Love Me Through the Rain Read online

  Love Me Through The Rain

  A Novel By

  A’zayler

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  Copyright © 2017 A’zayler

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or in any means without written permission from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, places, events, and incidents are all a part of the author’s imagination and is used in a strictly fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Prologue

  The smell of strawberries filled Dakota’s nostrils as he lay in bed cuddled against his mother’s breasts. It was almost eleven o’clock at night and way past his bed time. They’d just finished watching Good Burger and that was the only reason he was still awake. He and his mother did the same thing every Friday night while his father, Jazz, was out making his rounds. It was their weekly routine. Friday was his mother’s off day and pick up day for his father. His mother Theresa was a nurse at St. Francis Hospital and his father sold drugs. Between both of their work schedules, they made sure to spend time with him and his sister. Tonight was no different. His older sister, Fallon, had long ago fallen asleep at the bottom of the bed, and now it was his turn. They had chosen to watch the movie in his parents’ room tonight instead of the living room. Dakota had suggested this so that he could trick his mom into letting him sleep with her. He already knew that if he fell asleep in there, she wouldn’t move him until the next morning. He’d done this enough times to know.

  “Mama loves you Kota. Go to sleep.”

  “I love you too Ma. Goodnight.”

  “Your daddy is going to get us for falling asleep on him.”

  “He takes too long to come home sometimes.” Dakota yawned and laid back onto his pillow.

  When his mom started to sing he closed his eyes. That was the last thing he remembered before a loud noise startled him awake. He sat up in bed looking around the room wildly. It was pitch dark but he could see the light from the hallway seeping under the door. His eyes were still a little blurry as he rubbed them while trying to hear what was going on in the living room. He could hear voices. One of them he recognized to be his father, but he didn’t recognize the other two. Before he could get out of bed to check it out, he heard the same loud noise again. This time he heard his mother scream. Dakota’s young heart began to race as he became alert. Anybody that knew him knew he was a mama’s boy. Hearing her voice sounding pained automatically made him want to come to her rescue. He jumped from the bed, tripping over Fallon’s leg as he crawled out of bed. He pulled the door open and walked down the hallway. As he got closer he could tell something was wrong. He couldn’t see his parents but he could tell by the way his mother was crying that something wasn’t right. He slowed his pace a little as he neared the front of their house. When he looked around the corner he saw his mother sitting on the sofa still in her pajamas with tears on her face. There was man standing over her holding her by her hair with a gun to her head. His father was directly in front of her in the same position but his face was covered with bruises. From where he was standing it looked like his arms and legs were tied together with something as well. The guy standing over him brought the large piece of wood he was holding down across his father’s chest. He quickly noticed that was the loud noise that had awakened him.

  His mother screamed again and tried to run to him, only to be snatched backwards by the man that was holding her hair.

  “Stop fucking snatching her!” His father’s deep voice resonated through the living room.

  This didn’t shock Dakota. His father was very protective of his family. He hadn’t even yelled like that when the man hit him with that wood, but hearing his wife scream brought out his anger.

  “Tell us where the money is and we’ll leave her alone.”

  “I already told y’all dumb asses I don’t keep shit in my house. I have stash houses for shit like this.”

  WHAP! WHAP!

  The wood came down across his father’s legs and chest again.

  Dakota’s body got hot and began to tremble. He was just about to say something when his father looked up and caught his eye. Alarm rushed over his father’s face as he silently pleaded with him not to say anything. His father’s head shook from side to side telling him not to intervene. Dakota stood defiantly watching the scene in front of him. He couldn’t just leave like he didn’t see what was going on. He had to help.

  “Maybe if I run up in your bitch real quick you’ll remember where the money is,” robber number one said.

  “Baby, are you okay?” Theresa looked over at her husband. He looked like he could barely breathe but he wasn’t giving up.

  “He won’t be for too much longer if one of y’all don’t start talking,” robber number two said just before hitting Theresa in the back of the head with his gun.

  This set off something in Dakota and Jazz. They both lunged at the robber. His father was cut short by the wood being slammed against his back. They never even saw Dakota coming until he’d jumped on robber number two. Their attention went to him and they both smiled. He was trying with all his might to fight the man, but at eight years old there wasn’t much he could do. The man slung him around until he was on the sofa next to his mother and hit him upside the head with his gun, knocking him out. That was the last time he saw both of his parents alive. The next time his eyes opened he was outside of his house staring at the stars in the sky. He was lost for a minute until it all came flooding back to him. He jumped from the ground and stumbled some. His head was hurting like crazy. He held his hand over the part that was aching and felt a sticky liquid. He knew it was blood but he didn’t have time for that right now. He had bigger things to worry about, like the blazing flames that were covering the front of his house. He took off full speed towards his house only to be snatched back by someone. He turned around ready to swing on whoever was stopping him from getting to his family. It was his neighbor, Mr. Steve. It wasn’t until then that he realized his yard and the street in front of it was filled with people. He looked around at everybody as they looked on in shock. Fallon was sitting on the car with Mr. Steve’s wife crying. Dakota ran over to her.

