LJ
I stared at my girlfriend from across the dance floor, smiling as I lounged against a high-top table. Her dad took her hand. But even donned in a fancy tuxedo, he couldn’t steal the show away from his daughter.
The shimmering black of Billie’s evening gown glistened across the dance floor as Mr. Coventry tugged his daughter over to him. The material flared off those full hips, hugged her perfect breasts, but the kicker was what she wore around her neck.
My Court ring sat right there between the swell of her breasts, reflecting in the light of the ballroom, and I think it really all hit me then. Not that I’d given it to her, a symbol of my past, but that she was with me. That I’d managed to keep her.
That’s what got me.
I released her for this dance with her father, the father-daughter dance. It’d been her dad’s idea to do this at his wedding tonight instead of the mother-son dance. He’d run it past Billie, of course, before he added it to the list of the reception dances, and Billie, she’d been more than willing to oblige.
My girl had been connecting so much with her dad lately, letting him in. She’d actually been a part of the wedding a bit when Mr. Coventry exchanged vows with his new spouse, Clarise, who also stood across the dance floor.
The woman in a cream-colored ballgown, she stared on, nothing but pride and smiles upon watching her new husband and stepdaughter. I wasn’t too much in the knowledge of how Billie was dealing with that, a woman half her dad’s age marrying her dad. Especially considering the circumstances in which the union had happened, but I did know my girlfriend was at peace with her dad’s decisions. Billie had even flown down early with me for the wedding, the reception and ceremony in a beach house off the shores of Miami. The whole thing had been lit, and Billie’d had the time of her life. She’d enjoyed herself and let herself be a part of all this.
Currently, she beamed up at her father, the two of them in their own conversation as they danced in front of everyone.
I couldn’t seem to steal her away from her dad these days back home in the Midwest. She spent a lot of time with him this summer. I think something about that day when her douche ex snatched her triggered something within her. Things weren’t so simple for her anymore, her priorities changing, and I think everyone saw it that day. She’d burst into tears upon seeing her dad, like she needed him.
I think she really had.
I set my drink down as I thought about that day. It’d been a day of ruin, and it’d taken me basically all goddamn summer not to be leaping for joy that her asswipe of an ex was behind bars and couldn’t darken my girl’s life anymore.
Yeah, he’d made it out of the crash and he must have had angels on his side. He’d suffered some pretty good trauma to the head, but he’d made it out okay. He’d been swiftly arrested after his recovery for kidnapping and attempted murder and if I never saw that guy again, it’d be too soon. Billie’s dad had taken care of that part, put Sinclair behind bars himself.
It was better that than what I’d do to him if he was out in the streets.
It took Billie to ease me back from relishing in her ex’s lock up, not to celebrate the fact but empathize. The guy’d seemed plagued with some heavy shit, and in the end, I accepted that was what his madness had been about. I was still grateful he wasn’t around to hurt Billie anymore, behind bars and unable to hurt anyone else, but I no longer celebrated what ended up happening to him.
I guessed I was at peace too.
A lot of that was going around these days, Billie and her dad. Billie and her mom. The dress Billie wore tonight ended up being made by her, something I guessed the woman used to do on the side before she’d gotten married to Billie’s dad. These days, Genevieve was taking it up again, and Billie said her mom was actually designing a gown now for a princess in Greece to wear at her wedding.
It seemed a lot of good things were happening for Billie and her family, and for Billie, I knew her therapy had been helping. After all that shit with Sinclair, she’d started seeing someone again. Even had a few sessions with her mom. I think that had been helping the both of them tremendously, and from what I gathered, Billie and her dad were considering some sessions as well after school started back up. What’s crazy was he’d been pushing for it. At least, that was what she told me.
It made me tremendously happy her family was coming together. I was proof it didn’t always work out that way, and though I wished I’d had my perfect family unit, I wouldn’t change what my mom, my sisters and I had. We were our own family unit, our own slice of chaos and love, and I couldn’t get enough.
