Page 33 of Rhodes to Love

I listened to the phone ring, and when it went to voicemail, I dropped it back to the console. This was bullshit. Although it was my decision to temporarily leave her, I expected her to understand what I was up against. We would end up just like my parents. They would use my love for her to swindle every penny out of me then kill us both.

Glancing in my rearview mirror, I noticed a vehicle that was behind me in Nome was still behind me. If they turned off when I did, I’d pay closer attention. I turned my radio up to try to take my mind off things, and of course, that fucking song by Dave Hollister was on. My phone must have been on the playlist I’d created for Karima and me. I quickly grabbed my phone to change the playlist and somehow ended on “Come and Get Me” by Lecrae. I was so damn frustrated, I just left it there. He was basically saying what I wanted to say without curse words.

Leaving Karima was so fucking hard. When I wasn’t thinking about the dilemma I was in, I was thinking about her and my baby. She was at home alone. Hopefully, she’d had someone to spend time with her by now. I hated that she was alone. She needed me, but most importantly, I needed her.

I turned off the highway and waited to see if the vehicle behind me would do the same. When I saw it keep straight, I let out a sigh of relief. I came out here to get away from all of that, and I could kick myself in the ass for not following my dad’s instructions about not returning to California.

Under no circumstances are you to come back. If we don’t make it through this war, someone here can bury us. We want you to be safe and stay safe. Once we’re gone, nothing else will matter. The most important thing is you. We love you, son.

I supposed I had better get ready to meet them, because I didn’t know how I would fight this shit by myself. I talked big noise in that meeting, because I wasn’t the type of nigga to ask anybody to do anything for me. Nobody alive could say they did me any favors, not even my aunt. My parents paid her handsomely for taking me in.

After pulling in my garage, I pulled my gun from my console. Just my luck, a muthafucka could be lurking around my house ready to take me out at any moment. After sliding my phone in my pocket, I aimed my gun at the door. I swung it open and took a step back. When a man stepped in the doorway, I nearly fired my weapon without paying attention to who it was.

When I saw Mr. Kenny and Ali standing there, I lowered my gun. Ali had a smirk on his lips. “He’s not as much of an amateur as you thought,” Ali said.

“I guess not.”

When I stepped out of the garage, I saw a few other guys. Two of them were the ones trying to get me to go back inside at the barn. I didn’t know how they all got here before I did. I went to the back door and unlocked the house, allowing them all to follow me inside. Once I turned on the lights, they were all looking around.

“Damn. This shit is nice. Pops must have been that dude in Cali. I’m Jungle. My pops was a kingpin too. I took over and ran shit for about ten years out in H-Tine.”

We shook hands. He was one of the ones outside the barn. The other guy that was with him extended his hand. “Vegas.”

I nodded then was introduced to Jericho, Seneca, and Chad. I could clearly tell Seneca was a former thug, but I wasn’t sure about the others. “Y’all have a seat. I’m not sure why y’all are here though. I said I would do this on my own. I don’t need nobody saying I got them caught up in no bullshit.”

Ali chuckled. I didn’t know what that was about, but whatever. “Y’all want something to drink?”

“Naw. Come sit and talk,” Mr. Kenny said.

I huffed slightly and made my way to where they were. When I did, Ali said, “Let me give you a brief introduction so you know who you can have on your team. I’m Ali. It’s God, then me, nigga. I know everything. What I don’t know, I find out. I used to be on Jungle’s street team, along with Seneca. Vegas was his right hand. That nigga Jericho is trained. His pops was a kingpin in Miami.”

So it seemed Watchful Eyes was a bunch of reformed thugs. When he said Jericho was trained, I knew exactly what he meant. That nigga was a professional killer. I glanced over at Chad, and everyone chuckled. He shot them the finger.

“That’s Shy’s brother. He used to work for the federal prison system. So he got a lil training and know the law. Shy is the brains of Watchful Eyes. He’s an attorney, but he have plenty of street sense too. This company is my baby. Most times, we stay on the right side of the law, because we got tired of living on the other side of it. We all have wives and kids now. However, we will step back to the other side if need be. When it comes to the Hendersons, we do that shit with gusto. They family… except the mayor’s grouchy ass.”

Everybody laughed as Ali continued. “I’m just kidding. Even his salty ass is family. Kenny said you’re his daughter’s boyfriend. So I suppose those family privileges fall over to you too. We have a couple of other primary team members that I forgot to mention. Rondo stayed back with Shy. He’s a hunter and good in rural areas, which benefits y’all. His wife, Dinalee, is military. She gets a lot of the intel we need. She’s also my cousin. So you have a team. We ain’t taking no for an answer.”

Just as I was about to say something, he cut me off. “Plus, I don’t normally talk this fucking much. I don’t reveal half of what I did to just anybody. The reason I gave you so much info is because I knew your pops. So did Jungle. Well, we knew of him.”

My eyebrows shot up. “What? How y’all country niggas knew my dad?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Ain’t shit country about me. I lived in Miami, New Orleans, Beaumont, and Houston. The only person on our team that’s country like them Hendersons is Rondo. Jungle’s dad had business with your dad. The Pattersons were nationwide.”

“Ice Patterson?” I asked.

“Hell yeah. What’chu know about him?” Jungle asked.

“Shit, nothing. I was like ten years old when I met him. I don’t remember anything but his name.”

I slid my hand down my face then slowly shook my head. “So, y’all here to help me. What if I said Karima don’t want shit to do with me? You still wanna help me, Mister Kenny?”

“She just needs to calm down. She ain’t going nowhere, not if I can help it. I can tell how much you love her.”

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes while nodding. Things had taken a turn, and I could almost see myself coming out of this shit unscathed. “So, what’s the plan?” I asked.

“Nigga, it took you long enough to ask. But before we go that far, let’s discuss payment.”

I frowned. “What’s your number?”

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