On days when I had the bed to myself, I couldn’t sleep with the absence of him tugging on my senses like a black hole whirling above his empty pillow.
Each time he left for Atlanta, I suffocated beneath the weight of my new responsibilities. Even though I had required the time alone to grow into what I had become, to earn the trust and respect of the residents of my city, it still hurt. Sure, I had learned to stand on my own two feet, and that was a gift beyond price. However, gratefulness didn’t stop me from waiting for him on the lowest step on the front porch each time he came for a visit or for training. Yeah, I was pathetic. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You’ll be there tomorrow, right?” I yanked my focus out of the past and back to the present. “Adelaide needs arm candy.”
“Adelaide is the arm candy.” His gaze drifted past me to her. “She had fun tonight?”
“I think so.” When she began pulling on her bottom lip, I waved to signal everything was okay between Boaz and me. “We would have had more fun if we were gwyllgi, but it’s the thought that counts.”
“I’m glad.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I worried.”
“That we would bully her?” I shoved him. “What happened between you and me was never her fault. No one blames her. We’re all convinced she’s too good for you, actually.”
Hadley bounded over to Adelaide, and they began chatting.
Adelaide had never said either way, but maintaining the charade had to hurt. Here was Amelie, Boaz’s sister, given a second chance at life through the death of her own sibling. Each time Hadley’s name was spoken, Adelaide flinched away from the speaker. She was trying, they both were—they all were—but it was proving hard to replace the sibling bonds between Boaz and Amelie with ones between Adelaide and Hadley.
Arm in arm, Hadley and Adelaide joined us, as if Boaz’s presence called to them too loudly for them to ignore.
Hadley avoided her brother—make that soon to be brother-in-law—in public except when Adelaide could chaperone. Hadley’s disguise was a good one—it had to be in order to fool gwyllgi—but my time with Linus had taught me how to see beneath masks, and hers was peeling up at the corner.
Adelaide, who suffered the opposite problem where Boaz was concerned, stepped into the breach to keep light conversation flowing.
The nosiness forever getting me in trouble got derailed by the reappearance of my groom at my side.
“It’s almost dawn.” I surveyed our ragtag groups. “I should probably send everyone home to bed.”
“You’re right.” Linus ran a chill finger down my cheek that turned my blood hot. “Will you be coming home to bed?”
“No.” Adelaide brushed Linus’s hand off me. “Lethe told me to collect you.” She eyed me with pity. “I get that he’s hot, I’m breaking a sweat standing this close to him, but you’re going to have to be strong and spend one last night apart.”
A distinct growl perked my ears, but the gwyllgi weren’t to blame. This one was all Boaz.
Guess Adelaide commenting on Linus’s hotness didn’t sit well with him. Poor baby.
Okay, okay.
I shouldn’t stir the pot or encourage it to simmer when things were smoothing out between all of us.
That didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy when Adelaide did the work for me…
“Lethe is a meanie,” I grumped. “Where does she think I’m going if not home?”
“Oh, we’re going home. Er, I mean, Woolworth House. Woolly missed out on all the fun, so we owe her that much at least.” She pointed out an SUV idling at the edge of the parking lot. “That’s your ride, Linus. You’ll be staying in town. A friend booked you a suite large enough for you boys to have your sleepover too.”
The math didn’t add up for me, since his groomsmen were all present. “A friend?”
“Not you, Grier.” She caught my arm. “You stay put. Linus is a big boy. He has to do this alone.”
Linus leaned in, but Adelaide slid between us, taking the good-night kiss meant for my lips on her cheek.
“Hubba-hubba.” She fanned herself. “I can see why you don’t want to let this one out of your sight.”
Deep crimson flooded Linus’s cheeks, and mortification froze him on the spot. “I apologize.”
“I’m not sorry.” Adelaide winked. “Why should you be?”
I smothered a laugh, but he heard, and the tips of his ears flamed brighter.
“All right, all right.” Boaz clamped down on Adelaide’s shoulders. “Stop embarrassing the groom with your wantonness.”
Adelaide stuck her tongue out at him, proving once again I was a terrible influence.
“We got a problem,” a sentinel called to Boaz. “We need loppers to cut these vines.”
Tugging on one ear, he cast me a hopeful glance. “Can you undo it?”
“Savannah is more of a doer than an undoer,” I explained. “Chaos is fun. Cleanup is…not.”
Just like Woolly, whose selective hearing was legendary, Savannah suffered a similar ailment on a much larger scale.
“Go on.” I nudged Linus to get him moving again. “Have fun.”
With a precise nod, he set out for the van. The stiffness in his stride faded as he got close enough to see who sat behind the wheel, but I was clueless from this distance. Three steps away, the driver-side door swung open, and Mary Alice leapt out wearing black leggings and one of those tees with a tux appliqued on the front.
“Doodlebug.” She rushed him, arms open, and clamped on to him. “How’s my boy?”
“You came early.” Bending down, he returned her embrace. “I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow.”
“Yeah, well.” She drew back, patted his cheek. “You only get married once, right?” She squinted at the gathering. “Plus, I figured you’d be tired of these losers by now.” She made a complicated hand signal that might have been a gang sign. “Atlanta for life, bitches.” Grasping his upper arm, she hauled him along. “Hurry, kid. This crowd looks mean, and I have no idea what I just said to them.” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “I picked it up from watching Oslo talk to his friends.”
Oslo was an apprentice at the Mad Tatter’s original location in Atlanta. Mary Alice rarely left the city without him, since she required adult supervision. He had two chin hairs, so she felt he qualified. Mostly, she tolerated him because he was more interested in shenanigans than an adult-adult. It was a match made in… Well, it all depended on your perspective and if you could afford to donate bail money.
After shoving Linus into the front passenger seat, Mary Alice slid behind the wheel and revved the engine. She puttered away, going maybe twenty-five miles per hour, hands flashing goddess only knows over her shoulder.
“He does know those people, right?” Adelaide chewed on her bottom lip. “Boaz called her, so I figured he would know, but…who gets rescued from their bachelor party by a gang-sign-flinging granny with a tattoo shop logo on the side of her van?”
“They’re from the Mad Tatter. He worked with them in Atlanta. That’s where his franchise has its roots. Mary Alice keeps a chair in reserve for him in her shop, in fact. She won’t let anyone use his old station.”