7. Is She Mine?
Seven
Is She Mine?
brICK
Iwas pleasantly surprised that family dinner didn’t turn out to be a complete disaster. Now, if we could just get through the next few weeks until the wedding, shit would be cool. I couldn’t even lie, I was a little excited. At least it would be a good party.
Today, I was on the way to pick up Peep for cake tasting.
We had been arguing all week because she swore we were getting some basic ass white cake, and I’d be damned.
I pulled up to her complex and took the spot that I usually did right in front of the office.
Was I supposed to park there? Probably not, but who the fuck was gon’ tell me to move my shit?
I hopped out and made my way to her front door, knocking like the feds, since her stubborn ass refused to give me a key.
“Brick, stop banging on my door like that! You’re gonna have these people calling the police on me!” she fussed while swinging the door open to reveal yet another big ass skirt and t-shirt combo. At least she ditched the sweaters, and I could see her forearms for once.
“Let me get a key, then,” I teased, grinning at her like a fool. I couldn’t help the shit. Teasing her always put a smile on my face.
“No. I know that’s a word you’re not used to hearing, but no means no!” she shot back. We both knew that if I really wanted to get in, I’d be sitting at her kitchen counter every morning, sipping coffee by the time she woke up, but I let her have that.
“Then you better make sure you at this door in two seconds, or your neighbors gon’ be thinkin’ you got warrants!”
“You get on my nerves.” She glared at me as she let me in. My steps halted when I noticed that she had company.
“Hey, this is my little sister Eden. Eden, this is Brick, my… fiancé,” she said awkwardly.
“Nice to meet you,” I greeted her with a half wave since we were across the room with Destiny literally standing between us.
“Likewise,” she answered flatly.
I cocked my brow as I surveyed the two of them.
Her sister was more my speed. They looked damn near identical in the face, but unlike her sister, Eden knew how fine she was.
Her blonde locs were loose, draped down over her shoulders, and she had the perfect amount of makeup on—just enough to enhance her skin and make it glow, with thick gloss to accentuate her heart shaped lips.
Where Destiny stayed hidden, she was clearly the type to let it all hang out, with a simple strapless tank top that showed off damn near all her titties and a pair of skintight leggings.
I tried not to stare, then found myself wondering if Peep was hiding a body like that under them damn sweaters and button ups.
“Hello?” Des called, looking at me like she wanted to peel my skin off with a carving knife.
“Huh?” I asked, eyes darting back to my fiancée, who sat there looking like she always did, with that fucking loose ass denim skirt, shirt, and bun. I couldn't even hold back my groan.
“I said Eden is gonna help me with this wedding planning. Your mom gave me her card and told me to get whatever I needed,” she said with flared nostrils. I knew I was in trouble.
“I… um. Okay. I’ma grab a drink while you two finish up.
” I turned and rushed off to her small ass kitchen, opening her fridge and grabbing a bottle of water.
I stayed in there for a reasonable amount of time for her to cool off.
When I went back into the living room Eden was sitting there alone, looking at her phone.
She looked up at me, curious eyes peeking from behind her spiky lashes.
“You’re Brick West… as in The Wests, right?” she questioned, though we both knew she knew the answer to that. I didn’t know another nigga on the planet named Brick, and “The Wests” didn’t need an introduction anywhere in The Sleigh.
“Guilty,” I admitted with a low chuckle.
She nodded attentively before her eyes swept over me like she was sizing me up.
I saw my window and jumped through that bitch headfirst. The roster hadn’t been hitting the same and was long overdue for a switch up.
“So… What you got up after this?” I asked, biting my lip at her.
“You mean after I get done helping my sister plan your wedding?” She turned and looked at me with the most disgusted look on her face.
“I mean, yeah,” I said with a shrug. “You tryna link after this? Well, after the cake tasting and shit.”
“You foul as fuck!” she spat. “You really think I’m the type of bitch that would go behind my sister for some weak ass, community dick? Nigga, you got me so fucked up!”
I guess I read that wrong.
Her sister didn’t cuss, but it was obvious Eden had no problem cussing me the fuck out.
“Why you trippin’? It ain’t even like that! And this dick is anything but weak, Shorty. Just ask that ‘community’ you speak of!” I didn’t know why I was defending myself, but for some reason, I couldn’t help it.
