“You bastard!”
“Really? The first words you’re gonna say on the morning of your wedding areYou bastard?Today is a sacred day, brother. Thou shalt not cuss or do anything little wifey wouldn’tapprove of.”
“The fuck is wrong with you?”
“Not a damn thing.” He grinned brightly.
“Screw you.” I laughed, reaching for a pillow to throw at his head.
He dodged it, and ran over to me, rubbing his hand over the top of my wet hair. “Come on, Fucker. Get up. I have promises to keep and women to please. If you’re not in that shower within the next five minutes, my ass is on the line.”
“Anyone would think you were taking this best man shit seriously.”
“Don’t get me started. I’m still pissed about that.”
“You really expected me to choose between my best friend and my VP?”
“Fuck, yeah, I did. VP is his job. Being your best friend has been voluntary, and I deserved the good karma that went along with that.”
I reached for another pillow, tossing it at him as hard as I could and earning an exaggerated grunt for my efforts. “Fine. I’ll share the role with Jedd. Blah, blah, whatever. Now get in the shower.”
For the first time in my life, I did as I was told without argument, moving where Slater told me to, showering, trimming my beard down and spraying whatever shit he told me to spray over my body and on my neck.
When it came to getting dressed, I stood in front of the clothes hanging off the curtain rail and smiled to myself.
“Stepping into the shoes of a new man, Drew,” Slater said with excitement. “You ready?”
“I was made for this,” I told him proudly, and then I reached up and pulled down my clothes, eventually shrugging into my crisp white shirt before I stepped into the smartest pair of black suit pants I’d ever owned.
Deeks and Eric had helped me pick them out after I’d toldthem both I didn’t want to do the traditional MC wedding attire. I wanted this to be a once in a lifetime day for both of us—one where I’d look like me, only different. I wanted to knock her off her feet as much as I knew she was going to knock me off mine.
By the time I was dressed, standing in front of the long mirror, I palmed down the front of my shirt and shook out my legs to make my trousers fall right.
Slater was standing next to me, holding onto the black vest we’d had made with white embroidery on the back in the design of my club’s patch. The Hounds and Reaper were with me… we were just being a bit fancy for the day. Slater held it out, and I pushed my arms through, shrugging it into place and pulling down the edges to make it fall as perfectly as it needed to.
“Smartest cut I ever did see,” Slater admitted softly.
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat and began to fasten the buttons up, stretching my neck out as I did.
It had been a hard decision, choosing not to wear my cut. A decision I didn’t take lightly. It was as much a part of me as my legs and arms were, and even though there was a tiny bit of regret at not feeling the weight of it on my shoulders, the weight was exactly what I’d wanted to be free of for just one day.
That cut was covered in responsibility, death, and mistakes.
Those weren’t welcome at the altar. I didn’t want the ghosts of anyone looking at Ayda while I told her all the things I needed to tell her. I didn’t want my mind to drift when the familiar smell of leather reminded me of a time I’d rather forget. My cut would go on later that night, once the ceremony was over, but for now, I needed this. I needed peace.
I wanted this for both of us.
“You think it’s too much?” I asked, staring at my own reflection as I bounced on the balls of my feet.
“Not even a little bit, you handsome fucker.”
I grinned and caught his eye, watching as he turned away and rubbed at his brow.
“Allergies, Slater?”
“Yeah,” he croaked. “Give me a minute.”
“Take all the time you need,” I said, rolling the sleeves of my shirt up to my elbows before I reached over to grab the black bow tie on the side. “Well, maybe not all the time you need. Ayda will kick your ass if you make me late, and one of us needs to figure out what the fuck to do with this.” I held out the bow tie and watched the fear shine from Slater’s eyes.
“Shit. We need Eric, don’t we?”
“I guess we do after all.”
