More Than That by Andro
Chapter 1 by Andro
Author's Notes:
*disclaimer*

This story is fictional, meaning ages, discriptions, stories, hometowns, etc. are not neccesarily based on real facts or events and any wavering from actual facts are strictly for literary purposes. I know how old Kaci really is, I know the age gap that exists between her and AJ, but for this story I am choosing not to use those figures. Thank you, and enjoy!
Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Oh, I will love you more than that/I won't say the words then take them back/Don't give loneliness a chance/Baby listen to me when I say/ I will love you more than that

“How many times is she going to call me?” Roslyn exclaimed out loud as she heard the familiar ring of her cell phone for the fourth time in forty-five minutes and, feeling a little exasperated, assumed it was her cousin Kaci again with more questions about the wedding. She ran across the room to the coffee table where she had left phone after hanging up only five minutes ago with her cousin.

“You know Kaci, I know we’re family and all, but when I agreed six months ago to help you plan this thing and get stuff ready I didn’t know it would include a phone call every seven seconds,” Roslyn chided into the phone without so much as a hello beforehand.

“Um, Ros, it’s not Kaci, it’s Serena,” a quiet voice clarified on the other end of the phone.

“Oh, Serena, I’m so sorry,” started Roslyn, feeling slightly embarrassed but mostly rude. “Kaci has been calling me nonstop for the past hour or so and I was positive it was her again with another wedding question.” Roslyn heard laughter through the phone and was relieved that her friend was not upset at her awkward and inappropriate greeting. Serena knew how Kaci was, especially when she was in the middle of something huge, and she understood exactly what Ros was going through with her.

Kaci, Roslyn and Serena grew up together in a small town outside Memphis. Ros’s Dad and Kaci’s Mom were siblings, and coincidentally enough they each had baby girls within the same year. Being so close in age and being family really cemented Ros and Kaci’s bond to each other and it was always the two of them wherever they went. Then, when they started Kindergarten together at the elementary school down the street from their houses, they met Serena. From that day the trio had been inseparable, that is until Kaci’s music career took off and she moved to Los Angeles. Now, all of them at the age of 24, Kaci’s wedding was in the works, and both Roslyn and Serena had quite a load of responsibilities for the grand occasion.

“So what’s up girly?” Roslyn asked casually into the phone, happy to hear from her friend. It had been almost a two weeks since Ros had talked to her, not because she wanted it that way, but because that’s how things had to be now.

“Actually, I was wondering what you were doing tonight. I thought since Rob was out of town, and you’re all by yourself, without him around, maybe you’d want to catch a movie or veg out on the couch, watching re-runs and eating ice cream or something.” Roslyn caught the tone and implication in Serena’s voice when she mentioned Rob’s absenteeism; she sounded relieved, but then again that’s how Roslyn felt too.

Rob was Roslyn’s boyfriend of a year and a half. They started dating shortly after he moved to Memphis from New York City. After completing his MBA in business, he started his own consulting firm. Serena later found out why he decided to do it in Memphis instead of New York when he told her there are more hillbillies and rednecks that need direction and financial security in life than the city slickers do; she had found that quite amusing.

Ros was working the closing shift at The Blue Note, a bluesy nightclub on the south side of the Memphis and he came in with some buddies from work. He was 27 and had just started his consulting firm called “Freedom, Inc.”. She was 22 and in her final semester at the University, with a major in music production and a minor in music theory and performance. They hit it off immediately; he was so charismatic and charming; he seemed too good to be true. The relationship had started out so great—fun, spontaneous, full of good times and laughter. However, before she knew what was happening, it turned into quite the opposite, and just within that past three months or so. First it started off as only little arguments and yelling, and then came the insults, and it got progressively worse from there.

Without knowing exactly what went on behind the couple’s closed doors but being perceptive to the fact that something was going on, something they would prefer to not be a part of, her numerous friends became dwindling, as did Roslyn’s entire soul. What was happening with her and Rob, what the man that she loved and catered to was doing to her and more so what he was turning into was something she did not even understand, leaving her confused and broken.

Serena was one of the few friends Roslyn had left, and she wasn’t sure why Serena stuck it out with her. She knew that Serena suspected something, even though Roslyn had tried to hardest to cover up any indication that her and Rob were having problems, but if she did suspect something, she never asked about it. Serena was not going to abandon her friend of almost 20 years like the rest had, but she did not know how to help her, especially when her friend shut down more and more with each passing day. Serena had watched the light of love and life drain out of her best friend, and like Roslyn, she was left feeling confused and heartbroken.

