Page 64 of The Prodigy 2: Rise of a Queen

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Malika

Weddingplanningwasn’tasfun as I expected. Actually, it wasn’t fun at all.

Thankfully, I had an excellent wedding planner in Jaz. She’d been waiting for me to hand her the reins since we started last month, and after my meltdown in Something New, a bridal boutique in Atlantic Station, I gladly handed them over.

We were t-minus thirteen days until the wedding and I still hadn’t talked to my family. I would have loved to have Chase serve as the ring bearer, but it wasn’t looking good.

Jaz had been on me about that for weeks, and today was no exception.

We were leaving Sweethearts, their bakery, after the cake-tasting. I’d settled on the white chocolate amaretto. I didn’t need any help on that one; if it’s one thing I know, it’s food.

Jaz cranked up the car to get the air blowing, and then she turned to me and stared.

“What?”

“You gon call your people or not?”

I checked my makeup in the mirror. “I told you, I don’t know.”

“What exactly are you worried about?”

“They’re not big fans of your family.”

“Okay, that’s most people. What about it, though?”

“I guess I’m just…worried about how they’ll react.”

She blank stared me. “The worst thing they can say is no, right?”

“I mean…I guess.”

“Okay, enough of this bullshit. We got things to do.” She reached into my bag and rummaged around.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for your phone. Oh. Here it go.”

She thrust it into my hands. “Call ‘em. Right now.”

“No.”

“Call ‘em or I’ma tase you.”

“Jaz.”

She reached for her bag.

“Okay! Damn. You have issues. You need to see somebody about that.”

She laughed and shrugged a shoulder. “Come on, now. I ain’t got all day.”

With her rushing me, I didn’t have time to let my fear stop me. I pushed the button to call my daddy first and waited while it rang.

“Hey, Sweet Pea!”

I smiled at his greeting. “Hey. Daddy. I, um, have something to ask you.”

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