by A'zayler
She held her stomach when she noticed the picture of her, Alex, and Summer at the hair show, along with the one of just her and Summer on the beach. The corners were slightly burned, but they were still in pretty good shape.
“Can we get all of my stuff that’s not burned up?”
Love nodded his head.
“When?”
“Now. Please.”
“We can try to get whatever we can, but we’re going to need something to put it in.”
Rain looked around and walked toward the stairs. She wanted to walk up them, but some of the stairs were missing.
Love ran up behind her and grabbed her wrist. “Let me help you before you fall.”
He bent down so she could climb on his back. She was a little slow to get on, but once she was on him and comfortable, he took the stairs, skipping a few, and barely stepping on others until he was at the top. Instead of putting her down, he continued to her room, stepping over burned debris and broken decorations.
Love could feel Rain’s tears on his neck and hear her sniffles in his ear, but he knew this would come. It had been the same way with him when he’d first come back to check everything out the day after the fire. The place he’d claimed as his second home for months now, was gone. As if that hadn’t made him emotional enough, thinking about her not having made it out was even worse.
It was like a nightmare that he’d woken up from. He squeezed his arms a little tighter around her thighs, just happy that she was still there with him. Once in her bedroom where the fire had started, Rain really broke down. There was absolutely nothing left. Everything that could have possibly been salvaged was gone. It was black, and still a tad bit smoked out.
Due to the fact that her roof had burned down, fresh air had time to circulate throughout the room.
“Let’s just go.”
That was all Love needed to hear because he hadn’t wanted to come in the first place. He turned back around and followed the path they’d used to come in, to go back out. When they were finally back outside, he walked her to the side of his truck before putting her back on her feet. She stood on the side of the truck in her pajamas, waiting for him to unlock the doors.
Love could see that she was on the verge of losing it, so he did the best he could to reassure her. He leaned on his truck with both of his hands on either side of her body. She stood in front of him with her arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes were wet and her face a little red from crying. Love leaned down some so that they were face to face.
“It’s going to be okay. You know that, right?”
Rain shook her head.
“Yes, it is. I got you, baby. No matter what.”
“What about when we break up?” She sniffed.
“What about when we break up? Fuck all that, we ain’t breaking up. We gon always be together.”
Rain smiled. “That’s what your mouth says.”
“Hell, that’s what my dick says too.” He laughed when she punched him in the chest. “But for real, I’m here for you. I ain’t going nowhere. We’ll be fine. When you get mad at me, just go to your sister’s house for an hour or so and come back home.”
Rain really laughed at that. She could tell he was doing all that he could to make her feel better, and it was actually helping. Her eyes wandered over his shoulder again and observed the damage to her house, before looking back at his face.
“What about the person who did this?”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of that too.”
Rain had no idea how he planned to do that, but she was exhausted and ready to go so she just nodded her head and stepped to the side so that he could open the door for her. When she turned around, he kissed the exposed part of her shoulder and pulled her backward into him. His large hand slid across her abdomen and rested there.
“Y’all gon be straight. Aight?”
“Aight.”
Love kissed the side of her face before opening the door and helping her in. She situated herself comfortably and stared at the pile of ashes and burned materials until they pulled away. As frustrating as it was to have no place to call home anymore, it was even more frustrating to not know the reason why. She had no idea who the woman was or why she would do something like that. That fact alone had shattered her peace of mind. Hopefully living with Love wouldn’t be too bad.
After leaving her house, Love drove her to Kmart to get some clothes and then to the park down the street from his job. They were having another community service function for the children of the community. There were two fire trucks, a few police, and a couple of ambulances parked on the grass in the center of the park. Love had already told her about it and figured it would be a good outing to take her mind off of things.
Initially, Rain hadn’t wanted to go, but being that she was fresh out of the hospital, she could use the fresh air. The purple racerback dress and sandals she wore was the perfect outfit. It was cute and casual, without doing too much. Love had done a good job picking it out. She was a tad hesitant when he’d first volunteered to go in the store and get her something to put on. Now she was actually impressed.
Her hair was in a long air-dried ponytail, and she wore a pair of gold hoop earrings that he’d brought out of the store as well. Rain held his hand as they walked deeper onto the grass. He looked around, making sure to help her as they stepped over the rocks. She didn’t need anything else going wrong, including a minor slip up at the park.
There were plenty of people already surrounding the area with the kids as they approached. The closer they got, the more nervous she became, for some reason. She wasn’t sure if it was just her or not, but it felt like everyone was looking at her. She tried to ignore it, but she couldn’t.
“Why is everybody staring at us?”
“They’re not, Rain. Relax, baby.”
She nodded, and he squeezed her hand a little tighter for reassurance. “Even if they are staring, which they’re not, they have every reason to.” He kissed the side of her head. “You’re the prettiest thing out here.”
Rain smiled like a giddy schoolgirl at his compliment. “Thank you.”
“No thanks needed. Just try to enjoy yourself today.” Love pulled her behind him as he finally got to his truck and team.
