“We’ll have the old house torn down this week,” Tanner Reid said as he went over the plans his son had already drawn up. “Won’t take more than a few days to have the mess cleaned up, and then we can pour the foundation and start on the house itself the following week.”
“The house should be done in six weeks. Two months, tops,” Reid, his oldest son, said when he paused.
I nodded my approval and signed the contract Jos Reid placed in front of me. I scrawled my name then punched the approval on my phone to transfer the funds to Barker and Reid Construction so they could get started on the home I was having built for Monroe so we could be closer to her family.
We’d agreed to split our time between Tuscany and Creswell Springs, but I knew my precious girl. She was going to want to be closer to them more often than not, especially with the babies coming. With Monroe’s and Mila’s due dates only two weeks apart, my precious girl was going to want to be here for the birth of her nieces or nephews and have our babies with her mom nearby.
Once everything was finalized, Masterson shook my hand. “I know you’re doing this for Monroe, but thank you for not taking her away from me.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I only nodded, and the enforcer’s lips tilted up with a ghost of a grin. “I have serious respect for you, boy. You keep taking care of my baby girl the way you always have, and we will be just fine.”
“Thank you, sir.”
He slapped me on the back. “Come on, let’s get you to the clubhouse and married.”
I only had Ugo as “family,” and he was acting as my best man, but my lack of family wasn’t an issue. Not when the entire Angel’s Halo MC clubhouse was already overflowing with people by the time we pulled into the compound parking lot.
There was so much family between the MC and the rockers, there was no room for chairs, and everyone had to stand. I passed men with ink so thick on their arms there was no skin showing, and I couldn’t tell if they were bikers or rock stars. It was weird that these two families were from different walks of life, yet weren’t so different after all.
It was almost time for the wedding to start, so I made my way to the front where a minster was standing with Lyric and his twin brother. It took me all of five seconds to determine who was who, and then I didn’t have to think about it anymore because I could easily tell which one was going to be my brother-in-law within the next hour.
“You nervous?” Lyric asked as I took my spot beside him, and Ugo drifted more into the shadows as always until it was time for him to play his part.
“Nope,” I answered honestly. “You.”
He shook his head. “Just ready to call Mila my wife.”
“Fuck,” his twin suddenly hissed and gripped Lyric’s arm. I looked at his face, saw the way his eyes had darkened, and then followed his gaze. Walking through the door were two blondes, one a good six inches taller than the other. The taller one had huge blue eyes and a dimpled cheek. She looked vaguely familiar to me, and then it clicked where I’d seen her.
Everywhere.
She was Shaw Cage, and her picture was literally everywhere. In every country. She was the face of some top cosmetics line and had recently been in a perfume ad back in Italy.
The girl at her side wasn’t familiar to me, but she was no less beautiful. Even with the distance I was from her, I could see how vivid her purple eyes were, and when she smiled, her entire face lit up. Dressed in a pastel purple dress that made her eyes stand out more and her hair flowing down her back, she was easily one of the prettiest women in the room.
And she was the one Luca Thornton’s eyes were trained on.
“Don’t cause drama today, man,” Lyric warned. “She told me to keep you away from her, or she won’t hesitate to junk-punch you.”
“I just want to talk to her. Five minutes,” Luca pleaded. “I haven’t been this close to her in for-fucking-ever.”
The minister cleared his throat loudly at the curse words, but Luca only shot the man a scathing look before returning his gaze back to the girl I remember Monroe said was Violet Stevenson.
“You take two steps in her direction, and I’m going to lay your ass out.” Lyric threatened. “You can watch me get married from the floor, and I’ll get Maverick to be my best man.”
“Goddamn it, Ric, I need to—”
“You need to shut the fuck up,” his brother cut him off. “Do what you want after the wedding, but you mess this up, and I’m going to put your ass in a hole somewhere.”
“Boys!”
Even I stood up straighter when I heard the redhead hiss at the twins.
“Aunt Emmie,” Luca began, but the look she gave him had him clamping his lips shut.
“The wedding starts in two minutes.” She was at least a foot shorter than the hulking pro footballer, but she pointed her finger at him, and he flinched as if expecting her to physically harm him. “And don’t forget that you’re leaving first tonight, Luca. Your boss still expects you at the game tomorrow night.”
“Yes, Aunt Em,” he muttered. Clenching his jaw, he thrust his hands into the pockets of his tux pants and turned his gaze back to the beautiful Violet.