Even if all he felt was just a general attraction to her, in that dress the attraction might change.
And I couldn’t allow it to change.
Not and be honest with myself.
I had a thing for her.
I had a really big thing for her.
She was what I thought about in the morning when I woke up, and the last thing I thought about when I went to bed.
In the middle of the night when I’d wake up, like clockwork I’d walk to the bedroom window and peer out, making sure that all looked okay before doing my usual round around my house.
Only, the last couple of nights I’d woken up twice. Once in the middle of the night, and once when I knew that she’d be leaving her house and heading to her store.
From my bedroom window, I’d watch her walk out of her house, lock it, and then go to Murphy’s car.
Murphy’s car that was barely better than her last one.
“By the way,” I said. “Crockett is the most level-headed person I know. She can literally stand in the face of a screaming six-foot-four giant, which I saw her do last week, and not even flinch a muscle. So, for her to be upset about this—which I do admit is kind of shitty—she has good reason. Who shows up at her stepson’s wedding wearing a dress that looks practically like a wedding gown?”
Once again, the man’s eyes narrowed on me.
He did not like me.
Even worse, when I slung my arm around his daughter’s shoulder, he got an even more narrow-eyed look to him.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“His name is Zach,” Crockett said. “And he is a part of a local motorcycle club. The Souls Chapel Revenants MC. You heard of them?”
I wasn’t wearing my cut tonight.
That made two times that I’d managed to forget it when it came to this woman.
I felt naked without it now that I knew it was missing, but not naked enough to leave and go get it.
“He’s also a criminal,” Melody chimed in. “He admitted it with his own lips.”
I looked from Melody to Murphy Junior, who didn’t look like a Murphy at all. He looked more like a Dick.
“That’s true,” I admitted. “I am a criminal. An ex-con. I killed a man on purpose and went to jail for it.”
My father’s eyes widened, and I saw indecision in his eyes.
He now seriously did not like the fact that I was near his daughter.
Or maybe it was due to wishful thinking that I thought I saw that. What was more likely was that he was worried about my proximity to him and his wife.
“You sound proud of it.” He swallowed.
“I’m not upset about it,” I admitted. “When my fingers were on that glass in the man’s heart, I had a moment of doubt. But then I thought about what he’d done to someone that I’d cared about, and I just couldn’t stop myself. I had to jiggle that glass.”
Do I wish that I could go back and change time?
No.
In the end, it’d not only been for Juniper’s sake, but another person that I was beginning to count as family. A man and a woman that had gone through enough. The last thing they needed to worry about was the asshole that had stalked them and tried to kill them multiple times.
“I heard about you.” His eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you get eight years in jail?”
I grinned then. “I was pardoned by the President of the United States himself. How great is that?”
Murphy 2.0 looked kind of green.
“Let’s go, darling,” Murphy 2.0 said. “We have to get you changed so we don’t miss the wedding photos. I would hate to not be able to be there for my son on his big day.”
Melody huffed loudly.
“I have a dress in the trunk that might do,” she admitted. “I can change in the back seat of our car.”
It was only when they were walking away that Crockett said, “Why would one have a suitable dress in the trunk of her car if she was confident that she was doing the right thing by wearing what she’s wearing?”
I looked down at her, so fuckin’ close that I could smell her beautiful scent, and said, “She knew that you’d stop her. My guess? She’s not even close to being done yet.”
Crockett reached up to rub her face but paused before she’d actually touched her eyes.
“That woman drives me to drink,” she said as I started guiding her to the front door where who had to be her sister waited once again. “I already had a beer in a coffee cup on the way over here. Let me just tell you, it wasn’t enough alcohol to have to deal with Melody.”
The door opened for us before we got there, and Nora stared at us with wide eyes. “She’s wearing a wedding dress.”