His Ebony Blood Jewel: A Novel
By Chanel Kimani
CHAPTER ONE
“Girl, you ready for that party?” Ashanti said, putting on her deep mauve Mac lipstick in the mirror as Harper played with the strand of pearls around her neck. They were in the dressing room of Harper's luxury condo in one of the city's most exclusive buildings.
Lola, one of their dearest friends, was having her album release party that night. And as part of the “Realest Diva's Squad,” they were going to be there to support her.
The Realest Divas were a group of strong, independent women who had been through it all – together. The tears, the celebrations, the heartaches, the betrayals, and even the mundane. But through it all, through all those things that life threw at them, they were able to make it through. Together. In one piece.
Harper sighed, sitting down on the chaise lounge and crossing her legs. She was wearing a beautiful Pucci gown in shades of lavender and pink. Her jet black Indian Remy hair was pulled back in an elegant chignon. She had been ready for hours. She always did things ahead of time – she had picked her outfit out two weeks ago, knew exactly how she was going to wear her hair, down to what undergarments she was going to rock. Not that anyone was going to see that tonight.
“I am. You know I'm going to be there for Lola. But I'm just so tired.” Harper lied. She was also a little peeved that her friend was still in the “getting ready” stage. If they didn't leave soon, they were definitely going to be late.
“Girl, why?” Ashanti saying, turning to face her friend.
“Life at the law firm has been tough recently.” Harper explained. She took the glass of champagne that Ashanti had poured for them earlier and took a sip. She sat it back down and continued. “All these big deals coming through. And you know I'm trying to make partner.”
“Harper, you've been trying to make partner since you started law school.” Ashanti said, shaking her head and laughing. “I know you'll be able to do it.”
Harper hung her head down, sighing slightly. “It's just hard. There's a glass ceiling, I think. Or at least I feel there is. Sometimes I think they're afraid of a strong woman. That I'm too aggressive or what have you.”
Ashanti sat down down to Harper and took her hand in a friendly manner. “You need to believe in yourself. Your strength is something you should be proud of, not ashamed of. I know you'll make partner. Now let's go because the chauffeur will be here any minute. And don't think I haven't noticed you sneaking all those looks at your watch. We'll get there fashionably late.”
“You know I hate being late!” Harper exclaimed.
All through her early years, her family was always late, and that drove Harper absolutely crazy. When she was a little girl, she'd be late for school because her mom was running behind schedule. They'd be late for church, walking in during the sermon. Once, Reverend Brown even publicly chastised her family for being so late! And then there was that time when Harper was cast as the lead in the school play. Her mother made her late to that too. Harper barely made it onto the stage by the time her character made her first appearance.
The worst memory of lateness Harper could remember was her college graduation. Her mother and grandmother had flown all the way in to come see her, but by the time they got to the stadium where the graduation exercise was taking place, the ceremony was already over.
Because of that, Harper had no pictures of that momentous occasion. No one was there to see her graduate. Well, no one from her family. She was the first person from her family to go to college. And they couldn't even bother to show up on time.
Harper had gradually come to terms with it. They're just not ever going to change, she had realized. But it still irked her.
And she decided, a long time ago, that she was never going to be late like that.
Sure, it sometimes meant driving her friends a little crazy. But it also meant not being late to things like job interviews, meetings, important flights, conferences, dates.
A moment later, Ashanti's phone rang. It was the chauffeur. They made their way down to the lobby and into the limo that they had ordered for the night. There was going to be some partying tonight. And because they were responsible, they knew they weren't going to drink and drive.
“So how's work for you?” Harper said as they zoomed through the city in the back of the Maybach.
“Busy. You know how it is. Owning an interior designing company is kind of a feast or famine type of thing. You either have a lot of work or not so much. But I'm making do.”
“Well, looking at those red bottoms you got on, it looks like you’re doing pretty well.” Harper said, referring to Ashanti's Louboutins.
Ashanti laughed and ran a hand through her bra-strap length red hair that perfectly offset her gorgeous cocoa skin tone.
“I like to splurge once in awhile. After I make sure my retirement account is fully loaded. Oh, I forgot to tell you. We're picking up Trina.”
“I haven't seen her all week. Is she okay?” Harper asked, tilting her head to study Ashanti's expression. Although Harper and Trina were close, Trina and Ashanti were cousins and thus had a stronger bond. Trina had just gone through a very bad breakup with who she thought was the love of her life. “She hasn't returned any of my calls. Only my text to say that she was coming tonight.”
