One Good Brotha

Chapter 1. The Recommendation

A/N: This story can be read alone or as a follow up to the other series. Here is the reading order for the other series. Loving Mia, Kept, A World of Their Own, The Importance of Being Kept, A Heart of Darkness. Enjoy!

Braxton sat at a table with his three closest friends outside a restaurant on the pier. Lunch was on him today. Usually, he'd be in a much happier mood whenever he got to have lunch with his buddies, which was rare these days, but today he was irritated. He hung up the phone and shook his head.

He glanced at the people passing by, the men giving them curious looks and the women eyeing them with flirtatious desire in their eyes. He supposed they did make quite a spectacle. It was unusual to see four handsome, Black men dressed in business suits having lunch together in San Francisco. Successful Black men were a minority, no he corrected that, successful straight Black men were a minority in San Francisco.

"How's mom?" Marcus asked with a knowing grin bringing his thoughts back to his current situation. Marcus was a light skin brother who ran a financial business. He was laid back and down to earth and the closest to him out of all of them.

"Tired of being my assistant, apparently. When she told me she'd help me, I was happy to have her on my side. I knew it was too good to be true. She just called me a tyrant, said she had enough of me and quit and I need to get married and give her some grandbabies, all in one sentence. Then she hung up on me."

Marcus snickered. "Man, your mom is scary. Your tyrant side comes from her!"

"She's been on my case for a year about finding a nice girl and settling down. I told her, I'm not the type to just settle for a woman if she's not what I need in my life. She's afraid that I'm going to be a bachelor for the rest of my life."

"What's wrong with that?" Jamal asked. "I got no complaints about remaining single." Jamal was the youngest of them and worked for an adverting company. His dark skin glisten in the sun light as he grinned.

Braxton stared at the young man who was always so full of energy. "You're 24 Jamal, I'm 32. I'm supposed to be married with three kids by now according to my mother's calendar."

"I could never understand you," Titus said. "You have women of all races throwing themselves at your feet, successful women, gorgeous women...why the hell are you being so picky?" Titus owned several clubs in the city. Clubs they all hung out in for free thanks to him. Titus had caramel brown skin and hazel eyes. Women were constantly throwing themselves at him too.

"Because I don't connect with any of them..."

"You seem to connect with plenty of them on a weekly level to me," Jamal pointed out.

"Didn't say I had problems getting laid, I meant I don't connect with them on a spiritual level."

"Spiritual level? Dude, what are you talking about? Your mom been dragging you to church every Sunday again?" Jamal laughed.

"No, it's hard to explain. There's no depth to them, no heart...all I see is a woman who thinks she's getting a prize by being with me."

"They are!" Titus said.

"But that's it! Look, I know I'm rare to be my age and not be married or even have a kid, but for me to be in a serious relationship the woman I choose, she's got to look beyond that and see me for who I am. Strip away my title, my wealth, my success and see ME."

Titus stared at him curiously. "Explain to us what type of woman you're looking for..."

"Someone that's down to earth, likes to laugh and enjoy life and doesn't take herself too seriously, someone who can laugh at her own mistakes, pick herself up and continue to move on without looking back and when she sees me to not look at me with this hungry, greed in her eyes as if she's in competition to score her a big one..."