Page 36 of Weddings on the West: Vol. I Brick & Destiny

“Your moms don’t work,” he reasoned with me.

“I don’t want to be like her,” I replied quickly.

“Then don’t. But I’ll be damned if I have you out here workin’ some lil’ dead end job just for the sake of money. You been bustin’ your ass your whole life, and you’ll be well taken care of. Shop, go to the spa, brunch, whatever those housewife ladies be doin’. You’re about to be a West. We good. And I got some people over at Sleighton Central University, if you’re really interested in the school shit. I’ll hit them up tomorrow to see what we need to do to have you enrolled in the fall. But fuck a job,” he said the word with his nose turned up in disgust.

“You’d really do that for me?”

“We ‘bout to be married, right Peep? What nigga wouldn’t want his girl to be her best self?” he answered like it was just so simple, and maybe for him it was. I had been trying to save up enough money for years just to be able to get into a few basic courses.

I tried not to get mushy, so I just pulled him in for an appreciative kiss.

“So, is it my turn to ask a question now?” I asked.

“Fuck, here you go… What is it?” he huffed under his breath. We paused again as the waitress brought our food in. Once she was gone, I continued since it seemed like we were more interested in each other than the fine dining experience he was paying for.

“So, you said you weren’t in love with the two women you were in a relationship with… Have you ever been in love?” He paused and looked off, taking his time before he answered.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t even know if I know what that shit means. I know I just don’t go around saying that shit to people,” he answered.

“Not even your family? Your mom? Your brothers?” I asked curiously.

“Nah, after Pops died… Mama never said that to us. I mean, I know we all have love for each other, but we don’t just go around announcing it. Love is a weakness. Weakness can get you killed. I can offer protection, stability… but I don’t think I’m capable of the love shit.”

I sat there staring at him digesting his words until he chuckled and looked off.

“Don’t be lookin’ all sad and shit. Trust me, a nigga didn’t miss out on a thing.” I didn’t answer, instead pulling him in for another kiss. We started on our dinner and shifted to a much lighter conversation, quickly converting back to our regularly scheduled banter and arguing about the silliest things.

“Gotdamn, girl! If having a wife means I gotta split all my food with you, I may need to reconsider this whole wedding thing.” He laughed as I stole another bite of his lobster before returning to my own plate.

“You’re the one who wanted to sit over here,” I said with a shrug.

“You right. I got another question. What do you smell like right now? What is this?” he asked as he buried his entire face in the crook of my neck. My body overheated and started glitching at the feel of his warm skin on mine.

“I-um… Uhh. A mix of body butters and oils… My dad really never liked for me to wear perfume. Said it was for whores.” Heat flooded my face as I recalled how crazy I let that man talk to me for years. Brick pulled back just enough to give me an ugly frown.

“First of all, fuck him. But this right here works Peep. Gotdamn.” He was on me again, lips dancing against my neck in a way that felt like we were breaking all ten of The Commandments at once.

“Brick…” I pulled back and looked at him nervously. “Are you drunk?” I hadn’t seen him drink much, and he was fine when he was driving, but I was confused.

“Why would you ask me that?” He frowned.

“I... You’re not usually like this… with me.” I felt stupid for having to explain it. I spent all day arguing with Eden about how this was all for show, and he was making me doubt everything with each touch of his lips.

“Like what?” he asked as his fingers danced across the bare skin on my shoulder making me shudder.

“Do you like me?” I asked, whipping my head around to face him. That was a mistake because we were way too close already, and now we were nose to nose.

“Gotdamn, girl!” He laughed and looked off. “I know I’m bad at this, but I brought you out, got you flowers… Should I have bought jewelry?” he asked.

“No, I’m good. I just-… I thought you were doing this to keep up appearances for the wedding. I didn’t know you were for real.”

“Damn, you didn’t wanna come out with me for real, Destiny?” He put his hand to his chest like he was genuinely hurt, which made sense when I considered the fact that he had probably never been told no by any woman except for his mother his whole life.

“No, I… I do, but I need you to know that I’m not just about to jump into bed with you because you took me out and bought me a bowl of pasta.”

“My future wife said she wanted her husband to be patient… I’m working on it. I know you out here tryin’ to honor God and shit. We can take it as slow as you need to.” He grabbed my hand and placed a kiss to my palm, making me gulp.

How slow did I want to take it?