Aggie wrapped the corset around her.
“I didn’t mind,” Aggie said, cinching the lacings at Jessica’s back. “Too tight?” she asked, concern in her voice.
“No,” Jessica said. She felt very tall for some reason. If the corset didn’t make her a bit thinner, at the very least it gave her fantastic posture. “You can tighten it more.”
“You have me worried about the baby now,” Aggie said.
“He’s about the size of my thumb at the moment. Doesn’t take up much room.”
“Can you get enough air, though?”
Jessica nodded. “I’m fine. Really.”
“You look sexy as hell in that thing,” Beth said. “I almost wish I was a lesbian. Will you embroider one for me, Aggie? Not that I have a man to wear it for, but I can wear it while I study. Maybe it would help me think.”
Aggie chuckled. ”Of course, hon. And maybe you’ll meet someone at the reception. There are at least ten thousand people coming, judging by the size of that reception hall.”
“Only five hundred,” Jessica said, rolling her eyes. She would never in a million years figure out how her mother had found five hundred people to attend the reception, much less RSVP that they were coming. Jessica didn’t know five hundred people. Maybe they were all Sed’s acquaintances. She hadn’t recognized many of the names on the guest list. At least she and Sed had gotten the final say on the guest list for the wedding, though her mother had kept sneaking people onto that as well.
She slipped her dress back up over her shoulders, closed her eyes and held her breath as Aggie zipped it. The gown zipped with ease. Jessica released a sigh of relief. She turned and hugged Aggie before bursting into tears.
Aggie hugged her tightly and patted her back. “Don’t cry, kitten,” she said. “You’ll ruin your make-up and then we’ll have to listen to your mother bitch some more.”
Jessica laughed. More of a huff. It turned out that laughing was a chore when one was cinched tight into a corset. Maybe that’s why Aggie didn’t laugh very often. At least she hadn’t been very joyful when she’d been acclimating Jessica to the stripper world in Vegas. Aggie laughed a lot more now that she was with Jace, and she still wore corsets.
Wiping at her tears, Jessica drew away from Aggie and plastered a smile on her face. “I owe you one, Aggie.”
“I’ll be getting married soon enough,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll help me out of a disaster or two.”
Jessica lit up. This was the first time she’d heard Aggie actually mention her wedding, though she’d been engaged to Jace for almost a year. “Have you picked a date?”
She shook her head, straight black bangs dancing across her forehead. The woman had the most flawless white skin. She must never go out in the sun.
“We’re waiting for a location to speak to us. There are things you just know are right, you know?”
Jessica nodded.
“So we’ll get married when and where it feels right,” Aggie said. “No rush. It’s not like we’re planning on having kids anytime soon.”
“You’ll have to change your dungeon into a kid friendly playroom instead of an adults-only one,” Jessica teased.
Aggie chuckled, her laugh deep and throaty. “That’s the main reason I’m in no hurry. I’m rather fond of that dungeon just the way it is. And Jace likes it even more than I do.”
“Are all the corsets you make white?” Beth interrupted. From the expectant expression on her face, she’d been looking for an opening.
“Most are black.” Aggie cupped the back of Jessica’s head. “Feather looks gorgeous in white though.”
Jessica flushed and then burst out laughing. “I’m never going to live that stripper name down, am I?”
“Not with me, kitten.” Aggie winked at her and then turned to her cousin. Seeing them side by side, Jessica realized they looked a bit alike. Beth was far more understated than Aggie, so it was easy to overlook her beauty. Beth’s hair was brown instead of black and she was tanned from the Southern Californian sun, but the cousins had the same bright blue eyes. Same thick lashes, lush lips, and knockout smile. Yet Aggie was vibrant, and Beth seemed ready to crawl into bed to take a nap. The poor dear needed to study less, Jessica decided. Maybe she could find some spare time to help her out. They’d always studied together when they were roommates. Plus she hadn’t seen near enough of Beth since moving in with Sed.
“Let’s measure you for your corset, Beth,” Aggie said. “I think you’ll look great in black. What kind of design do you want embroidered?”
