by A'zayler
Richardson lifted the bar above his head again. “You sure you ain’t got no crazy ex’s or no shit like that?”
Love shook his head slowly as he tried to think of all of the women in his past. “I don’t. I mean, there’s my ex, Tocara, but she ain’t with no shit like that. She’s actually about to marry her nigga, I think. She shouldn’t be worried about my ass or the woman I’m with.”
“Well, you need to get a hold on that shit before it gets out of control again. If they were crazy enough to do some shit like that the last time, it ain’t no telling what depths they may go to this time.”
Love nodded his head in agreement because he had thought of the same thing. He and Rain had already taken all of the necessary precautions. Going to the police, filing reports, and installing alarm systems in his house and on her car. With neither of them really knowing the girl or where she’d come from, their hands were kind of tired.
There wasn’t much that they could do. “I’mma try to check on some more shit when I get home. Maybe show her some pictures of some of my old hoes or something, to see if she can recognize somebody.”
Richardson placed the bar back on the holder and sat up. “Yeah, do that. Nothing fails but a try.”
Love tossed him a clean towel and headed into the building to grab his phone. When he picked it up, he saw that he had two missed calls from Rain. He called her right back.
“What’s up, baby doll?”
“Nothing. I’m just bored. What you doing.”
“Bored. Halfway hoping a fire will break out somewhere.”
Rain giggled. “We should be bored together. What you think?”
“I think so, too. You on your way?”
“Yep.”
“Cool. Well, hit me when you get here.”
Love hung up his phone and dropped it down in his pocket. He walked to the front of the building and sat down, waiting for Rain to call back. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day out. He stretched his legs out in front of him and took a deep breath. The days were getting shorter and it seemed as if he and Rain were getting nowhere with her attacker.
It frustrated him, but he didn’t let it show. His uneasiness would only worry her, and he didn’t want that. Not while she was pregnant anyway. He smiled as he thought about them having a baby. She was still too early to tell what they were having, but he couldn’t wait. He was secretly hoping for a little girl, especially since he had Jazz now.
In a weird way, he felt like Jazz was his boy. He still wanted a son of his own one day, but as of right now, all he wanted was a little girl to steal his heart like her mother had. Hopefully, Fallon would be a woman of her word and continue to bring him around. She seemed to be sincere about her apology and wanting to rebuild their relationship so he would remain optimistic for now. If she looked the least bit shady, he was going to have to cut her off the same way she’d done him. He would hate to do it, but he was too old for the past to repeat itself.
Love’s vibrating phone brought him out of his thoughts. It was Rain. “I’m already outside waiting for you.”
“Dakota!” She sounded scared.
“Rain? What’s wrong?”
“I just got into a car accident, but I don’t think it was an accident. The car kept bumping my car from the back so I tried to turn off and lose it. They followed me and hit me again. I ran into a tree and my back and head hurt so bad.” She lost her composure toward the end and started crying.
“Fuck man! Where you at?”
“Around the street from you. Near the Popeye’s chicken.”
“Okay, we’re on the way. Stay on the phone.” Love ran to the back and alerted his team of what happened. They all looked like they were just as shocked and afraid as he was.
Instead of waiting for them, he took off running to where she was. His station was literally in walking distance from the Popeye’s chicken that she’d just mentioned. He held the phone in his hand the entire time he ran. She was on speakerphone, so he could still hear her crying. She wasn’t loud, just soft whimpers and moans.
He could hear her voice faintly saying stuff about their baby being okay. The heat beat down on him and his dreads flew back as he ran. He was breathing hard and could feel every muscle in his body at work. He sprinted down the back street the fire department was on until he was on the main street.
Though he couldn’t see Rain’s car, he could see a few other cars pulled over alongside the road, as well as smoke in the air. The sirens from his team’s firetruck were in the near distance. He could tell they were right behind him, but none of them would get there before him. Love looked both ways before darting across the street. He didn’t need to injure himself before making sure Rain was okay.
“Excuse me! Let me through.” Love yelled as he pushed his way through the crowd.
The phone in his hand was shoved into his pocket the moment he saw her. Her door was open and there was a tall white man kneeling next to the car. He was holding her hand and saying something to her. Love couldn’t hear him, but he was just happy she wasn’t alone.
“Rain,” Love kneeled next to the man. “How you feeling? Can you feel your legs?”
“Yes,” she said, weakly. “You got here fast… my head hurts.” She closed her eyes momentarily.
“Open your eyes, Rain. You have to stay awake and talk to me.” Love stood to his feet and leaned as far into her car as he could. Which wasn’t much, being that the airbag was out. He tried to see as much as he could to figure out how they would have to get her out without causing further damage.
“There’s the firetruck.” Someone yelled from behind him.
“He’s a firefighter as well, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s say we give these gentlemen some room.” The man who had been kneeling next to Rain stood up and began motioning the crowd backward with his hands.
Love’s attire must have given him away. Either that or Rain had told him before he’d gotten there. Whatever it was didn’t matter as much right then. Love squatted back down and held Rain’s hand as his team members ran up beside him. Had they been any other men he probably would have wanted to handle this all on his own, but he trusted this group of men with his own life.
