Mica comes through the door behind me and comes to a stop beside me. He’s just kind of hovering there, like he’s thinking of what to say.
I turn to face him and say what’s on my mind.
“Your family seems really nice,” I say. “Your mother’s warm and friendly. Your father’s honest, and I appreciate him clarifying that my grandfather didn’t do what you thought he did. Your brothers clearly love their families. And little Katie is clearly going to grow up to be extraordinary.”
Taking a breath, I continue, “But I need you to understand something. My grandfather built everything we have all on his own. He didn’t have a huge family, a personal fortress, or tons of cash to fall back on. It was just one man, building his simple little kingdom from the ground up pretty much by himself while he raised me. He started out slowly and saved money for each new truck he bought. His drivers showed up because he gave them a job worth showing up for. Each and every contract we have was based on relationships he built in the community.”
Mica’s face shifts into an increasingly confused expression until he interjects, “I don’t know why you’re telling me all this.”
“I’m telling you because I want you to understand that he carried all that responsibility and stress for thirty years. Then in the end he was forced to watch while the clubs you were allied with violated his territory. That’s what finally broke him. Watching his clubhouse get burned down and knowing there was no way to rebuild it gutted him.”
I throw up one hand when he opens his mouth to speak. “And then I come here and I sit at your family’s table, and I watch all of you eat, drink, and be merry, while he’s rotting in the ground and I’m still grieving his death. That is a special kind of pain that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”
He just stares at me.
I continue, “And the cherry on top is that for you and your family, that’s ancient history. It’s only been three months, and your club is already scheming and making deals to get your hands on Vulture’s territory. That’s some cold-hearted shit, Mica. And your entire family seems totally oblivious about howunfair that is. You’re so used to coming out on top that you don’t even see it.”
Mica doesn’t shrink away, deny it, or refuse to justify it. He doesn’t try to make me feel like a raving lunatic for feeling this way. He just stands there and lets everything I just told him sink in.
When he finally responds, it’s with empathy. “You’re right,” he says finally. “Nothing about this situation is fair. We need to rethink what we’re doing here.”
“I don’t see a way to make this right because all I really want is my gramps back. I want to have my own family to spend time with.”
“We both know that I can’t give you back what you lost,” he states quietly. “All I can do is make sure that what he built doesn’t get taken by someone who doesn’t understand what it cost him to build it.” He pauses. “I know it’s not enough, but I’m willing to keep working towards a solution that makes this easier to bear for you.”
I stand there in the Sons of Rage parking lot, wearing his property cut with his ring on my finger, and take a long, hard look at the man I’m about to marry. The one who didn’t try to minimize my grief or tell me I’m wrong about any of it, and I think that maybe he’s not the villain in my story after all. But unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily make him a true-blue friend either.
Chapter 5
Nova
Iwake up in a Sons of Rage clubhouse on my wedding day, just twelve days after meeting him. They put me in Mica’s suite last night. I don’t know where he slept or with whom. I know the one stipulation we both wanted was no sleeping with other people for the duration of the marriage. It seems like it would be counterproductive to our cause. So, last night was his last opportunity. For all I know, he might have banged every club girl in this huge clubhouse.
I pick up my phone from the nightstand and check the time. It’s seven forty-three. There are three texts from that random dude I went out with a few times, the one who can’t seem to take no for an answer.
I heard what you did, bitch.
We can talk this out.
They’re accompanied by a longer rambling text that falls more into the category of unhinged love bombing. This dude is an absolute lunatic. He more or less left me alone after being confronted by my grandfather, but once Vulture died, he’s been back full force—with a short reprieve while he was locked up for a bar fight that put some guy into the hospital.
Unfortunately, now he’s out, he’s apparently branched out into stalking. I turn the screen face down on the nightstand before I get to the end of it. I don’t have the spoons to deal with that asshat today.
I drag myself out of bed and go to the window. The back lot of the Sons clubhouse is already filling up. I force myself to go ahead and get into the shower before I get my first cup of coffee. And it’s a good thing I do because Queenie arrives a few minutes later with my wedding gown draped over one arm and a huge mug of coffee in the other. I gratefully take the coffee from her, murmuring, “Thank you. You don’t know how much I needed this.”
“I can guess,” she says excitedly. Pulling the dress out of the bag, she hangs it carefully on a tall shelf. It’s all tulle and shaped like a ballgown. “The dress is going to be perfect on you.”
Behind her come three other women in various states of carrying things. Jasper’s wife, I learn, is Tessa. She sets down a large bag and immediately starts pulling out makeup. Slate’s wife is Christina. She used to be an investigative reporter. Onyx’s wife is Emily. She’s the youngest of the three.
“Sit,” Queenie tells me, pointing at the chair in front of the small vanity they apparently brought up last night because it wasn’t here when I went to sleep.
Tessa gets to work on my hair with the focused energy of someone who takes this seriously. Christina refills my coffee from a thermos.
“How are you doing?” Emily asks, settling onto the edge of the bed with her own coffee.
“I’m fine,” I say, which is what I always say.
Queenie announces, “You’re allowed to be nervous,” she says. “Every woman in this room was nervous on her wedding day. Even me, and I’ve known Rock since I was nineteen.”
