Chapter 10 Bishop #3
“Shit. As of right now, I guess me, him and Winnie are all just going to live together till I get engaged myself. There’s not really a reason to sell our house if he and Winnie are going to be chilling in separate rooms and living as roommates anyway.”
I didn’t bother telling them that I was also splitting my time between our house and Asante’s. I wasn’t sure what Knight had told them following his discussion with King and I wasn’t about to come out for real in the middle of Rook’s engagement party.
As if on cue, my older brother closed in on us. He grinned as he came up between his wives.
“Can I holler at you real quick?”
I looked from him to Casmi and Nova and back before I nodded.
“Sure.”
“Walk with me.” He nudged his head toward the staircase and I followed him up, adjusting my earpiece on the way.
He led me to the little balcony off the second floor and gestured for me to head in first. He pushed the door shut behind him and I walked over and collapsed on the little furniture out there, immediately digging in my pocket for a cigarette.
I had it lit before Knight collapsed beside me. I took a slow draft and blew the smoke out.
“What’s up?”
“King and I had a talk,” he stated simply.
“About?” I knew the answer before I asked but it was habit at this point to just not let people know what I knew immediately.
“Your engagement.”
“Alright? And?”
Knight exhaled and shifted in his seat.
“Look, I don’t care who you love or fuck. You’re my baby brother and I love you anyway.”
I swallowed and nodded. “Alright.”
“Bishop,” he said my name and I hit my cigarette before I looked at him.
“King said you may need to hear that shit and I want to make it so that you don’t need to hear it again.
You’re a Barron and that’s not dependent on fucking women and making heirs.
You good just as you are. Don’t doubt that shit.
Ever. Nigga, you think we didn’t know how you got down this whole time? ”
“It wasn’t well hidden, but,” I shrugged. “Everybody was acting like it was this big ass family secret so I just figured y’all were ashamed.”
The confession burned coming out and I cleared my throat uncomfortably but Knight remained where he was, unmoving and serious.
“I can’t speak for nobody but me and I didn’t bring shit up because you were all secretive and sneaking around dark corners and shit like you didn’t want it out there.
” He shrugged. “I respected how you moved and figured if you wanted it out, you’d put it out.
It wasn’t because I was ashamed because ultimately I don’t give a fuck who you fuck, Bishop.
That ain’t got shit to do with me or King or our parents and it don’t change who you are or the brother you’ve been to me.
” He hit me on the back and exhaled. “When you and Rook were born King and I knew we’d protect and defend y’all until our dying breath.
We meant that shit, even if it’s against each other.
King is happy. I’m happy. You deserve to be happy and times aren’t what they used to be. Shit, look at my situation.”
He chuckled and squeezed my shoulder and I looked off and took a puff of my cigarette.
“Yeah, alright.”
“I want you to look me in my face, hear me and understand me, B.” Knight paused until I looked over at him. He locked eyes with me. “Rook ain’t the only Barron that got you. Me and King got you.” He waited a beat while it sank in.
I tried to force spit down my dry throat and nodded.
“I know.”
“You ain’t got to be so damn strong and aloof all the damn time, kid.”
I didn’t realize how deep that shit cut until he said it. I clenched my jaw and chose my next words carefully.
“As the head of our family's security, actually, I do.” I looked away from him, took another puff of my cigarette and blew the smoke away from us.
“Is that what this is?” Knight nudged me. “Huh? You think we expect you to be perfect because you head our security?”
“What happens if I’m not?”
“You fuck up and we deal with it.”
“If I fuck up, somebody in our family could be fucking dead, Knight.” I looked at him. “You and Casmi and Nova depend on me. King and Xavia and our parents all fucking depend on me keeping them safe. There’s no room for error when it comes to y’all’s lives.”
“No matter how good you are at your job, you’re not perfect. You’ll never be perfect. Nobody is and you can’t protect everybody all on your own. That’s why you have Hawk and Wes and us. You’re part of a team.”
“It’s easy to say that but anything that goes wrong falls on me.”
“You think me and Rook and King gon’ let some shit fall on you that we know is too heavy for you to catch on your own?
