“Well, if y’all don’t like the wig, then maybe I should get this one,” Hyacinth announced loudly.
I looked up just in time to see her hold up a platinum blonde, thirty-inch monstrosity.
Emory recoiled. “Oh, wow. Brae can't possibly like you in shit like that.”
Hy's glossed lips pulled into a thin line. Very few things could shake my cousin's sense of humor. Mentioning Braeden Christopher was one of those things. Emory was taking no prisoners.
“You always talking shit,” Hy responded, voice tight.
Em shrugged. “Because you keep giving me opportunities.”
I shook my head, grinning despite the tension suddenly sitting over us. I was definitely trying to focus on the positive. The last week should’ve felt perfect. Real and Everly were finally getting married. My family was happy. Every relative we had was cooking, decorating, or offering me and Ev advice as we set off on our married lives.
And Targen…
Lawd.
My tattoo reveal had done something to that man. Well, that and that lil blowjob. He looked at me last night and thismorning like I personally hung the moon over Louisiana. My husband acted like he still couldn’t believe I gave him permanent evidence I was choosing him and being his wife. It wasn’t because I was suddenly unafraid or one hundred percent sure. It was just that I wanted him too much to do anything else.
I should’ve felt good, and I did... mostly. But something kept me uneasy whenever I let myself think too long.
“You good?” Emory asked quietly, appearing beside me with lashes in one hand and hair jewelry in the other.
I nodded. She pursed her lips and stared. I sighed.
“I’m thinking.”
“That’s always dangerous.”
“Very,” Hyacinth agreed, finally, thankfully, abandoning the wig section.
I grabbed a bottle of setting spray off the shelf. “I just…” My shoulders lifted helplessly. “I hate feeling like I’m waiting for something bad to happen.”
Both their expressions softened immediately.
“Nobody gon’ touch you,” Hyacinth said firmly.
I smiled at her. “Thank you. I?—”
“Ay, where the fuck I'm s'posed to find curling rods?”
The sudden, loud voice made my skin crawl. Hyacinth’s expression hardened instantly.
“Well. Ain’t this some raggedy shit,” she muttered.
I turned.
Kemp. Fucking, evil ass Kemp. Chauncey’s cousin leaned against the counter like he belonged there. eyes already fixed on me. I hadn’t seen him since last year, on the day I first met my husband…
Targen and I stood there like two goofies until one of the back doors suddenly opened and my cousin Shep stepped into the kitchen from the door that opened into the solarium. His ass had probably passed out drunk back there. Seeing the manbehind him wiped the smile from my face and made my blood run cold.
"Theory?" Targen said softly.
I shook my head as tremors seized my body.
"Y'all ain't cooked yet?" Shep groaned.
I couldn't answer, felt my mind leaving the kitchen. And then Targen was there, his back to my front as he sheltered me behind him.