Not to mention they had been there for the first attempt on Rain’s life, so they all knew how hard this must have been for him. Rain’s head was leaning to the side with shattered glass fragments in her hair and skin. There was blood coming from a cut on her forehead, and judging from the angle of her arm, it was probably broken.
“Can she feel her legs?” Richardson kneeled next to Rain with a large blue bag in his hand.
Love told him yes at the same time that Rain nodded her head. Her long brown legs were still tucked snugly between the low dashboard and the large air bag in front of her. Her left arm was dangling down and her mouth was slightly open. His baby doll was in bad shape all over again, and he still hadn’t done anything to solve it.
Love took a deep breath and turned toward the other members of his crew that were coming forward with various tools to help release Rain from the car. The whole ordeal felt like forever, but in reality, it had only been minutes. Love, along with the help of Richardson and Rodriguez, two of his most trusted friends, managed to pull Rain from the car without any further injuries.
By that time, the paramedics had arrived. As bad as Love just wanted to hold her in his arms, he couldn’t do that at the moment. However, he was able to cradle her for just a few seconds as he walked her to the waiting stretcher. During this brief moment of contact, he noticed the blood running down Rain’s legs.
He didn’t want to believe that was a sign of his baby’s life drifting from her, but he had been in this exact situation a few times before due to his job. He sighed and bit his bottom lip to keep the tears from falling as he placed her on the stretcher. The moment she was on it securely, the paramedics pushed her off to the back of the ambulance with Love in tow.
She was in and out of consciousness as they rode to th
e hospital. Unlike the first time they’d been in the back of an ambulance together, Love was weak. Versus assisting in her care, he sat back exhausted and depressed. He watched them do what they could for her until the truck came to a stop.
When the doors opened, he hopped out and followed behind them hopelessly. They were in the emergency room for a while before Summer and Alex arrived. He’d called Summer once they took Rain to the back and asked him to remain outside. Being that this felt like déjà vu, they were all pretty much in the same state, a bit withdrawn, but very concerned. Anger and uncertainty hung in the air as they waited to be informed of Rain’s condition. She had been lucky enough to make it last time, hopefully, it would be the same this time around.
Chapter 11: Sneaky Strangers
Rain sat in the rocking chair on Love’s small porch and rocked back and forth. The sun was shining and the day was one of the most beautiful days she’d seen in a long time. As nice as the day was, it was the complete opposite of Rain’s mood. She had been in a slump since the day she’d lost her baby and still hadn’t come out of it.
Though she hadn’t been that far along in her pregnancy, she’d still grown attached to her child. It had been two weeks and her heart ached like it had been two minutes. Everyone in her circle had been going out of their way to make her feel better, but nothing was helping. Summer, Alex, Love, and Fallon had been showering her with attention and gifts, but nothing mattered. Fallon had even called her earlier to let her know she was coming into town, but not even that excited her.
All she could think about was who could hate her enough to continue to ruin her life. One minute she was talking to Alex about him falling weak and sleeping with Damien again, and the next she was smashed into a tree. Whoever it was had taken almost everything she had when they burned her apartment down, but now that she’d lost her baby as well, she could hardly think straight. She had practically fried her brain to death trying to think of who it might be, and she continued to come up with nothing.
Rain had no enemies. She’d been nothing but nice to anyone that she came in contact with, but clearly that didn’t matter. To make matters worse, the last day she was in the hospital someone had slid a note under her door, but by the time she recognized it was there, they were gone. She saw no one other than the nurses.
Love had the police take a look at the tapes of the floor she was on, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. People had passed it all day long and they couldn’t point out just one individual who could have been the attacker. It angered Love, but it depressed Rain further. Would this ever end? She was beginning to think that it wouldn’t.
“Baby doll, you have to eat.” Love walked out of the house in his work clothes and carrying his bag.
The chicken pasta and lemonade he’d given her earlier was still sitting there, along with her laptop and notebook. Everything was in the exact place he’d left it, leading him to the conclusion that she hadn’t touched anything. As she hadn’t the other few times he’d tried to feed her or get her to write.
“I’m not hungry right now.”
“That’s all you ever say.”
“Well, maybe you should believe me.” Rain looked at him.
His hair was freshly twisted and hanging down his back He had his locs tied back with a band, keeping them out of his face.
“Rain, I know you’re sad, baby, but you can’t do this. You have to stop. Your depression is getting out of control. If you don’t start trying to do better, I’m going to make you come with me to work every day or I’m going to hire someone to sit in and watch you all day. The choice is yours.”
Love kissed her face and walked away.
Rain wanted to yell and scream at him that she was hurting. She needed him to understand that she wanted food, she wanted to write, she just couldn’t. Every time she tried, she thought about her baby. She knew she needed to get herself together, but she didn’t want to right now. She wanted to be sad. Rain needed the world to stop and feel her pain. It wasn’t fair that she was the only one that had to hurt. She would give anything to be on the phone making fun of Alex about being Damien’s fool again. Had she been paying attention that day, her baby might still be alive.