It’d been all I could do to convince my mom to even let me finish school after I did break down and tell her what happened with the Marvellis. Not to mention, how fucking livid she’d been when I told her how I’d earned the cash I’d sent her and my sisters.
Yeah, I’d had to spill all that too. Mom told me I never had to do such things to help them, and though I let her think that, I’d do whatever I had to again. They were my family. They were my everything.
An extension of that out there on the dance floor now, I braced myself to move in and relieve Billie from her dad once the father-daughter song stopped. Her dad had his time, and now, it was mine.
My gaze cut away from the floor to the exit doors when they opened, and seeing who arrived, my smile rerouted for a second. The fucker actually made it, my buddy Jax.
Better late than never.
His ass had been invited to attend since he told me the wedding coincided with his arrival to the state. He was moving down here for school. Fresh off the plane actually. I told him he could get himself settled. I’d only be here for a weekend, but since he was coming down anyway, he’d said he wanted to catch me. Because he had, I’d made sure he got an invitation.
After all, I knew the daughter of the groom.
His gait heavy, Jax traveled across the room in a dark suit, his head full of hair, which was different for him. In high school, he used to buzz it, but no more. With some length, his brown hair feathered with a wave. In fact, if he grew that shit out the way mine had been in high school, I bet it’d be curly. Currently, he had his styled back a little, and catching me, he lifted a hand.
I returned, waving him to join me by my high-top. I wore a gray suit tonight, easy to find because I had started growing out my hair again. I wore it over my shoulders, slapping my buddy’s hand when he joined me at the high top.
“Took you long enough. Shit,” I jostled, bringing him into a hug. I slapped his back. “Your flight okay?”
I pegged him crazy for transferring from the Midwest for college his senior year, but from how it sounded, the whole thing had been his dad’s idea. The guy had been bugging him to hell, I guess, to reconnect with him, something he’d managed to convince him of now.
Upon sliding away, Jax pounded my fist, then snapped his fingers with me. “All good. And I’m fucking here. Ain’t that good enough?”
Bumping laughter, I smirked. I started to give him hell for missing the entire ceremony, but the music changed.
The dance floor opened up, the tempo changing. The father-daughter dance concluded, everyone else gathered on the floor. I looked for Billie in the shuffle, and catching her, I smiled.
She’d moved into another dance with her father, the pair shimmying, and I laughed, making Jax smile in that direction.
“I see your girl’s out there,” he stated, having met her already. I’d brought Billie home a few times this summer, mostly to officially meet my mom and the rest of my sisters. She’d, of course, met my boys too, but her wearing my ring around her neck was a new development. Jax’s lips parted. “And she’s wearing your ring.”
Not surprised he noticed that, I waggled my eyebrows. Our buddy Royal had actually started the tradition. He’d given his fiance December his ring. She wore it around her neck, and Knight’s girlfriend, Greer, the same when he gave it to her last semester. It was just something I guess our little circle did.
Nodding, I tapped Jax’s arm. “Wanna get a drink? Looks like my girl’ll be a little bit.”
And that was completely fine with me, totally happy for her and this openness she was experiencing. I wanted nothing but the best for her and would give her anything she wanted if she’d only ask.
How I’d become this person I didn’t know, but I had to say, I liked this side of myself. It felt more free, more complete.
Jax and I got a couple beers at the open bar, and after, we stood at another high-top table. This was still well within view of the dance floor, well within view of my girl and that shimmering gown hugging her full ass. Upon basically seeing me drooling in her direction, my buddy nudged me.
He chuckled. “Never thought it’d happen to you.”
“What?”
“Being in love,” he jostled, his elbow in my side. “Hope that shit’s not catching. I really don’t have time for that lovey-dovey bullshit.”
“Well, I got news for you, bro. It’s not really a choice once it happens.” I clinked our bottles. “Just kinda does.”
He rolled his eyes, the first to lay into me when I’d first texted I had a girlfriend.
