ChapterOne
HERE WE GO AGAIN!
Duke
Present Day, November
Everywhere I turned, someone was planning a wedding. From Blake to Skye to Dexter… I was inundated with meetings and teas and engagement parties and all that stupid shit I didn’t want to be doing. Today, I found myself following Skye around as she shopped for her wedding night lingerie while simultaneously texting my siblings about Blake’s wedding date.Da fuq?
“Duke?” Skye emerged from the dressing room, clad in a black corset with lace panels and matching panties. She lifted her arms and twirled around. “What do you think?”
I glanced at her briefly and grunted before turning my attention back to my phone.
Skye Palmer-Starks had been a part of my life since I was a kid. When I thought of “locked and loaded” and “ready to cut a nigga,” Skye was up there with my siblings as far as her willingness to take a bullet or kick off her high heels and fight. She’d seen me through my crazy younger years and had even saved me from myself several times as I grew into adulthood—even now. Skye was bossy as hell, always all up in my business, and got on my damn nerves, but I loved the hell out of her. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do for her, and her ass knew it too. I was seven years old when Skye forced me to babysit her baby doll while she got her hair combed.
“Duke!” she shouted, pulling me from my memories. “Thoughts?”
“I think you needed to bring your girls with you to the damn lingerie store. Seriously, Skye, you’re taking this Man of Honor thing too damn far.”
“Best person,” she corrected. “You have a dual role in this wedding. I agreed to let you stand with the fellas during the ceremony, but you have to come to all the ladies’ events with me. Didn’t you read the emails.”
Hell no. “All five thousand of them? You know the answer to that question.”
Skye gave me yet another rundown of my important wedding duties, while I returned my attention to my phone, just in time to see the text from my sister Blake.
Blake:Fuck all y’all!
My little sister’s message was met with a string of GIFs making fun of her outburst. Until Paityn responded.
Paityn:Who the hell are you talking to?I’m very disappointed in you, Sissy.
My big sister was the nurturer of our group. Paityn had taken care of all of us, especially when my mother went back to work. It was nothing for her to patch up a wound, help with homework, hide us from the world when we needed to get away, and cook a good-ass meal. We all respected her, so I wasn’t surprised when Blake sent another message.
Blake:Fine.Fuck all y’all.Except Paityn.
Bliss:Really? Because I asked you to pick the fuckin’ date?
Bliss:Whatever. Plan your own damn wedding. Shit.
I cracked up when another string of shocked emojis followed, probably because it was rare for Bliss to lose it. And she’d said three curse words in a matter of seconds. I even had to respond to that:See what y’all made Bliss do!
On cue, Dallas chimed in:‘Bout time your late ass joined the party. Talk to your sister because she’s pissing everyone off.
Skye snatched my phone out of my hand. “You didn’t hear a word I said. You’re supposed to be here for me. Stay in the moment.”
I pinned her with a glare. “I understand that, but,” I gestured to the outfit, “we’re not fucking. Why would you pick me to come here?”
With a heavy sigh, she walked back into her dressing room. “You’re the subject matter expert. You think with your dick, and you know what men like.”
I chuckled. “Oh, you got jokes.”
Meanwhile, my phone buzzed with a text from my best friend, Xavier.
X:Underwear shopping with Skye?
I snickered, then replied:Lingerie.Kill. Me. Now.
X:Bruh…What’s next?Hair appointment?Waxing eyebrows?
