AllFreeNovel
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Aside from the party, there’s another reason we’re all here. Today, Bryce and I are getting vested.
I’m dressed for a barbecue and pool party: one-inch-high Gucci leather slides because my ankle is still healing, a gorgeous multi-coloured mini-dress over a PatBo plunging one-piece swimsuit, the latter at Trigger’s insistence after he saw the bikini I originally planned to wear.
Bryce is wearing suede ballet flats and a crisscross back minidress. Simple but elegant. Her lips are flat, her eyes deadly. Her gaze is pinned on Coyote. “I hate this,” she hisses to me. “I feel betrayed.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jess scolds. “You’re planning to spend your life with him, so why not take this step?”
She side-eyes Jess. “Iwasplanning on spending my life with him. Now, I’m not so sure.”
“I don’t understand what you’re upset about,” I say. “The only day better than this day for me will be my wedding day.”
“Please, god,” Bryce replies, rolling her eyes. “Let me die.”
“But if you’re dead, how will you be one of my bridesmaids?”
Jess and Hayley giggle. “You’ll love it, Bryce,” Jess teases. “A long flouncy puce bridesmaid dress. What girl wouldn’t want that?”
“Can I be a bridesmaid?” Brielle asks, her eyes alight in anticipation.
Bryce ignores Brielle’s interruption as she goes on the attack. “You say that, but you and Rocky are still living in sin.”
Jess pretends she’s insulted. “So are you. We were waiting for you and Coyote to get your crap together. Thought we’d have a double wedding.”
Bryce’s rejoinder is interrupted by Hangman.
“I hate fuckin’ speeches,” he says with a charming grin as he launches into one. “Our ol’ ladies are the foundation of our club. They got guts, intelligence, patience and cu—”
“No, Hangman,” Coyote interrupts.
Hangman narrows his eyes. “I was gonna fuckin’ say, ‘courage.’
Trigger, who is standing next to Coyote, snickers. “Bet you were also gonna say, tictacs.”
“Shut it,” Hangman snarls at both men. “Where the fuck was I?”
Mom winces and glances at Dot, who smiles in return. Dad looks like he swallowed a lemon.
“Maybe we could tone down the language,” Jess interrupts, her eyes intent as she slides them from Hangman to the kids and back to Hangman.
“You can’t be that subtle with him,” Verity murmurs.
“You were talking about our courage,” I remind him, anxious to get my vest so I can get my lover alone. I want to model it for him, the rest of me naked.
Hangman glares at me. “And stupidity. I don’t know what the f… is wrong with you and the thief. Runnin’ off, shootin’ at people.”
“Shooting at people?” Mom echoes faintly. She doesn’t know what I did after my clinic blew up. Dad, Trigger, and I thought that information would be best kept to ourselves.
“It’s nothing, mom,” I murmur then pin Hangman with my eyes. “Perhaps it would be best if we get to the vesting part.”
“Yeah. Before I change my fu—.” He stops, stymied. “The guy’s voted. It was a unanimous decision to let the vet and the thief join Hell’s Jury as ol’ ladies.”
“Let,” Bryce mutters, crossing her arms. “As if.”
I clap as I meet Trigger’s eyes. They’re filled with love and pride.
Bryce glares at me. “Don’t you see how insulting this is? Calling us old ladies. I’m not old.”
“It’s just a term. Affectionate, really,” Hayley replies.
