Smoke & Roses For M (Book 3)

5: Gold C

The next day, Tash and I did our photo shoot for the Messy Misses catalog, then did some shopping. We managed to get groceries for her house, baby clothes for Mae and Mill, some nice new stuff from bed and bath for us. We dropped the groceries and baby clothes off, at her place, then headed over to mine.

"Well, should I forgive him? Would that just make him think he's getting away with it?" Tasha asks, as I unlock the door.

"Tash, you ignored him for four days straight, but don't make it to where you forgive him too easily. He still needs to realize that you had a valid point." I say, pushing open the door.

"Oh, my..." Tasha gasped.

I looked into my place and my mouth nearly dropped. There was nearly a hundred roses, all over the place. They were bouquets, all in their own vase. I took a deep breath, and read one of the cards.

"Dear Marylin, A Rose for every time I thought about you, last night. XX" I read out loud.

"This was Kelly?" Tasha asked, still in shock, as she walked around touching and smelling the roses. "That man really loves you, babe."

"Tasha.." I sighed, touching some of the roses, softly, with the card in my other. "I invade his drunken thoughts, not his sober ones."

"Marilyn, he sent you a thousand roses." She exaggerated.

"If I'm not important to him sober, then why would I want... ya know..." I looked around at all the beautiful, red roses.

Tasha just nodded in agreement, and helped me find places for all the roses. We just put them all in my room.

I sat on my bed humming Rehab by Mr. Baker, while getting lost in thought as I look at the roses. I sighed, and got up as I heard someone knock and Tasha answer it. I heard the guys, and took a deep breath, then walked out smiling.

"Marilyn!!!" I heard them all basically cheer.

"Hey, guys." I smiled, and hugged Rook. "I missed you guys." I said, hugging Slim. "Where's Dub?" I look around.

"We dropped him off, on the way here." Rook informed.

As I naturally went to hug Kells, I noticed Brittany on his arm, and decided against it. He didn't really look happy. He noticed I went to hug him, but before he could react, I had walked away.

"Hey, baby boy." I smiled, kissing Mill.

"Awww. When did you start giving me cute nicknames?" Mars joked, holding Mill.

"What are you talking about? I called you dick face all of high school." I teased.

Eventually, Tasha and Mars left, with Mill. Rook was in the kitchen making something. Slim was at the dining table, making fun of Rook. Brittany had left for some vague reason. Kells was playing guitar in the living room.

"Try not to hurt yourself." I joked with Rook, as I walked out of the kitchen.

Walking into the living room, humming Rehab still, I caught Mr. Baker's eye, and he stopped playing for a moment.

"So, uh..." he looked around. "This is your place, huh?"

"This is your first time being here." I laughed a little. "Did you want a tour? It's only right. The first time I was in our-" I stopped and cleared my throat. "Your house, you gave me a tour."

"Yeah, Okay." Kells nodded, setting the guitar down.

We started from the front door. Which opened up to the living room, next to the living room, separated by a wall, was the kitchen. Walking down the hall, there was an office, a couple other rooms, the bathroom.

"...And this is my bedroom." I opened the door, forgetting about all the roses.

"It's nice." He said, walking into the room. "You don't really decorate."

"It's not really home." I sighed out, looking around. "Well, yet, anyway." I sat down, at the bottom of my bed.

"You don't sound to excited about it." He said, looking at me.

"Some places you just have to get used to first." I sighed, looking around and landing my gaze on the roses again.

I tilted my head, and looked down from the roses slowly. I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling the cold, gold chain around my neck. I ran my fingers along the chain, until I reached the charm with the gold letter C. I twiddled it between my fingers, as I hummed Rehab. I looked around, catching Kells watching me.

"What?" I looked at him.

"Nothing." He shook his head, chuckling a little, as he looked down, then back up at me.

"No, really." I asked, sitting up a little.

"I never took you out on a date." He blurted.

"That's not true." I laughed a little. "What about that dinner thing we had over in- Oh... I was Rook's date, and you took..." I sighed heavily, before saying her name. "Brittany." I looked away from him, but played it off, as if I were casually looking out the window.

"Well..." he started, causing me to look at him. "Did you wanna go on one, with me?"

"On a date?" I look at him almost concerned.

"Yes." He nodded.

"Kells..." I sighed, standing up.

"No, M, just one." He pleaded.

"You're with Brittany. I'm not going to try and convince you else wise. You have chosen who you want to be with." I look at him.

"We aren't really together. She's just been all over me, since you and Tash left. What you saw in the hallway, wasn't what you think. Under my towel, I had swim trunks on. Nothing happened, between her and I." He explained.

"Colson..." I took a deep breath.

"No, M... if I wanted to be with her, then why would I send you all these roses? If I wanted Brittany, why would I still think about you?" He walked closer to me, his eyes were filled with longing. "I know you still care too. You put all the roses in your room. You're wearing the necklace, with my initial, that I gave to you."

"You were messed up when you ordered these." I looked around at all the gorgeous roses, that crowded my bedroom. "You had to be." I avoided the necklace comment.

"Marilyn, I was sober. I didn't have any liquor or drugs in my system. I knew exactly what I was doing." His eyes searched mine, as he held my hands in his.

"We're just friends." I placed my hand on his cheek.

"We have never been just friends. You know that. I know that. Everyone else knows that." Kells informed. "Just one date."

"Marilyn." I heard Rook call, as I opened my mouth to answer Mr. Baker.

"I gotta go..." I sighed, taking a deep breath, as I walked out.

Since when has he cared this much to basically beg me for a chance? What the hell happened at that cabin, when Tash and I left?