Eternal Temptations (The Tempted Series Book 6) (38 page)

“What the hell did you people do? Balloons?” He drops the box onto one of the tables and grabs one of the balloons off the floor, popping it with his hands.

“Is this fucker kidding me?” Wolf bellows. “You got any idea how much wind was in that thing?”

“Who hired you?”

“Clearly, the bride,” the florist deadpans. “Is that a trellis?” He questions pointing to the thing Pipe was stringing the lights on. I should mention that the lights weren’t those little white lights people hang on everything, these were the old school Christmas lights. They were the colorful, big fat ones we hung from the gutters when we were kids.

I shrug my shoulders, pushing off the bar and make my way toward the man. I place my arm around his shoulders and pat him on the back.

“Reina hired you to make this place look nice, you do that, make it look real pretty in here,” I say, reaching into my pocket, pulling out a couple of bills, and shove them into his hands. “And add some sunflowers to the place.”

“But that isn’t on the order,” he argues.

“Make a new order,” I demand, smiling at him. “Make it happen flower boy.”

Turning back to the bar I pour myself a drink, I lift my eyes as the door opens again and Lacey strolls in with Blackie on her tail. I pause, hand wrapped tight around the neck of the bottle as I drink my little girl in. Her heels had to be at least six inches, strappy things that decorated her calves. She was wearing an off the shoulder, black lace, cocktail dress and her hair was windblown—wild from being on the back of Blackie’s bike. My eyes dart to him and I catch him staring at her ass.

“For fuck’s sake, you put her on the back of your bike dressed like that?” I seethe, shaking my head. To hell with the fucking glass, I take a swig straight from the bottle. My daughter smiles widely as she reaches for the bottle and wraps her arms loosely around my neck.

“You’re not allowed to be a grump on your wedding day,” she says, pressing a smacking kiss to my cheek as I wrap my arms around her and hug her tightly, keeping my eyes on Blackie.

“I’m with Lace.”

“Of course you are, you don’t want me to strangle you,” I tease.

“Then you’d have no best man,” he retorts, smiling back at me.

Lacey pulls back, turning slightly, so she is standing in between me and Blackie.

“First of all I insisted we go on the bike and I also insisted I get dressed before we leave so I can help Reina,” she points out. “He just goes along with what I say,”

“She wears the leather around here,” Blackie jokes, grabbing her around the waist and pressing her back against his front.

“Lost your balls, did you?” I raise an eyebrow and turn my gaze toward Lacey. “Anyone ever tell you you’re hard headed?”

“I wonder where I get that from,” she laughs.

“Have no idea what you’re talking about, Lace,” I say innocently, winking at her before turning my attention back to Blackie. “You have the ring, right?”

“Shit,” he mutters.

“You had one fucking job—”

“I’ve got the ring,” he interrupts, flashing me a smile as he runs his hands over his cut, patting his pockets before reaching inside and producing a tiny, black, velvet box. I take it from his hands, flip up the top and stare at the custom wedding band designed with two rows of canary yellow diamonds.

Sunshine.

Always.

Lacey leans over my shoulder to get a peek at the ring, a smile spreading wide across her face as she stares at it.

“Wow, it’s beautiful Dad,” she says, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Reina’s going to love it.”

I hope so.

I take the ring between my fingers, pull it out of the box to turn it over to inspect the band. There engraved into the gold are the two words that sum up our relationship.

You.

Me.

Lifting my eyes to Blackie, I crack a smile and tip my chin.

“Thanks for getting it done,” I say.

“What’s a best man good for if he can’t pick up a ring?” He slaps my shoulder, leaning forward to press a kiss to Lacey’s cheek. “I’m going to make a quick run, check things out and get a handle on this hair,” he points to his wild locks, looking to me and giving me a look. Words may not have been spoken, but they were reflected in his eyes.

Going to check out the security on the property.

I got you, brother.

