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Dani waved her hand between us. “Either way, he’s not a man to be controlled, which Rex will find out eventually and when he does, it’ll be too late. You’ll be a Coleman and an Iron Vows old lady, and totally out of his reach.” The glee in her eyes was contagious.

“Oh, I like the way you think, Dani!” Her words pumped new life and new excitement into my veins. “A man not under Rex’s thumb means some kind of freedom, even if it isn’t total freedom.” It wasn’t everything, not by a long shot.

But today? Right now?

It was enough.

It was the spark of hope I needed to make it through my wedding.

Chapter Four

Ivy

My wedding dress was two years old, black, and bought for someone else’s funeral. Despite what Dani thought, I refused to waste money on another dress I only planned to wear once. This wasn’t a spectacle or a celebration, it was a business transaction, and black felt appropriate. It was also the only thing I packed that was a dress, which made the choice easy.

When I’d arrived at the compound yesterday, I’d expected to be taken to meet my fiancé, but instead, I was shown to what was essentially a bunkhouse. One of the club girls, Minx, had shown me to it. She seemed nice, completely different from the bitchy women who hung around Rex’s club. I’d asked why I was staying there and not in the clubhouse, and she’d given a shrug. I’d spent most of the evening contemplating my future. I wasn’t a prisoner, no one had locked the door, but I was too scared to walk around in case I went somewhere I wasn’t supposed to. So instead, I’d stared at the walls. It wasn’t a bad room, it was clean, there was a small bathroom with a shower, and in the corner, there was a basic kitchen with a microwave, a refrigerator, and an electric burner. The fact it didn’t look like anyone lived here permanently made me wonder if it was where they put guests.

Maybe people they didn’t want in the clubhouse…

If that was the case and they didn’t trust me, then I wasn’t sure how that boded for my marriage. Was that why Knox hadn’t been to see me? Was he being forced into this as well?

Somehow, despite my churning thoughts, I managed to sleep. I woke up before the sun, dressed carefully, and applied a minimal amount of makeup because I wanted to look nice, but not like I was trying too hard. My hair decided to cooperate today, which I took as a small mercy given everything else, and slicked on a thick layer of candy apple red lipstick.

Only partially because Rex hated me wearing makeup. He thought it made me look like a whore, which was fitting since he sold me to benefit his MC. Not today. Not ever again. He didn’t deserve any more space in my brain, so I banished him before creeping from my room and investigating the Iron Vows’ compound.

The sun was just starting to rise in the sky as I stepped out, turning my gaze to the patch of grass in the distance that would be the spot of my wedding. The grass was green and wildflowers cropped up sporadically, providing a gorgeous rainbow of color for the otherwise perfunctory occasion. A scruffy looking, three-legged dog trotted up to me. By the way his tail wagged, I guessed he was friendly.

“Hey, boy,” I said as I bent down to stroke him. I glanced around to see if his owner was around, but I couldn’t see anyone. Maybe he was the club’s dog?

I decided to take a closer look at the wedding spot and walked toward it, the dog trailing at my heels.

“I see you met Tripod?” The voice was incredibly deep with just a touch of gruffness.

It was also unexpected, startling a squeak out of me before I turned to the owner of the voice—who was probably the most handsome man I’d ever seen. “He’s friendly,” I said as I gave the dog’s head a scratch. I could have added unlike everyone else here, but I had to be on my best behavior. Instead, I decided to be sociable. “You’re up early, I thought it was just me awake at this time.”

“Figured we should meet each other before we take our vows,” he responded.

Before we take our vows. “You’re Knox,” I said, my voice carefully blank to hide my shock.

His lips pulled into a crooked grin. “That’s me, which makes you Ivy.”

I nodded because I couldn’t find my voice. The man was everything Dani promised and more. He was tall enough that I had to look up to him, which put him at well over six feet to my five-foot-eight frame. But it wasn’t just height, he also had breadth, with broad shoulders that probably took up an entire doorway. Everything about him was big. And intimidating. From the scar that lined his left jaw to his piercing gray eyes, everything about this man was serious. And masculine. “How old are you?”

His dark brows shot up as if I’d surprised him. “Is that important?”

“Not especially, no. I just, um, well I don’t know anything about you other than your name and your MC affiliation. Just curious.” He had salt and pepper hair, though his face was unlined. And he was far more handsome than I was expecting.

“I’m thirty-nine.”

My shoulders relaxed instantly. “Oh. Okay.” I said. He was older than I expected, but not exactly old.

“Problem?” He tilted his head as if he was amused, which caused a tingling sensation I didn’t want to think about too closely.

“Not at all,” I answered honestly. “Not that it matters if it was a problem, but it’s not. It’s just information, that’s all.”

He watched me for so long that it unsettled me. “You’re not what I expected either.”

I stood a little taller, hugging my mother’s jacket tighter around my body. I knew what I looked like and I knew my shortcomings, Rex made sure of it over the years. I was too tall, had too many curves, I talked too much, and asked too many questions. “In what way?” I asked before I could chicken out.