Often (Iron Orchids Book 4)

by Danielle Norman

  “I want all of my boys to find nice girls like my Ariel and Katy,” Mana said, forcing me to take my eyes from Leo and look to her. What she didn’t say was that she wanted us to find them soon. She was done waiting.

  By the time we’d finished lunch, it was time to put the wedding to the forefront of our focus and to get to work.

  Ringo, who was sometimes a guy and sometimes Whitney Houston, had assumed his self-appointed role as wedding director. Over the last few days, I’d gotten to know Ringo and had to admit, I admired him if for nothing more than his truly genuine love for Ariel, Sophie, and well...all the girls. He was one of them.

  “Chop, chop. Okay, boys, let’s go. Carter, you have everything for the church in your vehicle already loaded?” Ringo raised one precisely arched eyebrow.

  “Yes, Ringo. My wife assured me that I did everything correctly.”

  “Smooches, Sophie girl.” Ringo sent kisses in the air toward my cousin. I fought to hold back my laugh as I shook my head.

  “Damon, you have your big old van with stuff for the reception? Is it loaded, or do you need me to help you?” Ringo did this shoulder shake thing, and I about busted a gut fighting to hold back my laugh.

  I smiled as my brother coughed before replying, “Got it, Ringo. It is all loaded. Actually we have two vans.” Damon pointed at me. “Ian is driving one, and I’m driving the other. They are ready and at my house.”

  “And Georgie and Tristan?”

  Okay, at that, I chuckled along with everyone else. I’d never get used to hearing anyone call my six-foot-two, solid-construction-working dad Georgie.

  “Yes. We are each driving huge-ass vehicles.”

  “Ar-oh,” my brothers along with Carter said in unison mimicking Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor at the words huge-ass vehicle. Okay, it was a guy thing.

  “As soon as you say the word, we are ready,” my father continued.

  “Then let’s go. We will head to the church to decorate and do a run-through before we go to the reception hall to setup and have the rehearsal dinner at the restaurant. Chop, chop.” Ringo clapped his hands, and we broke like a football team.

  3

  Leo

  I was getting ready to walk down the aisle and the man of my dreams would be at the end...and a little to the groom’s left. Ian was a groomsman, and he’d be standing next to his brother the entire time I made that long walk. Yep, I had to stare at him, keep my eyes focused ahead and know that he was up there. He had no clue that he was the man of my dreams.

  Yesterday during the rehearsal, it had been near impossible to make this long-ass walk, but that had been because we had been cracking up. But today? I had no idea how I’d get through it.

  I turned and stared at myself in the mirror and couldn’t believe the changes that a little bit of face goop and a push-up bra could make. This was all alien to me, what I wouldn’t give to be able to throw on a pair of jeans and my biker boots and pretend as if this taffeta dress never existed.

  “Come on, gorgeous, it’s about that time.” Sophie came up behind me and twisted my left earring so that it was set correctly on my ear, one of those girly things I didn’t normally wear. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

  “What is? That I look as if Disney World threw up?” Okay, that was harsh. The dress wasn’t horrid. I was the one who was horrid. “Come on, it isn’t as if I have the right stuff to fill out all the little gapes and gaps.” I held out the neckline and pointed down at my near-absent breasts and the chicken cutlet boobies that Ariel had strategically sewn into the dress.

  “Actually, I was referring to the fact that here we are dressing up all fancy. It kind of reminds me of our prom.”

  “Oh God, why did you have to remind me? I still look just as fucked up now as I did back then.”

  “Do you have to cuss in church? We are going to get fried.” Sophie pretended to cover her head from any wrath of God or lightning. “Besides, you look beautiful just like you did back then.”

  “If that’s true, it was only because your mom bought my dress and paid for me to get my hair and makeup done right along with you. Not to mention that she lied to my mother and said we were having a sleepover just so I could go.”

  “Yeah, my mom never was a huge fan of your mom.”

  I laughed and looked back into the mirror, seeing the Leo of ten years ago who would cower and rely on others. That was not the person I was anymore.

