With a titter, I responded. “You’re being a little extra. Between my grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins, it’s only like forty-two. The other people are family friends, entertainers, or the catering staff. Everyone is cool as fuck. When we do parties and celebrations, we do them. Today is a celebration.”
The corners of her lips peaked upward. Her hand squeezed mine a little tighter. “Aw, what are you guys celebrating?”
I leaned over to kiss her neck. “We’re celebrating us and our new relationship.” I heard her say wait, but I still pulled the back door open. “Family!”
Ma Prue was the first to acknowledge us. “My baby is here! Come here, boy!”
I loved her so much. She’d been a profound piece in my puzzle of life that I never knew I needed until she came along. The same was true for my father, my whole family, and now Gorjess.
I hugged her and kissed her cheek. “Hey, Ma. Let me introduce you to my baby, Gorjess. Gorjess, this is my mother, Prudence or Prue. She is our family dentist.”
“Oh, wow! That is amazing. It’s so nice to meet you,” Gorjess greeted with her hand extended.
My mama smacked away her hand. “Girl, come here. Give me a hug.” She hugged my baby tight as hell.
Jess and I had conversations about her mother, and I decided that I didn’t like the lady and had no desire to meet her. Based on what she told me, I concluded that her mother was jealous of the relationship that her husband had with his daughters. She seemed like a hateful woman. That was one of the main reasons that I was adamant about her meeting my family. My family was pure love.
“What do you do, Gorjess? I love your name because it absolutely fits you,” my mother complimented.
My baby smiled. “I ownGorjess Pups. It’s a mobile dog grooming business. That’s how I met Solomon. I groomed Jessop’s baby.”
The corner of my mother’s top lip turned up with her smile. She looped her arm under Jess’s. “That is so impressive. Come on so I can introduce you to my husband and the men first.” When I told Ma that I could do it, she gave me thatshut the hell uplook.
I followed my ma and woman like I was the guest. We entered one of the tents where I assumed all of the men were. “Men, let me introduce you to my future daughter-in-law, Gorjess. She’s the reason that my son here adopted three puppies. She owns a mobile dog grooming business.”
My dad smirked before he stood. “That’s my boy. Gorjess, it’s so nice to finally meet you.” Unlike my mother, my father gave his hand not a hug. It was a simple respect thing.
The rest of my uncles stood to do the same. Many of them told her that they would be in touch to use her grooming services for their dogs. That put a big smile on her face.
“I can’t promise that I am going to remember everyone’s name immediately. There’s a lot of you, and I haven’t met the ladies yet.” She giggled.
They let her know that was to be expected. For the rest of the evening, Gorjess was introduced to everyone. About an hour after we got there, Jessop and Elica arrived. When my girl and Elica were together, they were really in the zone. When I saw Gorjess, Elica, Michelle, Cadence, and Tsia together in a seated circle, I knew that the world was in trouble.
“So, are you bringing her to your fight in Arizona in a couple weeks, Son? I definitely think you should,” my dad suggested.
My Uncle Manu agreed. “Yeah. Now that the champion has a woman that he’s serious about, you need to put it out there as soon as you can. I never thought I would ask this question to another grown ass man, but have y’all made y’all social media debut?”
I laughed because he was the last person that I expected to ask that shit. “Um, nah. Neither of us really do social media. I mean, she has a business social media like I have a promo one. We both have personal ones, but we barely post.”
“Well, you better have one of the girls take a candid picture of y’all booed up. Have them post it on their page and tag your promo page. The blogs will pick the shit up,” my Uncle Naz suggested. “Do it before the fight, Nephew.”
I completely agreed with what they said. My attention went across the yard to my woman. I could feel her spirit all the way over here. It was so bright. She wasn’t close to her sister because of the age gap and her rebellious behavior, but she craved a sisterhood. She loved Elica, but I knew she wanted more.
Gorjess would be the first woman that I publicly claimed. She wouldn’t be my first girlfriend, but the first that I felt worthy to be in that kind of spotlight. I wanted the world to know her, and before the end of the night, they would.
The First Fight . . .
The introduction of my and Gorjess’s relationship to the world was met with mixed reactions. When we were at our celebration, my uncles did a ritual dance to celebrate us. My cousin did one better than a picture and took a video of theperformance and us. She posted it on her page and tagged both my pages as well as Gorjess’s personal page. It went viral within an hour.
We received your usual congratulations and well wishes. We also received the expected hate from bitches who wished they could be in her place or men who simply hated women overall. Luckily, I didn’t argue with dummies in the comments, and neither did my baby. The blogs picked up the story, which boosted my baby’s business and her best friend’s.
A major sports magazine had reached out to Cade for a cover exclusive about our relationship. Gorjess said that she would do it if it would help me. I told Cade that the only way that we would do it was if on top of the booking fee, they did a section about her business in the spread as well and a donation to our local animal shelter. They jumped at the opportunity. Our interview and photo shoot were slated for next week after my fight tonight.
“Thor, stop being mean to your sister!” Jess fussed from across the room at our baby.Yeah, they are our babies now.“Cookie, get him.”
It was funny. When Cookie met the puppies, it was like she took on this maternal figure. They actually listened to her too. Jess said that was common when female dogs were fixed and never had the opportunity to experience motherhood. I watched Cookie walk over to Thor and quietly growl at him. My boy gave a little whimper, then backed up off his sister.
“You are so fucking beautiful,” I told her as she primped herself in the mirror. I had been ready for almost twenty minutes.
