“Let me ask you something, and don’t get all crazy on a nigga either,” Miami said.
“Then don’t ask me nothing crazy, Toddrick. I’m serious. I’m not trying to be out here beefing with you,” I said in all seriousness.
“Chill out. It’s only crazy if you ain’t down with it. We already here in Jamaica, so why not just get married now? Why wait? This the destination where you would want to do it, so let’s go ahead and make it happen, shorty. What you think?” he asked.
I had to turn around in the tub and actually face him to look in his eyes and see if he was for real or if it as just the weed in his system. When I didn’t see a smirk or anything on his face, that’s when I knew that he was serious.
“Baby, what about my grandma? My daddy? I would want them here too,” I let him know.
“And that can easily happen. You know that. With one phone call, I can have them on a jet within the next two hours. What you mean?” Miami said.
“And a dress for me? A tux for you?” I asked.
“Shorty, where you think we at? They got malls and shit out here. Listen, I’m not forcing you to do it this way. I just saw an opportunity to make you my wife faster, and I jumped. I’ll chill out. A nigga is just excited, that’s all,” he said, bringing his head closer to me and kissing me on my lips.
I turned my body fully toward him and wrapped my legs around his waist while looking deep in his eyes. This tub was so big that I had room to do all of that.
“I’m not opposed to it, though, baby. I want to do it. Let’s do it,” I said with a smile on my face.
“Shae, don’t agree to it because you think I’m forcing you. Do it because you want to do it,” Miami said.
I cuffed the bottom of his chin and looked at him with all seriousness.
“When have you ever forced me to do something that I didn’t want to do? Toddrick, I’m serious. Let’s get married, baby. I want this more than anything.
“Aww shit, you calling a nigga Toddrick, so I know you serious,” he said.
I laughed, leaned my head into him, and kissed him on his lips again. His large hand was on my ass, and he was squeezing it and slapping it, making the water splash everywhere when he did that. I tasted his tongue while grinding my body into his and moaning into his lips. I could feel things about to take off. It was getting a little bit heated in this tub, so I pulled away. I had phone calls to make, and I knew that if I were to stay in this tub with him for another second, he would deprive me of doing what I needed to do.
“Fuck is you trying to go? Hell nah, handle him right quick,” Jabari said, grabbing my arm and using his other hand to point to his hard dick that was poking out in the water.
“I thought you wanted me to call my grandma and—”
“Yeah, but not right now, shorty. You going to fuck around and give me blue balls, and I ain’t going to make it to the damn wedding. Did you really think after all that kissing and shit that you just did, that you could just walk the fuck away? Nah, it don’t work like that,” he said.
I laughed. At that moment, I guess I must have forgotten who the hell I was dealing with. I didn’t even bother to respond. With one hand on his chest for support, I used my other hand to guide his dick inside of me. My body shuddered at the feel of him. I was riding him like I was trying to prove a point to him that he would be making a good decision by making me his wife within the next couple of days. We had the bathtub filled so high up with bubbles that each time I came crashing down on his dick, the water would get everywhere.
“Damn, Shae. Ride that dick, baby,” Miami groaned as he reached up to hold onto my pregnant, sore breasts.
I looked down into his hazel eyes, and I could feel myself getting lost. I loved this nigga so much that I started crying. Yes, it was the sex that felt so good, which caused me to shed a tear, but it was also him. His face, his love, the feeling of knowing that I was carrying his son inside of me, all of that brought out these emotions.
“Hmmmm, Miamiiiii. I love you, babyyyy,” I moaned, feeling my orgasm around the corner as he started to move his hips under me, matching me thrust for thrust. My body started to shake, my nails dug into his chest, and that all too familiar feeling of that orgasm starting from my toes and shooting all the way up to my pussy came, and I folded right there on him. Never even giving me a chance to recuperate, he lifted me up and carried us over to the beautiful, granite bathroom counter and set my wet body on top of it. He pulled me lower, just enough for my ass to be hanging off a little bit, and he lifted my legs, holding my ankles as he slid back inside of me.
“Shitttt. Shittttt… damnnnnn,” I moaned, trying to lift my body some because I felt all of him like this, and that pressure was killing me.
“How you trying to marry a nigga, but you can’t take my dick? That’ a problem for me, Shae,” Miami sexily said as he lowered his head to put one of my breasts in his mouth to take my mind off the pain and pressure, but shit, it wasn’t working. I was running and trying to take it, all at the same time.
“Hmmmmm… I can take itttt. I can take itttt. Goddddd… I’m going to cum againnn,” I cried while holding onto him for dear life, not wanting him to let go of me.
When his strokes grew faster, and his groans grew louder, I knew then that he was cumming as well. His hand ended up hitting something on the counter, and glass went to flying on the floor. Miami had obviously just broken some sort of decoration that they had in there.
“Shit, Miami! You done broke they shit in here,” I said right before I laughed.
“I’ll replace it. That pussy was too good,” he said through laughs as he lifted me up and carried me into our bedroom.
