by Snow, Nicole
A short ride later, I walked into my place. Cora sat in front of the TV with Bingo and Alex, all three of them watching some kid's show with a pirate singing about booty or some shit.
“Seems about right,” I said, standing by the door. Couldn't help but feel a little damn appreciation for the bastards who used to rule the seas, the same way the clubs ran the roads.
Alex jumped up right away, toddling toward me, a sunny smile on his little face. Bingo raced ahead of him, and I got down on my knees as the big dog crashed into me, licking my face.
“You're home early!” Cora said, standing, her baby bulge like a small basketball. “Firefly won't come by for another twenty minutes to get me.”
“Figured you could use some extra down time since you're getting closer to the big day. You're doing us a solid, watching him like this after your shift.”
“Oh, please.” She stuck out her tongue and waved her hand. “My pleasure. I need all the practice I can get. Just hope my own turns out half as sweet as Alex.”
My son put a big fat exclamation point on it by jumping as high as his little knees would allow, hanging around my neck like a damned monkey. I hauled him up, carrying him on my shoulders, grinning while Bingo raced around us.
Yeah, this was the life. Just needed to put one more thing where it belonged.
“You heard from Summer?” I asked her, walking over and taking my spot in the chair across from the sofa. Shifted the kid down into my lap, all the better for him to grab at the dog.
“She's about five minutes out! Texted me a little while before you walked through the door. I think she meant to beat you here to start dinner.” Cora smirked. “She's picking up fast at the Heel. Kinda feels like torture watching her mix the drinks, knowing it'll be a few more months before I can try them!”
“Yeah, she's a quick learner. Always has been.”
“Yup. This club's really becoming a family thing, isn't it? We've got our business, our spouses, our kids. Maybe in a few more years I won't have to see all those drunken skanks wandering around for the single guys.”
“There'll always be bitches just for fuckin',” I said, turning up my nose. “Damned glad I don't need that pussy anymore to get off.”
Fuck, that was an understatement. The club had families in the old days, but it was...messy.
More than a few of the old crew fucked around on their girls, men like Early. They got hooked on booze or took to shit they should've been smart enough not to touch. Dust cleaned house since we'd lost his old man.
Early had been good for keeping the dream alive, but he'd been too damned lax. Thankfully, the norm was slowly returning. None of the boys who'd taken an old lady showed any signs of fuckin' on the side, and I'd sure as hell never go down that road neither.
Strange pussy didn't matter since Summertime gave me hers. Every morning, every night, and I still couldn't get enough.
I held onto Alex while the pirate jabbered on TV, slashing his plastic sword. Kid dozed in my arms, slipping off just before we all heard the lock jingle. Cora's phone buzzed at the same time.
“That's Firefly!” she said, springing to her feet. “Bye bye, Joker.”
I nodded, listening as she went for the door, stopping next to my girl for a few seconds. The girls swapped a hug on the way out, giddy about some gossip at the Heel about the strippers. Soon as Cora was out the door, heading for her old man, I turned the chair around.
Even after all these months, she looked damned beautiful.
It was surreal. The sweet, twisted kind of weird I liked.
“Busy day?” I asked, standing up with the kid.
She walked over, put her arms around us both, and gave Alex a little kiss on the cheek. “Yeah. Summer crowds. I'm starting to see the rush Meg warned me about.”
“You'll be fine. Summertime's your fuckin' name, lady.”
Smiling, she rolled her eyes. She leaned in for a kiss, but I stopped her lips, moving away.
“Hold on. He just started dozing off, and I want to get him down for a nap so we can talk.”
“Talk?”
I turned my back so she wouldn't see the smile pulling at my lips. Once the kid was down, I walked back to her, leading her out to the balcony.
Bingo tried to follow, but I shut the screen on him this time. He'd get his chance to soak up the summer air later.
For now, we needed some damned privacy. Just her and me.
“Well?” she said, sounding nervous. “What is it?”