Rob had left earlier that afternoon on a business trip for his consulting firm. He was headed to Knoxville to speak at a seminar, “Taking Control of Your Finances, and Your Life”. Rob was just the man to lead that seminar, seeing as how he was so great at controlling things, Roslyn being number one on his list. She had felt so comforted watching him walk out the door earlier that day and knowing that he wouldn’t be back until at least Thursday night, two days from now, left her with a feeling of security and safety, a feeling she had not had in quite some time.

“Yeah, that sounds great,” replied Ros, feeling very happy and excited. I’ll order the pizza now and it should be here by the time you get here.”

“I’ll pick up the ice cream and some wine on my way and I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

“Oh girl, you know how to give me a good night; pizza, ice cream, and wine.” Both ladies began cackling loudly, and Serena could not help the tear that formed in her eye before slipping out.

How long has it been since she’s laughed like that? she sadly reflected to herself as she ended the call with her friend. “I’m going to get her to talk to me tonight,” Serena vowed out loud as she walked out of her house and got into her car. “I know exactly what he is doing to her, but I need proof. And I need Ros to admit what is going on with them. She needs help.”

She formed her plan in her head as she drove to the corner market to pick up the essentials for any good adult sleepover. With the ice cream, two bottles of wine, a bag of tortilla chips, a jar of salsa, and one plan in mind, she pulled back into traffic and quickly made her way to Roslyn’s apartment.

Three hours, one bottle of wine, three quarters of a pizza, half a quart of ice cream and three re-runs of Law and Order: SVU later, the ladies were into quite the conversation about the wedding that was taking place in four days.

“I still cannot believe your cousin is marrying a Backstreet Boy,” raved Serena as she took the last gulp of her current glass of wine. “Tell me again why they are doing it here instead of LA? Does she know what kind of wedding she could have had out there? Oh my God!”

Roslyn laughed loudly at her friend’s expression and gestures. “Because the chances of having a nice, quiet wedding are greater here than they would be in LA,” she explained, fumbling on her words a little as the wine began saturating her brain. “I’m glad she’s doing it here though, because we get to be a part of it.”

“I’m still having doubts about doing all the food and the cake. I mean, celebrities and really important people are going to be at this thing! This will either make me or break me Ros!” Roslyn wrapped her arms around her friend supportively and gave her a quick wink.

“You have been doing this for hundreds of weddings, you’re a pro, and you went to one of the best schools in the country for this crap. Kaci would not have asked you to do it if she thought for one second it wouldn’t turn out right. Oh, and I forgot to tell you earlier, Kaci wants you to call her.”

“I just talked to her this morning!” cried Serena as she began opening the second bottle of wine. “What could she possibly need to tell me that she couldn’t this morning or can’t wait until she gets here tomorrow?” Ros sighed, completely understanding what Serena was saying.

 

“I don’t know. But just call her. When we get married and Kaci is helping us, we will be driving her crazy too, so let’s just be patient and get her through this.” Ros leaned back against the couch at the thought of getting married. She wanted to be married and have a family so badly, but she knew it wouldn’t happen with Rob; she couldn’t let it, but she didn’t know how to get away from him. As her mind began to wander into painful territory her phone rang, like an omen from the devil, and she knew it was Rob, her Rob, the Rob that she didn’t want to talk to.

Serena grabbed the phone off of the coffee table and looked at the screen. She gingerly held the phone out to Ros, but Ros wouldn’t take it. “Just let it go to voicemail,” Ros instructed quietly. “I don’t feel like talking to him. He’ll be pissed if I tell him what we are doing and I can’t lie to him, cause he’ll find out anyway.” When the phone stopped ringing she finally took the phone out of Serena’s hands, and after flipping it open and hitting the power button, she threw it back onto the coffee table where it had originally been.

Serena knew that this was her chance to talk about Rob, but Ros sensed the same thing and quickly changed the subject before Serena could even open her mouth.

“I want to show you what I got for Kaci; her wedding present,” exclaimed Ros with a high level of excitement. She wiped her eyes quickly, as if to keep the tears that were threatening to spill out at bay, and then she leaned down off the couch and pulled open a drawer in the coffee table. She was wearing pajama pants and a tank top, and as she leaned over her pants fell down slightly and her top crept up a little, revealing most of her lower back and her side.

“Oh my God,” hissed Serena, throwing her hand over her mouth, trying to quiet herself, hoping that Roslyn didn’t hear her. She stared at her friend’s bare skin, her eyes welling up with hot, stinging moisture, a range of emotions flying through her body. She didn’t know whether to yell, to cry, to run away, or to hunt that son of a bitch down and beat him the way he so obviously beats her best friend.