I took the wipes that I always brought with me out of my duffle bag and wiped between my legs. I threw on the pajamas that I had resting on the bed. Just as I was getting ready to climb in the bed, my phone dinged on the nightstand, letting me know that I had a text message from Mahogany. I quickly opened it and laughed after I read it.
Sister girl: Y’all were in there fuckin’ too loud. Done woke up my damn baby. I don’t know what y’all broke in there, but I’m telling
I showed the message to Miami, and he laughed at it. I didn’t even bother to respond because I could hear Jamaria crying from the next room. With a smile plastered on my face as I climbed into bed, I thought about this wedding that was about to happen, which I couldn’t wait for.
Toddrick “Miami” King
“You a solid nigga, Miami. I like that about you. I respect this union that you and Jashae are about to build. Best of luck to you both. Y’all are going to be just fine.” Boss came over and put his hand on my shoulder, giving me those encouraging words just moments before I met Jashae at the altar.
It was crazy how we came down here just for vacation and to relax, kick our feet up, and for me to take a moment to stop thinking about the passing of my father. But we ended up in our good clothes, preparing for Jashae and my wedding. Prior to Shae even saying that she wanted a destination wedding, it never even occurred to me for me to ask her to marry me in Jamaica. I saw an opportunity, and I jumped headfirst.
I don’t think y’all understand how much it meant for me to make this woman my wife. I had been crushing on shorty since I was a little ass boy. This woman was carrying my son and taking on the role of step-mommy to my daughter, so why wouldn’t I be ready for marriage? After all the bullshit had died down, and we weathered the storm, it was time to tie the knot.
I was sweating like a motha fucka in this tux, nervous as hell, but I was ready. I was ready to change Shae’s last name to King. I was ready to do my taxes this year and have my accountant check that I was married. I wanted all that. I was ready to be like, ‘my wife this, and my wife that.’ Give me all that shit that comes with marriage. The good, the baby, and all that ugly shit.
“I appreciate that, man. Thank you for even allowing us to do this on your vacation. A lot of niggas probably would have said no,” I said and reached out to give hi
m a pound.
“A lot of niggas that ain’t real. You my brother. Why wouldn’t I want to help be a part of this? The least I could do, man,” Boss assured me right before he walked away.
“I’m proud of you, man. I know Auntie and Uncle are looking down on you, and they proud of you too. Physically, they may not be here, but on everything I love, I feel them all up and through here, bruh. They here, if you know what I mean,” Jabari said, walking over to me, clean as hell in his suit.
I pulled him in for a quick, brotherly hug, acceptive and appreciative of his kind words. I needed to hear that because Lord knows before he even came over, I was saying to myself how I wished the two of them were here to witness this moment. Jabari came at the right time to say the right thing.
“I feel you, man. I’m nervous, yo. I feel similar to how I felt when I had to ask Shae to marry me,” I honestly said.
“You think she going to leave your ass at the altar?” he said through his laughs. “Man, that woman ain’t going nowhere. I don’t know why, but shorty loves your ass. All that damn yelling she was doing that bathroom the other night when y’all was fuckin’ and waking up Jamaria proved her love,” his dumb ass said again.
Shae would throw a fit if she knew I was laughing at what he said, but the shit was funny. This nigga was probably just waiting for the perfect opportunity to throw that joke out there. I chopped it up with him for a little while longer until it was time for me to go outside and take my position.
Shae knew exactly what she wanted, and because we really only had yesterday to prepare for this day, we were kind of able to give her everything that she wanted. We did our best to make it feel like Vonte was here along with my parents. For example, Vonte’s favorite color was blue, so although my tux was right, my bow tie was blue, and so was Jabari’s, who was my best man. The roses that were used to decorate the area outside right on the beach that we were using were white and blue. I had two empty chairs that would remain empty up front, which is where my parents would have sat had they still been alive to make it. Shae was adamant about wanting a sunset wedding, and so far, she was getting that. Money talked, so I was able to cough up some money and have a wedding crew come and decorate the grounds so beautiful for us this evening.
I stood up front with my brother by my side. Right on time, at 7:30 P.M., I watched the whole thing unfold right before me. I got a little teary eyed when I saw my daughter and Maya walk down, dropping flowers. They were both beautiful in their white dresses with the blue rose that they had pinned on the front of it. They both had candy curls in their hair, thanks to Shae doing it for them last night. Although this was a wedding that was planned in a days’ time, the amount of love and happiness felt like this was something that had been planned months ago.
Of course, Shae had used Mahogany as her bridesmaid. She’d even had Winter and Ocean in the wedding. There really wasn’t many people in the audience because everyone was really in the wedding, but again, that was cool.
When Whitney Houston’s, “I Believe in You and Me” started playing, I knew then that Shae was about to start walking. My hands were sweating along with my upper lip. I used to say that if I ever got married, I wouldn’t cry. I was obviously a fool to even think that because the moment I saw Jashae walking down the aisle with her dad, the tears started falling that I didn’t even bother to wipe. She looked beautiful. Her wedding gown was fuckin’ beautiful for her to have just bought it yesterday from a store. Her bump showed, and she walked with grace as she carried my child. She was crying, but I already knew she would. She had every reason to be happy about this moment. My heart raced as I waited for her to get next to me.