“It ain’t like that? So, you weren’t just tryin’ to set up a coochie consultation with me like my sister isn’t running around with your ring on her finger and picking out centerpieces for your fuck ass wedding?”
“I mean, yeah, we're getting married, but this ain't no love thing. It's business.” I put my hands up in defense.
“What?” Her face frowned up even more. “Business?”
“Yeah, apparently your pops owes some money to my ma. My mama feels like I have to get married for some family legacy shit. The two of them set this shit up without us, and we decided to roll with it. She didn't tell you?”
“No the fuck she didn’t!” Eden barked, her brown face turning completely red just as Destiny walked back into the room and directly into the line of fire.
“Hey, I-… What’s wrong?” she asked innocently, not even realizing that my dumb ass had just blown up our spot. As close as she told me that she was with her sister, I naturally assumed that she told her the truth.
“What the fuck is this ‘business’ about your wedding?” she asked, pointing a finger between us and looking mad enough to lay hands on someone. “Because apparently your fraud ass fiancé thinks it would be okay for us to fuck because it’s ‘just business’. Des, what the fuck is going on?”
The look of betrayal that she sliced me with was ten times as lethal as the way her sister cussed me out. I wasn’t sure if she was upset because I tried to run up in her sister, because I snitched, or because I called our marriage fake. Either way, I knew I had fucked up.
“I… listen,” I hesitantly looked in Destiny’s angry eyes.
“I didn’t know that she didn’t know. You told me y’all told each other everything.
I’ma go back in the kitchen and give y’all a minute.
” I should have stayed my ass in the living room because I was in that kitchen damn near about to bust a blood vessel trying to hear what they were saying.
Their voices immediately elevated. I heard Eden screaming, almost pleading with her not to let them do “this” to her again.
I slipped and nearly fell over from my listening perch, because what the fuck did she mean, again?
She had another husband that she didn’t tell me about?
It sounded like Destiny was trying to convince her that it wasn’t like that, and everything was okay.
They went back and forth for a few more rounds before I heard stomping and a door slamming.
I gave it a second then reluctantly made my way back to the living room.
Eden was long gone, Destiny was wiping the last of her tears from her eyes, and now I was pissed because I knew I couldn’t shoot her sister for making her cry.
Niggas wasn’t gettin’ too many more passes because on my mama, the next muhfucka’ to make her spill tears was spilling blood.
We went through the entire cake tasting appointment with her barely saying a word to me, even when I begrudgingly agreed to the basic ass, but still surprisingly delicious white cake with white icing. Once again, I found myself apologizing halfway into a dead silent car ride.
“Peep,” I started. “I am sorry. I honestly didn’t know that you hadn’t told her.”
“You couldn’t even keep it in your pants for one day?” she questioned, crossing her arms and mugging the fuck out of me from the passenger seat.
“Listen, I guess we should have set some ground rules about this beforehand. We not fuckin’ each other, so I'm gon’ get it from somewhere. I’m just being honest.”
“My blood sister, though?” She gave me another lethal stare. I would rather she just call me a fuck nigga like her sister than to keep looking at me in disappointment. Was I really that much of a whore that I couldn’t control my dick around my future wife’s relatives?
“I'm sorry. That was a complete lapse in judgement. Won't happen again.” I threw my hands up in surrender. She just glared at me for a full minute before she spoke again.
“So, if you're gonna be out doing God knows what. It should be okay for me to do me too, right?”
“What?” I frowned, gripping the steering wheel tighter. The thought of her wanting someone else never even crossed my mind.
“Since you get to do whatever and whoever you want, I just want there to be a clear understanding that I’ll be moving how I see fit.”
“I mean… yeah. As long as you don’t go catching feelings for the nigga or something.” I shrugged, rubbing my hands across my beard and looking off.
“I don’t do casual hookups, Brick. It would have to mean something,” she said with her arms crossed.
“Yeah, yeah. Fine. Whatever,” I huffed, knowing that there wasn’t a fool in The Sleigh dumb enough to touch what was mine.
Is she mine? Well, fuck, she’s about to be my wife… She’s mine in that way.
I wasn’t worried. She could have her little fun now, but once she took my last name, all that shit was over. She just didn’t know it yet.
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