A whole new appreciation for Asante washed over me as I realized that I was most myself when I was with him, vulnerable and unabashed.
I dropped my cig and stepped on it. “Thank you… for this conversation,” I clarified. “I love you too.” I sniffed and Knight hit me on the back again.
“You good?”
“I’m good.” I nodded. “And uh, I think you’re going to love Asante.”
“I know I will.” Knight smirked. “Come on. Let’s get out there.” He nudged his head toward the door. I nodded. We climbed to our feet. I sniffed again and Knight grinned. “Man, come here.”
He yanked me into a hug and hit me on the back. I wrapped my arms around him and that shit was all it took. The tears just started flowing and my brother held me against him while I fell apart.
There were so many emotions running through me, but the largest was relief. The weight of all the pressure I’d always felt to be perfect was being lifted off my chest. Even through my tears I felt like I could breathe easier.
Knight wrapped his arms around me and didn’t utter a word. He just stood there and consoled me while I cried and when I finished I felt like we were closer than ever.
He waited while I took a few shaky breaths and tried to get my shit together.
“You good?” He checked again.
“Yeah.”
“You sure?”
“I’m good,” I assured him.
“Then, let’s get out there.”
Knight put a hand to my shoulder and led me to the door so we could rejoin the party.
I’d just made it out the door when I saw Hawk running up the stairs two at a time. He headed straight toward me and leaned into me as soon as he was close enough. He lowered his voice.
“Camera three just went down.”
“Of course it did.” I scoffed but went back into work mode. “Come on.”
I spun around to lead Hawk back into the house, unbuttoning my suit jacket as I went. We walked quickly down to the security room and I got to work immediately troubleshooting the camera in our family kitchen, a process that only took about ten minutes.
When I finished, I checked each camera making sure I had eyes on each of my siblings and in-laws. I tapped on my ear pieces and listened to it buzz to life. I watched the cameras while Wes and Hawk did room checks, listening to each order they gave as they moved around our guests, quickly and efficiently.
I picked out our guards that were blended in with guests and made sure they were all in their designated rooms. Then, I hopped up and pushed my way out of the room and back upstairs to mingle.
I seemed to be right on time because as soon as I neared the foyer I could hear women’s voices getting louder and louder. Most of the guests seemed to be looking in the same direction so I headed straight that way. I scanned the floor and it seemed like my entire family was heading the same place I was.
Before I could intervene, Rook reached his new wife and Sydney who looked like they were getting into it. He grabbed Sydney by the back of her neck and jerked her out of Winnie’s face hissing something in her ear and immediately started to pull her away.
I walked over to her anyway. Casmi, Nova, Knight, King and our parents were all surrounding Winnie now.
Our father shot me a look as soon as I was close enough.
“Give him five minutes then have his ass out here for a toast,” he hissed.
I nodded.
“Good to see you again, Winnie,” I offered her quickly and slid between her, Casmi and Nova to follow after Rook.
I saw him turn into our small guest bathroom and slam the door shut behind him and I grabbed my cell phone from my pocket and set a timer. I waited for three minutes to pass before I knocked on the door.
“Occupied!” Rook hissed.
