Angel's Halo: Forever Angel

by Terri Anne Browning

  Lexa only allowed me to hug her briefly before she was turning back to her mom and hugging her leg. “Can we go sit with Daddy now?” she whispered.

  Raven’s smile was full of love. “Whatever you want, baby.” Taking her daughter’s hand, she looked me over. “You really do look beautiful, Quinn.”

  As she opened the door to exit, Colt came into the room. Dressed in a suit with his cut thrown over it, he looked as handsome as ever. As soon as his eyes landed on me, he stopped, gulping hard. “Holy Christ, Quinnie. You look stunning.”

  I did a little twirl. “Do you think so?”

  “I would never lie about that, sweetheart.” He opened his arms to hug me, then thought better of it. “I better not wrinkle you. Kelli is glaring at me like she’s going to slit my throat.”

  Kelli stood, pushing between my best friend and me. “She’s been getting ready for over an hour. If you fuck up this perfection before she says ‘I do,’ you better believe I’ll do some slicing and dicing.”

  He grinned, kissing her lips. “I guess I’ll just have to muss you up instead.”

  She snorted, shoving him back. “Just walk the girl down the aisle, dummy. You can muss all you want later.”

  That was enough to have my heart racing. My palms began to sweat, and I suddenly didn’t know what to do with myself. “Oh my God,” I whispered as he offered me his arm. “I’m getting married.”

  He tilted his head to the side curiously. “I’m a little concerned you’re just now realizing that, Quinnie.”

  “Shut up,” I cried, slapping at his arm. “It just feels real all of a sudden.”

  “Well, let’s make it official now that it’s real.” He grasped my hand gently and pulled it through his arm. “Time to get you hitched.”

  Every woman in the room rushed me, pressing their lips to my cheek lightly so as not to smear lipstick on me, then hurried out of the room to take their seats, leaving me with just Colt and Kelli when it was over.

  Kelli made one last glance-over to make sure my gown was still in order and unwrinkled before opening the door once again. I was so nervous, I was trembling by the time we got to the cue point where one of the brothers was supposed to start the music.

  But as my maid of honor headed down the makeshift aisle and we moved into position to start down the same path, a sense of calm washed over me. I closed my eyes, wondering if it was my mom’s spirit telling me everything was going to be okay. That thought brought me peace.

  Opening my eyes, I couldn’t stop my gaze from going straight to Raider, who was standing at the arbor with Jet as his best man. Those green orbs caressed me from head to toe, and the look in his eyes made me feel like the only woman in the world. As I watched him watching me, I saw his throat work, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he waited for me to come to him.

  Our gazes locked as Colt and I started up the aisle, but I honestly couldn’t remember taking a single step until I was right in front of Raider, less than a foot away from the man I’d loved since before I even knew what that word really meant. The entire moment felt surreal until Raider stepped forward and took my hand from Colt’s.

  He tugged me close, bending his head to brush his lips softly over mine. The small caress was so sweet yet incredibly intimate. Happy tears stung my eyes, my heart nearly bursting from how perfect this moment was.

  When he lifted his head, Raider’s eyes were glassy with his own tears, but he didn’t try to hide them. “I love you, Quinn,” he said loud enough for everyone to hear.

  My chin trembled, but I smiled up at him. “I love you too.”

  A throat clearing had us both turning our heads to find the minister standing there with his cheeks pink. “Do you two still need me? You seem to be doing a pretty good job on your own.”

  Raider’s shoulders shook as he laughed. “Sorry, Reverend. I got impatient.” His hand dropped to my waist, turning us to face the man. “Please, begin.”

  --

  The only downside to having a princess-style wedding dress was going to the bathroom. It was at least a two-person job, so I held off until I couldn’t hold it any longer.

  Flick and Raven were both free, thankfully, and they helped me to the bathroom. It felt so good to pee that I actually moaned as they held the skirt of my dress up on either side, causing the two other women to laugh.

  “It’s the little things,” Raven said with a grin as she passed me some toilet paper. “When I was pregnant with Max, it was just short of orgasmic to empty my bladder.”

