“Wow, thanks, Fable.”

  He loved his tiaras, which were a part of the whole princess routine he had going on with Zak and Booker, so the fact that he was willing to part with one for tonight was really touching.

  “We should have a drink before our ride gets here,” Jamie said. He’d changed into black harem-style pants with a gold bag slung across his body. His makeup dazzled.

  “Aren’t we driving to get drinks?” I asked him.

  “Yes, but it starts here.” He walked into the kitchen like he owned the place, which he technically did since he’d lived there all his life. He’d rented out the place to Fable and his Daddies after his father died.

  Jamie found liquor and shot glasses. He measured tequila then threw back a drink and poured himself another.

  “Jamie!” Fable protested.

  “What? I had a long ass day working at the hospital. Trust me, I needed that first one. Now let’s drink to our boy getting hitched tomorrow.”

  We knocked back our drinks, but then one became two and by the time the cab arrived, I’d lost count of how many we’d had. I felt really loose, and we were giggling a lot. So much so, that when we tumbled into the backseat of the cab, the driver asked if we were okay.

  “Yup, we’re having us a bachelor party, bitches!” Jamie yelled which had us laughing all over again.

  “Alright. Which one of you is getting married?” the cabbie asked.

  I pushed myself between the seats. “That would be. I’m marrying the man with the biggest dick in Smoky Vale.” I turned toward Jamie. “I think I should have drunk another shot to that.”

  Fable giggled and spread out the skirt of his tutu. At some point between drink number three and four, he’d changed into the skirt. Now he seemed more like himself.

  “You look like a princess,” I told him. “A really pretty princess.”

  “Ah, thank you. And you look like a…”

  “A whore!” I finished on a laugh, half getting up out of my seat to shake my booty in the tiny shorts I had on. “The Princess,” I pointed at Fable then at myself. “The whore, and the…” I racked my brain trying to figure out what Jamie was.

  “Jamie’s too hard to define,” Fable said. “Jamie, what are you?”

  “What am I what?”

  His response set us off in another gale of giggles. Nothing we said made sense at all. The driver stopped at the dance club, and we spilled out.

  “You boys want to be careful,” the driver said, looking us up and down. “It’s not too safe around for boys like you after dark. Might run into one of those biker groups around town.”

  “Well, can I tell you a secret?” Jamie leaned forward at the man’s door. “I’m the president’s old man. I think that’s what they call it? But I super-duper hate it, cause I’m not old or anything. And these are my equally important friends.”

  “Fuck.” The man put his car into drive. “Yeah, well, have a nice night.”

  He drove off with a squeal of tires.

  “Oops,” Jamie said. “Did we scare him?”

  “I think so,” I giggled.

  The line for the club was long. Way too long for boys like us.

  “Let’s get to the front of the line,” I told the boys.

  “Oh right, they’ll let us in because of the bikers, right?”

  “Nope.” I grinned at them, tugged my fingers into the waistband of my shorts to ensure it sat right. “We’ll get in because of me!”

  “Excuse me, excuse me.” I wheedled my way up the line with Fable’s and Jamie’s hands in mine. At the front of the line, I beamed up at the bouncer. “Hi! It’s us!”

  He frowned at me. “Us who?”

  “The boys who are about to make this club lit. Are you going to let us in? I’m getting hitched tomorrow and we really want to get turned up.”

  He looked me over, then Fable and Jamie before he grinned, licking his meaty lips. “All right, then pretty boys. Get your party on.”

  “Thank you.” I blew him a kiss and Jamie and Fable followed suit.

  We entered the club, the loud party music and strobe lights, hitting us hard upon our entry. I blinked, disoriented a bit from the drinks we’d consumed. We really should have waited until we got to the club before we started drinking.

  “Let’s dance!” I pulled Fable and Jamie onto the dance floor. We didn’t care who was watching us or even if we were dancing in time to the music. I was having fun with my boys. It was always fun shaking my booty and getting it smacked by a couple of cute guys who knew what the score was. Other guys came up to us, wanting to dance with us separately, but we blew them all off.

  “Next stop!” Jamie announced, which was how we found ourselves hopping from venue to venue until we ended up crashing a house party. At some point, we had wound our way upstairs the house and found a bedroom where no one was fucking. We locked the door from inside and took over the bed.

  “This has been such a fun night.” I wrapped my arms around my boys' necks. “Thanks for getting me out of the house. I think I wanted this, but I was afraid of what anyone would say about me going wild for a night.”

  “What do you mean?” Fable rolled over to place his head into my lap.

  “You know people still expect me to be this way. To love the parties and the men. They’re expecting me to fuck up by sleeping with another johns.”

  “You know what I say?” Jamie asked. “Fuck ‘em. You can still party. Mort trusts you and that’s what’s important. I bet if you told him where you were right now, he’d be fine with you coming out to party.”

  “You’re right. I should let him know where I am.”

  “No!” Jamie rose to his knees on the bed. “None of them can ever find out about this night. We snuck out without even a bodyguard. Grimm spanked me last night and I’m good for another month before I need another.”

  Fable giggled. “What’d you do?”