While Aggie and Beth discussed corsets, Jessica excused herself to go check on the rest of her bridal party. She found Elise and Kylie on the deck at the back of the house, watching the waves. The sky looked blacker than ever, but so far it hadn’t started raining. Jessica just wanted it to hold off until she was married to Sed and then it could rain as much as it wanted. Reagan and Rebekah were talking music in the second bedroom—a conversation Jessica couldn’t hope to participate in. She found Myrna in the living room with Malcolm in her arms. She was feeding him. Jessica practically melted as she leaned over the back of the sofa to watch him suckle. He had one hand splayed over his mother’s breast. His dark brown eyes were fixated on her face as he sucked. Jessica couldn’t wait to hold Sed’s child to her breast and have him look up at her with his father’s eyes. She could already picture it.
“He’s so beautiful, Myrna,” Jessica said.
“I can’t argue,” she said with a chuckle and rubbed the baby’s cheek with one knuckle. “I happen to agree.”
Malcolm paused and smiled up at Jessica around his mother’s nipple. Jessica cooed at him, completely in love with the little guy.
“I think he has a crush on you,” Myrna said. “He’s going to be heartbroken when you marry his rival in an hour.”
An hour? Jessica glanced at the clock over the television in the corner. It was a few minutes until ten. She would be married in just over an hour. Feeling suddenly light-headed, she moved around the sofa to flop down on the cushions.
“I should probably go check to make sure everything is ready,” she said.
“Trust the people you put in charge,” Myrna said. “Everything will go exactly as planned and if it doesn’t…” She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter as long as you end up married to the man you love, right?”
Jessica wasn’t so sure, but she nodded at Myrna’s words of wisdom. “Right.”
When Malcolm finished feeding, Myrna settled him over her shoulder and patted his back. He let out a mighty belch.
Jessica giggled. “Well, there’s something he got from his father.”
“No, I do believe he inherited that from me.” Myrna laughed as she patted her son’s back.
“Can I hold him?” Jessica asked. Nothing would calm her nerves more than cuddling with her favorite future guitarist for a few moments.
Myrna handed Malcolm to her and rose to her feet. “I’m going to go find my shoes,” she said, adjusting the bodice of her elegant red gown. “I’ll be right back.”
“No rush,” Jessica assured her.
Malcolm immediately reached for Jessica’s veil, but she moved him out of reach just in time, holding him at arms’ length.
“Are you being naughty?” she asked in a high-pitched voice and made a face at him.
He giggled and blew a raspberry at her.
“Did you learn something new?” She blew a raspberry back at him.
He blew another raspberry, which was more an exercise in creating as much drool as possible and spraying it in all directions. They continued their giggling raspberry war until Malcolm’s brown eyes widened unexpectedly and he spat milk. Jessica hadn’t been fast enough, and the warm liquid landed on her dress between her boobs and slid down her front to pool on her lap.
“Shit,” she said, leaping to her feet, still holding Malcolm at arm’s length as she glanced down at the damage. “A little help here!” she called. “Malcolm just puked all ove
r my dress.”
Malcolm’s lips twisted together, his little chin quivered, and his eyes filled with tears. His wails of apology tugged hard on Jessica’s heartstrings.
“Shh, it’s okay,” she crooned and bounced him slightly. She couldn’t very well cuddle him against her and spread the muck from her dress to his adorable miniature tuxedo.
Her entire bridal party rushed to her aid. Myrna took her son and tried to calm him down. Beth wiped. Elise blotted. Aggie ran to the kitchen to wet a towel.
“At least it’s white,” Reagan said. “It won’t show much.”
Could anything else go wrong this morning? Jessica wondered.
The front door opened, and her mother breezed into the little beach house, looking more grave than the Grim Reaper at his own funeral.
“We’re going to have to delay the wedding,” she said.
Apparently there was plenty more that could go wrong.
