Page 9 of Breeze and Melodie

“Something wrong with your car, Mel?” Shyne asked when we entered the barbershop.

“No. Why?”

“I saw you get out of Breeze’s car, so I was just wondering.”

His question got Raine’s attention. She was headed toward the door that connected the barbershop and the salon, but stopped in her tracks.

“You two came together?” she questioned with a smile.

“Yeah. Is that strange? We do live in the same building, you know,” I responded.

“You’ve lived in the same building for over a year, and you’ve never ridden to work together,” my best friend pointed out.

“There’s a first time for everything, lil sis.”

She looked back and forth between us for a few seconds before she gasped and slapped her hand over her mouth.

“Y’all fucked!” she exclaimed.

“Y’all fucked?” Shyne questioned.

Breeze and I stood barely an inch apart. He looked at me with a sexy grin, causing me to blush.

“Should we tell them?” he asked.

Before I could respond, Raine screamed and ran toward me. “I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!”

She almost knocked me down as she trapped me in a tight embrace.

“Rainey, calm your ass down,” Breeze said. “You shouldn’t be this excited about what we doing with our body parts.”

“Shut up, Breeze! I’ve been waiting years for this to happen. Let me be happy for my best friend.”

“You’re not happy for your big brother?”

She rolled her eyes at Breeze. “It’s your fault this didn’t happen sooner, so I’m not showing you any love right now.”

“So . . . how did this happen?” Shyne asked.

“The details don’t matter. It was a long time coming, and it feels right,” Breeze responded.

“I’ll get the details later. I’m so excited. When y’all get married—” Raine began.

“Married? Slow down, sis. We’ve only been together twelve hours, and you’re already trying to force us down the aisle,” I said.

“Hold up,” Breeze said, pulling me from his sister’s embrace. “You don’t want to marry me?”

“That’s not what I said, but we haven’t discussed?—”

“What’s to discuss? It’s real simple. You’re my wife.”

“How do you already know this?” I questioned.

“I’ve known since the moment I stopped denying my feelings for you.”

I didn’t know what to say as we stared into each other’s eyes, his daring me to challenge him. I had no plans to do that, but I couldn’t hide how surprised I was by the direction of this conversation.

“Umm, maybe we should talk about this later . . . when we’re alone,” I suggested.

Breeze shrugged. “We can, but ain’t shit gon’ change.”

“You heard him, Mel.” Shyne cosigned.

“Aww, I love this for us,” Raine cooed.

“What does this have to do with you, Rainey?”

“We’re about to be sisters for real.” She squeezed her frame between me and her brother’s and hugged me again.

“You and your brother are moving faster than the speed of light, but I guess I’ll still be around to see how this plays out.”

“You sure as hell will. Now that I have you, you’re mine forever, baby.”

“Aww, I had no idea my brother could be this sweet. I love it.”

“She love this shit too. Don’t you, baby?”

I smiled and could feel myself blushing. “It’s cool. Let’s go, Raine. We need to check on the salon, spa, and classrooms.”

All areas had a main entrance from outside, and we could also access each area from the inside. Raine checked the daycare each morning when she dropped RJ off. She released me and made a beeline for her husband. As I was about to head toward the door leading to the salon, Breeze stopped me.

“I know we’re new to this, but I know damn well you ain’t leaving without giving me a kiss.”

I couldn’t respond before he wrapped me in his arms and pressed his lips against mine. His kiss made me lightheaded, and when he pulled away, I felt like I was floating.

“Your kisses could easily become my favorite thing in the world.” My lips brushed against his as I spoke.

He raised his brow. “Even more than my dick?”

“Well, maybe second favorite.”

“That’s what I thought. I’ll see you later.”

We exchanged one last peck before parting ways. I had no doubt I’d float through the rest of my day. Raine couldn’t wait to get away from our men so she could grill me.

“I want all the details,” she said as we entered the salon.

“Details about what?” Mari asked.

“What’s the tea?” Yvonne added.

Mari and Yvonne were the two employees we’d inherited when we bought the salon from Aunt Pat and had become our good friends.

“Mel and Breeze are finally a couple,” Raine announced before I could.

They both gasped.

“No shit?” Mari questioned.

“About damn time,” Yvonne declared. “We know why Sean is a thing of the past, but what about ole girl Breeze was with. I can’t think of her name.”