  “He caught me taking this.” He unsnapped his purse and pulled out something wrapped in cling wrap. “Well, not this exact one obviously since he caught me with the other stash.”

  “What’s that?” Fable asked.

  I sniffed. “Is that what I think it is?”

  Jamie grinned at me. “Oh yeah. Who’s ready to get high?”

  “I’ve never been high before,” Fable murmured. “Does it feel good?”

  “Don’t just ask me. See for yourself.”

  Oh fuck, I really loved my boys.

  Seven

  THE RINGING OF my cell phone woke me up to the realization that the party had run its course and there was nothing but silence around me. Well, not quite. Someone was next door getting their fuck on but given the way the building structure had shaken all night; I’d take the moans coming from next door any day.

  With a groan, I ran my hand over my face and searched around the bedside table for my phone. It felt awkward being in bed without Cass next to me. Like something was missing.

  Speaking of the devil.

  I peered at the time on my phone. It was almost five in the morning. He must be excited about the wedding. Or getting cold feet.

  “Babe,” I answered the call. “Isn’t it too early for you to be awake?”

  “Mort!” I heard him talking to someone else. “I got Mort. He picked up.”

  “Cass, where are you?” I asked, sitting up in bed. There should be a commandment written somewhere that man shouldn’t sleep alone once they’d found the missing half of them.

  “Um, Mort, you know I love you, right?”

  Uh oh. Something was definitely up.

  “And I love you too.”

  “Good, I’m counting on that when you come to get me.”

  “Get you? I thought Jamie said it was bad luck for us to see each other before you walk down the aisle. Did you boys have a fallout last night?”

  “Umm, well, we’re not exactly at the house.”

  Interesting.

  “Where are you, Cass?”

  “I’m kind of in jail.”

  “What?” I vaulted off the bed and searched for the jeans I had on last night. I snagged it from the back of a chair and put one leg through. “Are you kidding me right now, Cass?”

  “Umm, no. Can you come to get us?”

  “Us?”

  “Fable and Jamie might possibly be here with me too?”

  “Are you asking me or telling me Cass?”

  “They are definitely here with me,” he answered. “Please don’t be mad. It’s not like we killed anybody or something like that.”

  I groaned. “Cass, please don’t make statements like that while you’re at the police station. Don’t say a word. Do I need a lawyer?”

  “No, they said we could go. We told them that we really, really learned our lesson last night.”

  When had that ever gotten someone out of jail? This was getting even more bizarre by the minute.

  “We really, really learned our lesson, Mort,” he said.

  “Well, I’ll be the judge of that. I’m on my way.”

  “I knew you’d come.”

  “Of course, I’ll come anytime you call to pick you up from jail. Even on our wedding day.”

  “I’m sorry. I promise I’ll make it up to you. You can have me any way you want me tonight. Uh oh, I don’t think I’m allowed to say this here and my time’s up, so I gotta go, but I love you, Mort.”

  Motherfucking hell.

  I fastened my jeans and grabbed my keys. I walked down the corridor to the room Booker and Zak were occupying for the night while the boys were supposed to have the house to themselves. Zak had joined the party late since he hadn’t meant to show up, but Grimm had insisted that it was time. He would be here for the wedding today anyway. I was never letting Cass out of my sight again.

  I pounded on the door.

  “Come back!” Booker yelled from inside.

  “It’s urgent, man.”

  While he was taking his sweet time to open up, I rang Grimm’s phone.

  “Are you dying?” Grimm growled into the phone.

  Booker opened the door. “What the fuck, Mort?”

  I held up a hand for Booker to wait. “Rise and shine, Grimm. We have to go to the police station.”

  “For what?” Booker asked.

  “Which one of our men got canned?” Grimm asked. “Did they find anything?”

  “Our boys.”

  “What?” Both Grimm and Booker bellowed.

  “Our boys are sitting pretty right now in the town’s jail.”

  “Is this some kind of joke?” Grimm asked.

  “I wish, but no, it’s not a goddamn joke. I have a wedding later this afternoon, and I’m picking up my groom from jail.”

  “Let me get dressed,” Booker said.

  “Give me five,” Grimm replied. “I’m going to have a serious talk with Jamie. I’m getting too old for this shit.”

  “You’ll both need to catch up,” I said.

  I stalked out of the clubhouse littered with bodies, party cups, the smell of weed and sex, a remnant of last night’s big celebration. It was hard to believe this to be the venue where I was about to be married. People were passed out on the floor and even out in the yard, but the twins had volunteered to get everyone out and the prospects, cleaning up in time for the place to be decorated.

  I rode ahead of the other two bikers to the police station. I was too impatient to find out just what the hell the boys had done. Entering the police station was sure interesting from the looks I got. In my haste, I’d forgotten my cut, but my face was known around these parts for what I was.

  “May I help you?” a young woman at the front desk asked.

  “I’m here to pick up three strays,” I said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Three boys. Cassius, James, and Fable.”

  “Oh, right. Can you take a seat, please? We’ll have them brought out.”

  I didn’t want to take a seat, but I sat anyway. Just a couple of months ago I’d been held in this jail for a crime I hadn’t committed. Of all the ones I had done, one had to be fabricated for me to be detained.

