Chapter 2
JUDAH ST. CHARLES
“Are you ready for this?” I asked my younger brother.
“If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have asked her to marry me.”
“That’s wassup,” Simeon, the second oldest of my brothers, remarked. I was number four in a line of eight boys.
“Until your ass realizes all the pussy you’re giving up,” Benjamin, the baby boy, stated.
“Just throwing free pussy out the window like it doesn’t mean shit.” Joseph, the second youngest, chimed in.
“All I’ll say is that whatever he doesn’t want, he can throw my way,” Zebulun, the sixth brother, remarked.
“Aye, watch your mouths. We’re in the Lord’s house.” I scolded my brothers.
“Just keep the stroke game even, man, and she won’t have a reason to wander astray,” Reuben, the oldest, declared. He glanced in my direction, and I narrowed my eyes at him.
There was no need for me to say a word, but with my eyes, I simply responded, “Fuck you.”
“I can’t wait to walk down the aisle with her youngest sister. I’ll be poking that before the night’s over,” Benjamin declared.
“Just keep you a honey or two on the side,” Joseph interjected.
“Niggas, get out of here. Y’all ain’t making this easy for him at all,” I thundered.
Everyone headed out of the dressing room except for me.
“Hey, you good?” I asked Issachar once the door closed on our last brother.
We were all close in different ways, but I was closer to Issachar than I was the others, maybe because I had been tasked with being his caretaker when we were younger. There was a twelve-year age gap between us, and our parents made sure that I watched over him when they were away.
He had come to rely on me for advice in several areas: fashion, career, friendships, and women.
I was the first one who taught him about sexual protection and the one he came to when he was about to lose his virginity at fifteen.
So, it was a no-brainer that he had chosen me to be his best man at his wedding today.
Although he came to me for wisdom, he hadn’t always listened to me.
If he had, he wouldn’t be marrying Princess today, but another woman.
It was all good, though, because I had long suspected that my brother didn’t know what to do with his ex.
He was lost when it came to that woman, no matter how much advice I gave him.
Our family had known her for a long time, and she was a great girl.
“I know that I told the brothers that I was ready, but I don’t know, Judah. I’m having doubts. What if I don’t meet her standards?”
“In the bedroom?”
“No. Despite Pastor and First Lady Simmons thinking their baby is a virgin, I can assure you that she’s not.
I knocked that out of the park right away, and the way she screams my name and claws at our sheets lets me know that I’m handling business.
Hell, I even got the scratch marks on my back to prove it. ”
“You know, Pastor and First Lady will have to get this room cleansed and prayed over when the St. Charles’ boys finish with it. This room has heard more talk about pussy in the last few minutes than a hooker on the strip.”
We laughed.
“Seriously though, Judah, I don’t worry about being a good provider for her, because I know that I make a nice living. But what about the other areas? What if I’m not a good leader or a good father? What if I make mistakes along the way?”
“What if? You’re expected to. It’s bound to happen, so get ready for it, and don’t be too harsh on yourself. You’re getting ready for the rest of your life, and while it’s a major step, it’s one that you were created for.”
“I mean, I don’t want to fail at this.”
“You mean like Daddy and me?”
Our father had cheated on our mother, Lori, so many times that I didn’t think he had enough hands to count how many.
She had finally divorced him when our youngest brother was two, and remarried a cat named Martin, but she had only remarried ten years ago.
No sooner than she left my dad, he married his main side chick, Ryian, and together they had our two youngest brothers, Joseph and Benjamin.
There were rumors that we had four other brothers by two other women he had been creeping with.
I knew the cats, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher, but I wasn’t sure how true the rumor was.
They were younger than me, but older than Issachar.
Knowing my father, though, I wasn’t too quick to disregard it either. His ass was as fertile as they came.
“Not like Daddy. I know that I will never treat her the way our father treated women. Thank God he finally settled down. Too bad it took Mama leaving him for his ass to get it together.”
“Yeah, there’s that,” I replied, scratching my beard.
“Man, I thought you and Jessica were it. Thought you two would last forever.”
I shifted my stance, not really wanting to talk about that.
It was bad enough that attending my younger brother’s wedding was reminding me of all I had lost. I didn’t care to take a trip down memory lane to remember how painful that stint in my life had been.