Finally. “You're talking to Meg everyday. I know she's told you about the wedding coming up, her and Skin's. Just a few weeks away now.”
“Uh, yeah. She's pretty excited.” Her eyes glowed, confusion shining full bore.
“Let's make it a double.” I reached into my pocket, took her hand, and dropped to one knee, pulling it out. “Marry me, babe.”
Her mouth dropped. Didn't have a box for the hard silver ring I'd forged in the club's workshop, its edges perfectly smooth, polished with platinum.
Didn't fuckin' need one for shoving it into her hand, everything out in the open, do or die.
“It doesn't have a gem in it yet. That's coming later. I've been too fucked up lately to find the perfect one, but I'm going shopping tomorrow.” I pointed to the space where I'd have the jeweler wedge it in. A nice, big space for a big goddamned diamond. “We missed three years we could've been living together, lovin' each other, raising our kid. I ain't missing anything a day longer, the whole package, soon as you tell me you're gonna be my wife. Fuck perfect. You and me, Summertime, that's enough. Second you tell me you're ready to be Summer Taylor, more than my old lady, everything else can wait. We've got all the time in the world to figure it out – together.”
“Joker...Jackson...of course I will!”
She dropped right into my arms. Pressed her tight. Laughing, kissing, I took her mouth, greedily rolling her over on the balcony, pushing the ring into her palm so hard it must've left its imprint on her skin.
Fuck. Completely fuckin' beautiful.
We could've tangled lips for an eternity, without a witness in the world except Bingo laying next to the screen, and the wide summer fading down behind the Smokies.
“I don't care about the diamond,” she moaned, when I finally peeled my lips off hers. “I love you, love you, love you, baby...”
I smiled, grabbing the ring outta her palm, and pushed it on her finger. “Looks goddamned good there. Now, say it one more time. Need to hear it again, babe.”
“I love you, Jackson.”
“Love you, too, baby girl. Love you through the next hundred storms, 'til hell calls me home.”
My hip and my busted up shoulder still pulsed fire. But I wouldn't let myself feel anything except my lips roaming all over her that afternoon, greedy as ever.
13
Down That Aisle (Summer)
Six Weeks Later
Joker told me the club hadn't been so full and carefree since the bash they had celebrating Cora and Firefly. I hadn't been around for that, but Lord if the ruckus here didn't toss me headfirst into a biker wedding.
I stood at the makeshift altar, outside in the huge open valley at the foot of the Smokies. Dust's family owned land around here going back years. He put it to good use when the time came for shindigs like these.
Whatever else I still had to learn about MC life, I had a feeling nothing – and I mean nothing – compared to this.
The words coming out of the oddball preacher man's mouth washed over me. Meg stood next to Skin. Her decked in lily white, a short dress that clung close to her body. Him, with a cut he'd cleaned up so much it glowed in the sunlight, a new coat of polish on his boots that must've wiped away all the blood and violence they'd waded through.
“Do you, Parker Bradley, take this woman...”
I let myself look at Joker. We were right behind the happy couple, waiting, next in line. He turned his head, barely holding in a smile.
Fuck, you look beautiful. Ever
y single hungry glance he gave said it. We were beyond words – one more way this wedding was anything but traditional.
“Yeah, I do. Shit.” Skin covered his face, as soon as the words were out of his mouth. “I've been waiting to say those words since the second I saw you, babe, down on your knees in front of me, begging for help.”
Off to the side, Grandpa sat in his chair, with Alex on his lap. He'd taken his place with the rest of the crew, two Taylors mixed into the club, two generations going back to the same source.
Without the club, I wouldn't be here. Without Joker, I wouldn't have the club, my son, or my sanity.
The little boy probably didn't understand what was happening, but he knew it had to be big. He just stared at us, wide eyed, shifting ever-so-slightly in his great grandfather's lap.
“And do you, Megan Willow Wilder, take this man to be –“
“That'll do,” she cut in, sassy as ever. “Of course I do!”
