Rose Bailey: My Mate, My Flower Chapter 146

Ebony's POV

"Do you like this?" Keith asked as he lifted a black dress for me to see. 

It was pretty, but I froze when I looked at the price tag. They wanted $80 for the dress. 

"It's not my type," I lied, and he placed it in the cart. I looked at him with a frown on my face.

"I know you like it, and we are going to get it," He said and picked up a green dress. 

"I think you would look beautiful in this," He said, and I looked at it. He moved the dress away from me when I reached for the price tag.

"Quit looking at the price tags and just pick some things that you like," He said

"I can't help it. I don't want you spending too much of your money on me," I said truthfully.

"First off, it is not just my money. I told you what mine is yours is, and now my money is your money," He said

"That's not necessarily true, Keith; I did nothing to help you make that money. I don't want you or anyone else seeing me as a gold digger or anything like that," I said 

"Why would anyone think that? How could you be a gold digger, and you are my mates? Nobody is going to think like that, Ebony. I know you are not like that," He said 

I didn't know what to say, so I just stayed quiet.

"Just do this for me, okay, I want to buy you some new clothes, and I won't take no for an answer," He said, and I nodded.

I could tell he was serious and knew I needed some new clothes. It had been a long time since I had bought any due to not having the money to.

"Thank you," He said 

"There you two are. You left us," Raven said, and I could see Keith roll his eyes.

"That was the point," He said under his breath.

"I heard that, you idiot," Raven said 

Mark was standing beside her with three bags of clothes.

"Damn, Mark. What are you, her bag guy," Keith said, and Raven laughed at him.

"Wait until Ebony is done shopping. You will be looking just like him," Raven said

"I want to hold her bags. I don't understand why he is holding yours," Keith asked.

"Because he is being a gentleman," She said and came over to help me pick out some clothes.

After we left that store, Raven dragged me to three other stores, one being Victoria's Secret. 

"Keith, why don't you and Mark go take our bags to the car and then wait for us at the food court," Raven said as we walked into Victoria's Secret. 

"Really, Raven," He asked.

"Yes, we will meet you in the food court after we leave," She said, and he looked over at me.

"Okay, unless you want me to stay with you," He said, looking deep into my eyes.

"I think Raven is right," I said, blushing.

"Fine, I will be at the food court. Come on, Mark," He said, and they left the store.

Raven started laughing once they left. 

"He wanted to stay with you. I think he wanted you to try on some lingerie," She said, and my cheeks became even redder from the embarrassment.

"No need to be embarrassed. He is your mate and is supposed to act like that. If you wanted him to stay, that would have been fine too," she said

"I am definitely not ready for him to help me pick out my underwear," I said, and she started laughing.

We looked around, and I found some matching bras and panties. Raven also made me get some lingerie that she believed I needed. Once we were done, we made it to the food court.

Keith and Mark were sitting with a group of teens from school. I was nervous because I didn't really get along with any of them. Most of the time, Keith was talking bad about me to them.

When we walked over to the table, one of the girls looked at me with disgust.

"Why are you here, charity case?" The girl Lindsey said. Most that were at the table started laughing.

"Don't talk about her like that," I heard Keith say but was embarrassed and started to run away from them. I could hear Keith calling after me, but I just kept running.

I stopped when I got to bath and body works and decided to look around the store. I thought about what had just happened in the food court and how embarrassing it was. How would it be when I went back to school tomorrow? I didn't want to keep going through the embarrassment of being talked about by everyone that Keith knew.

"There you are; Keith is looking everywhere for you," Mark said. I could tell he was mind-linking someone, and I knew it was Keith. 

"Keith will be here soon," He said

I didn't say anything; I just kept looking around.

"I want to apologize for being mean to you in the past," Mark said 

"You said that before," I said

"Well, I mean it. I was an ass to you for no reason," He said

"It's fine," I said

"Give Keith a chance. He really does care for you and is changing. I can tell," He said, and I smiled at him.

"What are you two talking about?" Keith said as he walked into the store

"Nothing, I just apologized to your mate. I will leave you two," Mark said

I kept looking around while Keith followed me into the store.

"I am sorry, Ebony. If I knew that they would say anything rude to you, I would have told them to leave," He said

"Is this the way it's going to be," I asked him

"What?" He asked

"Every time we are around others, am I going to be the one everyone jokes about?" I asked

He looked at me speechless.

"Because I don't want to live like that, Keith. I want to be respected," I said

"I promise that is the last time anyone will say anything bad about you," He said, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Keith," I said and walked out of the store with him following after me.