CHAPTER 31: Piper
I was trying to exude an air of calm, beauty, and shy vulnerability as everyone fussed around me but, inside, I was a just a white-hot, quivering ball of excitement. I worked on my makeup, going for a radiant glow this time, in favor of my usual, lightly smoldering look, while another pair of hands busied themselves putting my long blonde hair high up on my head.
“Wow,” came Alexia’s admiring voice. “You look so hot, baby. I wish you were marrying me.”
“I think she’s going for elegance, this time,” Ruby corrected her.
“Nah,” I smiled as I turned around to see them, “I still want to look hot.”
We all giggled together like a group of virgins getting ready for their senior prom. Because I was a good friend, I’d chosen silken, lilac Versace cocktail dresses for my bridesmaids and, once Alexia had squeezed in her beautifully big boobs in and Ruby had covered her full, sexy ass, they looked stunning. Even without their porn star hair and hooker makeup, these girls sizzled. Tina as well, my maid of honor, looked amazing in her similar lavender number. It showed a little less skin but was still drop dead gorgeous.
“Nervous?” Tina asked, just as she clipped the final parts of my hair in place behind the diamond tiara that carried my veil.
“I was nervous that we’d never get here,” I smiled back at her. “Now it’s time, I’m just excited.
I stood up and checked myself out in the mirror. Today was a day for white underwear, and I’d gone all out. My pretty lace bra had had just the right amount of support for my girls, and came with a matching lace thong that was revealing, without being explicit. For this special occasion I’d gone for genuine white suspenders and sheer white stockings, and some ivory, closed-toe, four-inch pumps.
“Do you think anyone would mind if I just went down like this?” I asked my bridal party. I was getting a little tingle over how good I looked; my tits, my ass, my legs. I felt a deep throb when I imagined Theo’s face as he saw me like this, and all the things he would do to me.
“I think the Angels might get a kick out of it, but all the women here came to see that dress, baby,” smiled Ruby.
I turned to the side and cast an eye over my belly. Yes, I could see a little growth there. I was definitely beginning to show.
I must have focused on my stomach in the mirror for a few seconds too long, as Tina appeared beside me. She tenderly placed a hand on my belly, which I then cupped with my own, hugging her too me.
“I wish Frost could be her to see you, honey,” she said.
“Me too.”
“Come on,” she continued, “let’s get that dress on before you start to get too big for it.”
Together, the party got me into my long white gown. I was a figure hugging design, so we definitely couldn’t have had the wedding any later, and it dropped off the shoulder to cut straight across the top my breasts. We slid on the long white gloves and Alexia handed me my flowers.
“All set?” asked Tina.
I nodded to her. She opened the door. Tiny stood there, all seven feet of solid muscle done up tight in a gray morning suit. I smiled to myself because there, on his lapel where a boutonniere should have been, was the Steel Angels’ chromed wheel with wings and a slightly slanted halo. I knew that the groomsmen would be wearing the same thing, just so Tiny wouldn’t throw them in the pit.
“Oh, don’t forget this!” cried Alexia, waving my frilly white garter in the air.
She tossed it to me and I caught it.
“Would you mind?” I handed it to Tiny.
“Be an honor, Miss Piper,” he said, bending his huge form down and slipping my foot out of my shoe. His big hands were light as a feather as he slid the garter up to my thigh. “You can take it the rest of the way yourself, ma’am,” he grinned at me.
He stood and linked arms with me to walk me down the aisle. I took as deep breath and stepped out with him.
***
The three and a half months since I shot Vinnie had flown by. Theo and I moved into the cabin at the bar, which was quickly rebuilt, while Tina took my old apartment back in The Valley. I still had ten months on the lease, after all.
It was crazy, we took a few days to heal, to grieve, and it seemed like the mob simply wasn’t interested anymore. The war was over when we killed Vinnie. The other families never even made it to Los Angeles. I never went back to Anna’s, never bought myself out, she could bite me. Needless to say, she found a different outfit to provide security. But I couldn’t lose contact with the girls there.