  When I was done, they fixed my skirt for me while I washed my hands. “I’m so tired,” I confessed as we walked into the bedroom and headed for the door. “I feel like today has lasted a week, but in a good way.”

  “It was a beautiful wedding,” Flick commented.

  “As soon as you and Raider cut the cake, you can make a break for it,” Raven assured me. “Your car is already packed, so you don’t have to worry about getting your things. Then you can go to the hotel and crash before you have to fly out in the morning for your honeymoon.”

  She opened the door and started to walk out ahead of Flick and me when she stopped dead in her tracks, causing me to bump into her back. “Hey,” I grumbled, trying to see what the problem was. “What’s going on?”

  Raven muttered something savage under her breath that I didn’t catch and moved so fast, I nearly stumbled forward. Seconds later, I heard a shriek and looked down the hall to find my sister Whitney on the floor at Raven’s feet. Raven’s heel was on her stomach, pressing into her.

  “Don’t run away from me, you little cunt,” Raven seethed. “I saw you trying to go into Colt’s room. Is Raider in there? Huh? You think you’re going to try to cause trouble? I’ll be damned if I let you fuck up this day for Quinn and my brother.” Raven’s leg moved, her foot going from Whitney’s stomach to her throat. “You’ve been slithering around this clubhouse trying to cause shit for too damn long. I’m tired of it. Get your shit and get the fuck out. Don’t you ever let me see your face here or at a club function again, because if I do—”

  Colt’s door opened, surprising me further, and Raider walked out, confirming Raven’s suspicions. I didn’t even have time to think before Raider was pulling his sister off the woman whose windpipe she was trying to crush under her heel.

  Raven struggled, her legs kicking out as he lifted her and placed her on her feet away from Whitney.

  I stood there, dumbfounded by the whole episode, my emotions in a whirlwind. I was angry and hurt that my sister would still try to chase after Raider even now that we were married. Those two emotions were the most intense of the ones trying to fight for dominance in my head at that moment.

  Flick’s soft hands touching my bare back jerked me out of my momentary stupor, and I stomped down the hall to where Raven was still trying to get past her brother. Whitney remained on the floor, coughing and silently crying.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Raider demanded. “Whitney just told me she was sorry for all the shit she’d been doing lately. I told her to fuck off. I don’t care if you beat the hell out of her, but could you please not kill anyone on my wedding day? I don’t want to ruin this for Quinn.”

  “Then why did she run from me when she saw me?” Raven snarled.

  “Probably because you look a little psychotic right now, Rave.” He shook her shoulder firmly, trying to get her to control herself. “You have to calm down, Raven.”

  “But she… She…”

  I wrapped my arms around Raven from behind, putting my head on her shoulder. “It’s okay, Raven,” I told her, my voice soft and soothing. “I believe Raider when he says she was just apologizing. Although she should have been apologizing to me, not to him.” I shot my sister a glare, not feeling even an ounce of sympathy for her. “Get up, Whitney.”

  “I-I really am s-sorry,” she stammered, scrambling to her feet. “Please, Raven. Don’t banish me.”

  “Just go, Whitn
ey,” Raider snapped. “You mess with Quinn even once more, and I’ll break your neck myself. I know that’s what you were really hoping for, so be thankful I don’t want to go to jail before I have my honeymoon.”

  She turned and ran, and even though my arms were still around my new sister-in-law, Raven tried to go after her.

  “Raven, you have to chill out,” Flick urged her in a quiet voice, pushing between Raider and Raven from the front.

  All the rage seemed to deflate from her, and she went limp in my arms. “I can’t help it,” she whispered. “I’m just so damn angry all the time, Flick. All this rage, all this pain, I can’t contain it, and I have to for Lexa’s sake.”

  The other woman wrapped her arms around Raven from the front, the two of us trying to infuse all of our love for her into our hug. “I know, honey. I know,” Flick told her, stroking a hand over her hair. “It’s going to be okay, though. Lexa is going to be just fine, with you to help her through this.”

