Lucy

February

The material of the dress I had just stepped into felt scratchy against my skin. It was expensive silk, or so the price tag had proclaimed it when Jenna and Kin helped me pick it out the week before. I knew it wasn’t actually the material of the damn thing that was making me feel like every inch of my body was covered in hives.

It was me.

Breathe.

“You look hot,” my best friend said with a grin as she came into the bedroom after having just finished putting on her makeup in my bathroom. “Harris is going to come in his pants the second he sees you in that.”

I examined myself in the full-length mirror on the back of the closet door. We’d spent the entire afternoon at the spa and then had our hair done afterward. The stylist had straightened my crazy curly hair that now hung to the middle of my back. I’d let Kin do my makeup since she was the queen of that contour bullshit, and I had to admit the smoky eye with just a hint of purple went perfectly with my purple silk dress. The material clung to my body, dipping down just enough to give the tiniest tease of cleavage. It was the ideal mix of sexy and demure to make both Harris and my dad happy.

Which, in the end, was all I really cared about. As long as the two men I loved the most in the world were happy, I was happy too.

It would be over in just a few hours. I wouldn’t have to worry about the flashing lights and possible whispers by the time I returned home later with Harris.

With that thought firmly in mind, I pulled on the killer black boots I had practically drooled over from the moment I set eyes on them and grabbed my clutch. “I’m so ready for this night to be over,” I grumbled as the two of us left my apartment and headed for the elevators.

Our engagement party was tonight. I should have been thankful the moms and Aunt Emmie had given me a little over a month to prepare for the party. Especially since there were going to be nearly two hundred people there. Two hundred of our nearest and dearest, or so the trio had assured me when I’d made the mistake of asking how many people I should expect in attendance.

I wasn’t even sure I knew two hundred people who were near and dear to me, so I figured there would be more people there for Harris than me. With all the new connections he’d made over the last few years since First Bass opened, I had an inkling the night was going to be filled with more strangers than actual people I cared about. Hence the hives.

Kin touched her hand to my arm, giving me a look that told me she understood what I was feeling. “Just breathe, okay? Harris will be beside you the entire time. And you know Jace and I will be right there with you. If it gets to be too much, just give me the code word and I’ll cause a scene, and Jace can sneak you out the back or something.”

Despite my misgivings, a grin teased at my lips. “What’s the code word?”

She touched her index finger to her chin, thinking quickly—and most likely dirtily. But then she surprised me with, “Banana.”

A laugh bubbled out of me, easing a little of the tension in my shoulders. “What? Why would that be the code word?”

She shrugged her slender shoulders. “I figured that was the least likely word that would come out of your mouth all night. This way I’ll know for sure that’s what you mean if you have to use it.”

Still laughing, I shook my head at her and stepped into the now open elevator. Kin hit the button for Jace’s floor, and we were both giggling when the doors opened to find Jace standing right in front of us. I took in his elegant suit, carefully styled hair, and the smirk on his face.

He gave a low wolf whistle that had us both blushing with pleasure, but his blue gaze grazed over me before he ate up the sight of his girlfriend. Her dress wasn’t nearly as demure as my own. The backless baby-blue satin dress was held up by delicate shoestring straps. She was wearing a pair of heels that put her at the perfect eye level with him, but his gaze wasn’t on her face.

“Hey!” she mock-scolded him. “Eyes up here, babe.”

He shot her a crooked grin as he stepped forward to kiss her, giving the lipstick she had on a true test to see if it was actually going to stay in place. I rolled my eyes and stepped back, pushing the button to hold the elevator doors open so it wouldn’t crush Kin, who was still half inside with me.

After nearly a full minute, I cleared my throat loudly, but that didn’t even penetrate their lust-filled brains. Muttering a curse, I grabbed both of them by the arms and guided them back into the elevator before punching the garage floor button. As the elevator descended, it stopped a few floors down. I cringed as the jerk who lived in 12B stepped on beside me and kept his gaze on my two friends who were still going at it hot and heavy.

Shit, I hated that guy.

