Chapter 11 Asante #2
The bar was still bubbling under. This whole party thing for Rook was helpful, sure, but unless he was getting ready to get married twice a month for the rest of our lives, it wouldn’t be enough.
I exhaled and looked at the numbers again, my cigarette resting in my mouth. I took a long draft and rubbed my temples. Even with the changes I’d made it wouldn’t be enough.
My phone vibrated and I glanced at it then back at the computer.
It was Bishop. I knew that he was wondering where I was. I knew that we had brunch with his family in a few hours.
Brunch with his family.
Something about that was off putting. I’d been dealing with Bishop for a year and wasn’t sure I’d ever had a real conversation with King or Knight. The fact that they wanted me to attend a family event had alarm bells going off in my head.
I wasn’t sure what to expect but I knew without a doubt that if I was going to be at a Barron event I needed to be prepared for anything.
The only member of Bishop’s family I’d spent significant time with was Rook.
If King and Knight were anything like him shit could go left real quick.
I didn’t want to be at war with Bishop’s family.
I knew that no matter what he said, he loved them and he wanted their approval.
I’d never try to intentionally get between him and them.
However, I also wasn’t a bitch. I liked to keep shit cool, calm and collected, but if King and Knight tried to hoe me, they’d have to put me down. I was already one bad night from crashing out on them anyway the more I thought about how time was slipping away from me.
I’d do what Bishop needed, throw a smile on my face and endure but every time I thought about his upcoming wedding I felt less inclined to be welcoming to his fucking family.
He’d told me that they knew about us and had taken it well, but shit had a way of changing quickly and from the way Bishop and Rook spoke about their older siblings, it was obvious they put tradition and how their family was viewed before a lot of shit.
There was a chance that reality had set in after their conversation with Bishop. There was a chance they’d give him an ultimatum.
I cursed and dropped my cigarette in the ashtray when the ashes fell into my lap. I hadn’t even noticed I’d just been sitting at my desk lost in thought. I put the cigarette out and sighed deeply.
There was a good chance that in the next year I’d lose both the club and Bishop if I didn’t do something. Quick.
I did my best not to focus on that though. I grabbed up all my papers, locked them in my top drawer and headed out for the night.
There was only so much I could do right now.
I exhaled as I buttoned the top button of my shirt. I turned one way then the other then yanked the tie I was wearing off and threw it on the bed behind me.
“Stealing a tie,” I announced and trailed into Bishop’s closet.
It was about the size of my entire bedroom and broken down into sections that were then broken down into smaller color coded sections.
It was overkill and a testament to how anal he was about shit being where he thought it belonged, something he’d had to start unlearning when we’d started cohabiting.
The far side of the room held his ties and shoes, each of them taking up half the wall. I stood in front of it, my head tilted back as I let my eyes drift over ever row slowly until a tie caught my eyes.
I stood up on my toes slightly to grab one down and exhaled as I stared at it.
“You look fine,” Bishop reached around me and grabbed the tie from my hand. “Nobody is going to be looking at your fucking tie anyway though, Asante.” He snickered as he walked around me.
“Yeah well if they’re not calling me in to judge me, why are they calling me in?”
“To get to know you.” Bishop threw the tie up and around my neck so he could start to tie it. “They know how I feel about you and they know you’re important to me so they want to integrate you into our lives.”
“And they know that we’re hoping for you to get a wife that’s cool with me staying around?”
“Yeah.” Bishop finished up the tie, took half a step back and ran his hand down the length of it. He looked up at me and smiled. “They know.”
“Explicitly?”
“Yeah, baby. I told them explicitly that I’m in love with you and you’re not going anywhere. You’re a big part of my life and they get that now.”
“Alright.” I exhaled. “Cool.”
I reached for Bishop and he grinned as my hands went to his hips. I pulled him into me. I let my eyes trail up and down his body, from his handsome face to his muscular arms and chest down to the towel he had wrapped around his waist.