“You know Trina. She takes break-ups pretty badly.” Ashanti said, looking out the window at the skyscrapers of the city.
“I helped her through the last three break-ups. I don't know why she's trying to ignore my calls like that.”
Ashanti turned and looked at Harper. “It's not about you, Harper. She's just a mess right now, okay? Now be nice. I remember you two fighting before about something like this and we don't want to spoil Lola's party, now do we?”
Harper said nothing. She fiddled with her iPhone and took a deep breath.
“We call ourselves the Realest Divas, but when we can't support each other, then what's the point?” Harper said after a few moments. “We're supposed to lean on each other in times of need. That's the whole point of having a support system.”
Ashanti said nothing at first, but then sighed.
“You just have to let her heal in her own time. You're always trying to fix everything, Harper. That's just your personality.”
“It is not!” Harper said jokingly. But her tone was serious.
“Girl, that's why we love you. We come to you with our problems and we know you'll rationally go through them all and help us figure out what to do next.” She cocked her head and smiled. “Or just tell us what to do next.”
“I never told anyone to do anything, I just --”
Ashanti put her hands up.
“All I'm saying is that sometimes you just need to let people figure things out on their own. I know you're a dyed-in-the-wool attorney and your job is to fix things. But sometimes, you come across a little...”
“A little what?” Harper said. A deadly smile was on her face.
“A little...strong.” She said carefully. “That's might be why you're scaring men away.”
“I didn't scare no man away!”
“You're very type A. That's a good thing. But it would be good if you just learned to relax a little. Just be chill. Just...let things be the way they are. Not try to control everything all the time.”
Harper took a deep breath. She didn't want to get in a fight with her friend so she bit her tongue. And maybe what she was hearing wasn't that far off fr
om the truth.
“I don't mean to be that way.” Harper said. “It's just how I think. I want to solve problems. I want to find the solution. I want everything to be perfect.”
“And that's why you're a great lawyer.” Ashanti said. “But that's also why you're a bad girlfriend.”
“A bad girlfriend?” Harper exclaimed. “Girl, you're about to step over that line and it's not going to be pretty when you do.”
“I'm saying this as your friend, Harper.” Ashanti said as they continued to speed through the city. “I want you to be settled and happy. We're not going to be young forever. So if you're going to find and keep a man, you're going to have to reflect a little on how you come across.”
“So you're telling me I should see a psychiatrist or something?”
“Not yet.” Ashanti said. “But what I'm saying is you need to think about how you can rein in some of your control freak, perfectionistic tendencies.”
Harper pursed her lips and looked out the window. She really wasn't in the mood to hear all this. Part of her was offended. Part of her wondered why Ashanti chose this moment specifically to bring this out into the open.
“Are you done?” Harper said, locking eyes with her friend.
“I'm done.” Ashanti replied.
“You know what you said kind of hurt.”
“I didn't mean to hurt you, Harper. But I felt I had to say something. Before it was too late...”
“Too late?” Harper said in a shocked voice. Ashanti was getting closer and closer to that line.
“We're grown, girl. You know that. We don't have much time left if want to have kids.”
Harper sighed. She hated hearing this kind of talk. She preferred to throw herself into her work and ignore the ticking of her body's clock. Her momma and grandmomma had always asked about when she was going to have kids. But more recently, they'd stopped asking so frequently. Maybe they'd given up. Maybe they thought it was too late.
Was it too late?
“So let me just get this straight.” Harper said, taking a swig of her champagne. “Is your goal to just totally ruin this party for me?”
“My goal..” Ashanti said loudly. “-- is to help you get your ass in gear. To get you ready to be in a committed relationship.”
“I've been in committed relationships! I was engaged to Brian!”
“Yeah, but you broke up. Do you remember why?”
Harper bit her lip. She didn't want to say that Brian had accused her of being a perfectionistic control freak who had to have every second scheduled and planned. Harper looked down at her Chanel watch.
“We're going to be late.” She turned to look at the driver, but the partition was raised. “Tell that man to hurry his slow ass up!”
Ashanti started to talk but hesitated. She felt she had given Harper enough to think about for right now.
Ten minutes later, they pulled up in front of Trina's large mansion that was in a suburb right outside the city. Moments later, they saw Trina – long honey blonde weave in cascading waves flowing about her cherubic face – walking down the sidewalk. The chauffeur opened the door for her and she got in.
“Hey girls.” She said. Her voice sounded sad. Her face had a wane expression. Like she had just finished crying. “Sorry I've been missing in action. Just this break-up with Ashton really threw me for a loop. I didn't see it coming.”