  “Love you, Leo.”

  “Ditto.” If Sophie only knew how much her friendship had meant to me all these years. She was the sister I’d never had, and her mom was the mother that I wished I’d had.

  Just then, a ringing filled the small antechamber room and it took a second for us to realize that it was my phone. I raced over and snatched it from my bag.

  “Sorry, guys.” I read the name on the screen, speak of the devil and the devil shall appear. “Damn it, well there goes the peace. It’s Ruth.” Why she had to decide that this moment was a good one to randomly check up on me was baffling.

  “Don’t answer it. Or better yet, hand the phone to me.” Stella held out her hand with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows. “I’d like to give that peace-wrecking bitch a piece of my mind.”

  “You can’t do that, Stella, you don’t have much mind to waste.” Katy smacked Stella’s arm to let her know that she was joking.

  “I have to answer it, she’ll just keep calling, and if I turn my phone off, she’ll spend the next two weeks bitching me out.” I rolled my eyes and answered, “Hello, Mother.” Everyone else in the room quieted as I spoke just as they always did. They knew the drill when it came to my mother. Any sign that I was having a good time and she would be straight down my throat, well, more than normal. I was thankful that they were only hearing my side of the conversation, which was bad enough. If they were privy to both sides, they would likely lose their minds and demand I never speak to her again.

  “It’s about time you answered.” My mother’s cold bite snapped through the phone. She always had a habit of drilling right down to the bone.

  “I’ve been busy. In fact, I can’t talk now.” I bit my lip as I waited for her sharp retort to come. My mother never liked it when I was too busy to talk to her, and her usual response was somewhere along the lines of, “I birthed you, you will make time for me.”

  “Why ever not, are you whoring around, can’t the guy wait a few minutes?”

  I rolled my eyes and bit back what I really wanted to say. “I’m not whoring around. I’m in a church. Today is Ariel’s wedding, and I am a bridesmaid. It is almost time for the wedding. I’m sorry, Mother, but I need to hang up.”

  “Perhaps while you are there, you will ask God to forgive you for your sins before you spend a lifetime burning in Hell.” I rolled my eyes harder this time and ended the call. Her Bible-brandishing ways could hang on until after the wedding.

  “Next time she calls, can I have the phone? Please?” Stella clasped her hands together and begged, her eyes wide. She looked like a puppy begging for a bone. Stella’s natural trucker vocabulary would probably give Ruth a heart attack. While I didn’t particularly like my mom, I wasn’t ready to let Stella loose on her, either. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but your mother is one of those sperms that just should have been swallowed.”

  I burst out laughing. It was horrid, and how I lived with my mother and her hatred for eighteen years was beyond me. I was just glad that I was out, even if that meant random calls and her stopping by my apartment whenever she wanted.

  Stella jumped up from the table she’d been sitting on. “Well, girls, it’s about that time.” She grabbed a bottle of champagne and popped the cork. The bubbles fizzed up, and she barely managed to whip it out to arm’s length before they began to pour down the side, narrowly missing the skirt of her dress.

  We all grabbed a glass as Stella carefully poured a small amount into each flute.

  “I want to thank all y’all for being a part of my and Kayson’s
special day.” Ariel had tears pooling in her eyes. The same happy tears she always had whenever she mentioned anything to do with marrying Kayson. “Y’all mean so much to us, not only as friends and family but as Iron Orchids.”

  “Iron Orchids rule!” we all shouted in return. Though I had my mother, the Iron Orchids—the biker gang that wasn’t a biker gang—were my real family. They had welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like I belonged for the first time in my life.

  As the maid of honor, Stella lifted her glass, saying, “To Ariel, may Kayson never try to run your life.”

  We all raised our glasses, I was really quite shocked that the toast was so sweet, very anti-Stella. Perhaps she was trying to be on her best behavior for this special day. But before any of us could take a sip she continued, showing us all that sweet just wasn’t the Stella way. “And may he never try to run his life either.” We all laughed, clinked our glasses, and knew that this toast was much more Stella-esque sounding.

