Page 57 of Divine Sense
“Thank you. Thank you for being here,” he added before Bailey came bouncing back to his side. Kolbi’s hand found the small of my back and moved me towards the kitchen where his friends were now pouring champagne. They poured one for each of us and when the newly engaged couple joined us, we toasted to them.
“Congratulations to the happy couple,” Kolbi said, lifting his glass to the center of the circle we had formed around the kitchen island.
“Here, here,” we all cheered before taking a sip.
“I don’t mean to take the attention away from the blushing bride and groom, but Kolbi brother, who’s the chick?”
“Jesus, Malcolm, do you have any tact?” the other girl in the group sneered, giving him a look. I felt my cheeks flush as everyone started to look at us. Instead of matching my panic, Kolbi simply placed a kiss on my forehead and looked at the group.
“This is my girlfriend, Magnolia, Magnolia Sinclair.” I smiled at the group and hoped my face didn’t look as awkward as I felt. “Magnolia, this is Conrad, Malcolm, Hank, his fiancée Bailey, and her best friend Ophelia.”
“Sinclair?Like the Sinclairs you compl–oww, what the hell Hank?” Conrad started to say something before Hank dug his elbow into his friend’s side, cutting him off.
“We’re so happy to meet you Magnolia,” Bailey gushed, a slight Southern drawl sneaking out in her voice. She and Kolbi exchanged a look, as if passing a silent secret between them. “It’ll be nice to have another girl at game night.” She looked at me with wide eyes as if I should have had any idea what she was talking about.
Not wanting to be rude, I went along with it. “Uh, yeah. I can’t wait to come to game night too.”
“Great, another NPC coming to game night,” Conrad grumbled. I wasn’t sure whatNPCmeant but he didn’t seem happy about there being more of them.
“I’m sure there’s a lot of questions from the group, but for now, let’s just focus on the happy couple and celebrating them,” Kolbi encouraged, trying to put the limelight back where it should be. The last thing I needed was for his friends to think I barged in on a special moment and stole it from them.
“Actually,” Hank started, pulling Bailey into his chest. She wrapped her arms around him and looked towards him as if no one else in the world existed. “I’d like you all to kindly get the hell out so I can give my girl a proper welcome home.”
The group laughed and Malcolm and Kolbi erupted in ‘ooohs’ as Bailey lifted herself up on her toes and gave Hank a kiss on his cheek. The happy couple ushered us all out quickly, wanting to have the place to themselves. I couldn’t blame them. If I had just gotten engaged, I’d wanna be alone with my man too.
Making our way out, we all headed towards the lobby, taking the elevator down together. Ophielia started getting teary-eyed again and Malcolm wrapped an arm around her shoulder. After we stepped out, everyone waved goodbye to us and started for the front door that led out into the street.
“Wanna come back to my place for the night or would you rather I take you home? We can grab a pedicab back to my place and I can drive you if that’s what you want to do,” he asked as we stepped out onto the sidewalk.
I looped my arms around his torso and pulled him in. I wasn’t ready for our weekend away to be over yet and while I knew life would return to normal when the day turned over to a new week, I wanted to hang on to the feeling like it was just us for a little while longer.
“Let’s go back to your place.”
He hailed a pedicab that was making its way down the street towards us.
“Anything for you, flower.”
37
KOLBI
Dungeons and Dickheads: 1 New Message
Malcolm:
So are we ever gonna talk about the fact that Kolbi is dating a tiny woman we’ve heard nothing about?
Conrad:
Yeah I was also wondering about this. Kolbi, care to share?
Hank:
I’m more concerned by the fact that she’s…well her. Of all the girls you could date, you pick her? We work for her family dude.
I’d been waiting for them to text me and knew the armada would be coming my way eventually. I’d just taken Magnolia home after she stayed with me and was on my way into the office. Part of me was glad we were handling this overtext before I saw Hank at work. I texted them back before I pulled away from the curb.
I’m sure there’s probably a ton of questions but for now I just need you guys to know that she means a lot to me. We kind of fell into what we have and have been keeping it to ourselves for reasons I’m happy to talk to you about later.