On Roslyn’s left side there was a deep purple bruise roughly the size of a grapefruit, or a really big fist, that couldn’t have been more than a day and a half old; it hadn’t even started to turn yellow. As Serena moved her eyes off the bruise and onto Roslyn’s back, she saw scratches and welt-like bruise, like one would get if they fell back against something with an edge on it. She stared blankly at her friend, trying to figure out what to say, and then she noticed the inside of Roslyn’s right arm as she stretched it out to grab the box out of the drawer. She had five little marks around her upper arm, obviously from someone grabbing her tightly.

Serena tried to conceal her shock and emotion as Roslyn sat back up on the couch with a small box in her hand and a huge smile on her face. “It’s so beautiful, she’s going to love it,” explained Roslyn as she opened the box. Serena didn’t even pay attention to what she was being shown; her mind was racing, trying to figure out what to say to Roslyn about the bruises.

“Have you been kickboxing recently?” Serena asked, deciding to take an ambiguous angle in an attempt to not upset her friend prematurely. Maybe they really are accidental bruises, I really don’t see how Rob could do that to her.

“Kickboxing? No, I haven’t been kickboxing recently…or ever for that matter. Why?” Roslyn was slightly amused by her friend’s question, assuming that the alcohol was affecting her too, since Serena typically got very random and spontaneous when she drank.

“Did you fall down some stairs? Run into something? Play a game of tackle football?” Her tone of voice was snappy and harsh, something Serena was not trying to do, but couldn’t seem to control her anger at what she had seen on her friend’s body.

“What are you talking about?” Serena responded, a little scared and agitated. She knew what happened when someone got angry with her, but she never thought her best friend would hurt her too. Serena reached for Roslyn quickly, trying to grasp her shirt and lift it up, but Roslyn thought she was going to hit her and instinctively put her arms in front of her face for protection. Serena gasped and the tears she had been trying to hold back exploded out of her eyes; and seeing her friend’s reaction solidified her suspicions.

She softly pulled Roslyn’s arms away from her face and pulled her into a hug, both of them crying together. “I would never hurt you Ros, you have to know that. I’m never going to hurt you like he does,” Serena repeated over and over as she held her sobbing friend in her arms, rocking her back and forth. Fifteen minutes later, Serena heard even, calm breathing coming from her friend, indicating that she had finally fallen asleep. Serena gently laid her back against the couch and covered her up with a blanket.

She got up from the couch carefully so she wouldn’t disturb Roslyn and quickly ran over to the kitchen table, digging through her purse for her cell phone. When she felt it in her hands she pulled it out hastily, knocking her purse and its entire contents onto the kitchen floor as she did so. She didn’t seem to care as she bolted into the bathroom and shut the door quietly behind her. She sat down on the toilet and pressed number three on her speed dial—Kaci’s number. It rang several times before anyone picked up, and during that time, Serena’s eyes had brewed a fresh pot of tears and she could not control them from falling or her voice from shaking and faltering.

“Hello?” a sexy male voice said as the phone was answered. Serena knew it was AJ, Kaci’s fiancé.

“Alex, it’s Serena, I have to talk to Kaci, put her on the phone now!” she cried, becoming quite hysterical at this point.

“Okay sweetie, hang on,” AJ replied, sensing something was terribly wrong by the way Serena sounded. Serena could hear him calling Kaci and she heard him whisper to her that something is wrong and he hopes it is not about the food for the wedding.

No AJ, this is not about the wedding, it so much more important than the wedding, this is a matter of life and death.

She heard Kaci’s sweet voice on the other end of the phone say, “Hey Serena, what’s up sweetie?” but all Kaci could hear back were sobs coming through the phone. “Serena? What’s wrong Serena? Serena, talk to me!” Kaci was now screaming into the phone, frantic with worry, and knowing in her gut that it had nothing to do with her precious wedding.

“Kaci, it’s Roslyn, she’s in trouble,” was all Kaci heard before the phone dropped from her hands and crashed onto the floor.

“We have to go now,” Kaci whispered to AJ as he stared at her in shock. She walked into her bedroom and began wheeling out her suitcases. At least she had packed yesterday so leaving in a hurry wasn’t as hard. AJ followed her with his eyes and then, realizing that she was serious, picked up the phone off the ground and said quickly into it, “We are on our way,” and within a minute the couple was out the door and speeding towards the private airstrip where their plane was waiting.



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