Chapter Three
Sed watched himself try to fix his weird-ass tie in the mirror. It wasn’t like a regular tie at all. It was very wide and the fabric thin. It reminded him of an elongated cloth napkin. Morning tuxedo, Jessica had called it. Stupid was more like it. As he attempted to knot the tie for the fourth time, he wondered if Jessica would be incredibly upset if he tossed it in the garbage and claimed to have lost it. Finally giving up when the tie ended up looking like a clown collar, he stepped out of Brian’s bedroom to ask for help. Yeah, him. Badass lead singer and rock star asking other dudes how to dress. The things he did to keep the love of his life happy.
“Does anyone know what to do with these stupid fucking ties?” he said.
He noted that all the members of his wedding party were fully dressed—with ties. Apparently he was the only dumbass who couldn’t figure out how to tie the fucking thing.
“Over, under, around and through,” Eric said, swirling his hands around as if translating Pig Latin into sign language.
“Jace tied ours,” Brian said, and Eric scowled at him for not giving him sufficient time to fuck with Sed’s head.
“Jace?” Sed asked.
“He’s like a wedding expert,” Trey said about the man in question, who was blushing furiously and trying to look like a tough guy at the same time. “Weirdest shit I’ve ever seen.”
“My mom used to play piano and organ at weddings,” Jace said. “She didn’t want to hire a babysitter, so she forced me to go with her and I learned a few tricks over the years.” He shrugged as if it were normal for a young male to pick things up about weddings. “What can I say? I was a cute little boy.”
“Don’t short-change yourself just because you’re short,” Eric said. “You’re still a cute little boy.” He pinched Jace’s cheek, distorting his face into something comical.
“Fuck you, Sticks,” Jace said, slapping at his hand.
“Aww, will you look at that face?” Eric said, stretching Jace’s cheek into an even more distorted shape. “He was obviously a fairy wedding princess in a past life and is using this cute little boy claim as a cover.”
He released Jace’s face to punch him squarely in the shoulder.
Jace ignored the assault, but Sed didn’t doubt that Jace would get even with Eric later. When Eric was least expecting it.
“Sit and I’ll tie it for you,” Jace offered to Sed.
So Sed sat on a spare ottoman and Jace stood behind him, reaching around his neck to tie his tie. Sed was going to have to beat up someone after subjecting himself to this level of feminization and having a man who wasn’t his dad tying his tie for him. It couldn’t be his dad because Dad had passed away a couple months before. Had he lived, would he have known how to tie the ridiculous accessory? Sed doubted it. His dad had been very blue collar. He’d only owned one tie—a clip-on, at that—and had only worn it on Sundays and to his grave.
Jace slapped Sed’s shoulder when he’d finished. “There you go,” he said.
“Thanks,” Sed said gruffly. He glanced down at the neat knot at his throat and the perfect creases on either side of it. “Wow, Jace really is a fairy wedding princess. What. A. Pussy.”
Sed wasn’t expecting to be tackled to the floor by Jace. Eric body-slammed Jace into Sed’s chest, and soon they were all buried in a dog pile of hard bodies and flailing arms and legs. He wasn’t able to deliver a single blow of retaliation. Sed supposed they were all feeling a bit tense and domesticated. So acting like a sextet of immature idiots—even Dave had abandoned his wheelchair to join the wrestling match—did wonders for Sed’s level of anxiety. It didn’t do much good for the perfectly pressed condition of his tuxedo, but fuck it. If today didn’t go as planned for him and Jessica, they’d get past it. The only thing that could possibly ruin his day was if she stood him up at the altar. But she wouldn’t do that to him. She couldn’t leave him in misery again. She wouldn’t.
Would she?
Of course not.
Sed grabbed someone’s arm and heard a yelp of pain from Trey. A knee landed uncomfortably close to Sed’s crotch, and he stiffened. Okay, destroying his junk would also ruin his day. He had big plans for his fifth appendage that evening.
“Off!” he yelled and then added, “Umph,” as an elbow connected with his stomach.
It took a while for everyone to feel as if they’d gotten in all the licks they were entitled to, but eventually they collected themselves enough to get into the Blake’s wheelchair-accessible van and head for the beach.