Preacher man smiled. He seriously looked like an ordinary church man, and I quietly wondered what he'd done to wind up so hitched to the club for these weddings.
Joker decided just then to grab my hand. His fingers pushed through mine, and I heard a low, feral growl vibrate through his throat as he gave me that look.
Shit. Forget about preacher man.
Suddenly, I couldn't wonder about anything except how I was going to make it through this ceremony without freezing up, thinking about all the ways he'd rip off my clothes, press me down on the bed, or maybe just the forest floor, and fuck me until I screamed.
Love mingled with lust, romping in his eyes. I beamed back, refusing to bite my lip.
Anything to pretend I still had a little control here. Yeah, right.
“All right, all right already!” preacher man stumbled over his last words, giving in to the raw desires seething through the crowd. “By the power invested in me by the Deadly Pistols MC and the state of Tennessee, you may now kiss the –“
Heaven itself wouldn't have been able to hear the word bride. Deafening biker applause and cheers drowned out everything. Small as it was, they all made up for it, and so did the enthusiastic girls from the Ruby Heel and the scant few relatives from Meg's side who'd decided to show up.
They kissed – and boy, what a kiss.
Joker's eyes grew hotter on my skin every second. I knew he was thinking hard, wondering how he'd outdo the explosive passion Skin poured on his woman.
In a couple more seconds, I'd find out.
His hand pulled me forward. The row in the crowd died down just enough for preacher man to start over, reaching up to fix his spectacles.
“Dearly beloved, brothers of the Deadly Pistols, we're gathered here today...”
I looked at Joker, falling deep into his bright hazel eyes. Maybe deeper than ever before.
There was beauty. There was love. There was pain. There was life.
The preacher's words washed over me. That fire on my skin became a roar underneath it, warming my blood, turning everything molten.
When he looked at me, his eyes pinned me down. But sometimes his eyes broke away, traveling down to my feet, and slowly, achingly rising.
The beautiful bastard stripped me bare with his eyes.
And up here, in front of him, God, and all the brothers, I felt completely naked. Vulnerable.
But vulnerable, and loved. Did I really need any more confirmation I'd made the right choice, becoming an outlaw's bride?
“Do you, Jackson Taylor, take this woman...in sickness and in health...'til death do you part?”
“Yeah, but I ain't gonna say what you're waiting for. I've got my own vows.”
Huh? My mouth fell open. I looked on in total surprise, only coming out of it when he grabbed my hand with both of his, and shook them gently.
“Baby, lovin' you taught me there's heaven and hell in this life. More important, it showed me some things are meant to be. Call it fate.” He paused, squeezing my little hand tighter. “I thought I lost everything for good the night my brother died. All those rotten years, I had. Lost myself, lost my brothers, lost my family. Lost you. First time you stepped back in my life, I told myself I didn't need that shit. Thought I could never have it all, because it'd all been taken away for good.”
He paused – more than a little dramatically, damn him.
My heart began to pound, so hard I was sure he could feel my pulse. The thick, white dress I'd picked out started to swelter in the high Tennessee sun, but I sweated through it, hanging on every word, awestruck by the emotion spilling from his voice.
“Baby, you showed me what a damned fool I was. You, and that adorable boy we created. You took me to paradise and straight down to Hades. We burned together. Hurt together. Dragged ourselves over the barbed wire of darker times 'til I thought we'd bleed out.” Pausing, he grabbed my hand, and brought it to his lips.
Great. So much for promising myself I wouldn't cry.
“We didn't. Every time my bones and skin broke, I thought about you, babe. Only you, and the kid we created. We ain't shattering, Summertime. Not now. Not ever. Making this official just throws a fresh coat of polish on what we've had this summer – what we were always meant to. I love you, babe, from my next damned breath to my last. Love you and this family we've got so much it feels like saying 'I do' is nothing but an afterthought, so I've saved it for last. Yeah, woman, I fuckin' do.”
Waterworks? Broke open. Tears flooding, pouring down my face in warm, glossy streams.
