Black Rose

Thirty Nine

Over 4,000 words for y'all since I've been MIA. Here's a little laid back lengthy chapter for y'all.

A few weeks later

Me and Kelsi were strolling through the mall amongst thousands of other shoppers getting their last-minute Christmas shopping done. It was literally two days before the twenty fifth and I had only gotten a few gifts for everyone. There were so many other nice things I saw online, but the stupid website had to be difficult, so I couldn't order them and use one-day shipping for them to make it on time, leaving me no choice but to get out in the below zero weather and 2 feet covered snow just to purchase them. Kelsi accompanied me because she and Ahmad were not seeing eye to eye right now and she'd do just about anything to get far away from him, even if that meant sitting in backed up traffic for two hours.

Since our trip to Bali, we've stayed in contact daily, hung out almost every weekend and I've even met and grown to adore her children, whom I'm shopping for as well after her demanding that I don't have to get them anything.

As expected, Bailey and her posse tried to stir up trouble for us, but amazingly it didn't go as they planned and completely backfired. We decided to have a feast on a secluded section of the black sand beach that Raine bought out specifically for us. Venus was in attendance, as well as Chris and come to find out he's Kelsi's dad. I knew then it was meant for us all to be in the same place. But, anyways as we were enjoying the candle lit dinner and each other's company, Bailey, Jayna and the unknown guy approached us with bad intentions from the start.

Flashback

"Raine you really outdid yourself tonight." Venus complimented her son in law.

He waved her off, trying to conceal his blushing. "Anything for my lady. She envisioned our last night to be like this and I brought it to life. Of course, we had no idea we'd have extra company, but the more, the merrier."

"Good looking out man." Ahmad slapped hands with him across the table.

Each couple was paired up and sitting on one side of the table with Venus and Chris on the ends. There was so much food, it was hardly any space for their plates to occupy, but they managed to make it work. Over the course of the feast, they learned a lot about the other and surprisingly had more in common than they'd imagined. Like, Melrose's absent father, Kelsi's mother wasn't apart of her life either. It'd been her, Chris and her brother CJ since childbirth. Kelsi was an art professor at Cornish College of the Arts, another thing she and Melrose had in common. Ahmad on the other hand owned a chain of popular barbershops from Seattle to California down to Houston. They were a far cry from broke, however you'd never tell because they didn't flaunt their blessings in other people faces.

As the waitresses who'd been serving them all evening brought out the biggest milkshakes any of them had ever seen, it signaled the night coming to an end. Giving her dessert, every ounce of her attention Melrose didn't see Bailey and her crew approaching but Venus did.

"Hey, isn't that the girl that's been causing you trouble Mel?" She queried with a confused expression on her face.

Looking in the direction, Venus was pointing in she rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance, not caring that she visibly showed her agitation. "Yeah, that's her all right."

"I see she doesn't know when to quit. You want me to handle her?" Kelsi asked, wiping her hands on a napkin, getting ready to stand up.

Ahmad grabbed her by the wrist, keeping her in place. "No, sit your butt down and stay out of these people's business."