Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
RHODES
W hen I turned into Karima’s driveway, I took a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves. She had a nice house. All the houses in this neighborhood were nice. I could tell it was a fairly new development. I wondered if it was only for the Hendersons or if anyone could move out here. I quickly got out of my truck and checked my surroundings. When I did, I saw KJ standing in his driveway, staring at me. I gave him a head nod, but he just stared at me.
I supposed everyone knew the details of what went down. When I got to her door, I rang the doorbell and waited for her to open it. I could smell food, and I wasn’t mad about that shit. I hadn’t had dinner yet. When Karima messaged me, I hopped in the shower and made sure I was looking my best. She liked for my dreads to be in the two-strand twists, so I was sure to style them that way, then wore a Henderson Ranch and Farms shirt I copped from their grass farm store in Beaumont.
When she opened the door, she took my breath away. She wore a short black and gold dress like she was about to go party somewhere. “Damn, KD. Who you tryna impress? ’Cause a nigga been impressed with yo’ beautiful ass.”
She giggled. That was a good sign. “Get in here, Rhodes.”
I walked in as I scanned her body. She was glowing. When she closed the door, she grabbed my hand and led me to the kitchen to see plates on the table. “Aunt Jen brought food over. I figured you hadn’t eaten dinner yet, and she had enough for us.”
I looked at the smothered pork chops and candied yams and licked my lips. “That smells good. I haven’t eaten, so thank you.”
She was still holding my hand, so I pulled her to me and hugged her. I couldn’t help but close my eyes and inhale her scent. She smelled like vanilla. I kissed her head as she pulled away and smiled at me. I pulled her chair out, and she sat. Going around the table, I did the same as she reached across the table, both palms up. I slid my hands over hers, caressing them in a way. Her gaze didn’t waver, and neither did mine. I wanted her ass so bad. I could only pray this was the beginning of her wanting me again too.
She finally closed her eyes and bowed her head as her thumbs gently rubbed the tops of my hands. “God, thank You for this moment. Thank You for blessing Rhodes and me with a precious princess to spoil and teach Your ways. Help us to be the parents that You want us to be. Give us wisdom, strength, knowledge, and most of all, an abundance of love and compassion. We need You. Give me strength to say and do the things I know You desire of me. Give me humbleness, empathy, and boldness. We love You, Lord, and we ask that You bless this food for our nourishment. There’s so much more I want to say, but I know Rhodes is starving. So I ask these things in Your son’s name, amen.”
When she opened her eyes, I was staring right at her with a smirk on my lips. “You think you know me, huh?” I chuckled. “Shiiiid, a nigga hungry as hell though.”
She laughed, and I loved the sound of that shit. I immediately dug into my rice and gravy. “Mm-hmm. I knew this was going to be good. I ain’t had it in forever, but I think it’s even better now than it was the last time I had it.”
“They get better and better,” she said as she stared at me.
“Girl, your food gon’ get cold. If you ever decide to travel these Rhodes to love, you’ll be able to stare at me all day and all night.”
She cleared her throat slightly and went to her food. I tilted my head as I stared at her. Was that what this was about? She was gonna give in? I couldn’t eat now. I needed to know. “KD, what’s up? I don’t think I can wait until I finish eating. I can rewarm this.”
She pulled yams off her fork then stared at me. I could see the desire in her eyes. If she just needed me to tune that pussy up, I’d do that shit too. I was bricking up just from thinking about her wanting me to be inside her. That was how we started last time, and it led to something so beautiful, until I fucked it up.
“I’ve been trying to convince myself that I can’t be with a person that could deceive me the way you did. Your actions were selfish and somewhat diabolical. You didn’t think about how something like that would affect my life and what I had going on or my future. All you saw was what you wanted. That was so hard for me to look past. While I know why you did it, I couldn’t excuse it. I think I told you that already.”
I nodded as I waited. I knew there was some sort of revelation in this. She wouldn’t be repeating it if there wasn’t. She cleared her throat and stretched her hand out to me. Fuck all that. I stood and went to her, pulling her from her chair and went to her front room. I sat first and pulled her to my lap, hoping she stayed there. She seemed slightly uncomfortable at first, but then she relaxed, and her body molded into mine.