“Tia. She was pissed that he spent the night with me the other night after the shit with Sean and broke up with him.”

“He told her?” Raine asked.

“I don’t think he planned to. He left his T-shirt at my apartment, and I thought I was doing a good deed by bringing it down. I didn’t know he had company, but I guess she didn’t believe his explanation about why his T-shirt was in my apartment in the first place.”

Raine kissed her teeth and shrugged. “It was only a matter of time anyway. I saw the way he kissed you in the break room yesterday.”

My eyes widened. “You saw that?”

“Sure did.”

“I’m happy for you, Mel,” Mari said. “A blind person could see the chemistry between y’all.”

“True.” Yvonne agreed. “That’s crazy because both of y’all have been in whole relationships, but you still couldn’t hide your attraction to each other.”

“All this time, I thought I was over him,” I said, and the four of us laughed.

Raine and I left the salon for Yvonne and Mari to prepare for the day while we checked on the other areas. I created my schedule so that I only had clients three days each week.

“How do you feel?” she asked as we entered the spa.

“He didn’t wrap up and said he never will.”

I didn’t think I’d ever seen Raine’s eyes so big. She knew how adamant I was about protecting myself during sex, not only from diseases, but also from pregnancy. I made Sean get tested with me three times during our relationship, and we never had unprotected sex.

“Oh my! This is serious. Breeze might as well start looking at rings.”

“He doesn’t need to do all that, but I’m nervous, Raine. I don’t want to have children until I’m married. It’s not a big deal to most people, but that’s important to me.”

“Did you tell Breeze?”

“No. We haven’t done much talking since we decided to do this.”

“You might want to make that the topic of tonight’s conversation. Other than that, how do you feel?”

“I’m still on cloud nine. I know you don’t want all the gory details, but your brother is everything. I’ve wanted him for so long that it’s hard to believe he’s finally mine.”

“I know, sis. That’s why I’m so excited. Do you think Sean and Tia will continue to be a problem?”

“I haven’t heard from Sean since Breeze beat his ass. I don’t think he’ll do anything that’ll cause him to get another ass- whupping. Tia, . . . that remains to be seen, but I won’t make her my problem. Breeze needs to handle her.”

Once the doors opened and our day began, I only saw Raine in passing, and I didn’t see Breeze until I went to the barbershop at the close of business.

I entered the shop to find him finishing up his last client. Everyone else’s station was empty, so I assumed they’d left already. He smiled when he saw me, sending chills down my body.

“I’ll be done in about ten minutes, baby,” he said.

“No rush. Hello,” I said, greeting his client.

“Wassup?” the man replied.

I sat at the station next to his, pulled out my phone, and went straight to Flikstagram to catch up on the latest celebrity gossip. Jahzara Bentley, wife of professional basketball star Dakari Bentley, recently gave birth to their fourth baby.

Jahzara was one of our favorite customers. She and her sister, Yazmeen, who would soon have baby number three with Dakari’s teammate, Bronx Ravens, came in regularly for services. Dakari and Bronx were regulars at the barbershop as well.

The mayor of Onyx City, Aziel Harris , and his wife, Desire, announced they were expecting another set of twins, which would bring the couple's total to five children. I smiled as I looked at the pictures posted on Keeping It In the Closet , a popular gossip blog page.

“What are you smiling at?” Breeze asked.

I looked up from my phone, and he stood about a foot in front of me.

“Nothing. Just the celebrity gossip on Keeping It In the Closet. You ready?”

“C’mere.”

When I stood, the butterflies in my stomach went to town at the idea of being close to him for the first time since this morning.

“How was your day?” I asked as we embraced.

He pressed a kiss onto my forehead and then my lips before responding. “Better now. How was yours?”

“Busy. You hungry?”

“Starving. I haven’t eaten any real food all day.”

“Damn. I planned to have lunch delivered to you, but we had an influx of customers right around that time, and it didn’t slow down until about an hour ago. My bad, baby.”

“You don’t have to apologize. Let’s go grab something. I want to talk to you about a few things anyway.”

“Am I in trouble already?” He chuckled.

“No, but what I want to discuss is important.”

“What do you feel like eating?”

“Hmm, . . . pasta.”

“Pasta it is. Have you been to the new Italian spot around the corner yet?”

“No.”

We kissed again before he let me go. After he turned off the lights and turned on the security system, he locked the doors, and we headed to our impromptu dinner date.