I had to kiss him. And I damned sure wasn't going to wait for the preacher man to give me permission.
His arms were waiting when I flung myself into them a second later. We kissed like the whole sky opening up and blinding everything.
Kissed like love.
Kissed like death.
Kissed like we'd been through everything, full circle, and we'd do it all again. Over and over and over until our lives were over, or else our love was done.
And I knew what would come first.
As long as I lived, as long as I breathed, my heart would always belong to this to crazy, gorgeous, incredible man.
“Babe,” he whispered softly. “Look up. We've gotta finish to make it official.”
He kissed me again, more softly this time, and I finally noticed the insane cheers exploding around us.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, fuck yeah!” at least a dozen brothers and prospects shouted in unison.
Bingo stood up next to Grandpa and howled, temporarily going werewolf, instead of just wolf hound.
“Okay, okay,” I said, wiping the tears from my eyes. “Let's do this. I'm ready.”
“Summer Olivers,” Preacher man said, a thin smile on his face. “Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better and for worse...”
Come heaven.
Come hell.
Come the end of everything and the start of it again.
Preacher man finished, while my mind imagined the last few lines, my heart singing loud. Joker, and the entire world had their eyes on me.
Smiling, I finally said it, forcing it out through raw emotion twisting my tongue. “I do.”
“Then, by the power invested in me by the Deadly Pistols MC and the state of Tennessee...”
I never heard the rest. We kissed so hard it was like a tornado swept through my body, rattled my bones, and left me moaning into his mouth.
Luckily, a new wild roar in the crowd covered up the last part. But there was no hiding the way he picked me up, swung me around in his big, strong arms, and dug his hands into my ass, pulling me in.
I didn't even care about hiding it, and neither did my brand new husband.
* * *
“There's history in these grounds, boys and girls,” Dust said, a couple hours later, after we'd stuffed ourselves on drinks and the finest barbecue in Dixie. “You know my great, great granddaddy drilled his regiment in the Civil War here? Come out here with a metal detector, and you'll find all kinds
of shit. Stuff that makes you think...”
We were gathered in a circle with all the brothers, me leaning drunkenly on Joker's shoulder, while his Prez gave us a history lesson.
God, these men were full of surprises. I'd have never guessed the cold, fierce Dust was such a history buff, but he kept going, even when half the guys were laughing to themselves, their eyes glazing over.
It seemed like he was the only one here without a date. I'd heard rumblings about the drama between him and Firefly's sister, Hannah. Meg said she was supposed to be his date tonight, but the girl was missing, leaving him the only man in the club who wasn't paired up with an old lady or one of the strippers from the Heel.
Firefly stood next to us, brooding the entire time. Cora kept leaning in sweetly, whispering in her man's ear. Eventually, he relented, relaxing just enough to smile at her, and wrap a possessive hand around the bump growing in her belly.
I'd missed that with Joker when I was pregnant. But I had a feeling it wouldn't be long before he gave me another baby. Next time, we'd experience everything together.
Jesus.
Everything.
He turned to me slowly, and we shared another intense look. Probably the thousandth that night.
Joker leaned in, ignoring the nitty-gritty war stories Dust described, whispering in my ear. “That dress is coming off, babe. Less than an hour. Then you're gonna get pounded so fuckin' hard you'll think you married a damned jackhammer.”
Holy shit. I smiled, kissed him, trying to stop more filthy promises from spilling out of his mouth.
My body couldn't take it. My nipples were like stones underneath my bra, begging to be teased.
Truly, every inch of me wanted out of this dress. It wanted to be naked, sweaty, and wrapped around him while he reminded me what ecstasy really meant.
A couple men over, Grandpa Taylor yawned, rubbing his eyes. Tinman had taken over holding Alex, giving him sips from a juice box when he reached out his little hands.
“Shit. The old man's getting tired,” Joker said, pulling away from me reluctantly. He stepped up, guiding me along by the hand. “Lion, Tin, get him back to the home. We'll take the kid from here.”