  “I just want to fix this for her, and I can’t,” she sobbed, burying her face in Flick’s chest.

  “She doesn’t need you to fix it,” Raider told his sister, standing there protectively. “She just needs you to love her. The rest will fix itself eventually.”

  She lifted her head, tears and snot running down her face. “When did you get so smart?” she tried to tease.

  His green gaze caught mine. “It took a hell of a lot longer than it should have, but I eventually grew a brain.” He turned his focus back on his sister. “Flick is right. Lexa will be just fine because you have her back, Raven. You’re the most amazing mother I’ve ever seen. Maybe if she didn’t have such a strong, loving mom to help her through this, I would be concerned, but she has you. So I’m not worried about her.”

  “I don’t feel strong. I feel like I’m failing her.”

  “Well, you’re not,” a new voice growled, and I looked up to find Bash walking down the hall.

  Seeing him, Raven quickly started wiping her face, trying to get rid of the evidence of her tears. But there was no hiding them from her husband. He saw them, and his blue eyes darkened. As he drew closer, I released her, and he gathered her in his arms. “You are the reason Lexa is even able to leave the house without having a panic attack. You are why she hasn’t been crying herself to sleep since she left the hospital. You, Raven. You are her happy place, just as you are mine.” He lifted her off her feet until their gazes were even. “Please don’t cry, baby. Don’t doubt yourself.”

  Flick and I shared a look, and we both nodded. I grasped Raider’s hand, tugging him with us as we moved discreetly down the hall, letting the two have a moment of privacy.

  “I-I think I just needed to beat the shit out of someone,” Raven said with a shaky laugh.

  “That’s okay. Whitney deserved it. But next time you feel like you’re about to explode like that, how about coming and finding me and we can just have really rough sex?” I heard the teasing in his voice, but I knew he was being completely serious.

  Raider growled something under his breath, and Flick and I both laughed at him as we walked out of earshot of the couple. It wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t see them again for a while.

  “Can we go yet?” Raider complained as we reached the main room where everyone was eating, dancing, or just sitting around talking and having a good time.

  A quick glance around the room told me Whitney had left, which was a good thing, because I was fairly sure Raven would have gone after her again if she saw her. My heart warmed at the realization I now had a sister who would have my back.

  “You still have to cut the cake,” Flick reminded him. “Do that, and then you can sneak out through the kitchen.”

  His arms lifting me off my feet had me squealing, catching the attention of everyone in the room. “Hey,” he called out. “I’m cutting this damn cake, and then I’m taking my wife far, far away from you fuckers. So get your cameras out and take your damn pictures because I’m not waiting around a second longer than I have to.”

  My happy laugh filled the room as he carried me over to the table where the cake was, and he reluctantly placed me on my feet. Keeping one arm wrapped around my back, he picked up the knife. “Let’s do this, beautiful.”

  With my hand over his, we cut the cake and then fed each other a small bite of it. I heard cameras snapping, flashes going off in all directions, but they weren’t enough of a distraction to keep me from seeing just how hungry my husband was for me.

  I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door, needing to be alone with him just as much as he did.

  Behind us, everyone was already throwing birdseed and confetti as we ran from the clubhouse to my car that was parked right in front. Raider opened my door, making sure I was safely inside before jogging around to the driver’s side. Thankfully, the rain had stopped for the moment. Everyone was screaming and cheering around us, but all I could see was him.

  Today had been perfect, but tonight—that was going to be epic.

  Chapter 29

  Willa

  Twenty weeks pregnant

  I fought back a yawn as the bar filled up with MC brothers and their families. Today was going to be a celebration for everyone, and not just as a way to finally unwind from all the crazy that had been pressing down on us.

  Shifting in my chair, I went to reach for my glass of lemonade on the table in front of me, only to have James beat me to it. He was standing two feet away, talking to Bash and Hawk, and his eyes hadn’t even been on me. Yet as soon as I so much as thought about moving, he was there, anticipating my every need.