With her arms folded across her chest, Rain’s eyes rolled in Love’s direction as he backed out of his driveway. He gave her a stern look before pulling away and driving down the street. Rain only pouted for a few more minutes before snatching her phone from the small table near where she was sitting and called Summer.
It was a little after twelve o’clock so she should have been at lunch by now. Rain patted her foot impatiently against the porch as she waited for Summer to answer.
“Heyy, Rain.”
“Hey.”
“What you doing, baby?” Summer sang, playfully.
“Nothing.”
“You feeling okay today?”
“No.”
Summer sighed. “Well, what’s wrong?”
“Dakota. He keeps rushing me to get better and acting like nothing ever happened. It’s like he doesn’t even care.”
“He cares, Rain, but you have to understand he’s a man. You two are going to deal with this differently. As far as him rushing you, I don’t think it’s like that. I think he wants you to get a grip on your life, not necessarily forget what happened.”
“Do you agree with him?”
Summer yelled at some of her students before giving Rain her attention again. “Yes, I do. I understand it hurts, but you can’t die too, Rain. It probably wouldn’t be as bad if you were trying to get better. You’re not even trying.”
Rain could feel herself on the verge of tears, but she held them in. “I don’t know how.”
“Get your ass out that house for one. Secondly, get your gotdamn hair combed. Bitch, you look terrible.”
Rain laughed for the first time since the accident. She laughed so hard she began to cry tears. She hadn’t known it, but it was a laugh she had needed.
“Man, fuck you, Summer.”
Summer joined her laughter. “I’m just trying to help you out. That boy probably tired of you looking like some kind of crackhead.”
“I don’t look that bad.” Rain ran her hand over her head.
“Yes, bitch, you do.”
Rain laughed again. “Well, let me call Alex to see can he do my hair. You make me sick.”
“Well hurry up, honey, because I can’t take too many more days of you looking like that.”
Rain and Summer laughed some more before ending their call. Rain dialed Alex as soon as they hung up.
“Well if it ain’t the walking dead.” Alex’s voice made Rain smile.
“I ain’t no damn walking dead, bitch.”
“The hell you say.”
“You and Summer get on my nerves.”
“Bitch, your dirty ass hair and them raggedy ass pajamas should get on your damn nerves because they sure as hell get on mine every time I come over there.”
Rain giggled in amusement. “Why you have to be so rude all the time?”
“I’m not rude, I’m real. Now, what pulled you back to reality?”
“Dakota. He said he was going to make me go to work with him every day if I didn’t get myself together.”
“Whew! Thank goodness he finally took charge. If I was his ass, you would have been outside on your damn neck. I wouldn’t be walking around my house every day looking at your ass like that.”
“I am not that bad.”
Alex sucked his teeth. “Let you tell it.”
“Whatever. Can you do my hair today?”
“Yeah. Come on.”
Rain rolled her eyes and almost slipped back into depression. “I don’t have a car, remember?”
Alex got quiet. “Oh dang. My bad. I’m on the way. Just be ready when I pull up.”
After that they hung up, Rain gathered her things and went into the house. She got into the shower and cleaned herself quickly before dressing in a short sundress and sandals. Her hai
r was oily and a mess, so she just brushed it back into a ball. She wasn’t in the mood to do too much, so instead of putting on a lot of jewelry she opted for a simple pair of earrings instead.
She thought about making up the bed and getting her clothes out of the floor before leaving but changed her mind. She wasn’t in that good of a mood. Maybe after getting her hair done and maybe even her nails and toes, she would feel better. For now, she grabbed her purse, phone, and keys and headed for the door.
She was in the kitchen setting the alarm when she heard Alex beeping the horn. Once she walked outside, she pulled the door up behind her and headed to Alex’s truck. He gave her his best smile when she got in.
“Stop smiling at me like that, Alex, it makes you look straight.”
He rolled his eyes and pulled away. “Never.”
Rain laughed and sat back in her seat. She looked out of the window not saying anything as he drove.
“You actually don’t even look as bad as you did yesterday.”
Rain cut her eyes at him as he pulled into the parking lot of the local shopping center. “Where we going?”
“Do you not see your eyebrows and that cracked pink polish on your hand? You need to do something about that.”
Rain touched her eyebrows and shook her head. He was right. She did look a mess. “Okay, let’s do it.”
They were getting out of the car when Alex tapped Rain’s shoulder. “Ain’t that Fallon?”
Rain followed Alex’s finger. “Yeah, that’s her. She told me she was coming down today.”
Fallon was coming out of the Winn Dixie grocery store when Rain and Alex saw her. Rain briefly wondered where Jazz was since she was alone.
“Heyyy, Fallon girl,” Alex waved at her across the parking lot.
Her head spun around when she heard her name. She smiled brightly when she saw them. Without saying another word, she switched quickly over to them. She grabbed Rain in a tight hug as soon as she was close enough. She probably still would have been hugging her if Alex hadn’t pulled them apart.