They all greeted her warmly, some even stopping to give her a hug and express their thoughts and kind words. The whole thing was nice, and she definitely appreciated it. After she walked around the entire group, still holding Love’s hand, he escorted her to a cement picnic table.
“Sit here and relax. I have to go help the children on the truck and stuff… You okay?”
“I’ll be fine. You go ahead.”
He kissed her lips and walked away. Rain sat back and watched all of the people coming and going as the hours passed. Love was so gentle and loving with the kids. It made her smile just thinking about how he was going to be with their little one. She was busy basking in the joyous thoughts of her life further down the road when a group of people caught her eye. Well, a few of the faces in particular.
Stacey, Damien, and two other men she’d seen around Love before. They were coming down the hill with their children and two women. One of the women was Unique. Rain was about to wonder what she was doing there until she saw the little girl walking beside her. Apparently, they’d been invited to the family day out as well.
Well, most of them probably had been. She was almost positive Stacey had invited himself. Rain watched them until they got closer to her, then she turned away. Not only was she in no mood to speak, but her body was in no condition to fight. From the type of person Unique was, she could already tell that if she walked over there, it was going to be some shit.
Rain looked down at her phone and went to her Snapchat. Maybe that would entertain her long enough for her not to have to speak. When she felt a hand on the back of her elbow, she knew she’d have no such luck. Rain looked up and Stacey was standing there. Out of all the people that could have bothered her, it had to be h
im.
She was actually starting to think that she would have much rather it be Unique’s sneaky ass. She frowned as she looked up at him.
“What?”
“Damn, it’s like that?”
“What do you want, Stacey?” Rain observed the black eye and long bruise on the side of his face. Apparently somebody had gotten to him before she could. Good for his ass.
“I didn’t come over here to disturb your day or anything like that, I just wanted to tell you that I apologize for any confusion that I may have caused. It wasn’t my intention to stir up any bullshit.”
“I can’t tell. You sure didn’t try to fix it once you noticed it was getting out of hand.”
Stacey shrugged his shoulders. “My fault, Rain. I was really feeling you, and I let that shit go to my head.”
“You did, but it’s cool.”
“So you really feeling Love like that?”
Rain frowned. “Stacey, you said you was sorry or whatever, now go ’head on now before you start some more shit.”
“Boy, what the fuck you doing over here?” Love’s voice made them both jump.
Stacey held his hands up in surrender. “Just apologizing, my nigga. Nothing more.”
Love looked at Rain. “That’s what it is?”
Rain nodded her head.
“Cool.” Love dapped Stacey up before watching him walk away.
Once he was gone, Love turned back around and placed his hands on both sides of Rain. He was so close to her face that their noses were nearly touching.
“What that nigga say?”
“What happened to his face?” Rain challenged.
Love looked away. “I don’t know. I guess somebody caught his ass.”
“Um huh.”
“For real.” Love fixed the fly away hair from her ponytail.
“I wonder was that a certain somebody I know.” Rain pushed further.
“Hell, you should have told me it was a woman sooner.” Love kissed her again before winking and walking away.
Rain shook her head and followed him with her eyes as he got back to his truck. Her line of vision fell directly upon Unique. They stared at one another as everything went on around them. Initially, Rain was unsure if Unique knew who she was, but judging by the way she was looking at her, it was clear that she did.
She didn’t look angry or annoyed, or anything like that, just curious. The way her eyes wandered over Rain, she appeared to be trying to look through her. Maybe she wanted to see what it was about Rain that Dakota loved so much. That conclusion was obvious because had it been Rain in Unique’s position, that’s what she would have been doing.
“What you doing sitting over here by yourself?” a male voice made her turn her head from Unique.
Damien? Rain was a bit surprised that he was talking to her because for as long as she’d known him to be dealing with Alex, he hadn’t said more than two words to her. Unlike the first night she met him, when she and Summer had accompanied Alex to his friend Connie’s house. He was all smiles that night.
That was before Rain became privy to his secret. It had been unspoken since then that they weren’t friends.
“I’m just chilling. Waiting on Dakota to finish.”
Damien looked a little bit fidgety as he took the seat next to her on the table. He looked around them, checking behind them and both sides, before leaning his head closer to hers.
“I know what you might think of me, but that ain’t me, shawty. I fuck with your friend and everything, but it ain’t on no gay shit. I just like him or whatever.”
“I honestly don’t think nothing of you. You like what you like. That ain’t got nothing to do with me.”
“Nah, nah, nah. I know how y’all girls are and shit.”
Rain was a little lost on what his whole plan was for coming to talk to her, so she tried to figure it out. “Okay, Damien, what’s going on? Why are you over here talking to me about something you clearly aren’t comfortable talking about?”
He sighed and looked around again. Rain didn’t understand him. If something made you that uncomfortable, you had no business trying to discuss it in a park full of people.
“I just want you to holla at your friend for me. He on some ole bitch shit right now. Wanting me to leave my girl and shit, and I can’t do that.”
