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“She’s Ammo’s sister.”
Which was, honestly, only part of the problem. The bigger problem was, well. . .I didn’t do serious—or commitment. Women started looking for it right away and I wasn’t the guy. And being Ammo’s sister, Mandy deserved it all.
“And you were his best friend. There’s no other man on the planet he’d trust with his baby sister. No matter what that man thinks of himself.”
I had to laugh at his armchair psych words.
“Yeah, thanks man. But we both know I don’t do all this,” I told him, pointing at the decorations that served as a dedication to love and commitment, lifelong commitment. There were hearts and flowers, with a bunch of baby-sized foods on the menu to celebrate the new life they would soon bring into the world. This was a reminder that I wasn’t cut out for this life.
“All I know is that you say you don’t do it. But I also know that Max was too fucked up to even consider fucking the same chick twice less than two years ago and here we are, in San Diego, for his wedding. Hell, Golden Boy was locked up, wrongfully imprisoned for years, man. If that doesn’t fuck with your ability to trust . . .” he trailed off with a long low whistle. “Well, he’ll be marching down the aisle soon too.”
All of that was true, damn him, but irrelevant. “They aren’t me.”
I didn’t have shit to offer any woman, never mind one like Mandy. She’d already lost too much to end up with a guy born to a crack whore who had no problems abandoning her son for some asshole with a little cash in his pocket, and a drunk who’d never been curious about the kid he sired. One who lied and stole with ease. Sure, I’d done it just to survive, but in the end, none of that mattered.
“Whatever you say.” He stood and smacked my back again, this time with a purposeful harshness I couldn’t ignore. “Then I guess you won’t mind if I ask her for a dance.”
His gaze lifted toward the open doors of the hotel restaurant where Mandy stood, looking like a pixie goddess in her deep pink dress that draped over her curves with expert precision. It was silk or some other shiny fabric and it made my hands twitch to touch her.
“I damn well do mind.”
I put a hand to his chest to stop his path toward Mandy and ignored Lasso’s deep chuckle. “Find your own goddamn woman.”
“I already have,” he said, his gaze drifting toward a leggy redhead holding a silver tray filled with champagne glasses. “See you in a bit.”
“Don’t count on it,” I told him, my legs already carrying me to M
andy as she nervously smoothed her short hair.
“Mandy, damn you look like a dirty dream I had recently.”
Her soft laugh carried on the ocean breeze. “Yeah? Thanks. Who knew you looked so good without a stitch of denim or leather in sight?”
Her gaze was hot and hungry as she took me in, the suit we’d all slipped into at Jana’s insistence.
She’d laid down the law. “I don’t care that you’re bikers, I love my biker man. But you will damn well not look like bikers for my wedding.”
All of us had obeyed, more terrified of the tiny blonde than any threats we’d ever faced fighting for Uncle Sam.
“You should see me without any denim or leather on. At all.”
“I have, and I have to say, I prefer you without any of it.” She licked her lips seductively, her eyes flicked up and down the length of my body as she took in every detail.
“Just say the word, babe.”
Her cheeks turned a delicious shade of pink as she bit down on her bottom lip.
“I have so many words to say, Savior. But I think they’re waiting for us,” she said, gesturing to where Teddy stood in the center of a large group waving frantically at them.
“Come on.”
She grabbed my hand and pulled me along, stopping to kick off her heels, so sharp and pointy, I knew I’d ask her to put them back on for me later.
It took a total of five fucking minutes to get through the actual rehearsal for tomorrow’s wedding, Teddy and Golden Boy walked down the makeshift sandy aisle together, and then Mandy and Cross, followed by several other Reckless Bastards that Max had insisted stand up with him on this important day, me included. They pretended to go through the vows, but Mandy and Cross did it in place of the happy couple, some shit about bad luck. I figured if we were here for the wedding, it was too late to worry about something jinxing the relationship.
“And now, we eat!” Teddy clapped her hands to herd everyone toward the long table set up just for us, right on the beach.
I tried to wait for Mandy, eager to get my hands on her and that silky dress under the table, but the distance between us seemed to grow. Literally, every fucking time I looked up, there were more Reckless Bastards, more beachcombers between us.