“Everything is going to be cool,” he promised. “If for some reason it’s not, we’ll just leave.”
“Nah. It’s going to be cool,” I repeated to him.
He smiled even wider and I leaned into him.
“It will,” he reassured me.
I didn’t respond. I just kissed him softly one, two, three times.
“Alright.” I dragged my hands off of him even though I wanted nothing more than to grab the towel he had around himself and yank it free. “Get dressed if we’re going to get out of here on time.”
“You’re worried about me when you should be worried about Rook.”
“He still asleep?” I asked incredulously.
“It wouldn't surprise me.”
“Fuck. You want me to get him up?”
“You can try.”
“Alright. I’m on it.” I leaned down and kissed Bishop again. “You get dressed. I’ll get twin up.”
“Thank you, baby.”
“Yep.”
I rubbed my hand down Bishop’s tie as I cast one last look in the mirror before heading out of the room and to the kitchen. I immediately put on a pot of coffee and stood patiently while the machine went. When it finished, I poured two mugs, making sure one had cream and sugar and one was black.
I took the black coffee in my hand and headed straight for Rook’s room.
His wife was sitting beside him on the bed, fully dressed and leaning into his ear saying his name softly.
“Rook, get the fuck up!” I yelled as I walked over to him. I hit his foot, knocking it off the edge of his bed. “Get up!” I watched Rook groan, rub at his eyes then yawn. “If you can’t handle your liquor, stop drinking.” I offered him the mug in my hand.
“Man, I’m good.”
“Then prove it. Get yo’ lil lit ass the fuck up.”
Rook snickered but pushed himself up slowly. He took the coffee mug from me and took a slow sip. He grimaced.
“Black? For real?”
“Better to sober you up,” I explained.
“I’m sober.”
“Well you look fucked up so you’re welcome.”
Rook lifted his lip in disgust but didn’t complain again. He leaned his head back and gulped down the coffee quickly. Then he groaned, stretched, hopped up and offered me the mug back.
“I’m up and I’m going to get dressed. I’ll be ready in time. I promise.”
“Good.” I took the mug from him and filed out of the room.
“He up?” Bishop questioned.
“Yeah. He’s up. There’s coffee already made for you on the counter too.”
“You realize you were up later than either of us, right?”
“I also didn’t get drunk.”
“Neither did I.”
“Y’all fought in my shit and Rook threatened to start a fucking fight ring.”
“I don’t speak for him,” Bishop chuckled. “But, I didn’t get drunk,” he reiterated. “And uh, I’m sorry about the fight.”
“That’s Rook.” I shrugged. “It is what it is.”
“What’s Rook?” Winnie walked into the kitchen with a small smile on her face.
“Impulsive and known for beating people up in my establishment.”
“Right. That checks out.” She scoffed and shook her head.
I looked her over. I knew that Winnie was married to Rook. I also knew their marriage hadn’t happened the way their family usually did it. I didn’t know how long she would be around and I didn’t know exactly what Rook and Bishop had told her about our relationship, if anything at all.
When Rook came out into the kitchen, he gave me a once over and grinned.
“You coming to brunch?”
I gazed at Bishop then back at Rook and shrugged.
“Yeah. Bishop said your folks want me there so…”
“Nah, nigga. Meeting the parents right now is crazy.” Rook chuckled.
“They asked for me, not the other way around.”
“Sounds about right.” Rook grabbed my keys. “Well, let’s go before Bishop’s parents be on some bullshit.”
Bishop’s parents. That clarification didn’t breeze past me but I didn’t dig into it.
We all filed out. I drove me and Bishop. Winnie and Rook rode together separately. I followed them out there and was shocked when I saw the size of Bishop’s family home.
It was even bigger than I’d thought it would be even after hearing about how the parties around there got down.
I let Bishop lead and took everything in while we walked through the foyer and toward the back door.
I paused and blinked at the set up in shock. It was beautiful and pretty damn extravagant for a brunch.
There was a long table set up in the center of the yard with a white tablecloth.