I’d gotten reamed in that entire group text, and a whole lot of “I told you sos” from Knight and Royal, the fuckers. Jax had given his fair bit of jostling too, and I couldn’t wait for the day he’d be eating his fucking words. That shit just happened, and once it did, good luck getting away from it.
“Won’t happen to me. At least, not now.” He drew off his beer, a curled smile on his lips when he lowered it. “Got other priorities these days.”
“I’ll bet. You excited to start classes? Meet your new roommates?” I knew he’d chosen to live on campus instead of getting his own apartment. He was going to Bay Cove University in the fall.
“Quite.” His brow jumped before he drank more of his beer. “It’s sure to be a good-ass time.”
“For sure, and hey, you’ll get to meet your step-family. Your stepmom and stepsister?” I stated, knowing he had those and for a while now. I mean, a while.
After Jax’s dad had left the picture when he’d been a kid, the guy had gotten remarried within months. This marriage ultimately resulted in a kid and new mom, a step-family that Jax had managed to never meet either of until now.
He’d literally had zero relationship with his dad, which was why we’d all been surprised to hear him want to come down here for school. In fact, the decision had been so sudden it’d been almost alarming, dizzying even.
At the mention of his steps, Jax’s smile widened. “I sure will. Dad and stepmom are out of town, but they’re supposed to be back tomorrow. Dear old stepsister should be at home, though. Plan on stopping by after this.”
“You excited?”
“Ecstatic.” He panned, something dark glinting his green eyes I didn’t understand. “I got some plans for her. Plans for my dad. It’s going to be a riot.”
A chuckle as he picked up his beer again and with a sigh, I scrubbed my hand into my hair. “I thought you were coming down here to connect with your dad, man. Not work some ‘plans’ or some shit.”
His eye twitched like I’d said something blasphemous.
I shook my head. “Seriously, bro. I’d use this opportunity to fix the bullshit with your dad. Not make it worse.”
“Because you’d know so much about reconnecting with asshole fathers?” he cut, but couldn’t phase me. I’d long gotten over the woes of my own asshole father. He’d left when I was so young I barely remembered his ass, and all this aggression with Jax now obviously came from somewhere.
Being one of his best friends, I knew this attitude stemmed from basically years of hurt. His dad could pretty much win the award for absent father. The guy literally hadn’t tried to connect with Jax until he’d turned eighteen, and even then, the attempts had been few and far between since. Even still, if the guy was trying to reach out now, be better and get to know him…
Jax was right at the end of the day, though. I didn’t know much about this shit; it was his own journey. It may not be how I’d deal if it was the other way around, but I had no right to tell him what to do, not my place.
I raised my hand. “I’m not saying you have to forgive your dad. Fuck. You know what? Fuck him. But I am saying try to find some peace. And you do that for you, buddy. Not him.”
I’d like to say I saw some consideration behind his eyes, but that’d be a bald-faced lie. Whatever he was doing, he’d obviously made up his mind, and I could only hope he’d make the right decisions about his life in the end.
Jax was generally a pretty happy-go-lucky guy, but this dude standing in front of me now looked seriously fucking plagued. I’d hate to see some of that ease and love for life bleed away from a situation that wasn’t his fault. It was on his dad for leaving his family, leaving him.
We chatted for a few more moments before the air changed, and I was clouded with honeysuckle, my sexy-as-fuck girlfriend pushing her soft curves up on me. She’d surprised me from the back, her arms looping around my waist.
Turning within them, I brought her in, caging her face and sealing our lips.
She moaned beneath my mouth, melting underneath me as my tongue flicked out to taste hers.
A throat cleared beside us.
I rolled my eyes but did let go of Billie enough for Jax to say hi to her. Being the welcoming girlfriend she was, she embraced him, the girl fitting right into my world. My buddies weren’t just my friends but brothers, family.
“Nice to see you again,” she said.
