All the women were giddy as hell when she began her countdown. On three, she tossed the bouquet behind her with full force. Without even trying or moving an inch, it automatically landed in my hands. My mouth fell open in surprise because it was the last thing I expected. I was not the superstitious type, but if I had to get married again, I knew exactly who it would be to.
“Oh shit,” Lee teased as Angel squealed before running up to me. I searched for Dior, only to find him across the room being hyped up by Keem, Mo, and Laprada. He winked at me, and I knew what that meant. He wouldn’t mind.
The men flooded the floor next for the garter toss. My man stood right at the front, ready to catch a little something. All the men seemed to have the same idea, because when Roland tossed the garter, they all moved out of the way, leaving Dior as the only option. For the ones who didn’t know why, they kept them out of the way. That was the kind of respect he deserved from his crew.
My insides turned into mush when he motioned for me to come closer. He hooked my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “What do you say, mama? Can you see a future with me?”
I nodded twice. “I can see a million lifetimes with you.”
He shook his head with this expression of adoration that sedated me. “I fucking love you, Harlo.”
“I fucking love you more, Quadior.”
I knew without a shadow of a doubt that in Dior’s arms was exactly where I belonged. The love and protection he offered me would always be enough to carry me through my hardest days. I knew the love we had ran deep. Deeper than the scars from my marriage to Emir. For that, he would always have every part of me.
“You sure you want to do this?” I asked Lo again, and by the expression she gave me, I knew I was on her last nerves. I just wanted to be sure she was straight, that was all. I chuckled, then lifted my hands in surrender. “Aight, aight. I’ma let you rock out. Just be careful. I’ma be at the finish line when you bring home the dub.”
“Now that’s more like it.” She glanced at the other riders lining up. “It’s not even going to be close.” Her confidence was attractive as fuck. I damn near bricked up, listening to her.
Today, the La Muerte race was finally happening. Even though it was initially FBA’s idea, they’d exiled themselves when they hijacked the last race. Not to mention I’d personally walked down every member of leadership and put them to sleep. No onewanted to be associated with FBA after that. No matter what hood it was, them niggas from the South Side were always taking L’s. They needed to just hang it the fuck up.
I tensed when I saw Lauren slowly pull up on Lo’s left. She’d somehow slithered her way into association with the Westside Choppas over the last few months. Lo’s hand on my chest was the only reason I remained in place. I wanted to end that bitch, but my baby convinced me to let her slide. She only had to breathe wrong, and it was lights out for her ass, though. She only got one pass, and I was waiting for it to expire.
The only reason she was in this race was because Lo wanted to smoke her ass, and I knew she would. She assured me that if Lauren moved wrong, I had permission to finish what they started, so for now, I was keeping it cool. But better believe we would always keep an eye on her. She was not good in my book.
I got distracted by the sound of Keem walking up on us with a Bluetooth speaker. He was blasting Webbie, and I knew why. Webbie was Lo’s alter ego artist. With her sweet innocent face, you would never guess she knew what the word trill even meant.
The beat for “What’s Happenin’” started playing, and Lo bobbed her head before rapping along with Webbie. All her energy was directed at Lauren. I smirked, feeling proud as fuck to see my girl popping her shit. Her siblings and CCB surrounding her didn’t make it any better either. The energy among us grew into a raging, breathing beast. We dared anybody to say shit to us.
“Fuck you, fuck ya mama, fuck ya whole clique,” Lo said, then bounced on beat when it dropped. She tossed up both middle fingers, then followed up with the CCB sign. That really got the crowd going. When she turned to me, I knew I looked like a proud father. I jacked her up by her collar, snatching her to my chest.
“You too ganged out, mama,” I teased in a playful voice. This was a full circle moment that I wasn’t expecting. If you would’ve told me all those years ago that Harlo would be proudly repping CCB, I would’ve beat your ass for playing in my face, but nah . . . That shit was really happening.
She shrugged nonchalantly. “I do love a good hood jam from time to time.” She winked as they started rounding everyone up to get the race started.
I walked my baby over to her bike and lifted her onto the seat, just because I felt like it. She puckered her lips for a kiss, and since I never denied her anything, we temporarily got distracted. I smacked her on the ass, then put her helmet on and secured it in place.
“Gap them bitches, mama,” I told her.
She nodded, bobbing her head to the music still playing. I took a step back as she revved it up. There were seven racers in total today, but all money was on my baby. Over the last few months, she’d really started to get her feet wet in the racing scene. They knew my woman very well and knew she only helped keep CCB’s undefeated title. She had this shit in the bag.
I watched them shoot off like lightning. Everyone started rushing to their bikes, wanting to post up at various positions along the way. We already had CCB at every checkpoint, and all of us that were at the starting point were going to drive to the finish line. I never let anyone race without CCB posted throughout the course, especially not my baby. I only had to make that mistake once for it to stick.
I hopped on my bike and was peeling off within seconds. This day was special for multiple reasons. Lo didn’t even know it yet, but this was the start of a new chapter in our lives. I couldn’t lie like I wasn’t nervous on the drive over, even though I knew she would say yes. I guess I’d just never seen myself as the husband type, but now it was all I could think about.
Since Lo moved into my home for protection, it had become hers. I couldn’t sleep unless it was with her on my chest. She never let a day go by without reminding me that life without her wasn’t an option. This woman was my everything, and I was ready to stamp it.
By the time I arrived at the finish line off Clarkson, her sisters were already there with the coordinator. The street was blocked off so that there was space for the setup I’d requested. It looked like everything was ready to go. The only thing missing was the woman who was worth all of this and more.
I parked my bike, then hopped off making quick strides toward my sisters-in-law. “Yo.” I greeted them with a nod.
After giving them both hugs, I took a step back. Looking around, I paused to take it all in. I was really doing this. “Okay, they just crossed Loxson,” Angel informed us excitedly. That meant the love of my life was only three blocks away.
Laprada walked up to us coolly. “You got the ring?” I asked her because it was game time. Her mouth fell open into an O shape, instantly pissing me off. I prayed that look didn’t mean what I felt like it did. “Don’t piss me off, P,” I warned in an even tone.
She quickly snapped and turned her fingers into guns. “Gotcha. I’m just playing, big bro, damn. You shoulda seen your face,” she teased with a chortle, but I didn’t find shit funny.
“You was about to see me break your face since you wanna play. Give me my shit.”
