“Wait, she’s the gir?—”
I hung up before she could finish. I was done answering questions for the night and knew for a fact she’d be cursing my ass out in the morning. I also had no intention of answering questions about a woman I still knew very little about.
The callfor the challenge would be last minute. From what I heard, they’d given ol’ boy two months and that shit was slowly but surely winding down. As a matter of fact, it had been a full month and a half and his camp had been dead silent. That was unlike them, given all they did was talk shit and barely win fights. I paid attention, because in order to master any man you had to know how he reacted under pressure or when he was backed into a corner. That nigga Knockout was corny and a bitch. The whole time he was in the ring, he ran to tire out the other fighter and desperately looked for that one shot. He had one hell of a jab, but that was all he had.
“Yo, you with me or you have cold feet?” Reminisce’s voice made me blink out of my thoughts and focus on him standing in front of the mirror buttoning his shirt.
“What am I gonna have cold feet for? You’re already a married man. This right here is to appease your wife’s mama and Jade.”
He laughed. “I can always leave it to you to keep it honest, huh?”
I grinned. “Yup.” It was funny how having the awkward “who is your daddy conversation” with Reminisce had made uscloser. I’d never felt unclose, but the formation of this bond was different.
The music came on in the distance, and he looked up at the ceiling as G entered the room.
“’Bout that time and I ain’t tryna hear Jade talking shit,” he muttered, now holding the door.
I looked at Rem who was now putting the last piece of his tux on. He exited the room a second later and so did I. Rennix was already standing near the entrance, holding his bad ass toddler and talking shit.
Before I could say anything to him, Jade gave us niggas the evil eye.
“What are we standing around for? It’s just like we practiced.” She then looped her arm into mine and we stepped behind Rennix and Caya.
I never thought this would be where we ended up. Never thought I’d be standing here watching my brother marry the woman who’d slowed him all the way down. Considering the motion Reminisce was on, that was a good thing.
With my arm looped in Jade’s, we walked down the aisle slowly, then parted at the front. I stepped behind Rennix and turned to watch G walk down with Beyah. After them were a few others, then finally the flower girls. Karim’s niece walked down the aisle holding the small flower basket with Romance on the other side also holding one. They tossed flowers on both sides, giggling until they reached Rim’s mama who ushered them both into seats next to her before they reached us. Once they were finished, the lights brightened and the music lowered on cue as the bride was next. I knew that much from the extensive rehearsals Jade made us all go through. Sis wasn’t going for the half ass, she wanted everything done right… her and Reminisce.
With her face shielded by the sheer material, Karim’s arm was looped into her brother’s as they slowly moved up thedecorated aisle. Jade had done her thing with this wedding, with Reminisce’s picky ass. For somebody who went to the courthouse, his stupid ass complained about everything every stop of the way. He kept saying he wanted to give his wife the wedding she deserved while Karim was cool as fuck and laid back, only doing this for her moms. Rem was the bridezilla and we all knew it.
When Karim and Aroyal finally reached the front, Aroyal lifted his sister’s veil and kissed her forehead before whispering something into her ear. She giggled, then her eyes went to Reminisce who stepped down to accept her hand. Aroyal leaned over and said something in his ear as well, also earning a chuckle, before he took a seat next to his wife and children. I just knew he said some menacing shit.
Reminisce held Karim's hand as they stood in front of an older woman dressed in an off-white suit with a wide smile.
It was wild how the love emitted off of them, the way all of us witnessed a moment that only happened in movies. Love was love, and even though I wasn’t looking for it, everybody craved the type in this room right now.
“Does anyone object to the union of these two beautiful souls?” the officiant asked, her voice pulling me out of my thoughts right before laughter ensued across the room. Because of course Reminisce had let go of Karim’s hand and was currently holding his hand up, shaped like a pistol and pointing to it with his other, looking around the room.
He was a fool and he knew it.
The wedding went on after nobody was stupid enough to even attempt to disrupt anything. Within five minutes, everyone was on their feet and the officiant was announcing the union of Mr. and Mrs. Blac, as if they weren’t already married. This moment was beautiful though, even though I had every intention of talking shit about all the promises he sat his assup there and professed. He had been up there making all the promises in the world for at least thirty-five seconds.
“Gatdamn Rem, you gonna suffocate her in front of the whole family? There's a whole ass priest and kids in here,” Rennix called out.
Everybody was laughing, just as Reminisce lifted his middle finger in Rennix’s direction.
“Daddy, Rim said I can’t stick up my middle finger. But you stuck up yours.” Romance’s small voice flowed through the space loud enough to pause the remnants of laughter before it more than doubled.
Almost like he was caught red handed, he snatched his hand down and immediately looked at my niece standing at the first step with her small hand on her hip and a mug that more than matched his.
Reminisce shook his head. “You're right. My bad, baby. I shouldn’t have done that.” He stepped down and grabbed Ro, holding her up. He then approached Karim and said something.
“Rim, that means Daddy is in trouble, right?”
Karim laughed. “Yeah baby, he’s in big trouble. We’ll deal with it when we get home, okay?”
“Okay. Daddy, you’re in big trouble. I don’t think you’re getting any ice cream tonight.” She shook her head like she was about to scold him. That shit was extremely hilarious.
After the wedding was the reception in a massive ballroom a few feet away from where they had married. This was a nice, big ass hotel. I had already gotten a room for when this was over. I’d find myself a lil plus one and take the party up to my room for the evening, then cut out early the next morning.
