“You know what he want?”
“Probably to talk about this Asante shit. He’s the only one that hasn’t gotten you alone, right?”
“Yeah.” I scratched the back of my neck. “Do you know if it’s good or not?”
I regretted the statement immediately, how it made me sound like a kid still scared of their parent and desperate for their acceptance.
Knight shrugged.
“It doesn’t matter,” King said plainly. “I run shit around here so whether he gives you a blessing or not don’t matter. My word is law around this bitch and I’ve spoken. If you propse and Asante says yes, there’s going to be a wedding and if he don’t like it he ain’t got to fucking show up and I’m standing on that behind you.” He met my gaze. “You hear me?”
I nodded. “Can you send him in?”
“Yeah. I’ll let him know you’re ready.” King hopped up. “If you need any help with this security shit, let us know though, alright? We may not be as good as you but practice makes perfect right?”
“Yeah. If you want to shadow some shit, we can arrange that.”
“Good because nigga you not gon’ be wearing no motha’fuckin earpiece during your wedding or any of them parties.”
“I guess not, huh?” I grinned. “Y’all will be professionals by then anyway.”
“Fucking right.” Knight agreed and climbed up too.
He and King both stretched and I dapped them both up before they headed out. I checked my phone while I waited for my pops. I checked in on Asante who let me know Kate had called out and he was behind the bar for the night. I knew that meant he wouldn’t be able to talk much and mentally committed to heading out to the club so I could pick up some of the slack.
Light knocking sounded at the door and I verified it was my pops before I unlocked the door. I stood up to greet him and he gave me a quick hug and hit me on the back before he took a seat.
I sat down and we sat in silence for a moment with him looking around the room and me just staring at him.
“King said you wanted to talk to me about something,” I urged the conversation forward.
“Yeah. King and I have spoken about your potential upcoming marriage but I want to get the facts from the source. King is head of this household but I’m still your father.”
“You are.” I nodded once.
“That man, the one you bought to brunch and think you love. You-”
“I know I love him,” I corrected.
My father looked at me. “And you plan on marrying him?”
“Yeah.”
“And then what?”
“And then life goes on,” I said simply. “I’m going to keep doing what I do for the family but just married.”
He nodded at that and exhaled.
“Bishop-”
“I want you to think carefully about the next words to come out of your mouth about my future husband.”
“This critique isn’t about Asante, son. It’s about you.”
I adjusted in my seat.
“What about me?”
