Evanescent Ink (Copperline #4) (20 page)

“Great, I'll meet you here at three then. Bye!” Ilsa turned towards the door, smiling back at us, then headed out into the cold, wintry day.

Neither Raven nor I really said anything after she left. I think we were both a little shocked by Ilsa’s request. By her wanting to include Raven in her wedding day. Part of me wondered if the girls were trying to do some matchmaking. Trying to force the issue since they knew I obviously had some interest in Raven. Christ, they all heard me fucking her up against the bathroom door at the Copperline.

They just didn’t realize that it was a bit tenuous. By pushing Raven and I together, they might make Raven bolt, and I really didn’t want that.

Really
really.

My customer came in not long after Ilsa had left, so I had to get to work. The whole time I did the tat, I worried about how she’d react to this once the surprise wore off. Especially on the heels of a rather tense conversation where I was trying to make something out of nothing. Raven seemed pretty sure it was nothing, anyway.

Friends.

Fuck buddies.

Fun.

That’s what it was.

Somehow, her certainty nagged at me, bringing about a sense of melancholy that latched on. After the client left, I sat back in the quiet of in my office trying to figure out why it should even bother me. Free and easy should be just that. Free and easy.

Justin did it all the time. I used to a long time ago, back before Maggie. Brannon used to before Sophie, as did Denny before Felicity. About the only one of us who wasn’t a total manwhore in the past was Cody. He was always kinda waiting for just the right one to come along. Not that he hadn’t slept around before Ilsa, he just did it with more of a conscience than the rest of us.

Free and easy just didn’t seem like enough all of a sudden. Not that I’d ever had anything similar with Maggie, but I was starting to envy the closeness my friends had with their women. I felt a little cold, like I’d always be on the outside looking in.

While I sat there lost in my own little conundrum, Raven came in. She sat on my lap and kissed me. Her tender touch pulled me out of my head and, next thing I knew, we were naked on the couch.

Raven was back to being, well…
Raven
. The same Raven she always had been, as though that terse conversation had never even happened.

She had distracted me with sex. Again. She was really fucking good at that. At one point in the midst of it, though, I heard the faintest catch in her breathing. A slight sob as she wrapped her arms around me.

It made me wonder if, maybe, she was distracting herself a little bit, too.

Brannon seemed nervous, checking his watch for the eight-millionth time. He sighed loudly, then began to pace back and forth, pulling at his collar.

“Where the fuck is he?” he groused.

Cody, on the other hand, was totally calm, sprawled out in a chair with Max who lay curled up with the empty ring bearer pillow as he snoozed away in Cody’s arms. They were the epitome of laid back, a veritable paradox of relaxation mixed with the semi-formality of their clothes. Both were dressed in suit jackets over charcoal grey dress shirts and black ties like Brannon, Denny, and I. All looking sort of GQ, aside from the black jeans.

Thank fuck Ilsa had decided on us wearing jeans. It was cold as a witch’s tit outside, which meant freezing cold junk in dress pants, especially when you had hardware like my apa in it.

We were all decked out, though, aside from the jeans. Ready to rock. All a little tense and apprehensive. Well, all of us except Cody.

Cody was mellow as only Cody could ever be. Chill, as though it wasn’t even his wedding day. As if there wasn’t a massive snowstorm blowing down out of the mountains that threatened to snow us all in and cut the power to the little stone church on the outskirts of Ophir. As though Justin wasn’t running late, which wouldn’t be such a bad thing if he hadn’t gotten ordained online to officiate.

I envied Cody sometimes. He had an ability to just let the troubles of life roll off his back. He had his own shit to deal with, just like everyone else, but he rarely got upset about things. He just went with the flow.

“Why the fuck did we let Justin to do the ceremony anyway?” Brannon huffed to himself. “Justin of all people… why
Justin
?”

Across the room, Denny walked back and forth across the room holding Eoghan, who was also completely crashed against his shoulder. Everyone was speaking in hushed whispers in an attempt to let boys get their naps in before the ceremony. The plan was to have it short and sweet, but even then, it would all run so much smoother if the little guys were well-rested.

In response to Brannon’s quiet rant, Denny shrugged. “It’s probably partial to having him bring along some loose bit who’s rogered the groom.”

“Speak English, you fucker,” Brannon scowled.

“He didn’t want to be a groomsman anyway,” Cody explained. “He was afraid he’d get paired up with some chick who might get territorial and needy. I think he’s hoping to score one or two desperate wedding attendees, even though I tried to tell him it was going to be a small thing. He’s just sure there’ll be one or two hot little targets, though.”