“You look beautiful,” I said to Jashae the moment she was close enough.
She was crying and not even able to tell me thank you, so she just nodded her head through her tears of joy. Like I always did when I spotted her crying, I used my thumbs to wipe her tears away. I’m not even sure if we were doing proper wedding etiquette, but I was wiping tears, kissing them away, all of that. I assumed we were good because the pastor hadn’t said anything yet.
“We are gathered here today to celebrate with Jashae Johnson and Toddrick King as they declare their love along with their commitment to the world…”
The pastor’s voice faded in my head because I was just taking Jashae and her beauty all the way in. You know when you hear someone say that a person is glowing? Well, that was her. Her melanin was times ten this evening, and it was a major distraction to me. Her long hair was pulled up in an updo that looked good on her. She wore a minimal amount of make-up, making her look like herself and not all caked up and looking like somebody else.
“Mr. King,” the pastor said and cleared his throat. I gave him my attention, and that’s when he smiled. “Your vows,” he said.
“I’m sorry. I’m lost in her beauty, Pastor, so forgive me,” I said, and he gave me a look, letting me know that it was okay.
“I met you when I was thirteen, still a little boy myself. Back then, when a boy liked a girl, we didn’t look for personality, intelligence, skills, or nothing like that. I swear we just looked for beauty. I saw you as somebody beautiful, and that was enough for me to like you. It wasn’t until I grew older and became a man that I realized that you came with so much more. An amazing mother, a personality like no other, somebody who gives me the best advice, loving, kind, all of that. I wanted you. You’re mine, and even now, I still want you.
“When the kids get older, Ima still want you. I can’t imagine a day when I wouldn’t want you, Shae. When I wouldn’t love you anymore or crave to have you. I put up one hell of a fight to get you, so I’m going to put up even more of a fight to keep you. I’m going to make Vonte proud and keep his mama happy because I know that’s what he would have wanted me to do. I got you, baby. I got us,” I assured her.
I spoke my vows from the top of my head, telling her things that I felt she needed to know. I had Shae boo-hoo crying like I didn’t tell her stuff like this all the time. I didn’t even know if she was going to be strong enough to get through her vows.
She eventually got herself together, and then she started.
“I forced myself not to love you in the beginning. I tried to find every possible reason not to love you because I was scared. I don’t have to say it out loud, but you know the reason why I was opposed to loving you in the beginning. When I lost my son, I was at my lowest, and… you were just there. Every step of the way. You took me out of darkness, pain, and misery. At times, I even question myself on where I would have been if you didn’t come into my life when you did.
“Although Vonte didn’t tell it to you, he told me that he wouldn’t mind me with you because he knew that you would love and protect me. That’s really all I’ll ever need for you to do is to love and to protect me, Toddrick. Today was perfect to me. I would love to look out in the crowd and see my mom sitting out there. I would love to see my son watching me at this moment. I know you would even love to see your parents, but I’ll take this. I love you, Toddrick,” she said, voice cracking, tears still falling.
I knew Shae enough to know that yeah, she was crying because she was happy, but a big part of her tears came from Vonte not being here. I knew that. I was drying her tears as the pastor went through the steps of making our union official.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your…”
I didn’t even let him finish. My hand was already cuffing the back of her head, and I was tonguing her down
“You down with the king of the south forever, baby,” I assured her, making sure she knew it.
“I know, baby, and I’m never leaving you either,” she said, but I already knew that.
Epilogue
Nine months later
Giovonni “Trip” Young
“Young, you have mail,” the guard said as he came over to my cell.
I stood up from my bed, closing the bible that I was reading. I was just trying to better my relation
ship with God, that’s all. Over the past nine months, so much had changed. I was teaching my class for the young boys two times a week, and my relationship with my ole girl had progressed. She’d even came and seen me two times so far this month, and that’s all I really ever wanted from her. Yeah, I was a grown ass man, but even us grown ass men want to know that we are still loved, especially by our mother. We talked, I mean got into some deep talks, and one of the things that we hashed out was the situation with Maya.
I got word from my mom that Krystal was murdered, and truth be told, Maya shouldn’t have had to be Shae’s responsibility, so I let my mom know to take that situation off Shae for me and to raise my child. She took that information back to Shae, and to my surprise, Shae was content with raising Maya. Although that’s the case, my mom had done her thing and stepped up. She was now getting Maya on the weekends, and I saw her at the last visit. Shae and I had no contact, which was fine because I’d hurt that woman so many times that there wasn’t anything else for me to say to her. I couldn’t thank her enough though for raising Maya, though.
There were pictures all around my room of Vonte and Maya. I won’t lie, I was hurt when I got the news about Krystal. She had some fucked up ways about her, but she didn’t deserve that.
I took the mail from the guard and walked with it over to my bed. I smiled when I saw that it was a letter from Raynell. I no longer had the cell phone because shorty stopped paying the bill, but it was fine because that shit was bound to get taken anyway. Besides, how could I teach these young boys to be better, yet I was using a smuggled phone? I had no choice but to get rid of it. With the letter in my hands, I sat down at the foot of the bed and read it.
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