Adore You (12 page)

“Demi said no, huh?” Trevor asked.

“She didn’t
outright
say it, but did express her opinion about exploitation of women at the hands of men at bachelor parties on a few different occasions. After laying that guilt trip on me, she then said to do what I wanted to do or whateva…”

“So we had to do this boring shit instead? Man, you might as well just signed us up for a wine and painting class, bruh. Same level of bull,” Mike groused.

“Did you tell D she couldn’t have strippers either?” Trevor piped up, holding up his phone. “Because Tami just tweeted a picture of the girls out and I definitely see a girl on a pole in the background over there.”

“Ain’t that a bitch? You can’t exploit women, but she can watch stranger wangs flapping about in the breeze,” muttered Mike.

“Nigga, did you just say stranger wangs? He said a girl on the pole,” I laughed, damn near choking on my drink.

“You heard what I said.”

Mike did have a point, though. Not that I cared one way or the other, but it was mad hypocritical for the girls to get to see a show while all we got to see was each other losing our hard-earned money to the house.

“Let me see that pic,” Mike said, reaching for Trev’s phone. “I know every strip club in this area like the back of my hand. We are crashing their shit.”

And that’s how we ended up turning separate bachelor and bachelorette parties into a coed free for all. I sat on the edge of the group, in a barstool peeping the scene. Mike looked as happy as a pig in shit since we’d ended up at a club fill of women who didn’t know how weak his game was. I looked over to see Demi sitting in Trey’s lap, swaying back and forth to the music. The look on Trey’s face was one of sheer pleasure as he wrapped his arms around her tighter, whispering something into her ear that made her blush. Shortly thereafter, the two of them bid us all a good night and skated out of the club quickly.

I sat sipping my drink, watching Bee talked animatedly with her hands to Cara, Demi’s Maid of Honor. Whatever she was talking about had to be amusing because Cara was barely able to maintain her composure as she doubled over laughing. I finished my drink and walked over to the couch where Bee and Cara were sitting. Seeing my approach, Cara wrapped up her convo with Bee as I was sitting down.

“Hey.”

“Hiiiiiiii,” Bee slurred as she moved closer to me.

I lowered my head for a quick kiss and could taste the bourbon on her tongue.

“It’s a good night?”

“I’m drunk.”

“So you’ve had a good time then?”

“The best time. Demi is so nice. And her friends. All perf. Everything is awesome.”

“You ready to call it a night?”

“You tryna put me to bed?”

“Tomorrow’s gonna be a long day…and if you keep drinking, a rough one. Just looking out for your best interests.”

Devorah didn’t respond, just looked at me with a small smile playing on her features. Still not saying a word, she stood, swaying slightly in her heels. I stood quickly to steady her, placing an arm around her waist.

As she leaned into me she said, “You know what?”

“…no, what?”

“You’re so good to me. And good for me. And I think I luh…I think I like
like
you.”

Amused, I replied, “Well I know I like
like
you, too.”

I expected Bee to be hungover the next morning, but she was awake and ready to go
way
earlier that I was. When I finally woke up, it was to a note saying that Demi had invited her over to the suite at the Venetian to get dressed with the rest of the ladies. We were the only ones in the group not staying at the Venetian — where the ceremony, dinner, and post-nuptial turn up were taking place — so I probably should have booked us there. But I was more concerned with showing off for my girl. Besides, it wasn’t shit to me getting ready for the wedding outside of putting on the tux, lining up my beard and making sure my boutonniere was straight, so I spent the morning taking advantage of the private lap pool that was only available to those in the penthouse suites at the Drake.

I was tripping slightly because I wanted to talk to Bee about her l-word almost slip last night. At the risk of sounding carried away with feelings associated with this wedding, I felt like we were definitely in a place where we shouldn’t have to be liquored up to express our true feelings about each other. Despite having not said it verbally, she had to know that I was unequivocally in love with her by now, right? Last night wasn’t the best opportunity because I wanted her to hear those words from me when she was cognizant and clearly able to say them back to me. Otherwise, what the hell was the point? I know one thing was for sure; we weren’t getting on a plane back home before having a serious conversation about what we were doing, how we felt about each other, and finally coming out to our damn parents. I picked up my phone to send Bee a text and saw I had a missed call and text from Trey.

Worst Best Man Ever. Where the hell you at? – Trey Ball

Calm down, nigga. I’m on my way to hold your hanky.