“Don’t you dare touch the hair,” Lacey orders, cocking her head to the side. “I mean comb it, maybe tie it back but if you so much as cut a centimeter of it—”

“Don’t you worry, girl. I know you like it…” His eyes turn to mine and he smiles sheepishly leaving the rest of his answer on his tongue. Smart fucking man.

Silently, I hand him the ring to keep safe until the ceremony and watch him walk out the door to check the perimeter of the building. I turn toward Lacey, noticing her eyes are still pinned to the door Blackie just walked through.

“Hey, pretty girl, where are you?” I question, stepping in front of her to draw her attention back to me. “Lace?”

Shaking away whatever thoughts took her mind hostage for a brief moment she averts her gaze back to mine and forces a smile.

“Sorry, I was daydreaming,” she explains.

I wanted to believe that Lacey was capable of the simple things like daydreams but knew it wasn’t likely. That bitch of a maker was planting seeds of fire in her brain but this time she was able to fight against it. Ignore the voice dragging her down. Wish like hell she fought and won every damn time. Wish like hell, I didn’t have to watch her battle her mind like I do.

The hyper florist stood alongside me, dropping a box on the bar before firing instructions at me and Lacey.

“Boutonnieres and bouquets are in there.” He points at Lacey. “Are you part of the wedding party?”

“I am the wedding party,” she laughs at the frazzled man in front of her, leaning over the box to inspect the contents. “I’ll take care of it,” she confirms, lifting a boutonniere.

“Are you ready to get married?” She questions, opening the clear plastic container holding the flowers.

“I’m ready,” I assure her, watching as she lifts the delicate flowers and pulls out the pin in the back of the arrangement. I angle my head to the side as I study her. I take a step back as I envision my little girl dressed as a bride and I am the one holding the flowers, handing her a bouquet before walking her down the aisle.

Shit, that will happen one day.

Probably a lot sooner than I’d like.

“One day it’ll be you,” I rasp, as she closes the space I put between us and touches the worn leather of my cut. She stares up at me through her long eyelashes, smiling as she pins the boutonniere beneath my patch declaring me the president of my club. “All dressed in white, you’ll probably want to make your grand entrance on a bike…”

“Will you take me to church on your bike with my big pretty dress?”

“If that’s what you want.”

“What if I asked you to wear a tux?”

A fucking tuxedo. Shit, I glance down at what I considered dress attire—black jeans, new so they still looked black and not gray, a white dress shirt and my leather cut. Oh, and the new leather moto boots that Reina insisted I buy for the wedding.

Reina was good with the biker wedding. As long as she got to pretty herself all up she didn’t care what I wore, aside from the worn boots. She wasn’t having it. Glancing around the clubhouse, taking in how the florist was making this place take shape for a wedding, I knew it was perfect for me and Reina but not Lacey.

Lacey would be the one to stuff me into a monkey suit.

They say a daughter is a man’s weakness. It’s the fucking truth.

She laughs as she smooths down her hand over my vest.

“I’m kidding,” she teases, kissing my cheek before stepping back and giving me a once over. “Okay, big guy, my job here is done. You look ready to marry the love of your life. It’s time for me to go primp the bride,” she declares, pressing another noisy kiss to my cheek. “I’m really happy for you, Dad.”

“Thanks, sweetheart, means a lot,” I reply, bringing her against my chest one more time.

“You’re going to squash the flowers!”

“Fuck it, we’ll get some more,” I kiss the top of her head. “Love you, Lace.”

“Love you too.”

After a few moments I loosen my grip on her, watch as she balances herself in her heels and grab the box of flowers on top of the bar.

“Where is the blushing bride, anyway?”

I grunt, shaking my head at the ridiculousness.

“She’s upstairs in my room, refusing to let me see her. I had to sleep here last night too and snuck out this morning so she could shimmy her ass in here,” I growl. “Woman is superstitious as all hell,” I say, taking another swig of the whiskey as Lacey’s laughter vibrates through me and her heels click across the floor.