He extended her out. “Same. And you look…” A whistle. “Damn gorgeous—”
“All right, buddy.” I dropped an arm across my girl’s shoulders. “You got a bridesmaid to find or…”
“Sure.” A chuckle from him and a shake to Billie’s head. Jax bumped my fist. “Get at you later.”
“You better.”
A two-fingered salute and he disappeared into the crowd. He’d probably be leaving with a couple women tonight, knowing him, or maybe he’d call it a night since he said he was going to meet his stepsister.
Wishing him luck with that and the situation, I asked my girl for a dance. She joined me on the dance floor, and I tucked her into me.
We danced close, this girl my air and every breath. She hugged her pillow-soft body against me, and I drank her in.
“You guys were talking for a long time,” she said, lifting her head. Obviously, her attention had been on me and what I’d been doing as much as I’d had mine on her earlier.
I spun her before dancing her back to me. “He’s just dealing with some shit. Stuff with his dad. His left him too when he was young. Jax is here now to try and reconnect with him.” I’d told Billie Jax was moving down here but hadn’t told her why. I frowned. “I hope he can be at peace with him. Take advantage of it like you did with your dad.”
Her cheek pressed against my chest in that moment, looking at her dad and new stepmom across the dance floor. The pair looked at us too in their dance, her dad waving at her. He winked, and Billie smiled.
Billie faced me. “I’m glad I did. We’re far from there, but at least, we’re making strides.”
She’d made heavy ones, one of the strongest people I knew, male or female.
Her arms fell down around my neck. “How’s Dasha doing? She all moved in or…”
Dasha was starting at Woodcreek, and though she was all moved in to the dorms, I grumbled a little at the reference. “Yeah, she is, but she’s been seeing a whole lot of Niko. Not really liking that.”
They’d actually been… shudders… dating, and I couldn’t be more livid. She’d come to stay with me for a few weeks over the summer, and I thought I’d lose my shit when I found out they’d been “hanging out” without my knowledge. My buddy had said he’d kept that close to the cuff because he wasn’t sure it was going to be a thing.
I grunted. “They’ve been dating, and I seriously want to rip off his balls and feed them to him. He’s too old for her.”
“She’s nineteen, babe.”
“Yeah, and your point? Still too old.”
Laughing a little, Billie laced our fingers together. “Niko is a good guy. Your sister is lucky to have him, and you know that.”
I did know that as much as I didn’t want to admit it.
Niko had done the right thing in the end regarding the Marvellis, protected Billie when I couldn’t. He was ride or die, a rare find, and with things working out so well with his mom’s treatments lately, he actually did have the time to fully invest in a relationship with my sister.
I supposed she could do worse, and like Billie could see my thoughts, she grinned, kissing me.
Her full, fuckable lips took me to my perfect place, a place with only her and me and no one else.
My arms fell around her, and when I hugged her to me, I felt impulsive. “We should move in together.”
She stopped the dance, her eyes curious. I had to say, I wasn’t surprised. She’d already moved into her new apartment for the new year, and though she’d spent more time at my place with me than there, the subject of moving in together hadn’t really been discussed.
Her lashes fluttered. “Are you serious?”
I pinched her chin. “Why not? Niko has been talking about wanting to move out.” I drew next to her ear. “He’s tired of hearing us.”
We literally did it everywhere, no surface untouched, and that was bothering my buddy more and more these days. He’d actually walked in on us once in the shower, said it “scarred him for life.”
We’d ignored his ass and finished as he’d slammed the door. When I was with Billie, no one else was in the goddamn room.
Billie’s cheeks shot up 195 degrees in color. She braced my arms. “Can I redecorate? No offense, babe. But your house looks like a dude’s.”
She could do whatever she wanted as long as she kept calling me hers.
Swinging her around, I cemented the decision with a kiss. A move-in was only the beginning for us, and if the next wedding we attended could be ours, I wouldn’t mind that. She kept me whole, made me free, and I’d never be able to thank her enough for that. I loved her down to my fucking toes. She was mine…
And I was so happy to be hers.