“I was just telling 'Shanti that I was a little offended that you didn't reach out to me.” Harper said. She crossed her arms and gave Trina a humorous yet reproachful look, raising her eyebrow at her.
“Harper, you know I just needed some time away to reflect. I thought this man was going to ask me to marry him. And then he just broke up with me? I still don't even know why.”
“Just forget about him,” Ashanti said as she looked up from her phone after sending a text. “There are plenty of fish in the sea. And there are going to be plenty of men there tonight.”
“Ugh, I don't even want to stay that long.” Trina said. She had her Chanel compact out and was looking at her false eyelashes, making sure they looked perfect.
“You can't just stay in your house all day and night.” Harper chided her.
“When you broke up with Bryan, you were just as messed up as I was!” Trina said, raising her voice slightly. “Just give me my time. Give me my moment to get over it. It's gonna take a minute. I can't just flip on a dime and pretend that everything is okay again.”
“Sorry.” Harper said, biting her lip. She thought about what Ashanti said earlier. About her perfectionistic tendencies.
“Okay, girls.” Ashanti said, talking in a motherly voice. “We really need to focus on what this is all about. This is about Lola's album release party. This is about relaxing, having fun, and celebrating the accomplishments of one of the Realest Divas.”
“You're right.” Trina said. She sat up straight and noticed the chilled bottle of champagne in the corner of the vehicle. “Now let's get the party started.”
CHAPTER TWO
The Maybach driving the three women pulled up in front of the exclusive club called the Matador that Lola's record label had rented out for the release party. The red carpet was out in front of the club and paparazzi and reporters were all there.
“Oh, no. I can't deal with the press.” Trina said, covering her hands with her face. “Not after what happened.”
Harper sighed. “You're right. There's got to be a way to sneak in without them seeing you.”
But they were spotted before they had time to ask the driver to change the course of where the vehicle was going.
“Shit,” Trina said, grabbing her Gucci handbag.
“I hope you don't have a gun in there.” Ashanti said with a smile.
“Let's get this over with.” Lola said.
The driver pulled up in front of the entrance and opened the door. As the three gorgeous women got out of the car, they were momentarily blinded by all the flashbulbs and were almost deafened by all the questions. Although they weren't in New York or Hollywood, all the members of the Realest Divas Squad were celebrities in their own right – well-connected, fashionable, and important members of the community.
“Trina! What happened with you and Ashton?” A reporter shouted. He pushed a microphone right into her face.
Trina said nothing, but struck a pose and smiled, one hand on her hip as she tossed her golden hair over her shoulder.
“She's doing good.” Harper said to Ashanti as they waited on the red carpet for their turn.
“Yeah, but one more question like that and she'd go berserk. You know how sensitive she can be.”
Once they were safely inside the club, they made their way over to the VIP section where Lola was holding court.
Her hair pulled back in a long off-black ponytail that went down to what seemed to be her butt. Her beautiful Armani gown was covered with what seemed to be millions of diamonds. She glowed with enthusiasm and happiness.
“Ugh, I'm so glad you're here!” She said, giving them all warm hugs. “Make me stop drinking this Dom. I have to perform these songs in 20 minutes.”
“Fine, I'll take it then.” Trina said, taking the champagne glass away from Lola and chugging it down.
They all laughed.
“You doing okay?” Lola asked Trina.
“I'm working on it. But don't worry about it now.”
“Well, there are lots of men here tonight.” Lola said. “The company seemed to invite every A-lister who's in town.”
“I'm off the market right now.” Trina said, tossing her blonde hair and scowling. “I don't need a man bothering me after what Ashton did to me. But Harper...Harper hasn't been on a date in...a long time.”
“I've been busy at the firm!” Harper said to her defense. “I don't have time to date! I have all those billable hours to worry about.”
“You need to put yourself first, girl.” Lola said. Ashanti nodded in agreement.
“So you just want me to pick a man h
ere tonight? And do what?”
“Well, there's music. How about, um, dance?” Lola said with a tilt of her head. She was showing some attitude.
“I'm only going to do that if Ashanti finds a man tonight, too.”
“Fine. But only to show my support. I'm not interested in a relationship right now.”
“I think y'all been drinking too much, because none of this is making much sense to me.” Lola said with a laugh. She looked across the dark room as her manager motioned to her to get ready to perform. “Okay, I need to go do this.”
“Break a leg!” They all said in unison.
ROMANCE: His Ebony Blood Jewel - A Novel (BWWM, Paranormal, Vampire, Billionaire New Adult Romance) Page 1