Three different arrangements of flowers lined it and twelve chairs surrounded it, five on each side and a chair at the head of the table on each side.
King and who I assumed was their father had each taken up a head seat.
Xavia was sitting at King’s left hand side while their mother was sitting at their father’s right hand side.
Casmi, Knight, and Nova were seated between them with Casmi beside their mom and Nova beside Xavia.
They’d left the entire other side of the table empty.
Everyone stood up as we closed in on them. Bishop and Rook immediately began to dap up the men and hug the women. I followed their lead, reintroducing myself as I shook hands with everyone.
“Good to see you again, man.” Knight shook my hand then hit me on the shoulder.
“Brandon Barron,” their father introduced himself. “This is my wife, Melanie.”
“Nice to meet you.” I shook each of their hands.
“Likewise.”
“What’s up, King?” I reached over to shake his hand. He shook it and nudged his head to the vacant seats beside him discretely.
Bishop headed toward them. I followed his lead.
Melanie, Brandon, Knight and Rook immediately started joking around while the women talked among each other and food began being set on the table.
“So, Asante, where are you from?” King asked.
“A little here and a little there. My grandparents are still in Kenya. I’m ex military so I traveled a lot and didn’t really have a home base to speak of until recently.”
“So you plan on staying in Miller’s Pointe for the foreseeable future?”
“Yeah. I’m locked in.”
“Do you want kids?” Xavia asked.
I cleared my throat and looked over at Bishop who met my gaze but didn’t throw me a lifeline.
“One or two would be cool,” I admitted.
King nodded at that.
“You religious?”
“Nah.”
“Why’d you join the military?”
“There weren’t that many options as a second generation immigrant. It paid well and insurance was nice. It got me free college and the chance to travel. It was cool.”
“Why’d you get out?”
“A failed marriage and wanting to figure shit out in a life where I could make my own choices.”
“A failed marriage?”
“Infedility,” I said in explanation.
I was sure King could find out whatever he wanted to find out about me whether I lied about it or not. There was no reason for me to lie. What would I gain from that?
“Who cheated?”
“My wife.”
“Your wife,” he repeated. “You in the closet?”
“Nah. Not even a little bit.”
“How does your family feel about your sexuality?”
“They aren’t the biggest fans but I’m a grown ass man and I don’t make moves based on their feelings. I make them based on mine.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I met King’s gaze. “I love my family and I appreciate everything they’ve ever done for me.
I’d take a bullet and give one on their behalf if it came down to it, but ultimately what I do with my romantic life is for me to decide and if they don’t support me doing what’s best for me, I can love and respect them from a distance.
” I shifted slightly in my seat. “What does your family mean to you?”
King grinned. “Everything.”
“Good to know.”
“Ain’t it?” He leaned back in his seat. “You ever kill somebody?”
“Alledgedly.”
King’s smile spread even further and he nodded.
“Any vices?”
“I smoke cigarettes and drink socially but I own a club so I don’t make the whole drinking thing a habit. That’s it. I don’t gamble or anything like that.”
“What do you like doing for fun?”
“Hunting, shooting and cooking.”
“Can we chill on the third degree?” Xavia turned toward her husband and set a hand on King’s knee.
“Asante isn’t tripping,” King looked from her to me. “Right?”
“Yeah. We’re just talking,” I assured her.
Xavia looked between the two of us and leaned into King. She whispered something in his ear and he turned toward her and whispered back before looking back at me.
“Bishop told you that you make him feel like he can let his guard down. I like that.”
A smile crossed my face without me being able to stop it and I glanced at Bishop briefly before looking back at King.
“I like that too.”
King chuckled and shook his head. Then, he turned in time to grab one of the plates that were being passed down to us.
Bishop put hand on my shoulder and squeezed.
I turned into him. He leaned in and kissed the side of my head.
I took that to mean I’d done well. Public affection with his family actively aware was one hell of step up.
I turned and kissed his knuckles. Bishop winked at me and I grinned before turning forward again.