Damien rubbed his hand over his face, and for the first time since Alex had been dealing with him, Rain could see why. His posture, his attitude, his movements, everything about him at that moment, screamed he was in love. He looked nervous or worried about him and Alex’s relationship, or whatever they called it.
“What you want me to do?”
“Just tell him to give me some time. This shit ain’t easy for me. I ain’t gay, I just like fucking him.”
Rain sucked her teeth. “Nigga, my friend deserves more than somebody that just likes to fuck. You think he ain’t got other niggas for shit like that? Furthermore, he has people that genuinely want to be with him. You seriously think I’m going to tell him to sit around and wait on you to give him sloppy seconds?” Rain sucked her teeth and looked away.
Damien blew out a frustrated breath. “I see why y’all friends. You’re just as much drama as his ass.”
Rain smiled and shrugged. “I love him.”
Damien looked her in her eyes. “I do, too.”
Rain’s heart just melted at that moment. She’d been the main one encouraging Alex to leave him alone, but now she saw why he couldn’t. They had a real deal thing going on, with love actually being a big part of it.
“Awwww,” Rain wrapped her arm around Damien’s neck and pulled him playfully into a hug. “That’s so sweet.”
Damien laughed and pulled away. “Just tell him for me. He won’t answer my calls.”
Rain picked her phone up from beside her and scrolled through it before calling Alex on FaceTime. “Hold on, I’m about to call him. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. I’ll just let you see him.” She then pulled her headphones out and handed him one while she kept the other. “No one can hear us. If someone comes, I’ll just hang up on him… cool?”
Damien looked around again before nodding his head. A few seconds later, Alex’s face popped up on the screen. He had big curls in his weave and his face was beat to death with his makeup. As always, he looked fabulous and better than most women. From his surroundings and how made up he was, it was clear that he was at work. It looked like his phone was propped up on something because he wasn’t holding it, but she could still see him head on.
“Hey, babyyy.” He looked into the phone. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good. I have a surprise for you real quick.”
Alex looked from the person’s hair he was doing and picked his phone up. “Oooh what bitch? You know I love surprises.”
Rain smiled before turning her camera so that Damien’s face was now in the screen. Alex turned his nose up and rolled his eyes.
“I should hang up on your skinny ass.”
“Why you being mean? He just wanted to see you.”
“If he wants to do that then he needs to leave that secret baby mama of his and come where I’m at.”
“You busy today?” Damien asked.
“Yep.”
“Alex,” Rain pleaded.
Alex sighed before shaking his head. “I take lunch in an hour.”
“Meet me somewhere.”
“Whatttt? You want to be in public with me?”
“I love you.”
Rain melted again, and from the looks of things, so did Alex. He fought the smile tugging at his lips. “I love you, too. I’m going home for lunch.”
“Bet.” Damien winked and Rain turned the phone back on her.
“I’mma kill your punk ass.”
“Shut up, bitch, you love me.” Rain smiled at him just as a little boy ran up to them and grabbed Damien’s leg.
“Come on, Daddy, it’s our turn.”
Rain’s eyes got wi
de then she looked at Damien, who shrugged and got up from the bench. He grabbed the little boy’s hand and looked over his shoulder at Rain once more, before walking away to the group he’d come with. The other girl who had been with Unique was now looking at her, but for some reason, Rain didn’t think that was Damien’s baby mama.
Aside from the girl hanging on one of the other men all day, she was almost positive that Damien wouldn’t have come over there to her if his baby mama were there. Not in the mood to deal with any females or their uncalled for drama, Rain turned away from the girl and focused her attention back on Love and the children he was with.
Sitting back watching Damien interact with his son was so weird to her. It was like he was living a double life or something. On one hand, he was every female’s dream, then on the other, he was a nigga on the down low. A small shiver ran through Rain’s body as she entertained the thought. It was wrong on so many different levels.
No woman in her right mind would assume, let alone believe that Damien had just been professing his love for another man. How easy was it to be fooled? Rain shook her head at the thought. There were probably so many men like Damien floating around. For a reason she didn’t know, her eyes wondered to Love.
Just as quick as she thought about it, she dismissed it. He gave no signs of it, and she would flat out kill him. Simple as that. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Love would be dead as he had to die if she found out he was on the down low. After thinking about it for another few seconds, she had to laugh at herself.
The day went by rather quickly, a lot quicker than she’d expected, and before she knew it, she was on the way home with Dakota. He was driving with one hand and holding her leg with the other.
“How you feeling, beautiful?”
“Blessed.”
Love looked at her and smiled. “Me too.”
For the rest of their ride home, Rain thought about how blessed she was to have escaped that house with her life. To make things even better, God had blessed her with a man who would risk his own life for hers. Now that was something she would never get tired of.
Chapter 2: Friends Forever
Love lay awake on the sofa watching Rain sleep. She was snoring lightly, and one of her arms was thrown above her head. She was lying on her side in front of him with her mouth slightly open. They had stopped to pick up some food for dinner before going back to his house. It wasn’t long after they’d finished eating that Rain was asleep.