  “After today can you all promise no more weddings at least until next year? I mean, seriously, I’m maxed on my quota of girly shit.” I picked up one Harley boot and swung it by the shoelaces.

  “Oh, admit it, Leo. You secretly love all the froufrou stuff.” Stella brought her fingers under my chin and mimed tickling me.

  I grabbed the bottle of champagne. “Don’t make me smash this and use it as a weapon. You are very close to ruining my reputation, and it has taken me ten years to hone that in to a well-crafted badass.”

  “You know that you aren’t fooling anyone, right?” Stella blinked her eyelids wildly.

  “Pfft.” I balled my fist and pretended to punch her.

  “Okay, ladies, let’s go get me married,” Ariel said excitedly when a knock sounded at the door. “Come in!” we all shouted.

  Kayson’s dad entered, smiling widely as he took in the scene. Since Ariel’s mom had passed away, she didn’t have any family, so George Christakos was walking her down the aisle. I found myself hoping that someday I might have a father-in-law who would do the same for me, a father-in-law just like George. A girl could always dream.

  Trying not to think on that too much, I kicked the flowing silky skirt that wanted to constantly slip between my legs and trip me as I followed my friends out toward the vestibule.

  When it was finally my turn, I stood under the archway and peered down into the bouquet of fresh flowers in my hand. I was shaking so hard that I was beating the hell out of the flowers and several petals were already fluttering to the floor. At this rate, Gianna, the flower girl, would be out of a job because I’d have this aisle covered.

  When I looked up again, all I could see was him standing with his brothers. His sun-kissed skin and slightly crooked smile, which was more of a smirk that let everyone know he was thinking something devious and naughty at the same time. He was impossible to look away from, and the man had my entire body tingling. Oh how I longed to have Ian’s hands make me tingle. My cheeks flushed. I felt as if I needed to say ten Hail Mary’s just for having that thought let alone having that thought in church.

  Think, Leo, think...wait, scratch that. Do not think. Do not think of Ian. Yeah, that was a bad idea. He was a bad idea.

  Knees shaking, I mentally counted each step, one together, two apart, three together, four apart, keeping time to the rhythm of Pachelbel’s Canon. I rolled my shoulders back, trying to keep my head up. There were people in the pews that knew me. They knew me as Leo the mechanic who took no shit. As I neared the end of the aisle, my lungs were burning from the effort to take slow, measured breaths, and my muscles were nothing but tense knots as I tried to keep my feet even and steady. I couldn’t show Ariel and Kayson up on their big day. I wouldn’t allow myself to be the one remembered as the bridesmaid who fell flat on her face and busted her nose on the concrete floor.

  “Smile.” The photographer whispered just as I reached the end, and I realized that I had been frowning the entire time. I had been so focused on making sure that everyone saw my tough side that I forgot to smile for the memories, shit, shit.

  The photographer captured a picture, the lights flashed. Blinking to try to erase the white dots that had blinded me, I turned my head and saw one corner of Ian’s mouth in that crooked smile of his, and I stumbled.

  A strong hand grabbed me. I looked up to see Kayson, smiling down at me.

  “Careful.”

  My cheeks were burning, but there was nothing I could do about it. Everyone had already seen me trip even if Kayson had saved me from a full-blown fall. “Thanks. By the way, she is beautiful.”

  “She always is,” he whispered back and then waited until I was steady and went back to his spot, his full attention on the doorway that Ariel was going to soon walk through.

  The anticipation in the room grew with the impending arrival of the main woman. When the music changed, everyone stood, holding a collective breath.

  When she appeared in the open doorway at the end of the aisle with his dad, I thought that Carter and Ian were going to have to tackle Kayson just to hold him back. He was dying to get to her. That was what I wanted, a love that was dying to get to me.

  I shifted just slightly, and my eyes locked on to Ian’s, and I wondered for the briefest moment how long he’d been watching me. From the sparkle in his eyes, I knew that it must have been a while. He seemed pleased to have been caught. Then one corner of his mouth lifted in his typical smirk and he winked.

