Page 78 of D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding

“Wow, Kev? That’s how you do your boy? Just put me out midsentence? That’s rude as fuck.”

“Trust me; it’s a lot nicer than what I do to my actual brother. Now kindly get the fuck out so I can continue to do my job. Don’t you have a fiancée out there waiting for you?” He gave me a pointed look and all I could do was laugh. He was such a fucking smartass.

“You’re right. My baby prolly watchin’ the door right now.”

Surprisingly, he didn’t respond as he stood to his feet and led me outside of the room, back into the main area of the club where the dance floor was steadily filling with patrons. I had no idea that the club went up on a Wednesday like this. I was impressed. I glanced around the room but honestly, I doubted that D’Vaughn was looking for me. She hadn’t said anything, but I just knew that she was pissed about the encounter with Mara. There was no way she couldn’t be. I never would have invited a woman I used to fuck with to my bachelor party, and had no idea how they’d even heard about it, which meant that the network likely had something to do with it. Every time I thought things were going well, they threw a wrench in the machine to try and fuck things up. Clearly, they didn’t want to come off of that $200,000 D’Vaughn and I were pretty much guaranteed to win at this point, at least not without a fight.

Stepping onto the dance floor, Kevin and I parted ways as he likely headed to wherever Joe was holed up so that he could continue watching the party through the cameras that dotted the room. As soon as I reached the spot where I’d left D’Vaughn, I heard familiar drumbeats followed by shouts of excitement around the room. I didn’t even have to look around to know that there was a surge of people rushing onto the dance floor to do the Wobble. With a smile on my face, I swept my gaze over the room, searching for the one woman who I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about since I first laid eyes on her almost six weeks ago. My heart crashed against my chest when I found her.

She stood at the bar with her back to the room, her asymmetrical dress showing off a lovely expanse of the smooth, brown skin of her legs. Her head was tossed back as she laughed, and she held a drink in her hand, all of which would have been fine if Tanisha hadn’t been standing too close to her, speaking directly into her ear. My jaw was already clenched before I started to make my way over there. As far as I knew, D’Vaughn had seen neither head nor tail of the other woman since that day at the bridal shop, but seeing her now brought all those possessive feelings, that may or not have been dipped in green, rushing to the surface. I was halfway to them when Rhea grabbed my arm and pulled me off of the dance floor and to the side of the room.

“Cálmate, bro.”

Blinking, I frowned at her. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you breathing fire with rage in your eyes. You look like you’re about to go tear some shit up, and since it’s nothing but ladies up in here, that ain’t a good look.”

Heeding her wisdom, I took a minute to relax my jaw and roll my shoulders back to release the tension in them. Glancing back at the bar, I felt my blood pressure spike again as Tanisha touched D’Vaughn’s hair.

“This chick is taunting me. Look at her!”

Rhea followed my glare, but she didn’t react the way I expected. She cringed and shrugged, tilting her head to the side as she observed the scene. When she turned back to face me, her expression wasn’t the least bit comforting.

“I see two women having a conversation. ¿Cuál es el problema?”

“The problem is that one of those women wants to fuck the one that belongs to me!”

“Right.” She smirked. “And does the one who you claim—” she made air quotes “—belongs to you know this?”

Licking my lips, I had to look away and get myself together. If I blew up, Rhea would go off, and the last thing I wanted was to be standing at my bachelor party, getting fussed at.

“You gon’ answer me, or stand there huffin’ and puffin’ ready to blow down an innocent man’s house?”

Rolling my eyes, I turned to her. “Man, D’Vaughn knows what it is. We’re together.”

Rhea nodded. “Right. Everyone in here knows that you’re engaged, which is why the exchange over at the bar isn’t that big of a deal. It’s pretty tame. The chick isn’t even touching D’Vaughn.”

“But she wants to!” I insisted.

“Why does that matter?”

“Because she wants what’s mine!”

Rhea canted her head and observed me. “Entonces. ¿Ella puede tomarlo? Tell me. Because, if she can, then maybe D’Vaughn isn’t yours. And if she can’t, then you need to calm the fuck down and figure out why you’re so hype to begin with.”

Rhea had unknowingly spoken my secret fear, and my chest heaved as I tried to get myself under control. Despite our declarations of love, and all of the time we were spending together, and the way my day brightened as soon as D’Vaughn’s face popped into my mind, it still felt like a possibility that Tanisha could move in and take her from me. Not because I didn’t think that D’Vaughn really loved me, but because it didn’t seem like she fully believed that I truly loved her. And I didn’t know how to change that.

After taking several deep breaths, I felt my heart rate slow down and I looked at my sister. She assessed me for a moment and then grinned, squeezing my shoulder.

“Good job. Now, politely go and get your woman. Don’t start no shit.”

Chuckling, I shook my head and did as she’d instructed. I offered an amenable “Hello,” To Tanisha, who smirked at me, and grabbed D’Vaughn’s hand to lead her back onto the dance floor. Burying my face in her neck, I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed her close, wishing I could impart all of my feelings inside of her so that she wouldn’t have to question them ever again.

“I don’t like her hanging around you,” I mumbled against her skin. “She doesn’t even try to hide her attraction to you and has no regard for our relationship at all.”

D’Vaughn’s laugh made me look up. I found her peering up at me, her eyes low as she grinned. “You don’t even need to worry about Tanisha. I don’t want her and she knows that.”

Blinking a few times, I jerked my head back. “She does?”