Grinning, I quickly stepped into it and pulled the zipper up at the back. It fit like a glove, and the shoes provided—champagne-glitter Jimmy Choo's—were exactly my size. There wasn't much I could do about my hair and makeup, so I just finger-combed the tangled pink curls and re-pinned a couple of the pins holding my braid secure.
With a shrug at my reflection, I decided I was done. Anxious nerves were already knotting my stomach, anyway. I needed to get out there and find out if my boys were okay. I needed to know everyone had made it out of that chapel safely.
I pulled the door open and found Kody leaning against the wall directly opposite, his phone to his ear and his eyes meeting mine. My brows shot up in question, and his lips curved in a half smile.
"Alright, no worries, bro," he said into the phone. "Get cleaned up, but take your time. I'm more than happy to entertain our bride alone for a while." He snickered a laugh at whatever the response was to that, then ended the call.
I let out a long breath in relief at the relaxed expression on his face. "Everything's okay?"
He nodded. "Everyone's alive that should be alive."
"Thank fuck." I closed the gap between us and threw my arms around his neck. "Fucking hell, I don't think I could handle it if one of you got shot again. We should make Kevlar part of your everyday wardrobe or something."
Kody laughed, but his arms stiffened slightly.
A cold wash of dread rolled through me. "Kodiak?" I prompted, pulling away far enough to glare at him. "No one was shot, were they?"
He winced.
"Everyone's alive," he evaded, and my panic ratcheted up even higher.
"Kody! I snapped. "Who got shot? Was it Steele? Did Steele get shot again? Oh my god, I'm gonna—"
"Steele's fine," Kody cut me off with a grin. "It was Arch." He actually started laughing. How the hell this situation was funny, I had no clue.
"Kodiak Jones, explain that in more detail, or I'm castrating you with my knife."
He cringed and cupped his junk. "I don't believe you. You enjoy my dick too much to mutilate it. But seriously, he's fine. That was him on the phone being all surly and shit about it."
I bit my lip, waves on waves of concern crashing over me. But if he was well enough to be talking to Kody on the phone...
"I promise, babe." Kody brought his hands to my face and kissed my lips gently. "Arch is fine. It was just a flesh wound on his arm. He's just pissed because it messed up one of his favorite tatts."
I rolled my eyes. "Really?" My tone was drier than a nun's nasty. "He said that?"
Kody snickered. "Not in words, but I know that's what he meant. So precious. Anyway, he and Steele are swinging past home to get patched up by James before they come here. Hades isn't super appreciative of people showing up with bleeding bullet wounds. That sort of thing attracts all the wrong attention for a legitimate business."
The way he stressed legitimate made me pretty confident the clubs were just the tip of Hades's empire. Not that it was any of my business. Regardless of the deals and connections between my boys and the criminals of Shadow Grove, none of us were interested in running our own crime syndicate.
"You're sure he's okay?" I pressed, still worried as hell about the fact that Archer had gotten shot. These guys were going to kill me with sheer stress before my assassins could get me.
Kody nodded. "Do you want to call him back and check?" He held his phone out to me, but I shook my head.
"No, it's fine. If you say he's okay, then he's okay." I still bit at my lip, though. "Okay, maybe I'll just text him?" I grabbed the phone from Kody's hand as he gave a chuckle.
I jabbed him playfully with my elbow and spun around to lean my back against his chest as I typed out my message to Archer.
Kodiak Jones: Sunshine! You got SHOT? WTF?!
I didn't think I needed to elaborate on the fact that it was me messaging him. The idea of Kody ever calling Archer Sunshine was enough to make me laugh.
There was a pause before the message was marked as read. Kody hugged me against his body, his arms around my waist and his lips finding the penguin tattoo behind my ear again.
Archer D'Ath: Blame Steele. Dickhead.
I frowned in confusion at the message, but before I could reply, another came through.
Archer D'Ath: I'm fine, Princess. Just a graze, I promise.
He ended the message with a heart emoji, and the tension seeped out of my bones. He was okay. He wasn't dying. I couldn't handle another life-or-death race to an emergency room.
Kodiak Jones: Good. Just... get here. I need to see you both alive with my own eyes.
Archer D'Ath: Yes ma'am.
He followed that one with a winking face, and I grinned. Yeah, he was fine.
Before I handed the phone back to Kody, it buzzed again.
Archer D'Ath: I love you, Kate
Oh fuck. That was a whole different thing to see in writing.
I only hesitated a second, glancing up at Kody, before I wrote my reply knowing full well he could see the screen.
Kodiak Jones: I love you too
I added a heart emoji, then quickly spun around to hand Kody his phone back with my cheeks warm. For whatever reason, I was a hundred times more awkward about saying the L-word in front of the other guys than having sex in front of them. Truly a testament to how broken I was.
Kody wasn't judging me, though. He just took his phone and tucked it back in his pocket, then cupped my cheek in his palm.
"I also love you, babe," he whispered before kissing me softly. "Let's go get some champagne. It's a party, after all."
"Is it weird to be partying at midday when a whole freaking chapel just got blown up and countless people killed this morning?" I pondered my thoughts aloud as we linked our fingers together and made our way back out to the main bar area. It had filled up more since we'd arrived, and I spotted a whole bunch of barely concealed weapons on the patrons who were drinking and laughing already.
Kody shot me a grin. "Nah. This is mostly a reward for Hades’s guys who helped us out this morning. Plus, they've opened to VIP guests as well so it'll be a proper party and not just a sausage fest. Any excuse for a good party when your business relies on liquor sales, babe."
That seemed like good enough reasoning, and certainly everyone seemed to be having a good time already. A pretty waitress in a sequined flapper dress approached and invited us to follow her to a reserved table, where she had set up several champagne flutes and an ice bucket holding a still-sealed bottle of Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque rosé.
Kody thanked her but waved her off when she offered to open and pour the Champagne for us. Apparently, I wasn't the only one still feeling all kinds of paranoid, because he carefully checked each of the flutes to ensure they were, in fact, empty. When he was satisfied, he popped the cork from the Champagne and poured for both of us.
"You think someone would try to drug us here?" I asked quietly as I accepted my drink from him.
He just shrugged. "I think there's no harm in being cautious. It wouldn't be the first time, babe."
I wrinkled my nose, remembering all too clearly how I'd almost died of a fentanyl overdose not that long ago. "Fair call."