Wildest of all, in no time, Theo and I decided we wanted to marry. We told Tina, after a few weeks when she was over visiting the club, and thought she’d tell us we were being stupid and rushing things. She already treated Theo like a son, even though she had no more than ten years on us, but she’d also begun to feel like the mom I never really had to me.
“Oh my God!” she’d cried, though, against our expectations. “That’s wonderful news!”
“And don’t worry,” I’d reassured her, “we’re going to take a long engagement. To make sure we’re really making the right decision.”
“Ah, shit!” she spat, “Screw that. You guys are made for each other. Plus, you need to get this happening soon. What are you, five, six weeks along? Wait much longer and you’ll be waddling up the aisle like a duck.”
Shocked, I’d told her I wasn’t pregnant. She assured me I was and, a day later, the little stick told me she was right. She never did tell me how she knew.
***
My bridesmaids walked out of the cabin, followed by Tiny and I, and we made our way along a pathway that was marked out by lines of motorcycles, all shining paint and chrome. The path led to the woods, where Tiny carefully guided me through the trees. I could think of no one else to give me away than Tiny. It just felt right and he seemed overjoyed when I asked him.
It was nearly sunset and, in that little clearing where Theo had taken me to on my first time at the club, was a small wooden trellis, decorated with ivy, reaching just high enough for us to stand under. Under the white wooden trellis stood Marco and, beside him, smiling at me as I approached, was my Theo. His eyes shone, his handsome face peaked out from under his floppy, wavy hair. I felt like I was seeing him for the first time again. I was certain it would be the last time I ever saw him in a suit.
Tiny stopped at the altar, turned to me and lifted my veil. He gave me a kiss on the cheek, greeted Theo with a handshake and a hug, then stepped back, his duty done.
The congregation had to stand, as there wasn’t much room in the clearing for chairs, so they gathered among the trees, like dark phantoms at a wake. Among the Steel Angles I saw the other girls from Madam X’s; Lucy, Victoria and Becky, Ji-eun and Hilda, all of them I thought. Even April, smiling and holding onto Victoria.
I turned to Theo. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face at being here with him. He leaned in to kiss me, whispering in my ear, “Am I the luckiest man alive?”
My smile grew wider as I turned back to the alter. Officiating, as a surprise to many gathered, was Cecil, our aging savior from the canyon. He’d really hit it off with some of the old timers among the Angels and had been hanging around the bar more and more. It turned out, at one point in his long life, he’d been a justice of the peace so, after a thirty-second internet form to get him ordained, he was happy to help us onto yet another important journey in our lives.
As Cecil said the words, the sun slowly set and one of the brothers softly played a single guitar. The whole ceremony was magical and, the first time we kissed as man and wife, the city below us lit up.
***
A couple of hours later, the reception was in full swing. Theo and I danced and drank, laughed and talked. We had a rock/blues band playing in the venue tent that were going down well, as well as barbecue and all the beer, whiskey and tequila we could handle.
Still so much in love, and unable to keep our hands off each other, we’d already sneaked away for a quickie not long after the ceremony. Only really able to appreciate my stockings and panties at the time, Theo still appeared suitably impressed but, with more drinks and all the dancing, as well as Theo just looking so good in his suit, I was beginning to feel a little frisky again, keen to see his reaction when I could finally take this restricting dress off for him.
I saw him over by the bar, laughing with some of the guys. They just looked like brothers. Not club members, actual brothers. And he was the big brother. The president. The one they all looked up to and depended on.
I was about to go and give him a kiss, to steal him away from his comrades, when I felt a hand on my arm. I looked to the owner, and it was Miguel.
“Oh, hi,” I said, a little taken aback. “I didn’t know you were invited.”
“I wasn’t,” he smiled. “I don’t take it personally. I have someone with me outside who also wasn’t invited.”
No way. No way was this happening on my wedding day. Thankfully, I’d made a plan, just in case we had any little surprises. I told Miguel I’d follow him out but, as he turned to leave, I tugged Tina’s arm and whispered in her ear. She frowned but handed me the little Springfield XDS nine-millimeter Theo had given me for concealed carrying. I slid it into the garter belt on my thigh and headed outside.
