t feel bad about taking their grimy asses out of here.”

I took a deep breath and exhaled. “I’m about to go, y’all. I love y’all, and I’ll see all of you Saturday.”

I walked around the table, hugging all of them, and Rhodes was right behind me shaking hands. Going back to the front room, I went to my aunts to tell them bye. They all stood to hug me. When I got to Aunt Tiff, she said, “I’m sorry, Rima. We’re gonna eventually make it right. I just don’t have the emotional capacity for it right now.”

---