CHAPTER THIRTY
Ice and Lindsey
ICE
John, I want you to know that I love you so much and I can’t believe I’m about to spend the rest of my life with you. You have given me so much and made me so happy. Everything about our lives together has been perfect. Well, minus the few bumps in the road. Being your wife is more than I could ever ask for and I’m so grateful you chose me. That being said, I have a lot to do today to get ready for our wedding. I’ve made a list of things for you to do today so that this day goes off without a hitch. There are only two things you have to do: 1) Make sure you show up on time wearing your tux. 2) Don’t show up drunk.
Love, Lindsey
“Can you believe this? She actually thinks I’d show up drunk on our wedding day,” I told the guys as we sat around drinking beer in the church basement. “Well, you are drinking beer…in a church,” Jules said not so helpfully. “A few beers won’t make me drunk. Besides, she gave me two things to do. Two. Can you believe that? Like a woman is the only one that has to get ready for the wedding.” “And what exactly do you have to do?” Chance asked. “I could have stuff to do,” I said indignantly. “Like men can’t pamper themselves. I could be getting a massage or…” “A facial,” Sinner said. “Waxed?” Hunter asked. I shot him a look, telling him there was no fucking way that would happen. “What? I was against it at first too, but you gotta change with the times.” “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that I won’t ever be doing that.” “Are you going to shave before the wedding?” Sebastian asked. “Why?” I asked, rubbing my hand across my jaw. “Do you think I need to?” Cazzo whistled low and shook his head. “You’re supposed to look your best.” “Yeah, but I don’t ever shave it all off.” “Here,” Jules said, handing over a small box to me. “What is it?” “Well, you know how women all give each other shit at weddings. I figured you should get something too. I would have gotten you a coffin, but frankly, it’s just too expensive.” “That’s…” I shook my head, not really sure what to think of Jules’s idea of a wedding present. Opening the package, my brows furrowed in confusion. “I don’t get it.” I looked down at the large nose, hairy eyebrows, mustache, and glasses. “Are you dressing up as Mr. Potato Head?” Sebastian asked. “Uh…not that I’m aware of.” Jules rolled his eyes. “It’s in case you need a quick getaway. A disguise, you know?” “And you thought this look wouldn’t be at all suspicious,” I said slowly. “Hey, it’s all I could come up with at the last minute. Just trying to have your back, man.” Jules slapped my back as he walked over to grab another beer.
Lindsey
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” I asked Maggie as she placed the strips around my eyebrows. “Of course. I looked it up online and everything.” “You what? I thought you said you’ve done this before!” Maggie bent down in front of me and stilled my shaking shoulders. “Stop moving. I need to make sure that the placement is right.” I groaned and slapped my forehead. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this on the day of my wedding. My eyebrows were fine the way they were.” “Well, now they’re going to be better,” she grinned. “Just hurry up and get it over with. I need to finish getting ready.” Claire and Lucy walked over with glasses of champagne, studying my eyebrows. “I think the right one is higher.” “No, they’re even,” Lucy shook her head. “I’m telling you,” Claire sighed. “The right one is higher than the left. You have to redo it.” Maggie looked again and nodded. “Yeah, she’s right. Hold on. I’ll just move it and you’ll be fixed in no time.” She pulled off the wax strip and I yelled when the hairs pulled from my face, burning like nothing I’d ever felt before. “Oops,” Maggie grimaced. “Oops? Oops! Don’t say oops when I have to walk out in front of a bunch of people in two hours!” “No, no. It’s fine. We’ll just do the other one and see what we have to work with.” Before I could protest, she ripped the left strip off my eyebrow, tearing more hairs from my face. “Dammit! You have to warn me when you’re going to do that.” “I did,” Maggie said. “Hmm.” She studied my eyebrows and I saw Lucy wince. Grabbing the mirror, I held it up and silently screamed at the mismatched eyebrows I now sported. “Oh…my….God.” I swallowed hard and then looked at Maggie in shock. “You gave me two different sized eyebrows!” “It’s okay. I can fix this,” she said calmly. “I’ll just take a little off the thicker eyebrow to even them out. Stay calm.” I took a deep breath as she put the wax on the thicker eyebrow. Yanking the strip, my eyes flew open to gauge their reactions. Claire downed her champagne and Lucy looked up to avoid eye contact. “What? Just tell me! How bad is it?” “Um, well you know how you had two eyebrows?” Maggie asked with a nervous chuckle. “Had?” I asked quietly. I picked up the mirror and hesitantly looked at my reflection. I now had one very thin, almost non-existent eyebrow and one that was a little thicker. I took in some deep breaths, refusing to cry. “This is not happening. Not on my wedding day. I have two eyebrows,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut and then opening them again. But when I looked, I still