Luther called me yesterday while Yale was in the bathroom to let me know that I needed to attend a meeting today. At first, I was going to decline and let him know I wasn’t at his fucking beck and call, but then I looked at the door and saw Yale’s bags. She was the reason I was doing this shit, to keep her safe. When I called them after taking Yale home to let them know about the meeting, they agreed that we’d all go.
“I’m a man of my word,” Luther laughed as he opened the door to his family home. Music could be heard as soon as the door opened, and the smell of food hit our noses. “This is just a little show of force type of thing. I want to show you what it’ll belike to deal with my family and what my family has to offer.” He stepped to the side and held the door open.
My brothers and I exchanged looks before Citrine stepped forward. As the oldest, I knew he thought it was his job to be the leader, and I respected his position in our family. After him, Pyrite went, and I couldn’t help but laugh at Luther’s expression. He may have thought he was letting in a few clueless niggas, but in truth, he was letting killers into his home. Citrine wasn’t a fan of other people’s body fluids touching him, but he had no problem knocking niggas jaws off, and Pyrite damn near salivated at the mouth at the thought of torturing a nigga. I was probably the worst. I loved the sight of blood, and touching someone’s organs always put a smile on my face. It was the reason I became a doctor, and it had nothing to do with helping people.
The house was bustling, with people walking around, servers moving through the crowd, and music playing in the background. I looked around, trying to see if I knew anyone, and came up short.
“Excuse me for a moment, I’ll be back,” Luther said, then walked away from us.
“That nigga smells like cheap cologne and old pussy,” Citrine said as we watched Luther disappear into the crowd.
“We ain’t gonna be here long,” I chuckled and leaned against the wall. “Whatever he has to say to these muthafuckas will be quick.”
“How do you know?” Pyrite asked. A server approached us with a plate of treats, and my brother’s face immediately twisted in disgust; he took a step back. Her nametag showed her name was Shelly, and she was a pretty girl. She wasn’t someone I usually went for, but the way she let her eyes freely take me in showed her interest. “I’m allergic, shorty, keep it moving.” Shellystepped back and nodded. “We're good over here, you can tell all your friends that shit too. Don’t bring us anything.”
“You speaking for all of us now?” I asked Pyrite, and he grunted. “Nigga, just because you’re allergic to citrus doesn’t mean we can’t have it.”
“One band, one sound, lil nigga,” he replied, shaking his head, making me and Citrine laugh harder.
“Can I have y’all’s attention!” We heard Luther call out. We turned our attention to the other side of the living room and saw him standing on the stairs that led to the second level of the house. He wore a big ass smile on his face. “My son has an announcement.” He pointed to Grant’s bitch ass, who was standing not too far from him. “Come on up here, Grant.”
Grant nodded, approached his father, and then took his spot on the steps. He looked around before his eyes locked on something or someone not too far from him. I pushed off the wall and moved through the crowd to see Yale. She wore a white sundress with matching sandals. Her hair was down, framing her face. Like always, she wore those million damn bracelets, and around her neck was the gold sunshine pendant. She looked pretty as fuck.
“Come here, Yale,” he said, putting his hand out. When she hesitated, he chuckled and approached her. “It’s okay.” He walked backward, pulling her back to her original spot. “Yale, we’ve been together for a while now, and I know that this is the next step in our relationship.” He let her hand go, dug into his pocket, and pulled out a box. When he opened the box, everything around me went red, and I tried to take a step forward but was stopped.
“Nah, nope,” Citrine said into my ear as he pulled me back. “This ain’t the time or fucking place to do this shit.”
I kept my eyes locked on Yale. She was staring at the ring, and I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. She deserved to be happy,and she loved that nigga, but seeing him stand there proposing to her had me rethinking all that shit. She couldn’t marry that nigga when she was supposed to be my wife!
“I ain’t gonna show out,” I said to Citrine as I pulled my arm away from him. “I just gotta see her.” I moved around a few people and stood damn near in the front of the crowd, not giving a fuck whose view I was blocking.
“Will you marry me?” Grant asked. Yale looked down at the ring, then up at him, her expression confused, before she smiled and nodded.
The room erupted in cheers, and I stepped back before she could see me. My eyes went to Luther, who was watching me. He lifted his glass in acknowledgment to me, then turned his attention to his son and Yale and approached them. He pulled them into hugs, then his other kids followed behind him.
I turned and left the house, my brothers following me. We got into Citrine’s car; I was in the back, and Pyrite was in the passenger seat.
“Am-”
“Not right now, Citrine,” I cut him off. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to him or anyone else, for that matter.
“You don’t want to hear it, but I’ma say the shit anyway,” Pyrite said, and I grunted. “That nigga just hit you with a power move. You work for him; he sets the tone and the rules. But that was because you moved without thinking, and I get why. You were trying to protect Yale. She’s all you care about, and that nigga knows it. You seeing his son propose was him flexing his power over you. You can’t fuck up because if you do, ain’t no doubt in my mind he’ll kill her.”
“I know,” I said, nodding. “Which means I’m about to make that nigga hate me because I’m going to support the fuck out of their marriage.”
“How?” Citrine looked at me through the rearview mirror and lifted his brow. “Because, nigga, you’re not about to be able to control yourself like that.”
“I don’t have a choice,” I said, shaking my head. “Like you said, I showed my hand, and Luther knows it.” I smiled. “But it’s a good thing Pop taught us to play chess and not checkers, huh?”
My phone rang, and I looked down to see a text message from Yale asking me to call her. I swiped out of the thread and called her on FaceTime.
“What’s good?” I said when she answered.
“Give me a second,” she said, and I nodded. Her background shifted from inside Luther’s house to outside. “I didn’t think you would call that fast.”
“You said to call you,” I laughed, shrugging. “Now you’re complaining that I listen?”
“Never,” she sighed and shook her head. She plastered a smile on her face and blinked back tears. “I want you to hear this from me before anyone else.”