As she stared up at me, my eyes dipped to her pink lips. I loved those thick, soft muthafuckas. I lowered my forehead to hers and said in a low voice, almost a whisper, “I know you aren’t done talking, but I know I fucked up. I thank God that you’re allowing me in your space and that you’ve forgiven me. You’re right. What I did was fucked up. It was selfish and controlling. I’m sorry, baby. I won’t ever be able to apologize enough. I love you so much.”
She brought her hands to my cheeks and lifted my head. “This isn’t about you apologizing again. What’s done is done. Neither of us can change it at this point. Me remaining angry and hurt about it will only hurt me more.” She placed her hands on her belly. “It will only hurt her… Roselynn Denali Woods.”
A tear rolled down my cheek. No one had ever seen me be this sensitive, not even my aunt. Karima could pull shit out of me that I swore I would never allow to surface. She kissed where the tear fell then softly kissed my lips. SiR’s song “Only Human” came to mind. I was far from perfect, and she deserved so much better than me. However, this was right where I wanted to be… loving her beyond myself. I would sacrifice everything I owned and loved to be with her.
“Rhodes, look at me.”
I lifted my eyes to hers, and she kissed me again. “I love you, and I need you. I feel like I’m sinking without you. It’s so much harder to fight what I’m feeling than to just give in. I’m risking it all for you. Please… don’t let me down or disappoint me again. My heart won’t be able to take it.”
It felt like my heart was about to burst out of my chest, and my body temperature had risen significantly. “Karima, are you saying you wanna travel these Rhodes to love with me?”
“Rosewood, I’ve already traveled them. I just wanna resume my journey and end up in euphoria with you. You’re the one for me. God told me you were. I’m not sure why He allowed the slight detour, but I know what He said to me.”
I pulled her up, and she allowed her legs to fall to my sides, straddling me. Closing my eyes, I slid my hands up to her thighs and gripped them. “Damn, baby. I’ve been hoping and praying for this moment for months. Your heart is so damn pure, and I’m glad what I did didn’t fuck it up permanently. I’m glad you’re choosing to let your guard down with me again after I betrayed your trust. Hearing you say that you love me is overwhelming as fuck. I’ve been wanting to hear you say that shit for over eleven years.”
She kissed my lips again. “It took my mama and Aunt Tiff to help me see what I was doing to myself. When it comes to love, I’m always so cautious. I’m scared of being hurt, but it seemed even with me being cautious, I ended up hurt multiple times. I thought I was ruined at first… that no man would ever get my love again. I have so much love to give.”
I pulled her to me and gave her my tongue. Damn. I wanted to just push my shit inside her, but I didn’t want to take her too fast. She was letting go of her doubts and hesitancies, but I refused to overwhelm her. I knew we couldn’t just pick up where we left off after nearly five months. I would take time to show her just who she was getting. She needed to see my tenderness, care, and romance. I was going to cater to her every need.
When I pulled away, I stared into her eyes and said, “Thank you for giving me another chance to get this shit right. You know, even though we were apart, I initially made changes for you… to make myself more desirable to you. I wanted to explore ways that I could take better care of you… your body, your heart, your mind, and your soul. I mean, I know you love your daddy and all that, but I wanted to be right after God in your life… I still do. Right now, I know I’m at the bottom, but I’m just grateful to be back on the list.”
“Rhodes, I never took you off the list. I was angry, but I still cared. If you were off the list, you wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t know about your kid. Had I let my Henderson side take over, that was exactly what would have happened.” She slowly shook her head and mumbled, “Petty asses.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist and held her tightly, not wanting to let her go. This felt so good… so fucking right. She slid her nails down the part in my hair, and a chill went up my spine. I stared up at her as she subtly wound her hips. I closed my eyes and bit my bottom lip. Here I was trying to take things slow, but this country princess was about to make me lose my shit and ravage the fuck out of her pretty ass.