It was a constant reminder that I wasn’t good enough, and that I wasn’t enough man for her.
But today wasn’t about me; it was about him. If I needed to pull back that scab to reveal the wound and protect him from making the same mistakes I had, then I would do it.
“Yeah, I’m not hardly worried about that. Princess being a loose woman is the least of your problems.”
He laughed. “What do you mean, big bro?”
I tapped his pockets while I laughed. “She’s gon’ hit them pockets up, li’l bro.”
He patted his pockets, still laughing. “Man, who you telling? She’s already hit me up big time for this wedding. That girl does not go easy on the pockets when it comes to shopping. She’s a ninja, an assassin when it comes to the wallet.”
“And this is just the beginning.”
“Seriously, you don’t think I made a mistake?”
I thought that he fucked up not taking care of the first good woman he had, but it was too late for that. She had gone on with her life, and he was about to walk down the aisle and make another woman his wife.
“Nah, you’re doing what’s best for your life plan.”
“I just worry that it might turn out the way that you and Jessica did. You’re giving your best, and it still doesn’t work out.”
“Unless you’re marrying an undercover ho, you have nothing to worry about.”
We laughed again, and someone knocked at the door.
“It’s time, gentlemen,” the young lady stated. She was one of the wedding planner’s assistants. That was the other thing that confused me.
“I’ve got one question, Issachar.”
“What’s that?”
“Why the hell did you hire your ex to plan your wedding?”
He dragged his hand over the top of his head as we walked toward the door. “Man, that was not my idea. That was Princess’s doing.”
“That right there was your first mistake and lesson.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re gonna have to learn how to place boundaries, be firm, and let her know when it’s just not happening and stop blaming shit on your woman.”
“Man, I tried, but she wasn’t hearing it.”
“Just like you’re not hearing me now.”
The tap on the door happened again, and we walked out.
“Yeah, I hear you. Aye, we’re gonna need to have somebody pray over that room,” he stated, jerking his thumb toward the church office as we headed for the sanctuary.
We stepped into the rear hall behind the sanctuary that was beautifully decorated in emerald-green, yellow, and white. My brothers were all lined up outside of the sanctuary, looking handsome and paired with an equally beautiful bridesmaid to accompany down the aisle.
I was paired with one of Princess’s sisters, Precious.
It seemed like a cruel twist of fate because all she knew how to do was yap and try to find ways to get me in her bed.
I wasn’t hardly interested in the girl, because she was looking for someone to take care of her, the same way Princess was.
But Princess had something to offer my brother.
As far as I could tell, Precious had nothing to offer any man except sex.
“All right, is everyone ready?”
The raspy voice drew my attention away from the woman I was paired with and to the side of me.
She swept in with a stream of steady, calming energy that wrapped around us and corralled us all together.
I had not seen her, because she hadn’t been there during the rehearsals.
Her two associates had directed the dress rehearsals, and this was my first time seeing her in years.
Gone were the braces and glasses that I recalled.
Alexandria Sheridan was a gorgeous woman.
Her beautiful chestnut-brown skin was makeup-free.
The sparkling, almond-shaped chestnut-brown eyes seemed to hold a secret that I wanted to discover, and I realized the braces had done their work when she shone a brilliant, white smile at me with rows of even teeth.
Plump, heart-shaped lips formed a teasing smile as she stared at me.
My gaze swept over her form wrapped delicately in a yellow dress that clung to her shape and highlighted her long legs, hips, breasts, and ass. I realized the little girl that had been one of my brother’s closest friends for decades had finally grown up.
“Judah. Are you ready?” she asked me in a soft voice as she stopped in front of me.
I frowned as I pulled my fingers through my carefully groomed beard. “Yeah.”
She reached up, grabbed my fingers, and stared into my eyes. Her first mistake.
“Uhm, sorry, but could you just not do that? The bride wants everyone looking impeccable.”
“Of course she does. That’s just how Princess is. Too bad she can’t get everything she wants,” I replied, still finger-combing my beard.
I knew that my comment rattled her, and she caught the insinuation of Princess getting my brother when he was involved with Alexandria. She toyed with the ends of her waist-length hair.
Her second mistake.
Alexandria’s eyes widened, and then she licked her lips.
Her final mistake. I would have her in my bed before the weekend was over.