Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“Good riddance,” Silver grumbled.
Silver didn’t outright know exactly what happened like I did, but she knew enough to realize that this was no accident.
Cakes grinned and tossed a chip at her.
She caught it and ate it.
Chevy took the spot between the two of us and then said, “Cutter gave me his houseboat and land. I’m thinking about building a house.”
I blinked and turned, staring at him.
“Really?”
He nodded.
“Hey, Cakes?” Chevy asked as he switched back over to the ball game.
Cakes turned to him. “What?”
“Can I have your daughter’s hand in marriage?” Chevy wondered.
My heart stalled in my chest, and I couldn’t decide if it was the pain killer coming to life inside of me, or the fact that Chevy had just casually asked my father if he could keep me.
Cakes blinked. “I dunno, man…I just found her.”
My eyes started to fill with tears.
Gosh, I was coming to love my father.
Hell, there was no “coming to love.” I was already loving the hell out of him.
It was a really foreign feeling, and Cakes made it so easy to feel the way that I did.
He was a kind, caring, and genuinely great man.
I was relieved to find out how freakin’ nice and caring he was. Even if he was only nice and caring to me and Silver.
Silver snorted. “Just say yes. You know he’ll do what he wants anyway.”
That was true.
My heart was pounding, and I was staring at the man that’d just shocked me to the core, waiting for him to tell me what was next.
“Oh, all right.” Cakes groaned. “But you have to have a wedding where I can walk her down the aisle. I’ve missed enough of those dad moments. You won’t take this one away from me, too.”
Chevy turned to me, and when I looked down, he had a blue velvet box in his hand.
I licked my lips, my heart pounding, and stared as he pulled the box open and showed me the ring inside.
It was…huge.
There was no other word for it.
“That’s massive,” I breathed.
“I wanted it to be big and ostentatious so that any man that saw it would know that I’m over the top. Then Cakes offered me this ring, and I thought…perfect.” he paused. “Will you marry me, Aella Diane?”
Tears spilled over my eyes, and I nodded my head frantically. “I’ll marry the hell out of you, Chevy Andrew Clayborne. Today. Tomorrow. Next week. Next month. Next year. Next millennia. Next Tuesday. Next Wednesday. Next…”
“You should probably ask her again when she’s sober,” Silver interrupted my word vomit, reminding me that I’d just taken a pain pill.
I turned to her, my eyes narrowing, and said, “What were we talking about?”
“How cute you think motorcycle clubs are,” she explained, a grin on her face.
I knew that grin.
She was instigating, yet I still nodded, remembering where I’d left off, though I was fairly sure that I’d had that discussion with her days ago while in the hospital.
Which, as it turned out, was when I was made aware that the pain medication I was taking made my mind do some crazy things.
“Then there’s the way that they always look so grumpy and mean, then turn into these little soft teddy bears when they’re around the ones they love.”
Chevy’s lips came to my ear and he whispered, “You can call me your teddy bear in private, but you call me your teddy bear in public, and I’ll spank your ass.”
I smiled, forgetting my father was in the room momentarily when I said, “Ass play. Nice.”
“I’m out.” Cakes got up and left.
I giggled.
And giggled.
And giggled.
Maybe I was intoxicated after all.
Twenty-Eight
I don’t drink alcohol. I drink licka. And I get it from the licka store.
—Text from Aella to Chevy
CHEVY
6 months later
I heard the door open but was too tired to lift my eyes.
Last night and the day before that had been hell.
I’d worked over forty-eight hours, catching one and two-hour naps in between patients, and the last thing I wanted to do was go to the clubhouse and get ready for a Christmas wedding.
It was mid-December, and the full moon was two nights ago, along with the Christmas parade that two people had decided to get drunk at and drive their tractor over some parade goers.
And, through it all, Aella hadn’t been with me because she’d been taking her finals at school.
She was now officially graduated and a surgical technician.
I was excited for her.
But I was also exhausted.
But I knew who it was that crawled into my bed at the clubhouse.
Her massive ring skimmed across my skin as she smoothed her hands over my back and straddled my side.
Her heat was enough to force me to open my eyes and stare at her.
My lips tipped up at the corner as I saw how she was dressed.
Head to toe Christmas.
Unsurprising, really. The day that November first hit, Aella had turned into this Christmas crack maniac that threw up Christmas everywhere she went.