I raise my head from the back of the couch where I crashed after the third hour of Pops’ lessons. Everyone else has gone to bed, Mad Dog is asleep next to me, and Rider is in the kitchen looking for leftovers because the other three helpings he had obviously weren't enough.
“I don’t know. We just spent time together, became friends? I don’t know!”
“Pheromones,” Rider says around a mouthful of sausage. “That's the only explanation. Your stank matched her stank and boom! You’re together.” He looks at me thoughtfully. “Did your stank change?”
“I don’t think so?”
“Well, regardless of stank, you’re marrying my grandbaby in -” Pops’ gaze shoots to the clock overhead, “ten hours. And you have no vows, not special words. Nothing. Andthento make matters worse you have no plan on how to keep Sage other than ‘do nice things for her’. Fucking pitiful,” Pops spits.
“I just don’t know what to do. Or say. She didn’t even want this wedding! The marriage is to keep that fucker whatshisface off her back. She would have been happier to marry TumTum!” I bitch.
“I’m a good choice,” he says from out of nowhere, making all of us jump.
“Fuck’s sake, Jimmy! I’m old!” Pops growls.
“You’re notthatold,” TumTum says, waving a hand at him before he points a sausage in my direction. “Youknowher man. Better than anyone. You got that dress for her, you buy her flowers all the time. You know when to be up in her business and when to pull back. You got it.”
“Aw, thanks man.”
“Aw, thanks man,” Pops mocks and I’ve about had enough of his shit. I’m tired. Grumpy. And dare I say it, fucking nervous.
I shoot Pops daggers. “Why are you up my ass about this?”
“Why am I up your ass?Why am I up your ass?Oh, because you didn’t see what Sage was like after you fucked things up. You didn’t see her lose her fucking light and become someone I almost didn’t recognize. She was always quiet, but after you left? She barely fucking spoke you absolute douche canoe.” He lets out a breath. “That is why I’m up your ass, Sunshine. I know that you fucking love that woman. But that isn’t enough for me. You loved her before and you fucked that all up.” He jabs a finger at me. “So, you’re going to work your ass off to prove to me, to God, and to every other fucker in attendance tomorrow that you not only love her, but that you’ll fucking worship the ground shewalks on for the rest of her life. Because you know what?” I shake my head, unable to form words after all the arrows he’s aimed at me. “A woman only gets to have the experience of walking down that aisle for the first time once in her life. Sure she can get married as many times as she likes, but that first time? That’s the big one. And this whole wedding might be a bullshit way to keep her safe, but -” He stares me straight in the eye, “there is a teeny tiny possibility that you play your cards right and you get to keep her. Forever. So you’ll want this wedding to be fucking perfect. Right down to your dumb ass standing there watching your future walking toward you.”
“Whoa,” TumTum breathes.
“Andthatis why he is the Love Prez,” Rider crows.
“So, kid. You gonna do this, or am I gonna have to fuck you up?”
I stare at Pops, the twinkle in his eye growing the longer I stare at him. “There is no future for me without Sage in it.”
“Obviously. Now, back to the beginning. Tell me all the reasons why a peckerhead like you deserves a woman like Sage.”
“I don’t-”
“Don’t start that shit! I don’t want the sob story of a man who whines about not deserving a woman. I want the story of the man standing in front of me willing to fight for his woman. Why?!”
“Because I’d fight to the fucking death to keep her safe!” I yell, exasperated. “Because I would fucking crawl through broken glass to see her smile at me. Because I’d work my ass off to give her everything her fucking heart desired. Because I have to live up to the image of the man she sees when she looks at me. Because she fucking deserves me to be better!” I roar, jolting Mad Dog awake.
“Damn, Chef,” Rider murmurs as Pops’ smile grows.
“There he is. The man that will marry my grandbaby.” Pops nods with approval. “Now, go get some sleep. You look like shit.”
The Mole
“Where. Is. Benjamin?” The voice growls over the phone and I have to remember that I’m safe. For now at least.
“I don’t know. I went to the meeting point and he never showed up. But,” I swallow, my hand on my throat, my pulse thundering beneath my fingers. “They, um, they found body parts. Last night.”
I brace for the yelling, the snarling, the belittling. The words that cut like a knife because I can’t do anything right.
“How?”
“I’m not sure. All I know is there were some parts found in the gator rescue place.”
“The what?” his voice snarls down the line so clearly that it feels like he’s in the room with me.
