Page 35 of Weddings on the West: Vol. I Brick & Destiny

Much,” I lied. I knew I would spend the rest of my night thinking about his lips. That didn’t help at all. We walked into the gorgeous restaurant, and I was immediately dazzled by the decor. I had never been anywhere quite so fancy. He gave our names to the hostess, and we were quickly whisked away and led to a private room.

“This is weird,” he said once we were comfortably seated, and the waitress left us to look over the menu.

“What?” I asked, looking around.

“The fact that you’re way the fuck over there.”

“You don’t… This is how people sit at dinner tables. So we can see each other, I guess.” I shrugged.

“Shit feels like a business meeting. I don’t like it.” Before I could get another word in, he was loudly scooting the chair over until he was beside me.

“Hey,” he said with a smile after successfully transferring his entire place setting to its new home.

“Hey,” I said back. “Better?”

He eyed me carefully before planting another sweet kiss to my lips.

“Much better… Perfect actually. Now what? We just get to kiss until the food comes?”

“No!” I laughed as I pushed him back by his chest. “We talk and get to know each other.”

“But we already know each other.” I laughed at how genuinely confused he was. “I know your favorite shows, about your family and upbringing. I know you be listening to that freaky ass music when you’re alone… What else is there?”

“Ask me literally anything,” I said.

“Okay…” He paused apprehensively until I gave him a reassuring nod. “That day you and your sister had that fight, I heard her say, ‘Don’t let them do this to you again.’ What did she mean by that?” My face fell because I didn’t know he heard that. He instantly noticed the shift in my mood.

“I’m sorry,” he spat out. “I’ll shut the fuck up and mind my business.”

“No, it’s okay,” I said softly, clearing my throat before continuing. “So, back in high school, I worked a lot. If I wasn’t at church, I was at work. I wanted to go to college, but because of how heavy my parents had me in the church, there wasn’t much room for extracurriculars. My grades were decent, but I didn’t have many scholarship opportunities. I knew I wanted to go to college out of state, maybe New Dawn University, so I saved. I babysat, did every odd job you could think of, worked and saved my entire high school career to make sure I had what I needed to cover at least the first year. When I graduated, I had exactly nineteen thousand two hundred and twenty-two dollars in my account.” I paused as the waitress brought our drinks—sweet tea for me and something dark brown for him.

“So, what happened?” he asked as he leaned in and swept a sweet kiss over my cheek, encouraging me to go on.

“Well, the summer after senior year, we were in a smaller church building, and the AC unit went out right in the middle of July…”

“And let me guess,” he continued for me. “They needed exactly nineteen thousand two hundred and twenty-two dollars to fix that shit?”

“He let me keep two hundred and twenty-one.” I shrugged. “I was sad about it, but I got over it. I was able to help the church, and I stayed home.”

“Peep, everything you tell me about that nigga makes me wanna shoot his old bitch ass.”

“Well, if you do that, then you don’t get to marry me, remember?” I said with a coy smile.

“Damn. You would leave me at the altar for something as small as shooting your pops? Petty as hell.” I laughed, and he pulled me in for a kiss. “Have you ever thought about going back to school?” he asked.

“Yes, I always wanted to get a degree in something in the tech field but I know how expensive it is. And I’m too old to be starting over now. I was good with numbers, so my dad put me in charge of the books at the church.” I frowned, imagining how screwed up the numbers were since my sudden departure.

“You’re not too old to do shit, Peep. Plenty of people start over way later than this… You gonna go back to the church?” I blinked, trying to focus on his question as his lips brushed across my cheek.

“Not in that capacity. Of course I want to go back to services. It’s been my church home my whole life. I just can’t see myself working there anymore after knowing what I know. I guess I should start looking for another job after we get done with this wedding stuff,” I said, already thinking of where I could put in applications.

“Another job? For what?” He looked offended. I couldn’t help but smile and rub my fingers over his face, immediately releasing some of the tension he held.

“Because I have to work,” I answered like it was obvious.

“Says who? Peep, I’m paying you. You don’t need the money… Or is what we agreed upon not enough?”

“No, it’s good!” I said quickly before he started trying to renegotiate the terms. “I just… have to. It’s what I’m supposed to be doing.” I really didn’t have an answer other than that.