Pyro, p.5
Pyro, page 5
I wrote down the things he was saying, then made a quick list of other things we would need like flowers, a dress, and something for him to wear other than a T-shirt and his cut. He gave me a few ideas of places to look for flower arrangements and a wedding dress. I looked up their phone numbers and added them to my notes. Could we really pull this off?
“I’ll take care of the rings. I only need to know what size you wear.” He pulled a chain out from under his shirt, and I saw two rings hanging from it. “One of the first things I did as an adult was track down my parents’ wedding bands. If I end up having to order rings for us, we could always use these long enough to get through the ceremony.”
They looked like plain gold bands you could find anywhere. “How do you know for sure they belonged to your parents?”
He let me take a closer look and I saw they had names engraved inside them. My heart ached for him. The fact he’d taken the time to find those rings proved how much he loved and missed his family.
“I would be honored to get married using those, if that’s what you’d like to do. We don’t need rings right away.”
He leaned in to kiss my temple and tucked the rings back under his shirt. I wondered if anyone else knew he wore those, or why he had them.
“I’m going to take care of a few things on my end, such as calling Preacher and making sure he can come here. See what you can do about your dress and the flowers. If you’d rather visit the shops in person instead of making a few phone calls, give me about an hour and I’ll come pick you up.”
“Until we know the day and time of the wedding, there’s not much I can do when I talk to the florist. I can get a dress, though.”
He gave me a quick hug and walked out the door. Since it looked like I had an hour to kill, I started coming up with ideas of what types of food we could have at the reception. Although, it was just going to be the club. I felt a little weird calling it a reception.
I couldn’t believe I was really getting married. If I sat still for too long, I would start questioning myself. As Titan said, I didn’t really have a choice at this point. Now that I’d seen Pyro again this morning, I had to admit I felt a little better about the entire thing. He’d helped settle my nerves and given me hope that maybe this wouldn’t be such a disaster after all.
Chapter Five
Pyro
To say I was pissed was an extreme understatement. Titan may have been a bit blindsided this morning, but the fact he made Roe cry was inexcusable. Seeing how broken-hearted she was over not being able to have her dream wedding, made me want to burn this whole fucking place to the ground. No, on second thought, I just wanted to see the president go up in flames.
Everyone had said how much he’d softened after finding out he had a daughter, and later claiming a woman and having another baby. If that were true, he wouldn’t have been such an asshole to Roe. Marauder might be coming in ready to defend his daughter, but from what I’d heard as long as Roe was happy, her daddy wasn’t going to cause any issues.
I banged my fist on Titan’s front door. The moment it opened and I saw him, I reached out and grabbed hold of his shirt, yanking him out of the house. I’d respected this man for a long time, considered him family, and he still pulled the shit?
I knocked him off the porch and stormed down the steps after him. I pulled my fist back and let it fly, nailing him in the jaw. He staggered back a step, and I went after him again. At first, he took the hits without complaint. By the fourth one, he started blocking me.
“Really? Because I was just getting started.” To prove my point, I went after him again. He hit me in the stomach, knocking the breath out of me for a moment. I barely stayed on my feet. Narrowing my gaze at him, I started pounding on him again.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
He shoved me back, then swept my feet out from under me. I landed on my ass on the ground, glaring up at him. He worked his jaw back and forth and gave his head a brisk shake. His eyes narrowed on me.
“And here I thought I’d have to worry about you setting my house on fire before throwing a punch.”
“Trust me, motherfucker. I came here wanting to see you burn.” Fury still pulsed in my veins. I stood up, dusted myself off, and nearly went after him again. Until I heard his front door open. Delilah came out, casting a worried glance between the two of us. No way I’d do anything that might put her in danger. Two big-ass men fighting was a bad idea with her outside now.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
Not even close. Roe had already been through so much. She came here for a fresh start, and now she had to deal with this bullshit? It didn’t matter whether the club knew about her miscarriage, or the witch hunt she’d been through with her previous church. The fact remained she was blood-related to the club and came here for help.
“Your man is an asshole,” I said. “He just stomped all over Roe’s hopes and dreams and told her to deal with it. He deserved far more than a few punches. If only you knew everything she’s been through, and now this?”
“What are you talking about?” Delilah asked.
“Even though she agreed to marry me last night, she wanted time to plan her idea of the perfect wedding. I’d told her she could take all the time she needed to feel comfortable with the next step in our relationship. Instead, Titan told her to figure it out by today or tomorrow. When I got to her house this morning, she cried in my arms for a good half hour.”
Delilah’s eyebrows arched upward and she crossed her arms. “Did you seriously go and do that? You know she isn’t like the rest of us. She probably wanted a church wedding with family and friends around her. You basically just spit in her face.”
Titan ran a hand over his hair. “I didn’t spit on anyone. She told Pyro she would marry him, let this psycho tell Cotton they were together, so all hell broke loose. Marauder and Iron are on their way here, and they sure the fuck aren’t happy about all this. Should I not have expected them to take responsibility for this mess?”