“Okay,” Cody’s mother exhaled as she came into the small room in the back of the church where we were getting ready. “Justin just got here. There’s about three hundred candles out there now, all lit. Your dad has brought a couple of the propane heaters and has scattered them here and there to keep everyone toasty warm. Let the storm come. We’re ready to make your little family whole, son.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Cody grinned up at her. With a kiss on the little blonde head resting against his chest, he started waking up Max. “Hey, buddy,” he murmured. Baby blue eyes opened up to sleepily smile back. “Shall we go out to the church to see the prettiest woman in the world?”

As it turned out, we did lose power. Somehow, though, it made everything seem a little more perfect. The lights went out, leaving the church to bask in the warm glow of hundreds of candles.

I stood up at the front on the end next to Denny, still kind of marveling that Cody had no doubts. No concerns. I hadn’t expected him of all people to get cold feet, but he seemed so sure that it was almost unnerving. Of course, he’d kinda been like that ever since he met Ilsa. He had never wavered, not even when things seemed impossible.

We watched down the aisle as Brannon’s sister, Mira, who had sort of become almost like a big sister to Cody over the years, came towards us holding Eoghan’s hand on one side and Max’s on the other. Each little boy clutched a silver pillow that they gave to Justin before Mira guided them over to the front pew to sit down.

Then Raven appeared in the doorway.

In the candlelight, her pale skin seemed somewhat pearlescent against the steely grey satin of her dress. The sheen from the fabric almost seemed to reflect the violet strands of her hair. The dress itself was fairly simple, especially in light of the complexity of what she usually wore. The slim-fitting satin fell from her bare shoulders, interrupted by lengths of ribbon wrapped around her torso. It accentuated her slender waist, reminiscent of a corset in a very Raven way, but softer. Silky. Almost wispy.

Touchable.

Felicity followed behind her, her dress a similar color, but a different cut and edged in a thick lace. Then Sophie, again in grey satin in yet another design that reminded me of a silver screen movie star. And last, of course, came Ilsa.

She shone in her white dress, perfect for a winter wedding with tiny sparkling crystals that scattered lightly across her arms and fitted waist to intensify at the flared hem of the skirt. It was like a freshly fallen snow on a sunny Montana day, and every movement glimmered in the candlelight around us. Long sleeves extended just past her wrists, looping up to catch her thumb, and the wide-scooped neckline ended at the gentle curve of her shoulder. She wore no veil, but her hair fell long and smooth down her back, pulled back from her face with a brilliant headband.

Simple. Elegant. Stunning.

For a second when she appeared, I thought Cody was going to faint. One of the only times I’d ever seen him actually kind of lose his cool. He froze solid. The dude seriously stopped breathing. I swear his heart quit beating for a moment.

Just as I started to worry a little that he was going to lose his shit, he recovered, smiling wider with every step she took until she stood before him.

And then he sorta put the cart before the horse by pulling her close and pressing a firm, deep kiss to her lips.

“Uh, son,” his dad murmured from the front row where he sat with his arm around Cody’s mom, “you’re supposed to do that at the end.”

A light chuckle filtered through the small crowd, but Cody barely noticed. He brushed his thumb against Ilsa’s cheek and smiled down at her.

That tingle in my chest, the one that had plagued me earlier, began again. As I watched Cody marry the love of his life, I looked across at Raven. She suddenly appeared incredibly fragile. The hollow just above her collar bones stood out in the low candlelight, deepening with each shaky breath. She blinked away the faint sparkle of tears in her eyes and caught her trembling lip in her teeth as the couple said their vows. As they promised themselves and their lives to each other.

For a moment, her gaze swept over to me, haunted in appearance. I almost thought she was going to bolt for a second, but she quickly dropped her gaze, turning back to watch Cody kiss his bride once again… this time on cue.

In the back of the church was a reception area with a small kitchen off the side. There was cake and hors d'oeuvres. Cody’s older brother, who had been Cody’s driving force to get into music in the first place, brought his band to set up in the corner. Everything was low key and easy, but perfect for the occasion. As the wind blew outside and snow fell in deep drifts, the little celebration took place.

Raven stayed fairly close to Felicity, feeling a slight sense of kinship with Denny’s colorful wife. She held Eoghan as she watched as the ten or so couples in attendance danced. She chatted with Brannon’s sister and even with Sophie who, like I had imagined, chose not to hold anything against her for her slight transgression so long ago. She gave Ilsa a hug, letting just the slightest wave of emotion cross her face before she quickly shut it down.