  “Where’s Mama and Daddy?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t see them.”

  Dakota looked back at his house and took off in a full speed run. Mr. Steve yelled for him to stop but he wasn’t trying to hear that. His parents needed him.

  “Dakota come back!” Fallon yelled.

  Dakota kept his pace until he was at the backdoor of their house. It was wide open so he was able to run right in. He immediately began to cough as the thick black smoke filled his lungs. The more he coughed the harder it got to breathe. His eyes watered as he squinted trying to see through the smoke. It felt like forever but he finally made it to the living room. He tried to dodge the small patches of fire along the way.

  “Daddy!” Dakota reached the sofa he was sitting on first. His body was slumped over and he was lying in a puddle of blood. “Daddyyy!” Dakota screamed as he laid across his lifeless body. Dakota screamed and cried as he shook his father’s arm. His eyes were looking straight ahead and he wasn’t moving. Dakota coughed uncontrollably for a few minutes until he was able to catch his breath again. Hearing some coughing behind him brought him back to reality. He turned to see his mother trying to lift her arm. He rushed to her immediately.

  “Ma! Come on, we have to get out of here.” Dakota pulled at his mother’s limp body, trying to drag her from the sofa.

  He couldn’t move her from the sofa becaus
e she was too heavy. He tried with all his might to move her but she didn’t budge.

  “Get out of here Kota. Mama loves…you.” She started coughing.

  “Ma! Mama!” he yelled with water in his eyes again. He stayed next to her yelling until he felt himself getting lightheaded. Dakota’s eyes started getting lazy as he felt himself losing his breath. His eyes closed and opened again. When he looked up he saw someone in a yellow suit with a mask on his face. The person’s arms were outstretched towards him. He relaxed as he felt himself being lifted from the sofa.

  “It’s okay little man, I got you.”

  Dakota looked at the fireman, then back at his parents. They were both laid out on the sofa. He knew his father was dead. He wasn’t too sure about his mom. Dakota cried to himself as he watched his whole life fall apart.

  Chapter 1: Love in the Club

  18 years later…

  “She’s a stripper, dirty dancer, but she’s begging me to wife her,” Jacorey rapped along with the song.

  “Bruh calm your ass down.” Love pulled Jacorey back down into his seat and away from the stage.

  Dakota Love, or Love, as the streets called him, was the man to see. He was twenty-six years old, successful, and had everything a man could ask for. He was single with no kids and no real women problems. He had the money, the cars, the clothes, and of course the hos. Many would probably call him a cheater, but he preferred to be called a “multitasker.” He couldn’t help the fact that women loved him. He was an attractive man, and he was paid. At 6’6” two hundred and thirty pounds, Dakota was most women’s pick. His athletic build and dark skin were two of their favorites. His skin was smooth as Dove chocolate, with small slanted hazel eyes that were so light they looked transparent, and full lips. His dreads were long and stopped in the middle of his back. They were always freshly twisted and lined up. The tips were a dark maroon color that faded back into black. He was a ladies man to say the least, but he didn’t date just anything. His women had to be the best of the best. He didn’t date anybody that had a reputation in the hood, or one with no ambition. He looked for women that could compliment him mentally, physically, and finically. Dakota was able to maintain a pretty prominent lifestyle while abiding by the law. Looking at him you would think he was a drug dealer, but he wasn’t. He was just a regular ol’ firefighter out here trying to get it. He wasn’t the flashiest man in the building but his presence was commanding. There was no way possible he could walk in a room and go unnoticed. Aside from the women flocking to him, the men respected him. Love held major clout in the streets because of who his father was, and the work he’d put in to maintain his legacy. Growing up he fought tooth and nail to make sure his father’s name was maintained in the highest regards. Because of this, he spent a few years in the Youth Detention Center. After that little bid was done, he got his life together and made it his business to keep his head on straight. Though that didn’t stop the hood from tempting him. From the outside looking in you would think he had it all together, but only his personal partners knew him well enough to know that it was anything but. Love had problems that he suffered with on a daily basis, but did a very good job at hiding them, one of the main ones being that fact the he didn’t want to be a player no more. He was ready to turn his player card in for a girl that would hold him down. Sleeping around with different women every night was cool when he was younger, but he was over that now. It was time to find somebody he could build with.

  “Nigga you need to act like it’s your fucking birthday.” Jacorey passed him the shot glass filled with Patron.

  “Shit nigga, I’m chilling.”

  “That’s the problem. You chilling in a room full of naked bitches. Fuck is yo problem?”

  Love laughed at his best friend. That nigga was wild as fuck. Tonight they were at Magic City turning up for his twenty sixth birthday and he hadn’t done anything but drink since he’d gotten in there. Maybe Jacorey was right. He did need to have some fun. Love took the shot and grabbed the bottle of Remy from the table. Rae Sremmurd’s “Come Get Her” blasted through the speakers as two girls twirled up and down the pole in front of them. Love drank straight from the bottle while dancing and rapping along to the song.