  Ian Christakos winked at me. And not in that oh-isn’t-she-sweet, I’m-here-for-encouragement way. No, this was one that caused my stomach to explode with butterflies. All the control I had been mustering flew out the window. I had never been able to control myself around him. Even as a teenager, I would pull into myself and shy away from his attention. But at least I wasn’t on the flip side. How I hated the girls who fluttered their eyelashes and giggled at everything a guy said. Yet, for Ian I wanted to turn into one of those girls. He, for the first time since I was five, had made a flirtatious gesture toward me, and I understood the feeling of giddiness.

  What the fuck? Did I just think the word “giddiness”?

  4

  Ian

  I escorted Leo into the reception as the DJ announced our names and we gathered in line with the rest of the wedding party, waiting for the couple of the hour. My mind wandered back to the church and the instant surge that I’d felt when I heard her voice as she spoke to my brother, her sultry whisper. I wasn’t sure what exactly came over me but I slid an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to me. Her voice had triggered a memory from a few weeks ago, a night that I wouldn’t soon forget...one breathless, anonymous caller.

  “You look stunning.” I couldn’t think of any other words to describe her, but she was stunning.

  “You don’t have to say that. You just aren’t used to seeing me all dolled up.”

  I pulled her in closer to me, my hand sliding from the small of her back to her hip. “I’m serious, Leo, stunning.” Having her so close to me for the first time was like a physical blow. Sure, I’d hugged her, but it was always a quick hello or goodbye hug. She never lingered in my hold and I never tried to get her to linger. If I had known that she would have sparks shooting through me, I would have done it much, much sooner.

  I was going to Hell for having inappropriate thoughts about Leo, Leonora, the little girl who used to play at my house. I’d always considered her too young, too innocent. Bringing one hand up and sliding it through my hair, I tried to regain my focus just as the DJ amped up his voice.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce for the very first time, Mr. and Mrs. Kayson Christakos.”

  The room erupted with a thundering applause as Kayson and Ariel made their way into the front of the ballroom. I didn’t think I’d ever seen my brother so happy, and that in and of itself was more than I could have ever asked for.

  Grinning, I clapped him on the back as he and Ariel made their way past us and over to the main table. Leo and I waited fo
r Stella and Tristan, and then Sophie and Carter to go and then we followed. Since the best man and maid of honor were siblings, they didn’t walk together, instead Carter was with his wife, Sophie, a bridesmaid. And Stella was with my brother Tristan, a groomsman.

  Before Stella took her seat, she laughed and grabbed the microphone from the DJ and then accepted a flute of champagne from the waitress.

  “This isn’t going to be a long toast because I’ve been informed that I can’t start drinking until after I’ve done this part.” Stella held up the glass. “Today Kayson has gained a beautiful partner in life, someone to share the good times and the bad. And, Ariel, I look out at all of these people and know that you’ve gained a fearsome family and tribe of friends. Oh, and let’s not forget that ring. Let’s raise our glasses—”

  “Umm, I think that you’re forgetting Kayson...” Tristan interrupted.

  “No I’m not. I said that he was getting Ariel.” Stella reminded him. Everyone let out a laugh. Stella walked around and wrapped one arm around Kayson’s neck. “Just kidding. Seriously, because of you, Ariel has everything. Congratulations, you two!” Stella gave him a squeeze and then walked off but not before whispering to her brother—who just so happened to be the best man—loud enough so that everyone could hear, “Top that.”

  But Carter shocked all of us. His wedding toast only had one joke the rest was heartfelt.

  “If everyone would please raise your glass. Don’t worry, your arms won’t get tired. My speech is going to be like a perfect mini-skirt: long enough to cover the essentials yet short enough to hold your attention.”

  He waited for the room to laugh.

  “I always knew Kayson was smart, but I realized that he was a genius the day he decided that Ariel was the one for him. To my best friend and the love of his life.”