Lacey disappears up the stairs to tend to Sunshine, leaving me with the florist and the baker that had arrived with the cake. All we were missing here was the fucking candlestick maker. Pipe and Wolf took to my sides, the nomads too. Except for Linc, who walked around the bar and pulled a few clean glasses out and filled them with the whiskey I was hogging.

“Think this day deserves a toast.” Pipe begins. “Never thought you’d take an Old Lady, much less marry one,” he says, handing me a glass.

“Fucking threw me for a loop too,” Wolf admits, raising his glass.

“And she’s hot,” Linc adds, earning a glare from me.

“The woman can cook too,” Wolf chimes in. “Not just a pretty face and smoking piece of ass.”

“Wolf,” I growl.

“Calm your tits, Parrish. Can’t help a man for appreciating beauty.” He lets out a huge belly laugh.

“To Jack and Reina,” Pipe cheers. “Here’s to health, wealth, and the little biker that’s going to be running around this place.”

raise my glass, tipping my chin to my brother in appreciation.

“To Reina,” I add. “And all the sunshine she brings to this place.”

“To Sunshine,” everyone cheers.

The Bill Wither’s song,
Ain’t No Sunshine
, always reminded me of Reina, especially after Jimmy Gold kidnapped her.

She was young, a bit shy, a whole lot sheltered until I came storming into her life.

I should’ve let her be.

But she had me from the very first time I set foot inside Dee’s Diner.

Now, I’d never let her go.

Because…

Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone.

Only darkness every day.

Standing in front of the mirror, I tie a knot in my white silk robe, my stomach twisting in knots. My anxiety spiking to levels I have never experienced. Today is my wedding day, a day I wasn’t so sure I’d ever see. I was going to marry the love of my life, promise to share all of me with all of him. I was going to be Jack Parrish’s wife.

It was everything I ever wanted and nothing I knew I needed. The crass biker who strode into the diner, night after night, for five weeks. The man I barely looked at, hardly spoke to. The man I never wanted to give a second glance was the man who rescued me from my own hell, my own torment and breathed life back into my soul. He healed me and in the process I healed him too. We were broken, lost, two fractured souls who found one another in a sea of grief and despair.

Piece by piece, brick by brick, we built one another up and then he asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes, I
wanted
to marry Jack Parrish more than I wanted to breathe. But as much as I wanted him, I was frightened to have him.

It all goes back to having everything and having everything to lose.

I’ve been there before.

My relationship with Danny may have been a farce. I still don’t know if he truly loved me. How could I? There were so many lies between us it was impossible to decipher the truth. At the time of the fire and his death I didn’t know about all the lies. After the fire I found myself in a hospital, covered in burns, listed as a Jane Doe, grieving for a man I knew nothing about. I grieved for the woman lost in that fire, the man I thought was my forever and the deceit our forever was built upon. I lost everything I thought I wanted.

Now I have everything I want but everything I need too. I have a real forever. True love. I have Jack Parrish and I am so afraid of losing him. My fear is consuming me, turning the happiest day of my life into a nightmare full of anxiety. I can’t shake the feeling lurking in the pit of my stomach. The strange sense that something terrible is about to happen. Call me crazy, but it’s not like doom doesn’t fall on the Satan’s Knights doorstep frequently. In fact, it’s more common than not.

I was too wrapped up in my head to hear the door open but I heard Lacey call for me as she walked around Jack’s room.

“In here,” I rasp, lifting my hand to my throat, swallowing down the fear and forcing a smile on my face, one that didn’t reach my eyes.

“Happy wedding day,” Jack’s daughter cheered. Standing in the doorway of the bathroom, her smile falters when she takes in my reflection in the mirror. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I lie, spinning around to face her.

Her eyes widened, and she takes a step closer, placing her hands on my shoulders.