  “That’s what I’m talking about my nigga.” Jacorey pulled two girls over to their section just as they walked past.

  The strippers came willingly being that Jacorey and Love were two of the sexiest niggas in the club. Jacorey was the total opposite of Love. He was light-skinned with a low cut fade and sideburns that connected to his goatee. His lips weren’t as thick as Love’s and his eyes weren’t as small. He was about the same height and size, but personality wise they were on two different ends of the spectrum. He was loud and that nigga loved attention. He and Love were both well dressed and sought after. Jacorey ate that shit up. Love wasn’t fazed in the least.

  “Damn baby,” Love said to the girl that was sitting on his lap grinding.

  The way she moved her hips in sync with the beat was hypnotizing. Her round ass and full breasts were on full display in her little white outfit. The long wavy weave she had in was flowing down her back as she smiled in his face. He had to admit she was pretty as hell. She wore a gold headband around her forehead and she smelled good. That was one thing that made Love weak. He loved a woman that always smelled nice.

  “How you feeling baby?”

  “Better now that I got you on my lap.” Love pinched her cheek when she blushed. “You fine as hell. What’s your name?”

  “Unique.”

  “Well turn around and give me a birthday dance Unique.”

  She smiled before easing off of his lap just as Usher’s “Do it to Me” started playing. She rolled her body in a slow circle as she worked her way to the ground. She moved back up until her butt was back in his lap. Unique was putting on for the city. She was hands down one of the finest women he’d ever seen, and could dance her ass off. He drank more Remy from the bottle before looking over at Jacorey. That nigga had two women and was throwing money all over their section. Love followed his lead and paid Unique’s rent up for the next few months. Across the room Summer, Rain, and Alex had just walked in the club. It was Rain’s birthday and her best friend, Alex, and older sister, Summer, refused to let her sit in the house. They’d planned a whole weekend getaway to Atlanta and dragged her along. She had to admit she’d been having a good time up until now. The strip club was not her thing. Well, not female strip shows anyway. She loved the male revues and private parties they did. She would go to them all day. Girls though? Now that was not her thing.

  “Bitch, unfrown your damn face.” Alex ran his hand down the front of her face dramatically.

  “Alex, don’t make me slap you. I told you I didn’t want to come up in here anyway.”

  “How could I forget? You ain’t stopped complaining since we got here.”

  “I don’t even know why your gay ass wanted to come anyway.” Rain pouted as they walked to their table.

  “Summer, get this boring ho. She ‘bout to make me elbow her ass in the face.” Alex rolled his eyes and turned his head.

  Summer and Rain both laughed at him as they sat down.

  “Just try to enjoy yourself sis. We not gon’ stay too long,” Summer said just as a stripper stopped in front of them asking did they want a dance.

  Rain rolled her eyes and sighed. “Lawd, let me order me some liquor. I can’t take this shit.”

  Alex burst out laughing. “Come on over here and dance for me girl. My best friend is scared of a little ass and titties.”

  Rain shot him a bird before getting up and going to the bar. She tried not to turn her face up at the half naked girls parading past her because she didn’t want to start any trouble. Truth is, she didn’t have a problem with them or what they chose to do for a living; she just felt out of place. She didn’t know whether she was supposed to look and touch, or turn and look the other way. The whole thing was just too uncomfortable for her, and if there wa
s anything she hated, it was being somewhere she wasn’t comfortable.

  “Can I have a shot of Patr—”

  “Aye baby, let me get another bottle of Remy and a few shots of Patron and that Crown Apple,” Love yelled to the bartender.

  He was so drunk he hadn’t even paid any attention to Rain and how he’d just interrupted her. She turned around ready to snap on the nigga that was rude enough to interrupt her but was caught off guard by the sexy ass nigga next to her. The way his dreads hung loosely around his shoulders as his long body leaned slightly over the bar had her holding her tongue. Her eyes traveled from the tattoos covering his forearms and neck to the way the black Levis hung slightly off of his waist.

  Hot damn! This thug ass nigga is fine.

  The black shirt fit his semi-muscular arms and chest wickedly. His body was slim but not skinny, muscular but not too big, just like she liked them. She’d always had a thing for men that had more of a basketball player build than a football player. Whatever cologne he was wearing smelled damn good as it traveled over to her. Rain shook herself from her daze and got back to the matter at hand.

  “Excuse me, but you jumped in front of me.”

  Sexy Chocolate turned around and looked at her. His eyes trekked up and down her body before stopping on her face again. “Yo my fault baby doll. I ain’t even see you.”

  Baby doll, huh? Rain smiled for a second before straightening her face again. It took her a second to get herself together when he looked at her. His eyes were the most beautiful things she’d ever seen. “You should pay more attention next time.”

  “Shit, I wish I would have paid more attention this time.” He smiled flirtatiously. “What you drinking? Let me get it for you.” He pulled his money from his pocket and told the bartender to start a tab for her under his name. “Aye baby doll, what’s your name?”

  “Goddess.”

  “Damn, for real?”