Oh you got jokes. I’ll remember this shit when it’s your turn. – Trey Ball

The ceremony went off without a hitch, though it was a bit weird to be a witness to a wedding that was essentially happening in the middle of a shopping mall. Apparently Demi was
catching a vibe
, whatever the hell that meant, from the Bridge of Love so they decided upon that spot being the place to get married. The inside of the Venetian was like a replica of the streets of Venice, replete with canals and gondolas maneuvering through. The bridge on which the wedding was held was a very small, roped off intimate area with a few seats for everyone besides the happy couple, Cara, the officiant, and me. Bee sat in the front row, dabbing her tears as Trey and Demi pledged their undying love to one another. I admit I got a little choked up when Demi first appeared. Seeing Trey completely break down upon seeing his bride for the first time had all of our eyes tight.

After the ceremony, we headed over to TAO for dinner. How we went from catching a Venetian vibe to Asian vibe, I wasn’t quite sure, but I was rollin’ with it. During dinner Bee was unusually quiet again. I asked if everything was okay and she assured me it was. The only time I got her to perk up was when I asked if she wanted to take one of those gondola rides after we finished up with dinner. She enthusiastically agreed and we split from the group. We’d catch up with them at TAO the nightclub after taking a slight detour to the gondolas. The newly minted bride and groom reserved tables for us to pop bottles in celebration of their love for the duration of the night.

As we stood in line awaiting our gondola ride, I grabbed Bee’s hand turning her to face me.

“So last night…” I started.

“I know,” she cut me off, “I got a little drunk. Okay a lot drunk. Oh my god I wasn’t annoying, was I? Cade always says there’s a fine line between being adorably drunk and annoyingly drunk. Did I cross the line? Did someone say something to you?”

“Hey. Calm down. Nothing like that. I just wanted to ask if you remember what you said to me. When we were getting ready to leave…?”

“I…um…what?”

Devorah pulled away from me slightly, tucking her head. I immediately grasped her hand again, drawing her flush against me. The line inched up slightly; so I pushed her ahead, still keeping our fingers linked and her attention on me.

“Oh no you don’t. Do you or do you not remember?”

“Remember telling you that I like you? Of course I remember that.”

“You hesitated. You said you luh…like me. Not a stutter. A hesitation, a truncating of words or thoughts.”

“I said what I said.”

“So that’s it? Oh wait…you don’t wanna say it first. Well, well, well, wait ‘til I tell CadyMac she was right.”

“I don’t know what you’re…” she trailed off, eyes glazing over as she stiffened in my embrace.

She made a move to step out of my arms, but I held tightly to her waist with my left hand, while using the right to regain eye contact.

“I want you to be looking at me when I say this so you know it’s real. I love you, Devorah Nicole Lee.”

“Scoot? Devvy? I thought that was you all!” I heard a familiar voice say.

“Mama?”

I turned around to see my parents standing about fifteen feet behind us in line.
What in the hell were they doing in Vegas?
Bee quickly pulled out of my embrace, looking like her worst nightmare had come true. My mother talked her way closer to us, asking folks if they’d mind her and my father moving ahead of them in line so that they would not have to shout past them to talk to us. By the time my parents had reached us, Bee looked like she wanted to be anywhere but in this line.

“See EJ, I told you that was my boy. I’d recognize that head anywhere,” my mother said, pulling me into a quick hug before moving over to hug and speak with Bee. I couldn’t hear their conversation, but from the look on Devorah’s face I knew it was anything but good.

“What are y’all doing in Vegas, Pops? You didn’t mention anything about going out of town last time I saw you.”

“This was your mother’s doing. Some last minute thing she put together talking ‘bout she wanted to see Celine Dion before her residency ended. We got here and found out the damn show was going to be around ‘til 2019. Your mother must have heard wrong on the program she was watching.”

He looked none too pleased about being in Vegas or seeing Celine Dion. I knew my father well enough to know that whatever Miranda Taylor wanted, Miranda Taylor got. So though he grumbled and seemed agitated with being here, I knew he was secretly pleased that he was able to keep his lady smiling.

“Scooter…I told Devvy we should see if you all’s private gondola can fit two more. We were gonna be riding with strangers, but isn’t this great that we’re all here together now?”

Turned out that the private gondolas were the same size as the regular gondolas, so all four of us piled in to set off on the short ride. My parents sat on the side of the boat near the gondolier and I tried to usher Bee to the other set of seats, but she jerked away as soon as I touched her arm. She’d been quiet as we waited, but the tension emanating from her was palpable. My mother had hemmed the gondolier up with small talk before we pushed off, so I turned to Bee.