The first time I’d met him I had been alone in the elevator and he’d had some chick all over him much like Kin was on Jace now. But while the girl had been licking and sucking on his neck, practically dry-humping his leg, he had lifted his head and looked right at me. His brown eyes had been bloodshot, and I could smell the booze on both him and the girl in his arms. Those eyes had practically fucked me as he stood there with that smug-ass grin on his face. When the elevator had stopped, I’d flipped him off as he’d carried his girl out.

The second time, I’d actually gotten a better look at the guy. He had shaggy dark hair with just a few natural, sun-kissed highlights. His nose was on the crooked side, but I didn’t look close enough to see if it was from being broken or just the way it was shaped. His skin was on the darker side of olive, reminding me of Harris. That time, I wasn’t alone in the elevator. Kin and I had finished with classes early and were going to study in my apartment. She had one of her books already open and was skimming through her notes.

I had tried to ignore the guy as he’d stepped into the elevator, crowding us into the back corner even though the three of us were the only ones present. I’d clutched Kin’s elbow, pulling her attention away from her studying to the creep that was standing far too close. As soon as her eyes clashed with the guy’s, she had stiffened.

“Back the fuck up, asshole,” she’d growled at him.

With a chuckle, he had moved to the other side of the elevator, but his eyes hadn’t left us once. We hadn’t been wearing anything revealing, just T-shirts and jeans, but he’d looked at us like we were naked. I hated guys like that. The sexist fuckers who thought they were entitled to anything and everything they saw just because they had a dick.

“Keep your eyes to yourself, dickhead,” I’d tossed at him as I gave him my usual greeting of flipping him off.

“Where’s the fun in that?” he’d said with a leer as the elevator had stopped on his floor.

With a wink, he’d walked away, but that wasn’t the last I had seen of him in the intervening few weeks. Every time I had the misfortune of riding the elevator with him, he was just as creepy, just as sleazy. I could practically read the lewd thoughts in his eyes, and I was tempted time and again to throat-punch the fucker. I was starting to think he was a stalker, one who knew when I was going to be without Marcus or Harris—or fuck, without any other male on the planet—because that seemed to be the only time I ever saw this jerk-off.

Thankfully, the creeper got off on the ground floor, and no one else stepped into the elevator with us. Jace and Kin’s kiss was still going strong when the doors opened once again to find Marcus already sitting behind the wheel of my Range Rover that was idling close by.

“Kin!” I called loudly. “Hello? Could you come up for air? I don’t want to be late.”

With a small whimper, she pushed Jace back, and I saw her lipstick was worth every penny she had thought she was wasting on it. She quickly smoothed out Jace’s shirt and then brushed her fingers over her hair. On visibly shaking legs, she took his hand and followed him out.

Seeing us, Marcus jumped out and opened the door for me. Kin and I climbed into the back while Jace took the front passenger seat. Something I was eternally grateful for because I wasn’t sure I could sit beside them while they devoured each other’s mouths. Especially if Kin was going to make those little noises that were part whimper, part mewling sound. If I’d had to endure that, I would most likely have jumped Harris the second I saw him.

“Sorry,” Kin whispered as Marcus shifted into drive and headed out.

I rolled my eyes at her. “Don’t be. I wouldn’t have even bothered you if I weren’t afraid of showing up late to this thing.”

She grasped my hand and entwined our fingers. “Remember. Banana.”

I fucking loved my best friend. She knew exactly how to make me feel calm and put a grin on my face. Giggling, I nodded to let her know I would remember, and Jace turned to lift a brow at us both.

Twenty minutes later, Marcus pulled up in front of Cliff’s Edge, and my heart melted as soon as I saw the man standing there waiting for us. Dressed in a suit that nearly matched Jace’s, Harris looked delicious, and I wanted to jump his bones the second he stepped forward and opened my door. As soon as I touched my fingers to his, I felt him jerk in reaction, and I didn’t even hesitate to clutch his tie and pull his head down for a hungry kiss.

I felt the ravenous growl vibrate his chest and smiled against his lips before he lifted his head. “You’re gonna make me go in there with a hard-on, sweetness. You want your dad to kill me in front of our friends and family?”

I scrunched my nose up at him teasingly. “We’re engaged, babe. I’m fairly sure they all know we see each other naked on a daily basis.”