Behind the club, among the trees, almost over by the pit, Anna was waiting for me. She was dressed in a black suit top, black skirt, black stockings and shoes, with a dark headscarf over her hair. In the half-light behind the building all I could make out was her pale, porcelain face, floating like a ghostly apparition in the distance. Miguel waited back by the buildings.
“Darling,” she drawled as though I hadn’t been avoiding her for more than three months, “simply divine dress. Exactly what I imagined you’d wear. And not very easy to hide a weapon in, either, lucky for me.”
“Don’t be so sure about that,” I warned her. If she had come here to start some shit, I was ready to gun her down and go have another drink.
“Relax, Piper, I didn’t come here to fight,” she smiled, her dead eyes staying as cold as ever.
“Then why did you come her?” I said wearily. If she didn’t come here for anything important, why couldn’t she just fuck off and let me go bone my husband. “There’s about a billion things I’d rather be doing right now than hiding back here talking to you.”
“Darling!” she sounded hurt but her eyes told another story. “After everything we’ve been through, all our years together, is that anyway to treat me?”
“Then tell me why you’re here.”
“Two reasons: One, almost all my girls are here, at your wedding, so I had little choice but to close for the day. Your wedding has probably cost me about five thousand dollars, at least.”
“Boo fucking hoo!”
“Second,” she continued, ignoring my gleeful smile. “You still owe me to buy yourself out. My original loan, plus the three months of failing to show for work…”
“Three and a half,” I smiled again. She wasn’t really here to collect, was she? If I asked him, Theo would let all the Madam X girls stay here, give them jobs elsewhere. Anna had nothing to hold over me anymore.
“But, darling,” she sighed deeply, “I was going to tell you to keep it, as a wedding present.”
I was speechless. I had never seen or heard any kind of generosity coming from her before, ever.
“What’s the catch?” I asked suspiciously.
“None. I promise,” and something told me she was being genuine, “you did more people than you could imagine a huge favor by ridding us of Vinnie Greca. Even the Mafia. I heard you pulled a significant thorn from their side. Vinnie was too high profile, too loud, and an embarrassment. If you had failed to take him out, they probably would have instead.”
“Well, it’s good to know I’ve given the struggling world of organized crime a helping hand.” I said bitterly. I was still glad I killed him, but this was not the best news I’d had today.
“Be of good cheer, darling,” Anna smiled again, annoyingly. “The list of small business operators, like myself, who owe you a debt is enormous, not to mention those who work for us. He didn’t just mistreat you, you know.”
“Great. Anything else?”
“Only I wish you good luck.” She took two steps towards me. “I know it won’t mean much to you, but I’m… proud of the woman you’ve finally become. You’ll be a fine mother.”
Damn, how did everyone already know? She leaned in and stood up to give me a quick kiss on the cheek. I was so stunned I let her.
“I’m glad you came, Anna,” I said, eventually, “I really I am. Would you do me a favor now?”
“Of course, darling.”
“Get the fuck out of my life and never come back?” I said, finally.
I saw a small smile creep around her mouth and, to my surprise, reflect in her eyes. Then she turned and walked off, swiftly and silently, into the night. Miguel followed, waving goodbye as he went.
***
Back inside, I was still in a little shock. Tina rushed up to check I was okay and was pleased to see I hadn’t manage to stain my nice white dress with someone’s blood. She handed me a glass and we clinked them together. My other bridesmaids were dancing inappropriately and cock-teasing a gathering crowd of bikers horribly. My family was all around me, I was safe. I was exactly where I wanted to be. Almost.
I felt strong arms encircle around me from behind, his palms coming to rest on my belly, warming our unborn child.
“I love you so much,” he whispered to me.
“And I love you,” I breathed back. I let my head fall against his shoulder, feeling our bodies press together. Now, now I was exactly where I wanted to be.
THE END