“Karima, I’m trying to be a gentleman and take this shit slow… earn your trust, but you making this shit hard now.”
“Take things slow for what? I’m carrying your baby, Rosewood. My feelings are wide open, and I need your thug and country to come together and give me what I neeeeeed.”
My eyebrows lifted as I watched her head drop back and her eyes close as she rolled her hips against my dick. I pulled my shirt off in record speeds and slid my hands to her ass and ripped that fucking thong like it was paper. She got my belt off quick as fuck and exposed my dick, then immediately hid that shit within her walls.
“Ooooh fuuuuck!”
I couldn’t help but voice my satisfaction. Her pussy was so fucking hot. When she began bouncing on my shit, I relinquished all control and let her fuck me all the way up. I watched her pull her dress over her head, only to see she wasn’t wearing a bra. I pinched her nipples as I watched her pussy lube me up.
“Rhodes! Oh shit! I’m about to cum!”
She continued bouncing on my shit until the bottom fell out of her pussy. She soaked me. There was no way I could sit here and let her continue to do all the work now. I pulled her off me and stood, letting my pants and boxers drop to the floor. Quickly kicking off my shoes and stepping out of them, I picked her up and lowered her back on my shit.
“Fuck, KD! Fuck! I love you, girl.”
I was doing my best to hold my nut while she bucked all over my shit. Her legs were wrapped tightly around my waist like fucking vice grips, and she was really fucking the head of dick up as she held on to my locs. When her hands made their way around my neck, she slid them to my back, and I swore she was carving her name on my shit. Her scratches stung, but that shit only made me fuck her harder.
“Karima! Fuuuuuuck!”
I shot the damn club all the way up. I supposed that was a plus about her already being pregnant. I didn’t have to hide fucking condoms. She rested her head against mine as we both panted. My dick was twitching inside of her. His thirsty ass wanted more. Apparently, her pussy did too, because just those small movements turned her faucet on.
“Rhoooodessss! Shiiiit!”
I wrapped my arms around her and walked to the couch, laying her on it. Staring at her pregnant belly as I made love to her was next level. There was no more fucking to be done. I couldn’t even be in savage mode staring at it. I slow stroked her deeply and stared into her eyes. We were a sticky mess, but I didn’t even give a fuck. Being inside of her was like a damn fantasy… a dream I never wanted to wake up from.
“Let’s travel these Rhodes to ecstasy, baby,” I said as I hovered over her then slowly tongue kissed her.
When my tongue left her mouth, it didn’t come back to me. It graced her cheek then went down to her ear and neck. I wanted to taste every centimeter of her. I circled my tongue around her nipple and watched it harden even more. I allowed my saliva to leak all over it and watched it run down the side of it, then pushed it up and let her lick it up.
Seeing her tongue only made my dick painfully hard, because the memories that shit held was enough to make me nut twice at once. Just imagining that shit was on my dick had him ready to spit everywhere. Karima could have me eating the fuck out of her right now, knowing her shit was laced with my nut. That was just how gone I was.
Staring into her eyes, I said, “Thank you for giving me our destiny back. I love you.”
“I love you too, Rosewood,” she said in a soft, trembling voice.
I picked up my pace a bit, winding my dick into her, being sure to graze her G-spot with every stroke. When her eyes rolled back and shut, I knew her nut had arrived. She didn’t squirt this time, but as I sat up to look at the action and saw all the cream she was leaving on me, I fired off immediately.
I collapsed next to her on her oversized couch and kissed the side of her neck, ear, then her cheek. This was the last thing I was expecting to happen. While I was hoping she would give in to me, I never in a million years thought she would be bucking all over my shit tonight.
“You worked up an appetite, KD?”
When she didn’t respond to me, I picked my head up to see she was sound asleep. I smiled at the sight. She was so beautiful. There was no way I was going to wake her up. We would shower whenever she woke up. I grabbed her throw from the back of the sofa and covered her body with it then got up and searched for her cleaning products. Her fluids were all over the floor and this couch. This was what I’d been living for, making life improvements for. It all paid off. She would be Karima Woods before she could count to ten.