Page 21 of Weddings on the West: Vol. I Brick & Destiny

“If you in here shittin’, say something! I’m comin’ in and I don’t wanna smell—” My teasing immediately ceased when I saw Destiny leaning against the counter with a tearstained face. I rushed over, anger flooding my body to the point that I thought of doing some irrational shit.

“What the fuck happened?”

“Nothing,” she said, sniffling. “I’m okay.”

“No, you ain’t! Why you in here cryin’ and shit?” I asked, reaching for my waistband. “If somebody in here fucked with you, just say the word.”

“Brick, I’m good! I swear!” she assured me as she grabbed my hand, moving it away from my gun. “I was in there, and I guess I just got a little… overwhelmed with everything.”

“How so? You think we need another planner? I can get with the lady.”

“No. It’s fine. I just… We’re getting married. I thought that my wedding would be special. That I would be marrying the love of my life, and everything would be perfect. I’m sorry. I know you probably think this is so stupid.” Her voice trailed off as more tears came down her face. I immediately felt my body tense with anger at her bitch ass pops for putting her in this situation and my schemin’ ass mother for facilitating it. She deserved all of that and ended up stuck with me.

“Fuck…” I sighed. “Well shit. I can’t promise you the love shit, but we can still make the day special. Get whatever you want. We gon’ get lit and enjoy the fuck out of this party.”

“I don’t drink.” She laughed through her tears.

“You drinkin’ that day,” I corrected. “We gon’ have to get you some of the blood of Jesus or somethin’ ‘cuz we getting fucked up, Peep.” I grabbed a tissue from the counter and helped her dry her face.

“Thank you,” she sniffled.

“It ain’t shit,” I assured her.

“No, really. Thank you for all of this. I know this wasn’t your choice either. Thank you for being so understanding and cool about everything.”

“Don’t thank me. You cool as fuck too. If I had to get trapped with someone, I’m glad it was someone that I can halfway stand because these broads out here be trippin’.” She gave me a small smile as I continued to dab her face dry.

Something about the moment made me want to kiss her. At least a forehead or a cheek, something, fuck. I shook that soft shit off because the last time I kissed a woman and wasn’t beatin’ her shit out the frame, I was still a lil’ nigga. We took a moment and walked out together to find a frowning Hannah, standing there looking like a true Karen with her stupid ass clipboard.

“Everything okay?” she asked with her lips twisted into a frown. I could tell she had some shit shot in them, but they were still thinner than my patience after a full twenty-four hours with Kilo.

“Everything is fine, Hannah,” I answered quickly.

“Just making sure there was no funny business going on,” she quipped, making me look at her like she was on that shit. How the fuck was I gon’ manage a quickie with shorty under all of them layers and petticoats?

“If I wanna take my fiancée in there and pipe her down all over your fancy bathroom, I feel like we paid more than enough money to accommodate that,” I snapped. “We disinfected afterwards.”

Both Hannah and Destiny looked at me like I had just pulled my dick out then and there… and not in a good way. I grabbed Destiny by the elbow and gently led her towards the exit before we lost our deposit for me cussing Hannah the fuck out.

“Why would you say that to her? We weren’t even doing anything!” Destiny whispered as we walked out the front door.

“Because, fuck her. I hate being told what to do.”

“Yeah.” She chuckled. “I kind of figured that. I can’t lie. I’m glad you said something. She’s been throwing little jabs all afternoon—making it seem like someone like you could never be with someone like me. I mean, technically it’s true, but she doesn’t know that!”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t wanna be the woman in there arguing with the employees at such a fancy place. What if they put us out?”

“Then we take our money elsewhere. Listen, don’t ever let nobody play in your face like that. As long as we in this thing, I got your back.” I looked at her seriously. She did the same until she broke eye contact, her cheeks turning red and a smile breaking onto her face. I had never seen a Black Woman blush like this girl did, and every time I had to stop myself from smiling.

“Thank you,” she said softly as I helped her in the truck.

“You have plans after this?” I asked, sliding into my seat and starting up the car.

“No. Did you have something in mind?”

“I mean, maybe we can grab some food or something—get to know each other better. You know, so we can really sell this thing. How we gon’ pretend to be married and don’t know shit about each other?”