” He paused. “You’re not an employee, Bishop.
You’re family. Don’t ever forget that.” He gave me a small smile.
“You mean more to us than your job description and you need to know that.” He cleared his throat.
“I love you, kid.” He nudged me again and repeated himself.
“LGB, ABC, and all them other letters and shit aside, I love you.”
I nodded at that.
I wasn’t sure of a time Knight and I had ever had a conversation like this.
I mean, I knew he loved me like any brother did and that I could call on him if I needed some serious help but this shit wasn’t that.
This was reassurance and vulnerability we, as brothers, didn’t exhibit often and that paired with the fact I was realizing how much weight I put on my job to the family had me tearing up a little bit.
I knew I was my own person with my own thoughts.
I was the man Asante had fallen in love with…
but I also knew I threw myself into my job hard for my family’s approval, trying to make sure I was such a big part of the business they wouldn’t be able to justify getting rid of me if I shamed them and sullied our name.
When I was with my family, my job was the central part of my personality. It was the wall I hid behind, always stoic and logical.
I had anger that matched Rook’s but I never acted on it, never wanted to add on to the long list of sins I felt I committed against our father’s legacy.
A whole new appreciation for Asante washed over me as I realized that I was most myself when I was with him, vulnerable and unabashed.
I dropped my cig and stepped on it. “Thank you… for this conversation,” I clarified. “I love you too.” I sniffed and Knight hit me on the back again.
“You good?”
“I’m good.” I nodded. “And uh, I think you’re going to love Asante.”
“I know I will.” Knight smirked. “Come on. Let’s get out there.” He nudged his head toward the door. I nodded. We climbed to our feet. I sniffed again and Knight grinned. “Man, come here.”
He yanked me into a hug and hit me on the back. I wrapped my arms around him and that shit was all it took. The tears just started flowing and my brother held me against him while I fell apart.
There were so many emotions running through me, but the largest was relief. The weight of all the pressure I’d always felt to be perfect was being lifted off my chest. Even through my tears I felt like I could breathe easier.
Knight wrapped his arms around me and didn’t utter a word. He just stood there and consoled me while I cried and when I finished I felt like we were closer than ever.
He waited while I took a few shaky breaths and tried to get my shit together.
“You good?” He checked again.
“Yeah.”
“You sure?”
“I’m good,” I assured him.
“Then, let’s get out there.”
Knight put a hand to my shoulder and led me to the door so we could rejoin the party.
I’d just made it out the door when I saw Hawk running up the stairs two at a time. He headed straight toward me and leaned into me as soon as he was close enough. He lowered his voice.
“Camera three just went down.”
“Of course it did.” I scoffed but went back into work mode. “Come on.”
I spun around to lead Hawk back into the house, unbuttoning my suit jacket as I went. We walked quickly down to the security room and I got to work immediately troubleshooting the camera in our family kitchen, a process that only took about ten minutes.
When I finished, I checked each camera making sure I had eyes on each of my siblings and in-laws.
I tapped on my ear pieces and listened to it buzz to life.
I watched the cameras while Wes and Hawk did room checks, listening to each order they gave as they moved around our guests, quickly and efficiently.
I picked out our guards that were blended in with guests and made sure they were all in their designated rooms. Then, I hopped up and pushed my way out of the room and back upstairs to mingle.
I seemed to be right on time because as soon as I neared the foyer I could hear women’s voices getting louder and louder.
Most of the guests seemed to be looking in the same direction so I headed straight that way.
I scanned the floor and it seemed like my entire family was heading the same place I was.
Before I could intervene, Rook reached his new wife and Sydney who looked like they were getting into it. He grabbed Sydney by the back of her neck and jerked her out of Winnie’s face hissing something in her ear and immediately started to pull her away.
I walked over to her anyway. Casmi, Nova, Knight, King and our parents were all surrounding Winnie now.
Our father shot me a look as soon as I was close enough.
“Give him five minutes then have his ass out here for a toast,” he hissed.
I nodded.
