Concrete Rose. ✓

5

Shawn Carter
Mathew Knowles Bel-Air Home

"Shawn, come on in." Mr. Knowles said, opening his front door a little wider.

I walked in, looking around in awe. This man was really living the billionaire lifestyle. He had everything. No wonder Beyoncé and Clarence are so spoiled rich.

"Uh straight down the hall and to your right." He motioned, shutting the door behind me. "Food's almost done."

As I made me way in that direction, I noticed all the family pictures of him and kids on the wall. Beyoncé looked good in them all, especially her high school graduation photos.

"Take a seat at the table. Feel free to wash your hands and use the rest room if you need to. Second door to the left."

I nodded heading in that direction. There were more and more pictures of his beautiful family on the walls. He had all the space in the world. I couldn't blame him.

"Beautiful house you have here, Mr. Knowles." I complimented while sitting down on the very end of the table, drying my hands off.

"Thank you. This is just one of many."

We shared a laugh. I don't even know if I'm in the tax bracket to even be laughing with this man.

"Uh hope you like steak." He said.

"Yessir!" I nodded.

A male chef came out the kitchen, "Dinner is almost ready. Mr. Carter, how would you like your steak cooked?"

"Medium well, little to no pink."

"Okay! And to drink?"

"Uh...what do you have?" I chuckled.

"Anything you can ask for. I know you're not 21, so I can offer you a strawberry mock tail, raspberry, blackberry, peach. Water, sweet tea, lemonade, or you can have a Coca-Cola or Pepsi product."

I couldn't help but laugh at the variety of choice. I'm not used to this rich shit yet, "Um...just give me the strawberry mocktail. Sounds good."

"Coming right up." He said.

He brought me my mocktail and it was delicious. This whole trip has been nothing short of amazing.

"So Shawn," Mr. Knowles started. "How are you feeling coming up to the draft?"

"I'm feeling a little bit of everything, mostly excited." I nodded.

"That's good. It's a small world to think you dated my daughter and now your the top pick in the NBA Draft for one of my teams." He chuckled.

"I know." I said. "So you called me over here to talk more about the draft or something else?"

"A little bit of both. I'm not going to hold you hostage. I just want to get to know you a little better considering you're gonna be moving here."

"So I'm not the only player you've invited over here?" He asked.

"I didn't say that." He smirked. "I haven't invited anyone else to my home. You're the first, but you're different when it comes to how close we are outside of basketball."

"I see." I nodded.

My eyes became glued on my plate the chef had brought me. It looked and smelled good and I was ready to take it all down.

"Can I get you both anything else?"

"Any A1 steak sauce?" I asked.

"Yes sir. Anything else?"