Delilah looked down her nose at him. “You lost your temper, didn’t you? Probably scared her half to death. I hope you like the color blue.”
“Blue?” Titan asked uneasily.
Delilah smirked at him. “Yes, blue. Because that’s the color your balls are going to be until you fix this.”
I put a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing as she turned around and stormed into the house, slamming the door behind her. Damn. I couldn’t remember ever seeing her go toe to toe with him like that. Watching that small woman hand Titan’s ass to him definitely made me feel better.
“God damn it,” he muttered. “Thanks. Now my woman is fucking pissed. Her hormones have already been all over the damn place.”
“I have a feeling you’re about to share more than I ever need to know about Delilah.”
He held up a hand. “Not right now. It looks like I need to go have a chat with your woman. If I really did scare her, then I owe her an apology.”
“Do that.” I clapped him on the shoulder and headed back to my bike. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out to read a text. Marauder? Shit. This wasn’t going to be good.
You better not have fucking touched my daughter or I’m going to rip off your balls and shove them down your throat.
Well, that clearly told me where I stood with my future in-laws. I wondered if this meant Roe hadn’t spoken to her father yet. I tried calling him, but he didn’t answer. I had no way of knowing how close he and Iron were to arriving at the compound. The last thing I wanted was for them to show up before I had a plan of action in place.
I hadn’t even managed to get on my bike and ride away before my phone started buzzing again. This time I had a message from Iron, Roe’s brother.
Did you touch my sister? If you put your filthy hands on her, I’m going to break every bone in your body and torture you for hours on end, before letting you slowly bleed out.
I shook my head and put the phone away. And people thought I was a psycho? Compared to these two I was the sanest person around. Maybe that’s why Roe had agreed to marry me. She was already used to crazy.
I rode my bike back to my house and swapped it out for my car. As I drove over to Roe’s house, I called Preacher. He answered almost immediately and I heard what sounded like absolute chaos in the background.
“Hello,” he yelled into the phone right before a door slammed. “Please tell me you need something that’s going to get me out of my house for a long period of time.”
“Is it really that bad?”
“A pipe burst in Saint’s house. My wife decided to invite her brother, his wife, and their children to stay at our home. Needless to say, the children aren’t doing very well crammed into such a small space. My house seemed much larger before we added more people to it.”
“Does that mean you would be willing to come to Mississippi for a wedding? I need someone to officiate my wedding. The sooner the better.”
I heard a door slam again and more yelling in the background. It looked like I had called at a wonderful time. With everything going on at Preacher’s house, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he got on his bike and left right now.
“I’ll head out first thing in the morning. Out of curiosity, who are you marrying?”
I turned into Roe’s driveway and put the car in park. If she noticed I was here, she was probably curious as to why I wasn’t getting out, but I wanted to finish this conversation first.
“She’s the daughter of Marauder and she’s also Iron’s sister. They’re both on their way here now to apparently rip off my balls, break every bone in my body, and torture me to death. Their words not mine. It would be really great if I could give them a general idea of when the wedding will take place.”
Preacher started laughing so hard I’d be willing to bet he was crying. It was good to know my pain was humorous for him. Sadistic bastard. “Do you have anything planned for the wedding yet? Or were you holding off until you talked to me?” he asked.
“We were thinking of holding the actual wedding outside and then having a reception in the clubhouse. We haven’t really had a chance to discuss what type of food we would have, figure out whether or not we could get a cake, and whatever else is needed for a wedding. It’s not exactly like I’ve done this before.”
“This is just my opinion, but I would recommend having it in the early evening. If you wanted, we could even time it so that you were saying your vows as the sun set. Then with a bit of luck everyone will get drunk at the reception and you and your new wife can slip away before the in-laws have a chance to kill you.”
“I like that idea. I’ll ask Roe what she thinks. She’ll be thrilled that you’re coming. We’ll have a place ready for you. Thanks, Preacher.”
I ended the call and turned off the car. Before I’d even reached the front door, Roe opened it to let me inside. She’d changed her clothes, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. The dress hugged her breasts, the neckline dipping just low enough to show a hint of cleavage, then flared out stopping above her knees. She’d put on the same sexy boots she’d worn last night. It was a good thing we were getting married tomorrow because I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep my hands to myself.
“You look incredible. Are you ready to go?”
She nodded. “Did you ask Preacher about coming here?”
“He’ll be here sometime tomorrow before lunch. Said he was going to leave first thing in the morning. He did have a suggestion I liked. How would you feel about getting married in the early evening or a little later and saying our vows as the sun sets?”
“I’d really like that.”
Then that was exactly when we would get married. Now we just needed to get everything else together, which meant I would also need the help of the club. But first I needed to make sure Titan had come by to apologize.
“I heard the president was coming to talk to you. How did that go?”
“He said he was sorry if he upset me. I think he might have actually meant it. Did you put him up to that?”