“Good to see you again, Winnie,” I offered her quickly and slid between her, Casmi and Nova to follow after Rook.
I saw him turn into our small guest bathroom and slam the door shut behind him and I grabbed my cell phone from my pocket and set a timer. I waited for three minutes to pass before I knocked on the door.
“Occupied!” Rook hissed.
“You need to be out here soon for this toast,” I reminded.
He didn’t respond and I looked at my timer briefly before he pushed out of the room. He didn’t speak. He just walked past me.
I spun around and fell into stride beside him.
“You good?” I asked.
“I’m straight.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
I knew that he was lying but I also knew that I wasn’t going to push.
I was going to let him get through this night however he needed to get through the night.
I stood with the family while Rook made a toast to his marriage and thought about how in a year that would be me, standing in the very place he was, the only Barron of our generation to choose a spouse for himself.
We made it through the toast and the family slowly started to split up. I saw King grab Rook and pull him to the side and I stood off and waited for them to finish up, speaking to a guest but aware of the direction the two of them would be returning from.
A few minutes went by. Then, King came out alone.
“I hope you enjoy the party, alright?” I smiled at the dude in front of me and hit him on the back as I walked around him, heading toward where I knew Rook was, probably annoyed and fucking reeling.
I knew for a fact King had torn him a new one about the shit with Sydney.
The way we looked in public was important and King wasn’t going to let Rook fuck that up, whether he was in love or not, which was why I’d known I would have to either find a woman who was fine with me being with Asante or leave the family completely to be with him.
I was glad I wouldn’t have to do either of those now though.
I started to quickly climb the stairs and was shocked when King gripped me by my arm when we were passing each other. I froze immediately.
“What’s up?”
“We’re not going to get a file on Asante,” he said. “Even if we pull up all of his and his family’s information we wouldn’t get all the answers we get from going through the binders. His desires, needs, priorities and values won’t just be laid out for us.”
“I know.”
“Then, you know that we need to get to know these things about him.”
I tried to get a read on King but it was damn near impossible. I tilted my head slightly to the side while I tried to guess where he was going with this.
“You want me to give him one of the questionnaires?”
“Nah. I want you to have him around us more. You can start with Rook and Winnie’s brunch the day after tomorrow.”
I blinked at him. I swallowed and cleared my throat and nodded. I knew immediately it wasn’t really a suggestion. It was a demand, one that made sense but still shocked me.
“I’ll invite him.”
“Good.” King hit me on the back and continued down the stairs.
I watched him go.
When I looked back toward the balcony, Rook was already back inside and being cornered by a series of guests.
I made a note to check in on him as soon as I saw him alone but my entire brain focused on my left ear when I heard Hawk call out a drunk and disorderly code. I touched my earpiece.
“Where?”
“Kitchen.”
“I’ll handle it,” I offered. “Stay focused on bigger shit.”
“Got it.”
I tapped my earpiece while I pushed through the chaos of the guests.
It wasn’t hard to see what Hawk was talking about. There was a woman hunched over the kitchen sink gagging but not throwing up. I helped her pull her face out the sink and got her name so I could contact someone for her and load her up into a car.
I spent a lot of the night taking care of those little incidents, the ones that arose when rich people got together and drank too much.
My parents started to make their rounds thanking people for coming and politely kicking them out around two in the morning.
By two thirty, they cut the music and cleaners began plucking up the glasses that had been discarded.
At three, our father looked around the room and announced that although he’d had an amazing night it was time for the stragglers to leave.
We gave the last of the guests a few minutes to head out then Hawk and I started to do rounds to make sure the house was actually empty and there was no one hiding out on our grounds.
Afterwards, I held a meeting with my team to debrief and discuss anything they’d seen or heard that they thought was suspicious before calling it a night and heading home.
We had one night of celebrating Winnie and Rook left.
Then, King was apparently shifting his focus immediately to me and Asante.
I wasn’t going to argue against it. I wanted to spend my life with Asante and I knew that. If King wanted me to speed up my proposal a little, I was fine with that. Shit. I was just glad I’d be able to propose at all. I’d do it whenever and wherever he told me to.