Page 30 of Know Your Place

“Come on.”

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Don’t ask questions, Juicy.” I glanced back at her and saw her open her mouth to say something, but I cut her off. “Close ya mouth ’fore I put somethin’ in it.”

Her silly ass opened it up wider, and I tilted my head back and laughed as I held the door open for her. “Get ya ass in the car.”

She pouted all the way to my vehicle. Before she got in, I slapped her ass.

Once I was in the car, I pulled away from her place and headed toward my destination. I felt Icelynn eyeing me. I knew her nosy ass wanted to know where we were going, but I was too full of adrenaline and excitement to fill her in.

Thankfully, she let me have my moment and didn’t ask any questions. She eventually connected her phone to Bluetooth and enjoyed the music playing from her phone. It wasn’t lost on me that every song was a love song. I reached over and grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.

When we pulled up to our destination, I cut the engine and got out of the car before she could ask questions. As soon as I opened her door, she asked, “What are we doing here?”

I ignored her and helped her out of the car. I closed her door and tried walking into the building, but she dug her feet into the pavement and wouldn’t allow me to walk any further.

“What, baby?” I asked. I wanted to get inside, and she was holding us up.

“Why are we at the courthouse?”

I couldn’t contain my excitement any longer. I smiled bigger than I ever have and blurted out, “We gettin’ married, Juicy!”

“Married?” She took a step back.

Ouch. The fuck was that all about?

“Yeah. You love me, right?” I was confused about her reaction. She’d told me back at her place that she loved me three times. Wasn’t this what people in love did? Got married?

“Yes,” she replied slowly.

“Okay, so we should get married.”

Her mouth hung open. After a few seconds, she said, “Honey, I don’t think it works like that.”

Her voice was gentler than I’d ever heard it. My hand cupped her cheek as I asked, “You don’t want to marry me?”

She looked down at her clothes, the same outfit she had worn yesterday on our first date.

“I refuse to get married in day old clothes that look like I’m ready to go to the damn bar. I may not be the girliest girl, but don’t you think I deserve a pretty white dress and some flowers or some shit like that?”

I thought about it. It would be kind of cool to see her in a wedding dress.

“Black.”

“Excuse me?”

“A black wedding dress. That’s my favorite color. All-black everything.”

She giggled and shook her head. “Fine, Beretta. Black. Just not this outfit and not today, okay? Can we enjoy being a couple for a little bit first? This is all happening so fast.”

She wasn’t wrong. I’d just never felt like this before. Icelynn pulled some shit up out of me that I didn’t even know existed, so I wanted to experience it all at once, but I realized that wasn’t right. We didn’t have to rush. We had a lifetime to go.

I pulled her into me by her waist. “You saying you’ll marry me eventually?”

She beamed. “If I marry anyone, it’ll for sure be your crazy ass.”

I leaned down and kissed her. When I pulled away, I said, “Then let’s go get a ring. Since you won’t marry me today, the least you can do is agree to be my fiancée.”