Page 83 of Only for Me

I switched the calls and he didn't even give me a chance to speak.

"Ay, you good?"

"No, have you seen all this?"

"Yeah, I just found out."

"Baller Alert and Tattle Tales are in front of my house. They were knocking on my door and trying to take pictures through the windows."

"Fuck, man. I'm heading that way now. Pack some stuff for you and Avi. Grab whatever you need for right now."

"I'm not going out there. That will make it worse."

"They're about to be camped out, Kari. This isn't going away anytime soon and y'all aren't staying there."

"I don't want to stay here but you showing up here and us leaving together is going to make it worse."

"I'm not debating this with you right now. Pack and I'll be there in like twenty minutes." His tone was hard and laced with authority so I let it go.

"Where are we going?"

"My house. Twenty minutes, be ready, aight?"

"Okay."

I ended the call and lifted Avi into my arms. As much as I loathed the idea of going out in that chaos, I didn't want to be here by myself with strangers stalking me and my baby. As soon as I walked past the front door heading to our rooms to pack, the shouting picked up. Someone knocked again and I was pissed because they weren't supposed to be on my lawn or on my porch, I knew that much. They were required to stay beyond the curb by law but I knew they didn't care.

My first stop was Avi's room. I placed her on the floor, letting her crawl around. She occupied herself by smiling at her reflection in the floor length mirror while I grabbed enough stuff to get us through a couple days and shoved it into her overnight bag.

Once I had her together, we moved to my room and I sat her on the bed and turned on Macy's Mix. The animated show was for babies and toddlers where they taught letters, numbers, and colors by turning the lessons into songs and dances with animated characters. Avi loved it, and by default I did too, because it kept her occupied and the songs slapped.

I grabbed just the essentials for myself, not really paying much attention to what I was throwing in the bag before I headed to the bathroom and gathered my skincare stuff, toiletries, and hair products. By the time I was done, Omiri wascalling, telling me he was pulling up. I walked to the living room and glanced outside just in time to catch him parking a black Jeep in the driveway and getting out.

The crowd swarmed him but a second car pulled up behind his and two massive men got out and began pointing toward the street, telling people to move. One of them flashed a badge which had the crowd begrudgingly moving off my lawn while the two of them stood guard, arms crossed like they dared anyone to try them.

I opened the door and Omiri walked in, looking me over before he took Avi from my arms after she damn near lunged at him.

“Are those cops?”

"Off duty but yeah. That’s KP and Ced. I hire them sometimes for security and figured they would be best to keep them damn people away from the house while I get y’all out of here. You ready?"

I nodded and motioned to the back. "Our bags are in my room."

"Aight, take Avi and I'll grab them."

When he tried to hand her off, she frowned and edged away from me. I smiled and rolled my eyes. "Traitor."

He chuckled. "If you get her bag, I'll get yours."

We moved to the bedroom and he lifted my duffel and backpack, balancing Avi, and I grabbed Avi's overnight bag and her matching diaper bag, heading to the front.

"Ay, grab my phone outta my pocket so you can call KP to let him know we're ready. Get something to cover her head with."

I slipped my hand into his pocket and couldn't even enjoy what my fingers brushed against because of this chaotic shit storm we were in the middle of. I walked to the couch, lifted Avi's blanket, and handed it to Omiri.

"Eleven oh nine," he rattled off, knowing I needed the code to his phone. I smiled, noting that he had changed his code to Avi's birthday.

Once he showed me which contact to select, I called, letting them know we were ready. A few minutes later we were on our way out with the two bodyguards blocking me while Omiri kept Avi out of view. As soon as we neared the car, they were shouting questions again.