“And I’m pretty sure your dad doesn’t care to see the evidence of how I respond to just the thought of you naked, Lu.” With a wink, he grasped my hips and lifted me from the seat. Seconds later I was on my feet, and his aquamarine eyes were eating up every inch of me. “Fucking hell. We’re leaving early from this damn thing.”

Pleasure filled me, and I could tell when he saw how much his comment pleased me. He bent and pressed his lips to my forehead. “Ready?”

I wasn’t, but it was now or never. I nodded because I couldn’t voice the lie aloud, and he took my hand as we entered the restaurant together.

As soon as we stepped inside, all eyes turned to look at us, and I tightened my fingers around his.

Breathe.

Shit, that was a lot of people. Two hundred people, in theory, was a lot, sure. But I had been to events with my family plenty of times where the numbers had been in the tens of thousands. This should have been simple, something I could breeze through easily and unaffected. Instead, I felt the beginnings of a panic attack and had to force myself to put up the walls that had fallen the second Harris had first seen my physical scars.

Feeling my tension, Harris lifted our joined hands and kissed the backs of my fingers. “We got this,” he promised me.

I melted against him, letting go of some of the tension that was trying to destroy all the progress I had made over the last year. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Lucy.”

“There’s my baby.” A deep voice that filled my heart with nearly as much love as Harris’s did sounded from right behind me.

I turned and hugged my dad, taking a moment to bury my face in his strong, wide chest before the rest of our engagement party guests swooped down on us. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see the people there; it just got a little overwhelming to see them all at the same time. Once upon a time, I had loved having get-togethers like this with all the people I loved. But that was before those closest to me found out about my coping mechanism. I knew no one who did know about my cutting would ever tell another soul, and only a handful of people in the room right then were aware of what I struggled with every single day. But now that my secret was out, I always felt like the entire world knew and was judging me.

Dad lowered his head, and he touched his lips to my temple. “I’m right here, baby. Not gonna let anyone hurt you. You know that, right?”

I lifted my head and gave him a beaming smile. It was the same smile I had always hidden behind, the one that masked everything I was really feeling and let me pretend that everything was perfect. That I was perfect. What a fucking lie. “Yeah, Daddy. I know.”

He tucked me close then draped his arm casually around Harris’s shoulders. Turning, Jesse Thornton spoke to the entire room. “Everyone, this party is to celebrate my baby girl marrying this…boy.”

I heard a snort and caught Devlin Cutter’s eyes. He winked at me as he tucked his daughter between him and her mother. Smiling back at him, I elbowed Dad in the stomach. I knew he loved Harris, but he was always grumbling and growling and calling him “boy.”

“Ouch, Lu. Okay, okay,” he said with a deep chuckle, then cleared his throat after swallowing hard. I knew this was difficult for my dad, but he was taking it in stride for me, and it made me love the man who had raised me from the time I was six years old even more. “Seriously, though. We all knew this day was coming. From the time they were kids, we all figured these two would break my heart and spend the rest of their lives together. But today, my heart isn’t broken. It’s fuller than ever. I’m not losing a daughter. I’ve only gained another son.”

His hand tightened on Harris’s shoulder, and I watched as the two men who were my entire world locked gazes. I witnessed the mutual love and respect they had for each other shining back. Tears stung my eyes, and I turned so I was hugging them both as a chorus of “Here, here” and collective feminine “Aww” sounded behind me.

After only a few short seconds, Dad stepped back and shook Harris’s hand. “I could only ever have let her go to you, boy.”

Harris swallowed hard. “I know, sir. Thank you, sir. I promise you, I won’t let you—or Lucy—down.”

As soon as the two men were apart, the others took that as their cue to start coming over to congratulate us. Everyone who had been at my birthday party and witnessed Harris proposing to me was front and center, and I was hugged tightly by all the badass rockers who looked scary and mean to the outside world but melted at my feet if I were to bat my lashes and ask them for the moon.

The Demons all converged on me, while the OtherWorld members flanked Harris and congratulated us. These men, they had all practically raised the two of us, and we thought of them as uncles. After a few minutes, they seemed to switch positions, and while I was being hugged by Wroth Niall, Shane and Nik were muttering something to Harris that I couldn’t hear.

