“And you seem to like her,” I added.
“Yeah. He just likes to complain.” King shrugged. “Y’all just realizing Rook just likes the sound of his own voice?”
“Fuck all three of y’all. How that sound?”
“Like you can’t handle the truth,” King said simply. “But you could do worse than Winnie.”
“A whole lot worse,” Knight co-signed. “And shit, two years is a long time. You may actually end up liking her.”
“For what?” Rook scoffed. “Two years may seem like a long time but it ain’t that fucking long and I’ll be damned if I change up my whole life and catch feelings for a bitch that’s already got a departure date locked in for my life and our relationship. Winnie is cool people. I’ll give y’all that, but she’s temporary. This is a business transaction.”
“Most marriages are,” King said. “Until, you know, they’re not.”
“Either way, I’ve made it down the aisle already. The focus should be on Bishop. Ain’t that why we all here?”
I chuckled quietly. Knight faced me.
“If you love Asante and he loves you, keep the ring on you and propose when it feels right. If you don’t want to do a grand gesture, don’t. This ain’t just about the family this time. You get a say in when and how you propose. It doesn’t have to be a big spectacle just because people will expect it. Fuck them people. Do what works for y’all for your engagement, just like you’ll have to do what works for y’all throughout marriage.”
“Yeah, alright.” I sighed.
“And have you met our mom? You could propose to Asante right now and she’d have your engagement party set up in four hours flat and that’s if she don’t put us to work hanging up streamers and picking flowers up and shit.”
“Okay. Now, that’s true.” Rook chuckled.
I gave a small smile. “Yeah, alright. Y’all are right. Fuck it. I’m just going to ask him. I don’t need to book out a whole building or something.”
“You got a ring?” King asked.
“Yeah. Me and Rook actually went off and got it earlier.” I dug into my pocket and plucked out a small velvet box. I flipped it open and set it on the table between us.
Knight and King both looked it over and nodded.
I lifted my hand to order a round of beers and plucked my ring up to look over it.
It was beautiful and it was perfect for Asante. I was still staring at it when our beers came to the table. I put it back in my pocket.
We all had one beer, then another before Knight said he needed to step out and make a call home to his wives. Then, King got up to go to the bathroom and as soon as he left, I turned toward Rook so we could sneak in some talk about what he and Winnie had going on.
Afterwards, we hung out for about an hour longer then headed out.
I called Asante to pick me up so I didn’t have to drive and he was halfway to us when I stopped staring at his potential engagement ring long enough to notice.
I was down fucking bad for this man.
13
ASANTE
After spending most of the night on the phone with Nadira moving around content and reaching out to well known people I was shocked when Bishop called me and asked me to pick him up from a random hole in the wall bar I’d never been too but I locked up my office and went to get him.
When I picked him up he was obviously a little inebriated. All of his brothers were standing outside of the bar with him and I waved at them as Bishop hopped in the car. I rolled the window down.
“Y’all good to get home?” I asked.
“Yeah. Xavia is going to get me and Knight,” King announced.
“Rook?”
