“Thanks.” I hit him on the shoulder and slipped out of the room to rejoin my family.
The area we usually reserved for weddings looked nothing like it had when we’d welcomed Xavia and Novalie into our families and no one in our family seemed to share any of the excitement.
I stood beside Rook while he married Winnie, letting a chaste kiss to her cheek seal the deal for them.
Even though I’d been mentally preparing myself to get married, seeing Rook do it wearing the face that we shared made me feel sick to my fucking stomach.
My chest tightened and I felt like I was going to throw up so I focused on breathing, just breathing.
My body took care of everything else. I worked on autopilot, smiling and being as welcoming as I could to my new sister-in-law and her sister. I stood around and played my part as dutiful brother for as long as I needed to and when shit wrapped up, I told my family bye the way I usually did and resisted the urge to run to my car afterwards.
The drive home to Asante’s place was a quiet one. I didn’t call him to talk during my drive. I didn’t listen to music. Instead, I let my brain run rampant and my anxiety bubbled up inside of me.
I cut the lights on my car and pulled into my usual spot. I kept my eyes focused on the garage wall while everything replayed in my head, from the dreadful look on Rook’s face to the way he’d repeated his vows like he was doing that shit with a gun pointed at his head.
I felt like I’d seen the future… and I fucking hated it.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” I punched my steering wheel three times then let my head fall backward.
I closed my eyes and tried to even out my breathing, taking long deep breaths to gather myself before I headed into the house, using the key Asante had given me.
I sighed as I pushed my way inside and walked through the living room in the dark. I trailed to the dining room and yanked open the large glass display case where we kept our liquor. I grabbed the first bottle of brown I could make out in the dark then collapsed on the nearest couch.
“Check?” Asante called from the room.
“B,” I answered and flipped the top off the bottle in my hand.
We were both people who took security seriously. That meant we had call and responses locked in. Any response that wasn’t our initials when we got called out to was a clear sign that something was wrong.
I tossed the top onto the coffee table and leaned my head back to take a nice long drink.
The light above me came on full force and I let my eyes close but didn’t lift my head.
I heard Asante leave the room, dig in the freezer and come back shortly after. He collapsed on the couch beside me and I exhaled before I picked my head up and looked at him.
He had a towel thrown around his neck and was wearing nothing but basketball shorts, a glass with ice in it in his hand. He held it out to me.
“The wedding went that well, huh?”
I didn’t respond. I just took another long drink, gulping down as much liquor as I could muster, swallowing and doing it a second time. Asante reached over, grabbed the bottle by the neck and jerked it out my hand. He lifted an eyebrow as he regarded me.
“You’re starting to freak me out.” Asante sat forward and took his own drink from the bottle. Then, he exhaled and offered it back to me. “What do you need me to do, baby?”
I blinked and swallowed. I felt like that question alone was enough to send me spiraling but I did my best to keep my shit under wraps. I was at fault for this. I’d known that getting married wasn’t negotiable and I’d pulled Asante in anyway. He was the fucking victim. I didn’t get to sit here and cry about this shit when it was what I’d caused and had always known was going to happen.
I couldn’t lie though. It was different now that I’d seen Rook get married. That had made shit real for me.
“Rook’s married,” I blurted.
“What?” Asante’s eyebrows knitted together.
“He got into it with some dude and ended up killing him. It turned out to be the dude’s wedding and he agreed to marry the bride in his honor since she needed to be married by tonight and he’d fucked it up for her.”
“Fuck,” Asante shook his head. “Fuck,” he repeated.
He jerked the towel from around his neck and collapsed back against the couch. His head turned toward me and he stared at me for a few silent moments.
“What do you need me to do, Bishop?”
