Still

32.

Chapter Thirty Two

"Baby girl," Zakari called out just before they both entered the venue for this morning. They would be going their separate ways for a few hours and a part of him couldn't stand it. While he wasn't in the wedding officially, he was asked to join the festivities of getting ready.

Maia halted her stride into the building and turned around to face him. Her decision to not walk was finalized, however she was still going to come early to help out where she was needed. "Yeah?"

"Are you sure you're not walking?" Zak asked, towering over her. He looked down to her, searching her eyes for any little sign of hesitation. He'd done his best to try and convince her to walk, but she was being stubborn.

"I'm sure," she replied.

He held up one of the garment bags that he was holding. One contained his tuxedo, while the other contained her bridesmaid's dress, as well as another dress. "So, why'd you bring the dress if you weren't going to wear it?"

"In case I was asked to take group pictures. I wouldn't deprive them of that," she replied.

"And Malik still doesn't know this, does he?" Zakari asked. The last he'd heard based on her phone conversations with Lauryn, he was out of the loop because his reaction may not have been the best.

Smiling, Maia shook her head and turned to walk into the building. "Unfortunately not."

"When do you plan on telling him?"

Maia shrugged her shoulders and continued walking down the long hallway. They were just here the previous night for rehearsals, so they were both aware of where they needed to be. Once they made it further down the hallway, they'd need to split and go into opposite directions. "I haven't thought that far yet."

The couple stopped at their destination and looked down their designated hallways. Zakari breathed out and handed her the garment bag along with the backpack that he was carrying for her.  "I love you," he spoke before planting a kiss upon her bare lips.

Maia smiled up to him. "I love you, too, Daddy."

Zak rolled his eyes at her antics. She'd slipped up on calling him it the other day during sex. The response she got from him was so unexpected that she'd been running it into the ground every since. "Please behave."

"Ayo!" Jourdan called from behind them as he entered the venue. Based on the men's group chat, Jourdan had already been here with Malik.

"I thought you were already here?" Zak asked curiously, cutting his eyes over to Maia.

Jourdan grew closer to them and held up the bag of McDonald's. "Groom wanted Mickey D's," he replied, looking briefly over to Maia. "You been good?"

Mai smirked at the question. "Yeah." The two of them hadn't spoken much since their last encounter. The appointment came and went. Jourdan kept his word and did not show and it was Zak that ended up telling him how everything went, because Maia was too annoyed by the entire thing.

"Good," Jourdan replied giving her a quick once over. "Let me go get this shit to him before he has a fit." He didn't wait for either of them to say anything before walking away from them.

Zak tore his eyes back to Maia. "Behave," he warned her again. "I'll watch you," he added on, signaling for her to go ahead and began walking to the suite that the women would be in. Just as he said, he didn't move from his place until she'd disappeared from his view.

"We look the fuck good," Malik said as all of the men stood in the mirror with their tuxedos on. The wedding colors were emerald green, black, gold, and a hint of white. The colors had come a long way from Brianne's original all white theme.