“Delilah may have threatened him a little. It’s rather amusing to see her boss him around, considering how tiny she is.”
“Then remind me to thank her later.”
I led Roe out to my car and opened the passenger door for her. Once I’d gotten in and started the car, I realized I didn’t know where we were going first.
“Where to?” I asked.
“There are so many things we need. Is anyone going to help us?”
“I may have forgotten to ask, but we can fix that right now.”
I took out my phone and sent a message to Titan and Boomer. I’d let the Pres and VP decide who would help with what. I included a list of the items we would need and made sure they were aware Preacher would be arriving tomorrow. Any other time I would have asked permission before doing any of this, but that was before Titan pissed me off. If he didn’t retaliate for me hitting him earlier, then I figured I could get away with this as well. At least for today and tomorrow.
Titan responded almost immediately. We’ll make sure it’s done.
I showed the message to Roe before putting the car in gear and backing out of the driveway. Our list of things we needed to get or do had just shrunk by quite a bit.
“Dress, flowers, or cake. which place do you want to go to first?”
“We’re not going to be able to order a cake anywhere. Wedding cakes have to be planned at least weeks if not months in advance,” she said.
“I guess we’ll have to figure something out because you’re going to have a cake.” It might not be the one she had dreamed about getting, but I wanted to make sure she had one just the same. Shit. Pictures. There was no way we were getting a photographer overnight. I would have to message Titan again and hope someone in the club could come up with a solution.
If my new in-laws didn’t kill me when they arrived, getting everything prepared for the wedding might. I’d never realized how much went into an event like this. Something told me Titan hadn’t known either. I wondered if he was feeling like even more of an ass right about now. He’d literally asked the impossible of Roe this morning.
I parked in front of a florist, and hoped they would have good news for us. If they couldn’t make the items Roe wanted, I wasn’t sure what we would do next. There was another florist on the other end of town, but their website said they were booking reservations three weeks out.
I took Roe’s hand and led her inside. A woman behind the counter smiled at us.
“What can I do for the two of you?” she asked.
“It’s probably a long shot, but we were hoping you could help us out with arrangements for our wedding. We would need them by four o’clock tomorrow.”
Her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. “Oh my! That really is short notice.”
“My soon to be in-laws are coming in town unexpectedly tonight. We aren’t sure when they’ll be able to come this way again, so we decided to have the wedding while they’re in town. But I also want to give her the type of wedding she’ll always remember.”
The woman pressed a hand to her chest. “Well, isn’t that just the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. If you aren’t too picky about the types of flowers, I think I can pull off a bouquet and a few small table arrangements. Would that be enough?”
“That would be really wonderful,” Roe said. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you doing this for us.”
I wandered around the shop while the two of them discussed the flowers we would need. Before we left, I paid for the order. I couldn’t remember buying flowers for anyone, and the amount surprised me. Why did a plant cost so much? Not that I was going to tell Roe she couldn’t have them. Even if this wedding bankrupted me, I was going to make sure she had everything she wanted or needed.
“Are you going to attend the wedding dressed like that?” she asked.
I glanced down at my usual outfit of a T-shirt, jeans, and my cut. She had a point. I could at least attempt to dress nicer for this one event. I’d get married in my cut, but the rest was negotiable.
“While you shop for your dress, I may walk over to the men’s store that’s in the same shopping strip. I can’t promise I’ll wear a tux. It’s just not my style.”
She waved a hand at me. “I’m not trying to change you, Pyro, but even if it’s just my dad taking pictures with his phone, I do want a wedding picture of the two of us and I’d prefer it if you weren’t dressed quite so casually.”
“I’m on it. Let’s drive to the next strip mall, then we’ll split up long enough for me to find something. I’m paying for your dress, so just sit tight until I get there.”
She flashed me a bright smile and I knew I’d made the right decision. My father had once told me the secret to a happy marriage was making sure your wife was treated like a queen. Looking back, I realized he received as much as he gave. For every nice thing he did for my mom, she made his life easier as well. That’s the type of relationship I wanted with Roe, no matter what it took.
Chapter Six
Roe
I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder as I shopped for a dress. Ever since Pyro dropped me off, I’d felt like someone was watching me. It wasn’t anyone inside the shop, from what I could tell. There were too many people out on the street for me to narrow down a possible suspect. I gave myself a mental slap. Suspect? Clearly, I’d watched one too many crime dramas. It wasn’t like there was a monster lurking outside waiting to take a bite out of me.
At least, I didn’t think there was. As Pyro had said before, monsters came in all shapes and sizes. This didn’t have to be a show or movie for me to run into one. I flipped through the dresses on the rack in my size, trying to pay attention. This was going to be the only time I had a wedding, and I wanted a dress as close to perfect as I could get considering my limited time.
I chose three and went to try them on. One of the employees helped me fasten each dress, and I modeled them in front of a three-way mirror. I didn’t want anything with a train since we were having an outdoor wedding, which meant keeping the dress somewhat simple.