I turned to face them both as soon as the big rocker had me on my feet again, and I put my hands on my hips. “What are you two doing?”

Nik gave me a sheepish look, but Shane only shrugged as he dropped a heavy hand on Harris’s shoulder and squeezed, hard. “Just telling your fiancé here what will happen if he ever breaks your heart.”

I pushed between him and Harris, dislodging his hand from my fiancé’s shoulder. Harris’s hand touched my waist, but I didn’t melt into him yet. “You don’t ever have to worry about that, mister. Now stop trying to intimidate people and go find your wife before I tell her you’re being an ass.”

He pouted his bottom lip out at me. “Now that’s just mean, Lulu.”

My heart softened at the affectionate old nickname he’d called me when I was a little girl, but I still punched his arm. “Play nice, Shane Stevenson.”

With a wink, he dropped a kiss on the top of my head and turned away. “Remember what we said, kid.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Harris called after him. “If I were you, I’d worry about the two little monsters over there sitting so close to your daughter.”

As expected, that had Shane’s gaze zooming around the room until he found Violet. She was sitting at a table with both of my brothers. As I watched, Luca entwined his fingers with hers and set their joined hands on top of the table. Violet barely seemed to notice as she kept talking to Lyric, but I saw the happy smile teasing at her lips.

I hid my grin as the Demon switched directions and headed toward his daughter. As soon as Luca noticed Shane heading for them, he stiffened and sat up a little straighter, but he didn’t release his hold on his best friend’s hand.

“Shit,” Axton Cage muttered with a chuckle. “Boy’s got some balls. Never seen a daddy so protective of his little girl. Fuck, I’m not even that bad when it comes to Shaw.”

Nik snorted. “Dude, you practically foam at the mouth when any boy so much as smiles at your daughter. Jags said something to her this morning, and your wife made you leave the room before you could start bashing him.”

Axton shrugged. “Your boy is too much like you, man. Don’t want him getting any ideas.”

“He’s a kid, not a hormone-wrecked teenager,” Nik defended. “You gotta chill out.”

“I think you should all relax a little,” I told them, my gaze skimming over all the men before me with daughters, but I paused on Wroth. He had one of the youngest daughters in the group, and so far, he had been pretty calm when it came to his little Dorie. That was bound to change as she got older. The beautiful little girl looked too much like her mother for him to be calm when it came to boys. “Your daughters are all beautiful, intelligent girls. They’ll be able to handle themselves when it comes to picking the right guys for them.”

Devlin slung his arm over his son’s shoulder, and I sucked in a shallow breath at the sight of them so close together. The drummer’s hair fell over his shoulder with only a couple of streaks of gray through the dark locks. That, along with a few lines around his eyes and mouth, was the only thing that really told a person who didn’t know that Devlin was the older of the two. They looked more like brothers than father and son, and if you saw them at a distance, you would easily confuse them for twins, they looked so much alike. Down to those damn dimples that were popping in both their handsome faces as they joked with the other men.

“All I know is that Trinity is a tomboy, and I like it that way,” he told his bandmates and the Demons still standing with the group. “But if I had to choose one of these boys to love my daughter as much as my son loves Lucy, I would pick Lyric over there.”

At the mention of my youngest brother, I glanced back over to where Shane had crouched down in front of the twins and Violet. Luca’s jaw was clenched, and he was still holding on to Violet’s hand. Or, more accurately, Violet was holding on to his hand and was stubbornly refusing to release it. But Shane’s attention was on Lyric, who had distracted the raging Demon, and the two seemed to be having a serious conversation about something that had relaxed Shane’s face a little.

“Hey now,” Liam protested. “My Piper has already called dibs on him.”

“She can call dibs all she wants, but we all know he’s gonna fall in love with Shaw,” Axton argued.

I lifted both my hands, stopping them all before they started fighting over my little brother. “Hey, let’s not marry my baby bro off to anyone for the time being. Let’s let them be kids and allow fate to do her job.”