  It wasn’t long before a familiar face entered the lobby area, the three boys trailing meekly behind him. The man’s face was set as in stone, extremely displeased.

  “Captain Witter,” I greeted Jamie’s “uncle” through the man’s relationship with Jamie’s recently deceased Dad.

  “Mort,” the man said quietly. “I take it you’re the one here for them.”

  “Yes, I am. What did they do?”

  He stepped aside his hands on his waist. “Why don’t one of you tell him what you got picked up for?”

  Cass moved forward, wringing his hands. “We were…” the rest of what he said came out in a low mumble that I couldn’t hear.

  “What’s that, Cass?” I folded my arms across my chest, aware we were providing entertainment for the cops who were around.

  “I said we got picked up for public nudity.”

  My jaw dropped open. Of all the things that crossed my mind. Them killing someone. Running a red light. Starting a brawl. Stealing something. I’d never have thought of this one.

  “You got picked up for what?”

  “Please don’t tell Daddy Grimm,” Jamie said, coming up behind Cass. “I swear I’ll be nicer to you. Just don’t tell Grimm.”

  “Don’t tell Grimm what?”

  The boy’s face paled at Grimm’s deep baritone, and he ran behind his uncle’s back.

  “James Matthew Dehaney, you come out from behind your uncle and tell me what you did?”

  Fable inched away from his friends and walked over to Booker. The sucker pulled his boy into his arms like he wasn’t even concerned about where we had to pick them up.

  “Look, why can’t you two be more like Booker?” Jamie wailed.

  “We got a call about a bunch of loony bins running around the park naked,” Witter said. “Might I also remind you the park’s closed at that time of the night. Imagine my surprise when it was these three.”

  “What were you doing in a park naked?” I asked Cass. “I left you at the house.”

  “Then Jamie got the idea for us to go out and party.”

  Jamie jabbed Cass in the ribs with his elbow. “Come on, you gotta say it was my idea?”

  “No shit, Jamie,” I muttered. “Of course, it was your idea.”

  “I think we should take this outside,” Witter announced.

  Our little group made a procession outside, Booker still having his arms around Fable while Cass and Jamie seemed to be steering as far away from Grimm and me as possible without making it too obvious.

  “I thought you had better control on them than this,” Witter growled when we were outside.

  “Well, we’re not animals,” Jamie mumbled.

  “Then what was that last night?” Witter asked. “Running around like wild animals without a stitch of clothing on, high as a kite.”

  “Wait a minute, you were on drugs?” I asked Cass.

  “It was just weed,” he answered. “We didn’t know it would be that strong.”

  “Let me guess.” Grimm folded his arms across his chest. “Jamie’s your supplier?”

  “Umm.” Cass licked his lips but shook his head. “No, he wasn’t.”

  He was clearly lying.

  “They’re being fined and given community service,” Witter said. “I don’t want to see any of your faces here again for a very long time, but preferably never. You keep popping up and getting out and people will start to question which side of the law I’m on. Make no mistake, it’s not with you. I’m not going down the same path Mason did.” He choked up saying the man’s name then turned his back and stalked inside the building.

  “I’m sorry, Grimm,” Jamie said, pouting.

  “Your pouting’s not going to work on me, Jamie. Get in the truck. We’ll talk about this when we get home.”

  I was left at the front of the police station with Cass whose big eyes swelled with tears.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “It was just supposed to be a fun night and it got out of hand.”

  “I thought you were staying in. That’s what you said you wanted.”

  He dropped his gaze. “And I planned to, but when Jamie said we should go, I realized I really wanted to, you know, have one of those wild bachelor parties that I see on the TV.”

  “Well, you certainly had that.”

  “It wasn’t supposed to get so out of hand. Are you disappointed?”

  “Disappointed you couldn’t tell me what you really wanted.”

  He bridged the gap between us and twisted his hands into my shirt front. “You’re what I want. It’s just that sometimes…”

  “Sometimes what?” My stomach turned.

  “Sometimes there’s so much pressure for me to be good,” he said. “I always have to think twice about how I act, so people see I’ve changed. I don’t want anyone to make fun of you for loving me because I want to go out for a night of partying with my friends.”

  The anger and disappointment I felt eased, and my stomach unclenched. I placed my hands on Cass’s hips.

  “Listen, Cass, I’m marrying you,” I said. “Not a version of what I or anyone else want you to be. I love that you are vibrant and energetic and love to spend time with your friends. There’s a reason I tell you that I trust you all the time because I want you to know that you don’t have to hold back or censor yourself out of fear of how I will react. You are you, and I love you the way you are.”

  He pressed his face to my chest, and I held him to me, hoping like hell he finally got it. There wasn’t a single thing I wanted to change about him.

  Eight

  I SPENT A quiet day with Fable, sleeping off our drunken escapade the night before. They left Zak in charge of us, so we didn’t get into any more trouble, but he wasn’t needed at all. We were so exhausted from the night before that we curled up together in the blanket fort we’d made the night before. We whispered worrying thoughts about Jamie and how Grimm would punish him before we fell asleep.

 

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