“I know.” I leaned in and kissed his mouth slowly.
“Then, let's do it. Let's do this shit till death.” Bishop said and I was sure my brain short circuited as he yanked open the bedside table and pulled out a small box.
I was sure I was immediately in shock while I looked from the ring in front of me to Bishop.
“Bishop, what the fuck are you doing?” I asked.
“Asking you to marry me.” He grinned. “I uh, I want to spend my life with you and whether you say yes or no, I’ve got you, Asante. I’ve got you with my family and this life and allthat regular stuff that regular couples go through, sickness and health and finances and work and people that don’t understand us. It’s you and me, whether you say yes or no but I’m not going to lie, I really fucking hope you say yes. So uh,” He cleared his throat. “Will you marry me?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah?” He repeated after me.
“Yeah!”
We hugged each other and our hands immediately went to each other’s face as we quickly began to peck each other, both of us grinning like fucking idiots.
“Bishop, what the fuck?” I gave a little chuckle against his mouth. “What the fuck?” I repeated, a huge smile on my face. “Does your family- Does King..?”
“Yeah.” Bishop nodded quickly. “They approve. They’re good. Everything is good.”
“Fuck.”
“I love you.” I spoke against his mouth..
“I love you.” He repeated. “I love you and I can’t wait to do this shit with you.”
“Till death?”
“Hell yeah.” I kissed him again and Bishop smiled against my mouth as I did it.
I couldn’t believe this shit.
I was getting fucking married to a man I’d spent the last year or so knowing I would never get a chance with. Shit.
I was getting married.
14
BISHOP
Asante and I spent the first month of our engagement in secrecy not because we didn’t want to tell the entire world but because I knew without a doubt that the moment my family found out wedding planning would be pushed into the forefront of our entire lives. As the first Barron to get to plan a traditional wedding I already knew my mother would have a checklist of things she’d like included and I appreciated that but wasn’t in the right space to deal with all of it mentally just yet which Asante knew and understood.
I’d also been given my family’s blessing to propose. He hadn’t been given the same courtesy.
Before I started planning parties and shit, I needed to have a sit down with my in-laws. Asante had shared space and meals with my entire family. Outside of Nadira I didn’t even know what his parents looked like.
Bishop had arranged for us all to get together for lunch at a nice restaurant halfway between where we lived and they lived. I was pretty nervous about it honestly but I wasn’t going to let that show. Bishop was nervous enough for the both of us and ifI could handle the shit I dealt with when it came to my family, I could handle this easily.
That was one of the best things about our relationship. When I needed to fall apart Asante kept me going. I could do that for him too.
“You good?” I reached over and ran my thumb along the back of his neck.
He looked at me briefly then back at the road. He nodded.
“Yeah. I feel good.”
“You lying?”