had only one eyebrow. “Oh my God! I have one eyebrow!” “It’s really not that bad,” Lucy winced. “We can just draw in the other eyebrow.” “Draw in…you want to draw in one eyebrow?” I shrieked. “Here,” Claire said, shoving a glass of champagne at me. I chugged it, letting the bubbles go straight to my head and calm me down some. “How long does it take to regrow eyebrows?” Maggie asked. “I need John,” I said quietly. “It’s bad luck to see-” I stopped Lucy’s speech with a glare. “Do you really think it can get much worse than this?” I asked in a deceptively calm voice. “You’re right,” Lucy said, swallowing hard. “I’ll just…” She pointed for the door and scurried off to find John. Maggie looked over at me as she bit her lip. “Do you want me to-” “No,” I said harshly. “Right,” she said dejectedly. “Maybe it’ll be your good luck charm,” Claire said cheerily. I lifted the champagne bottle, my suspicions confirmed when I felt the light weight of the bottle. A few minutes later, Lucy was running through the door, shutting it slightly behind her. “Okay, I have John but I told him to wait outside. Are you sure you want to do this?” I didn’t answer as I got up and ran over to the door, flinging it open with tears in my eyes. John’s eyes went wide and he covered his mouth, trying not to laugh. “It’s not funny,” I snapped. “No, definitely not. How did this…” He waved at my face and then cleared his throat as he choked back a smile. “Maggie,” I said angrily. “You let Maggie do your eyebrows?” he asked incredulously. “Hey,” Maggie said, walking up behind me, draining a glass of champagne. “It would have been fine if-” “If I hadn’t let you touch my eyebrows?” I snarled. “You let her do your eyebrows while she was drinking champagne?” He didn’t hold back his laughter this time, but exploded into a full on belly laugh. Tears welled in my eyes and he instantly stopped his laughing. “Sorry. It’s not funny.” “What am I going to do? I can’t walk down the aisle with one eyebrow!” “I might have an idea. Give me a minute.” He walked away, leaving me standing in the doorway crying. When he returned and handed me the bushy eyebrows, I looked at him in confusion. “It was a present from one of the guys. A joke, sort of.” “What am I supposed to do with them? You want me to have big, bushy man eyebrows for our wedding?” “No, I was thinking you could trim them and then glue them on or something.” I started crying again and John’s eyes turned fearful. “No, he’s right,” Claire said. “We can work with this. I’ll just-” “No, I don’t think so,” Lucy said. “You’ve already had too much champagne and out of the three us, I have the best style. I’ll do the trimming.” Lucy turned and walked away, the others following, leaving me alone with John. He cupped my face and brushed his thumbs across my lips. “Eyebrows or not, I still love you. It’ll be okay.” “I’m not walking down the aisle with no eyebrows.” “Princess, we already paid for everything. Don’t you think you’re being a tad dramatic?” My nostrils flared as he so easily dismissed my eyebrows. He held up his hands when he saw the fury raging through me. “Nevermind. Forget I said anything.” I slammed the door in his face, trying to calm myself down. I was going to be marrying the stupid man in a couple of hours after all.
Ice
“No matter what, you keep your fucking mouth shut,” I said as I stood at the front of the church with Jules, Chris, and Sebastian. “Language,” Sebastian chastised. “We’re in the house of God. It’s like asking him to strike you down where you stand.” “I won’t have to worry about God if Lindsey walks down that aisle and you laugh at her. Don’t fucking ruin this for me.” “You know, you used to be a lot more fun before you went and got yourself a woman,” Jules grumbled. The wedding march sounded and I shot one more glare at my friend before turning to watch Lindsey walk down the aisle. Claire, Lucy, and Maggie walked down first and then she appeared in the doorway, stunning as ever. She floated down the aisle like something out of a fantasy and stood before me with an uncertain smile on her face. Her eyebrows had been fashioned out of the ones I gave her and whoever did them, did a really good job. The ceremony was short because neither of us wanted to sit through a long ceremony. When we recited our vows and the minister pronounced us husband and wife, I grabbed Lindsey around the waist and kissed her hard, probably adding a little too much tongue, but fuck, it was my wedding day. I pulled back and looked into her gorgeous eyes, thanking God that I was lucky enough to have gotten this woman back. Leaning my forehead against hers, I whispered, “I love you so fucking much.” “I love you too.” I kissed her again and then smiled as I stepped back. Something furry was fluttering in my vision and I snatched the hairy thing from my head. Looking back at Lindsey, her eyes were wide in horror as her eyebrow stuck to my forehead. I quickly put it back in place over her eyes, smoothing it down and nodding in satisfaction. She relaxed as we turned toward the crowd, but I sent a warning glare back at the guys. Her eyebrow was nowhere near in the correct place, but I wasn’t about to tell her that as we walked out of the church together. We’d fix it for the pictures.