“Who’s marrying my son off?” Mom’s voice asked from behind me as she joined our group. Her hand touched my waist, and I hugged her side before she turned her eyes first to Dad then the rest of the rockers. “Who is Ric marrying?”

Dad nodded his head to the others. “These three are calling dibs on him marrying their daughters. I say just make them sister wives and be done with it.”

That had the three rockers cursing under their breaths and shooting Dad nasty looks, but Mom snorted and rolled her eyes at them all.

“And on that note, I’m taking our daughter away from your craziness,” she said with a laugh. She tucked her arm through mine and steered me away from the group.

No sooner was I away from the guys than Kin appeared as if out of thin air. I had no idea where she and Jace had gotten to when we first arrived, but I was thankful for her reappearance. Mom didn’t even blink as my best friend linked her arm through her other elbow. From the moment I had first brought Kin home from school with me, Mom and Kin had bonded. Kin had needed a surrogate mother figure badly back then, and she naturally become one of the family. Mom gave Kin a warm smile as she walked us over to where all the rocker wives were chatting.

As we neared them, Lana lifted her gaze to mine and gave me an assessing once-over. I gave her the same smile I had given Dad when he’d first hugged me earlier, but she was used to seeing below the surface now that she knew my secret. She and Drake could read me nearly as well as Harris could these days. Definitely better than Mom could, that was for sure.

“There’s the girl of the hour,” my sister said with a laugh as she pulled me away from Mom and wrapped me in a hug that soothed something deep within me. “Where the hell did you get those boots?” she cried when she pulled back a few moments later and eyed me from head to toe.

Laughing, I hugged her again. “If you’re nice to me, I’ll let you borrow them.”

“Borrow? Baby, I want them for my own!”

“Too bad, so sad. They’re mine, shoe whore.”

Lana took my hands and entwined our fingers, practically dancing with excitement. “Oh! I meant to call you, but the girls distracted me. Nev and I found you the perfect shoes for the wedding.”

“I haven’t even found a dress yet,” I reminded her with a laugh.

“Doesn’t matter. These babies will go with whatever you decide. I bought them for you. I’ll bring them when we go dress shopping next weekend.”

“Great! Can’t wait to see them,” I said, starting to feel the excitement of actually finding a wedding dress. After my initial talk with Dad about the moms taking over the wedding planning, I’d forced myself to relax and let them work their magic. This might not be turning into the wedding I had originally foreseen for us, but honestly, I was just happy to be marrying Harris.

“Don’t forget we have an appointment at the bakery on Wednesday. Harris is coming, right?” Aunt Emmie cut in, forcing Lana and me to separate and turn to face her.

That was the first I had heard of his coming. Hell, it was the first time they had even brought up his name when it came to the planning part of the wedding. I was surprised they even wanted him to give his opinion on anything. Between Mom, Aunt Emmie, and Natalie, all Harris had to do was show up and say yes when the officiant asked if he took me for his wife.

But I doubted she was even talking to me because it was Natalie who gave her an affirmative. Then it was like always, and they started going on and on about all the things we still had to do. Or rather, the things that I still had to “decide” on. I put my smile firmly in place and nodded whenever eyes landed on me. But on the inside, I was mentally begging them to just shut the fuck up. This was my engagement party, damn it. I didn’t want to talk about the wedding—or the million things I still had to deal with in the not so distant future.

Thirty minutes into it, with all the rocker wives putting in their two cents and reminding us how their own weddings had been, I was tempted to say “banana” and let Kin get me out of there. As if he could sense my tension from across the room, however, Harris broke away from the group he had been pulled into.

“Ladies,” he said with a grin. “Don’t you think we should be celebrating instead of micromanaging? Wedding planning is for later. Lu, there’s a few people I want to introduce you to.” He took my elbow and guided me backward from the group. “You can have her back later if you promise to stop talking about the wedding. If not, she’s all mine for the rest of the night.”

Before he could drag me completely away, I snatched hold of Kin’s hand and pulled her along with us. Harris took me back to the group he had just left, which included Jace and Nate, one of the assistant managers and full-time bartender at First Bass.

“Hey, stranger,” I greeted Nate with a grin. “Did you enjoy your vacation?”

