“But why is he here? What can he want?”
“I don’t know, but we’re about to find out. Billy went to get Connor from the back, and here he comes.”
Connor pushed through the door to the kitchen and stepped right up to Marcus, dwarfing him with his height and size. I saw Bart watching Dalton and the way he was rubbing his hand on Jensen’s back to soothe him. His eyes scrunched together in concern, then with a quick glance and chin lift to Taylor, Bart stood up and walked to the bar to be near the action. Taylor rolled his eyes at him but took the hint and stood up to walk behind him. I noticed his eyes shift down to Bart’s ass more than one time. Interesting. Did the fashionista have the hots for the bear?
While all the pieces on the board shifted around for better vantage points, James kept me firmly at his side in the back of the room, but we did both stand up to better see what was happening. We couldn’t hear much, but it was obvious from the stormy looks on our friends’ faces that Marcus was digging himself a very deep hole.
Connor shook his head forcefully at last, and Marcus’s voice went from conversational to a shout. “You don’t seem to understand I’m doing you a favor, dumbass. He’s a criminal and a known prostitute. I have it on good authority he’s scamming a prominent doctor in your town, and I’m trying to give you the opportunity to protect yourself. Do you want a thief and a whore working at your bar?”
I knew he was talking about me, but even though I knew none of it was true, I couldn’t believe he was saying such horrible things. Would anyone believe it? Would Connor throw me out and James kick me to the curb? The thought was too terrible even to consider. After finding my happiness in this town I called home, could Marcus just sweep in a take it all away?
“I don’t know who the fuck you think you are coming in my establishment and spreading lies about one of my employees, one of my friends, but I suggest you get out before I call the authorities and have you escorted from the premises.”
Marcus looked stunned for a split second, and then his face turned bright red with rage. “I am the fucking authorities, you dumb ass motherfucker. I threaten you. You don’t get to threaten me. I’ll have you locked up so fast you’ll forget your own name!”
Marcus reached for Connor, but Dalton stood up at that moment and stepped forward, making sure Jensen stayed back and out of harm’s way.
“You have no authority in this town, so I would suggest you stop threatening this man and leave.”
“I have all the authority I need. I’m a police officer for the New Orleans Police Department and the police in this little backwater town will be more than happy to listen to me and do what I say. Who the fuck are you to tell me what to do?”
Dalton pulled out his badge and flashed it to Marcus, who suddenly went from red faced to white with fright.
“I’m Detective Dalton Davenport with the Fairpoint Police Department, so if we’re talking authority here, I have all of it, and you have shit. Now, I’m only going to tell you to leave one more time politely before I call a few more deputies to get involved. Actually, I’m not. I’m just going to tell you that you need to get the fuck out of this building, this town, this county, and this state. Get your ass back to Louisiana and stay there, fucker, because I’m putting the word out to everyone I know in law enforcement from here to Mississippi. If we ever see you come back into the state, even for a vacation at the Gulf, I’ll know, and we’ll all be watching.”
Marcus seemed rooted to the spot for an entire minute, so Dalton lost patience and yelled, “I said get the fuck out, NOW!”
That seemed to do the trick, and Marcus turned and tried to walk away with the tatters of his dignity trailing behind him. I felt good knowing he was gone for now, but I had no idea if he’d be gone for good. Only time would tell.
After that, we all dispersed and went our separate ways. James insisted I come to his place to be safe, but I decided to stay and help Jensen get settled.
Over the next week, we spent all the time we could together, but the wedding was that weekend, and things were busy. The day of the wedding turned out beautiful weather-wise, but everything that could go wrong did. Jensen and I had to find an outfit for Connor and clean up Ladd’s kitchen so he wouldn’t have a panic attack over spilled hunch punch.
Dalton had asked Jensen to be his plus one for the day, and he had agonized over what to wear. After helping at the house, we’d come back to the apartment to get dressed, and I’d helped him choose a light pink and white striped shirt to go with his light gray slim fit suit. With his hair down around his shoulders, he looked beautiful and handsome all at the same time. Ethereal but still touchable.
I had decided to be a little more daring with my outfit. I’d chosen a gorgeous flowy black skirt with acream lace high necked blouse that buttoned up the back with tiny pearl buttons. I had bought it at a vintage store waiting for a special occasion to wear it. I decided to wear my hair down like Jens and let him do my makeup. Simple, yet tasteful for an afternoon wedding. If it had been summer, I had the perfect parasol to carry, too. But it wasn’t so I’d save it for another day.
When we got to the house, James was busy, so I just sat with Jensen on Ladd’s side of the aisle. The wedding was beautiful and overall hilarious. Gwen, for all intents and purposes James’s aunt, had been wrangled into performing the ceremony at the last minute, but she’d taken some Benadryl and been loopy as fuck. She’d even announced Ladd using his real name in the vows, and no one in the audience had been ready for that revelation.
In the end, Ladd got married to Connor, and it was obviously true love. I had to sigh and wish for a day like this for me and James…maybe…one day.
When we all got up to go back toward the house for the reception, James got his first look at me and my outfit. His eyes got a little shocked, then they lowered to a heavy-lidded perusal, up and down to my strappy black heels. They weren’t the best on the grass in the yard, but they made my legs look amazing. James thought so, too.
“Mmm, I’m loving those shoes, Ethan. In fact, I’m loving you in this whole outfit. If I thought you in tight jeans was fuckable, I’m thinking you in this skirt should be illegal.”
“Well, you haven’t seen what’s under the skirt, now have you. Maybe you should cuff me now and find out.”
James growled into my ear as he hugged me close, “We need to get to the reception now, but I swear I’m going to be hard for the whole night now. Thanks for that.”
I just kissed his sweet spot below his ear, licking it for good measure, and told him, “That was the plan all along. Who do you belong to?”
Without hesitation, he replied, “You, Ethan. I belong to you.”
“Good boy.” I patted his cheek and smirked.
We made our way up to the reception, hand in hand. James had to catch me a couple of times when my heel would get stuck in the grass in the yard or the gravel on the driveway. These were definitely sitting shoes, not walking shoes.
After an hour of mingling, we noticed the grooms finally making an appearance looking disheveled but very blissed out. Good for them.
