To make matters worse, she had her makeup done professionally, and her hair up in a complicated updo with a fuckin’ tiara wound into her hair.
My stepmother’s outraged gasp filled the air. “I will, too!”
I was already shaking my head. “I’m not sure on what fucked-up planet you wearing a white dress, that looks remarkably like Belinda’s, to Belinda and Danny’s wedding would be okay. But on this planet, you know, planet Earth? That’s not going to fucking fly. You’re not getting in there, and I will seriously get violent if you try.”
My father shifted on his feet, and I could tell right then and there that he’d said something to her about her dress but hadn’t thought the fight was worth it so he’d given up.
Well, it was worth it to me, and I would not, under any circumstances, be okay with it.
“Crock…” Rockett started, but I turned on her with a glare. “How about you head inside.”
Rockett took one look at me, her parents, and then she hurried inside.
At least she had the wherewithal to wear something that wasn’t going to cause offense.
The smart girl.
I turned back to my stepmother to see her shaking her fist at me.
“I will go in there, and you won’t stop me,” she said.
That’s when I balled up my fist.
I was seconds away from letting it fly when a large hand wrapped around my fist.
“You!” my stepmother hissed. “What the hell are you doing here?”
I didn’t need to guess who Laric’s replacement was anymore.
Mostly because Zach’s mirth-filled laughter filled the air around me.
“I’m her date and she may not stop you but I will,” Zach said. “And, just sayin’, but if she doesn’t want you in there wearing that, you’re not getting in.”
The way Zach said it let her know that he would be stopping her if he had to.
I had a feeling he might very well have to.
“You can try,” my father said, sounding like he was a lot more confident than he actually appeared.
“I don’t even have to try,” Zach said. “They’re locking the doors as we speak. We’ll just enjoy the wedding from out here if we have to.”
Sure enough, when I looked up, it was to find my sister locking the damn door.
I gave her a thumb’s up, and she winked before walking away.
I would be sad that I missed my brother’s wedding, but if it kept my stepmother out, then so be it.
At least he would have a perfect day.
“The nerve!” Melody gasped. “I can’t…”
“You can,” Dad said as he wrapped his hand around hers. “Darling, I told you this might happen. Crockett was always really good about putting on a show.”
I was good at putting on a show? Really?
“You think so?” I asked casually. “You ain’t seen nothing yet then.”
CHAPTER 10
Alexa, take out the trash. Oh, and tell Juniper to go fuck herself.
-Zach’s secret thoughts
ZACH
After visiting Laric earlier this afternoon, it felt like a weight had been lifted off of my chest.
After the night that Crockett went on her date with him, my mind had been so preoccupied with everything Crockett that I hadn’t been able to even visit her for fear that I’d crack.
So I’d done what I thought was right, stayed away, and ultimately kept myself out of sight just in case things didn’t go as planned.
Then, I’d seen her in her dress, modeling it in front of her bedroom window.
Everything, every single bit of doubt, from the smallest to the biggest, went right out the fuckin’ window upon seeing her in that dress.
In jeans and a t-shirt Crockett was a knockout.
In shorts and a racerback tank, Crockett was to die for.
But in a dress that hugged her upper body like a glove, but flared out around her beautiful, shapely hips and juicy ass? Yeah, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
The moment that I’d seen her through her window, I’d known there was no way in hell that I could allow Laric to take her.
Even if all he felt was just a general attraction to her, in that dress the attraction might change.
And I couldn’t allow it to change.
Not and be honest with myself.
I had a thing for her.
I had a really big thing for her.
She was what I thought about in the morning when I woke up, and the last thing I thought about when I went to bed.
In the middle of the night when I’d wake up, like clockwork I’d walk to the bedroom window and peer out, making sure that all looked okay before doing my usual round around my house.
Only, the last couple of nights I’d woken up twice. Once in the middle of the night, and once when I knew that she’d be leaving her house and heading to her store.
From my bedroom window, I’d watch her walk out of her house, lock it, and then go to Murphy’s car.
Murphy’s car that was barely better than her last one.
“By the way,” I said. “Crockett is the most level-headed person I know. She can literally stand in the face of a screaming six-foot-four giant, which I saw her do last week, and not even flinch a muscle. So, for her to be upset about this—which I do admit is kind of shitty—she has good reason. Who shows up at her stepson’s wedding wearing a dress that looks practically like a wedding gown?”
Once again, the man’s eyes narrowed on me.
He did not like me.
Even worse, when I slung my arm around his daughter’s shoulder, he got an even more narrow-eyed look to him.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“His name is Zach,” Crockett said. “And he is a part of a local motorcycle club. The Souls Chapel Revenants MC. You heard of them?”
I wasn’t wearing my cut tonight.
That made two times that I’d managed to forget it when it came to this woman.
I felt naked without it now that I knew it was missing, but not naked enough to leave and go get it.
“He’s also a criminal,” Melody chimed in. “He admitted it with his own lips.”
I looked from Melody to Murphy Junior, who didn’t look like a Murphy at all. He looked more like a Dick.
“That’s true,” I admitted. “I am a criminal. An ex-con. I killed a man on purpose and went to jail for it.”
My father’s eyes widened, and I saw indecision in his eyes.
He now seriously did not like the fact that I was near his daughter.
Or maybe it was due to wishful thinking that I thought I saw that. What was more likely was that he was worried about my proximity to him and his wife.
“You sound proud of it.” He swallowed.
“I’m not upset about it,” I admitted. “When my fingers were on that glass in the man’s heart, I had a moment of doubt. But then I thought about what he’d done to someone that I’d cared about, and I just couldn’t stop myself. I had to jiggle that glass.”
Do I wish that I could go back and change time?
No.
In the end, it’d not only been for Juniper’s sake, but another person that I was beginning to count as family. A man and a woman that had gone through enough. The last thing they needed to worry about was the asshole that had stalked them and tried to kill them multiple times.