He lifted a thick shoulder carelessly. “I wasn’t working, so it was heaven.”

“Good. You deserved some time off. But I know Harris missed you this past week. It takes three people to cover what you do on your own every night.”

Nate smirked. “I’ll remember that when it’s time to ask for a raise.”

Harris nudged me ever so slightly, letting me know he still tended to be a little jealous of the other guy, and forcing me to focus on the rest of the group. I smiled at Barb, the woman who was the other assistant manager at First Bass. Barb was thirty-five and one of the butchest lesbians I’d ever met. She was just as much one of the guys as anyone else in this group, and I adored her.

“I’m so glad you got to come, Barb!” I said as I hugged her. “Thank you for being here.”

“Lu, this is Cal Newton,” Harris told me, and I directed my eyes to the man he was now introducing.

As soon as I met the beady brown eyes of the only other person in the group, I stiffened. Beside me, Kin muttered a nasty expletive, and we instantly moved closer to each other. She’d had her own run-ins with this asshole over the last few weeks. Whereas mine had been mostly just lecherous looks and sneering smiles, Kin’s had been more vocal ones.

“Cal, my fiancée and love of my life, Lucy Thornton.”

“We’ve met, actually,” Cal said with a smug-ass grin that made me want to throat-punch him. “But I had no idea Perfect Tits was your girl, man.”

Every single person around me froze at the backhanded compliment the creeper had just given me, but my eyes were solely on the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with. Harris blinked at the man for a long moment while I held my breath. I knew he wasn’t going to overlook the comment about my tits, and the way his hand balled into a fist told me he was trying to rein in his temper. “You’ve met?”

“He lives in our building, Harris,” I hissed under my breath.

“I know he lives in our building,” he muttered back, still looking confused but more and more menacing now that he was getting the full impact of how unhappy I was. “I got him the apartment. Cal’s my liquor supplier.”

“Oh yeah? How long has he been your supplier?” Kin asked over my head.

Harris was still watching me closely as he answered her. “A few months now. Cal can get me a few things the other guy couldn’t.”

“Hmm, well good for Cal,” Kin sneered.

“What’s with you, babe?” Jace questioned, pulling his girlfriend close, and if she hadn’t been holding on to my hand, I probably would have missed the way she trembled against him.

“Remember the slimeball I was telling you about?” He nodded, and I could feel the spark in the air around us as she lifted a hand toward Cal. “Meet Mr. Sleazebag Creeperton.”

“No fucking way,” Jace growled in a voice I’d never heard from him before. I pulled Kin away from him as his eyes became wild.

Harris turned to stone on my other side, and I lifted my gaze to meet his eyes. “This is the guy who has been harassing you and Kin?”

I shrugged. “He hasn’t really said anything to me. Just makes me uncomfortable. But yeah, he’s harassed Kin.”

“And Kassa,” Jace snarled.

Oh, shit.

I hadn’t known Cal was doing the same to Jace’s sister. My eyes darted from Harris across the room and straight to where Gray Knight was drinking beers with his friends Kale and Sin. They stood by a table where Jenna, Angie, and Kassa were sitting and laughing together. Even as I looked at Gray, I watched him tear his eyes from Kassa and turn them to Kale, but seconds later, they were back on her again. It was a little heartbreaking for me to watch them. Kassa and Gray were best friends, but I could see there was something more. Only neither of them seemed willing to change that.

Yet.

Barb, the cooler head in our little group, tried to defuse the tension we could all feel was simmering. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but maybe we could take this outside so the happy couple’s special night isn’t ruined.”

“Barb’s right. I think we should definitely take this outside,” Jace gritted out.

Cal, seeming immune to the atmosphere now, grinned like he didn’t have a care in the world. “What? You want to punch me in the face for talking to a little piece of ass?” His eyes raked over Kin then me, and I knew someone was about to get hurt.

Breathe.

I closed my eyes and held my breath, waiting for it to all be over.

Just breathe.

I felt someone move, heard the sound of skin hitting skin and a loud thump as Cal hit the floor at my feet.

The entire room was suddenly deathly quiet, and all I could hear was the sound of my own breathing.

“Shit,” Barb muttered.

Just. Breathe.