I felt the cold metal slam into my face, and everything went black.
I’d woken up to an empty bed, and I wasn’t sure how long Rose had been gone. I figured she’d gone to the main house, so I wasn’t concerned about her absence. I eventually rolled out of bed, took care of my hygiene, and dressed in basketball shorts and a T-shirt.
On my way to the kitchen to see what I had to eat, I grabbed my phone from the dresser. I smiled when I saw Rose’s name on my screen. It had been twelve long months since I’d received a text from her.
Rose:
Russ, please don’t be mad. I told you last night that we needed to talk. Even though we ended our night together, I still needed some time alone before having the conversation. Can you give me until noon? I promise I’ll be ready to talk when you get here.
Whatever Rose had to tell me had been eating her up inside since the moment she realized she was falling for me. I tried numerous times to get her to open up to me, but when she distanced herself every time I asked, I left it alone.
I figured when she was ready, she’d tell me. Unfortunately, it took us being apart for a year for her to get to this point. I couldn’t imagine her telling me anything that would cause my feelings for her to change, but I was anxious to find out what had a hold on her.
My refrigerator was damn near empty, but I had eggs, bacon, and cheese. Once I confirmed the bread hadn’t molded, it took about ten minutes to make a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich.
While I ate, I went through my unread emails and text messages, responding to those that needed a reply and deleting or ignoring the rest. When I finished eating, I cleaned up my mess and went to the living room.
I had a few hours to kill before going to talk to Rose, so I turned on the TV to catch the highlights from the last twenty-four hours of sports. After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door. I went to answer it and found my brother on the other side.
“Wassup, Rock?” I greeted when I opened the door.
“Shit.”
He followed me back to the living room, and I muted the TV so we could talk.
“It’s early. What brings you by?” I asked.
“Rue, Daisy, and Blossom just left in a hurry, headed to Rose’s place.”
“Word? They didn’t say why?”
“Rue said Rose called an emergency meeting. You don’t think something happened between her and that nigga she was with last night, do you?”
I chuckled. “Nah. Rose was with me last night.”
His brow narrowed. “I’m sure I saw her leaving with her date. How’d that happen?”
I explained to him what I saw when Gayle and I were leaving the gala.
“Of course, I handled his ass, and she ended up coming home with me.”
“Hold up. What happened with Gayle?”
“I dropped her off, and she low-key put me in my place. She accused me of using her as a pawn to make Rose jealous.”
“She’s not wrong.”
“That’s not what I did, but I can’t tell her how to feel. Things ended amicably, so we cool.”
Rocky shook his head. “I told you bringing her to the gala was a bad idea, but I guess it worked out since Rose had a date too.”
“It worked out, but that ain’t why. I had to get my woman back.”
“I guess her showing up with a nigga on her arm was the catalyst.”
“I can’t lie. That shit pissed me off. It’s water under the bridge now. We spent the night making up for lost time and?—”
“She snuck out like a thief in the night. I love Rose like a little sister, but are you sure she’s ready? What makes you think things will be different between y’all this time?”