  It was annoying, but every time he did it, I fell a little deeper in love with him.

  His lips touched my brow before he returned to his conversation with the other two like nothing had even happened.

  Rolling my eyes, I took a sip of my lemonade and set the glass on top of my stomach. With all three babies thriving, my stomach was growing more and more every day, but I was still months away from being full term. The other women who were just as far along in their pregnancies were barely showing, yet I looked like I could pop any day.

  I was sure there were three beasts in there and not three tiny babies. No one could convince me otherwise. But I loved them with every fiber of my being, and I was anxious to meet each one of them.

  Lexa pulled out the chair beside me, moving it close so she could lean her head against my shoulder. I kissed the top of her head, wishing I could take away the new sadness that had invaded my precious little niece’s heart. If I didn’t know that the man responsible for this new Lexa was already dead, I would have sent James out to slaughter any and all who’d had a hand in it, even inadvertently.

  Raven set a paper plate full of all Lexa’s favorite foods in front of her. “Here, baby. Eat and then we will have cake after the big babies’ gender reveal,” she said with an encouraging smile. “It’s your favorite. Strawberry shortcake.”

  “Not hungry,” Lexa mumbled, hiding the side of her face that was still red and tender against my stomach. “I just wanna go home, Mommy. Everyone keeps looking at me.”

  I felt Raven’s tension, but she didn’t let Lexa see a single sign of it. “No one is looking at you. They’re looking at Aunt Willa’s ginormous stomach. Can you believe you have three cousins in there? How is that even possible?” Raven placed her hands on my stomach, and I didn’t mind her manhandling my belly for the sake of distracting the little girl beside me. “Holy crap, feel here, Lexa. This one is trying to kick his way out already.”

  Curious, Lexa lifted her head. Her dark hair fell forward, shielding the scar from onlookers. Carefully, she placed her hand beside her mom’s and waited. As if on cue, one of the babies kicked at her hand, making her gasp in awe.

  “Does that hurt?” she whispered in amazement.

  “Nope,” I lied. Yes, it hurt. Sometimes I was fairly sure those three were bruising my insides. Not that I would tell her or James that. “T
hey kick me like this all the time. The only time it bothers me is when they kick my bladder and I have to go pee.”

  Considering I was on modified bed rest, that was more annoying than anything else. And considering it was hard to so much as wipe, I had to have constant help. Raven spent a lot of time at my house when James was at work, though, and when she wasn’t around, one of my other friends was. Flick was just as much of a godsend as Raven was, and I would have died of mortification if my husband had to do half the things those two women helped me with every single day.

  I picked up a slice of pineapple from Lexa’s plate. “Sweet baby Jesus, this is so good,” I groaned. “Taste, Lexa. Your momma picked the best pineapple in the entire grocery store.”

  Reluctantly, she took a slice and nibbled. Before long, she was eating a second piece and then moving on to the sandwich. Raven and I shared a look as Lexa quietly ate her lunch, both of us hurting for the little girl we loved more than life itself.

  “Where do we put these?” Jet asked as he carried a huge box, one of three.

  The week before, we’d done a gender reveal for both Quinn and Gracie, both of whom had left the bar overflowing with blue balloons. In the coming weeks, we would be doing one for Rory and, not shockingly, Jos. The way Tanner couldn’t keep his hands off his new wife, it didn’t surprise me that he’d already knocked her up again.

  Raven straightened, directing her brother and the two other men to place the boxes full of balloons in the middle of the bar where a space had already been cleared. My hands began to itch, needing to know what color balloons were in each of those huge boxes. I had my suspicions they were all boys, but I really wanted there to be at least one girl swimming around in there. Not for my sake, but James’s. I knew he wanted a daughter so bad he could taste it.

  But we hadn’t let the doctor or tech tell us when they were doing the latest scan just a few days before. We wanted to be just as surprised as everyone else. The only person who knew was Raven so she could put the boxes together, and she hadn’t dared even hint at the secret she was keeping.