Page 80 of Maceo

“What the hell are you complaining for? You didn’t have to do shit.”

“Nigga, I showed up. And I look better than you at your own wedding.”

I shook my head. They’d been on my ass since we announced the wedding date. I understood. I knew it was quick, but shit, what did we need to wait for? Once we gave Salima the date and my card, she made the calls to the vendors she worked with… after cursing us both out for making her have to work extra hard for the last-minute plans.

Then we had to hear Deuce’s mouth about the same shit. He said he didn’t need his wife stressed while he was actively trying to give her baby number two. To alleviate some of the work, he’d offered to have LeAnn help her, but Salima shut that down. There wasn’t really beef between the two women anymore, but Salima didn’t fuck with her based on their history.

“Over my dead body will that woman come into my shit, telling me what to do. I don’t work for you anymore, so there is nothing stopping me from kicking her ass this time.”

He conceded but demanded I pay her extra for the inconvenience, which I had no problem doing. Even though she was family and Shar was her best friend, I’d never stiff her on a job. If it would make Stanley Jr. be quiet, I’d pay her double.

Speaking of quiet, things had been quiet… too damn quiet, and it led me to believe that some shit was going to pop off soon. Blane nor Charity had been spotted anywhere. Not a slipup. Not a peep. Not a hair left behind. Nothing. We had our street team heavy on the lookout for their faces or his car, but nothing had been reported.

I was getting anxious to put a bullet in both of those bastards. On top of that, Zeno was still missing. I’d lost all hope of him being found and returned to his family. It was a sad case, and I just prayed like hell that the rest of the guys were being safe. I’d invited them to the wedding, but I wasn’t sure if they would show up.

“Look alive, muthafuckas!” Smoke said, coming through my front door. He had a bottle of liquor in one hand and a blunt in the other. “It’s your wedding day, so I’ma let you live, but once this shit is over, I’m on your ass for throwing this together so damn fast. You know I’m a big nigga. It takes time to find a good suit that fits me.”

“Then get your fat ass in the gym, big boy,” I said, slapping his stomach.

“I’m sure one of the women has a pair of Spanx he can borrow,” Steel said, cackling.

“Why don’t you ask one of your women,” Smoke shot back. “You know you like ’em plush.”

“I sure the fuck do,” Steel said. “Ain’t nothing better than a plush pal. My girls don’t need shapewear. I was built to handle every pound, you feel me?”

Smoke laughed. “I feel you, man. You know I don’t discriminate. If my lady wanted to wear that shit, I’d be right there pulling on that bitch to help her get it on. Suck it in, bae!”

“Y’all are ignorant as hell,” Deuce said, snatching the liquor bottle from Smoke. “That’s why neither one of you have a woman.”

Both of my brothers scoffed.

Steel pointed at Deuce. “This man. He gets married and acts like he wasn’t a ho too. A trick ass ho at that. Aye, man, how is Santana?”

Deuce hurled a pillow at his face. “Fuck you.”

We all shared a laugh. This was how it went every time we got together… well, when we weren’t arguing. Most times, we were laughing at each other’s expense. It was all in good fun, though.

I finished putting on the rest of my suit and turned to face them.

“Do I look ready to walk down the aisle or what?”

“You casket sharp,” Smoke said, slapping my shoulder with a laugh. “Nah, for real. You’re a handsome nigga.”

“He a’ight,” Deuce said, grinning.

I flipped him off as he poured us all a shot. With glasses raised, Deuce offered a speech.

“All right, y’all niggas, get serious for a second,” he said. “I know we bump heads. Sometimes I wanna put a bullet in y’all’s asses, but I’d lay down anybody over each of you. We ain’t too far apart in age, but I take my role as the oldest brother seriously. Ilove y’all. At the end of the day, we’re family. Ain’t nothing more important or deeper than that.”

We all nodded in agreement as we clinked our glasses and took the shot to the head. Steel put on some music to get us in the zone for the day. The sounds of “Fireman” by Lil Wayne blared through the speaker as we sparked up another blunt. It wasn’t long before our father pulled up on us, along with Uncle Blake and his sons.

It was like a party in my living room, minus the girls. I was genuinely happy right now. I was surrounded by family, and in less than two hours, I was going to be a married man. If that wasn’t worth a celebration, I didn’t know what was.

The wedding was setto start in about an hour, so we piled into the cars and headed toIconic. Salima said the decorators had been working around the clock to make sure everything was perfect. She’d been here most of the morning to oversee the process. Even though we had an impeccable wedding planner, she knew Shar best, so of course she wanted to make sure our day went without a hitch. When we pulled into the parking lot, there were already a few cars there.

Climbing out, we all gathered together.

I had to admit that we were a bunch of handsome ass niggas. I’d heard women compliment us on several occasions, saying, “Damn, the whole family fine as hell.”The shit always made me laugh. One wouldn’t think that behind these expensive suits were a whole lineage of savages.

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