Through the windshield, Sed scowled at the dark sky overhead. He glanced at Eric in the driver’s seat.
“You don’t think it would dare rain on my wedding day, do you?”
“Rain on The Sedric Lionheart’s wedding day?”
“Yeah.”
“Rain on Mr. Lead Singer, Rock God, Control Freak, Boss of the Entire World’s wedding day?”
“It wouldn’t, would it?” Sed asked, scowling darkly at the rain clouds to put them in their fucking place.
Eric smirked. “Of course not.”
“That’s what I thought,” he said, but he wasn’t sure if the clouds had gotten his all-important memo.
Eric parked the van in one of the few disabled parking slots still available. The street in both directions was full of parked cars, as was the very small parking lot.
“Well, Dave,” Eric joked, “you’re good for more than mixing a live show after all. Premium parking!”
Sed reached over and slapped him for being an ass, but Dave just laughed.
“I’m keeping those plates even after I lose this chair,” he vowed.
Which Sed feared would be never. Dave had progressed in his recovery to taking a few steps when necessary, but not much farther. His physical therapy was continually disrupted by their tour schedule and while his sister, Rebekah, helped him strengthen his wasted muscles, she wasn’t a professional therapist. Maybe Sed should hire someone to handle that for him on the road. He didn’t have any issue with Dave’s inability to get around without his wheelchair and they’d had Dave’s sound equipment modified for accessibility before they’d gone on tour with Exodus End, but he knew that Dave wanted to progress, and he couldn’t do that on the road. This two-week-long break in the tour before they headed to Europe had been necessary to get all their equipment overseas. And for Sed to get married and have a decent honeymoon before getting back to work with a new wife in tow.
While he stood waiting for all the guys to get out of the van, Sed stared at the small beach house where he knew Jessica would be getting ready for the ceremony. A pang of longing set his feet in motion. He wanted to see her so bad, he couldn’t wait another moment.
“There you are!” His mother’s voice called from the beach. “I thought you were going to be late to your own wedding.”
He stopped abruptly. Part of him was glad she’d stopped him before he’d ruined everything by barging into the house and demanding to see his bride before the ceremony. Another part of him cringed at her intrusion.
“Oh my,” she
said as she hugged him. “You look so handsome.”
Sed gave her a vigorous squeeze in return, lifting her onto her tiptoes.
When he released her, she dabbed at her teary eyes with her fingertips.
“I promised myself I wouldn’t cry today,” she said, “and here you come looking all handsome and grown up in that tuxedo. You’ve ruined any chance I have at keeping that promise.”
“What did you expect, ma? That I’d show up in leather and a T-shirt?”
She laughed and reached up to pat his cheek rather harder than necessary. “Maybe I did,” she said. “I wish your father could have been here to see this.” Fresh tears swam in her eyes.
Sed grabbed her in another hug so he didn’t have to see the sorrow in her tired blue eyes. She’d aged in the two months since his dad’s passing. “He’s here,” he whispered to her. “You know he wouldn’t miss it.”
She nodded and drew away, dabbing at her tears again.
“I think he’s up in those dark rain clouds causing me undue anxiety,” Sed admitted.
His mom laughed. “Exactly like something he’d do. He’d be proud of you today. He was always so proud of you.”
“Ma, if you make me cry, you’ll ruin my mascara.” He fluttered his mascara-less eyelashes at her.
She laughed again and looped her arm through his. “Come. I’ll show you where you’re supposed to stand.”
She peered over her shoulder at the tuxedoed rock stars goofing off in the parking lot. Trey was the only one not tussling. He had Ethan, one of the ushers, pressed up against the side of the van expressing his undying lust with deep passionate kisses.
“Guys,” his mom said, and they all looked at her for direction. Even Trey paused in his make-out session to see what was up. “Go into the house. They’ll give you instructions there.”
Trusting that his friends would do as they were told, Sed followed his mother onto the beach. They’d laid plywood in a strip between the white folding chairs and covered it with red carpeting that matched all the roses decorating every available spot.
Sinners at the Altar Page 23
