“You don’t seem relieved.”
“No, it just makes me more paranoid about when she’s going to drop the hammer and what
direction it’ll come from. You know?”
Demon nodded. “I feel you. As far as I can tell, she’s just here for some snow. I haven’t had any hits on the skin trade aspect yet. Sometimes, the shit takes time, though.”
“True. But enough of that. Shouldn’t I be talking you down or some shit?”
Demon snickered. “What the fuck for? Ardy is mine. This is just one more way to let
motherfuckers know it. I’m only doing it once, might as well enjoy it. Only reason I have us cloistered in this room is to keep from letting Paddy know what I really think about him. He wasn’t on his job as her dad and I know he’s trying to overcompensate. It doesn’t work like that.
He should’ve kept her at home where she belonged. Now, she’s mine. Once that ring is on her finger, my days of holding back are going to be over. I do this for her, not him.” Demon’s upper lip curled. “Shit made me sick how quick he took it as a way out, handing her over as a nanny to my kids. I mean, yeah, she offered as a way to get him out of the debt he owed. But what if I’d been lying about what I wanted her for?”
Then she would’ve ended up like Gia. “Luckily, you did want her as a nanny, and now look, she’s expecting and all happy and shit,” Lefty said.
Demon laughed. “Yeah, she’s all happy and shit. So is Gia from what I saw. You want to
bring me up to speed?”
“Shit. I don’t even know what’s going on other than we’re together and it’s getting serious. I think labels make her antsy. The shit’s totally reverse from anything I ever seen. Isn’t the man supposed to be the commitment phobic?”
Demon smirked. “Figures you’d do it ass backwards. There’s a reason we call you Lefty.
You always been a bit to the Left.”
“Yeah, like that never gets old.”
Demon laughed even louder. “Shit always amused me.”
“‘Cause you’re a dick.”
“I know. I’m named appropriately too.”
Lefty laughed with him. It felt good to just chill. Their roles in the M.C. aside, Demon had been his best friend for years. When he’d been brought over to live with an uncle who belonged to the Dueling Devils, they’d clicked immediately. “Gia said you wrote your own vows. I find that amusing and hard to believe at the same time.”
Demon smirked. “I’m going to wing that shit. If it was up to me, I’d say this is my old lady and leave it at that, but Ardy is fucking fierce pregnant and might turn into a praying mantis and eat my head.”
Lefty burst into laughter imagining the scene. “Fuck, talk about an unforgettable wedding.”
“Yeah, I’d rather not be on the menu.” Demon checked his watch. “Alright, let’s get out
there so I can play nice and get this shit done. Once they leave tomorrow, I won’t have to see them again till the next holiday or the kid’s birth, whichever comes first.” He rose in his black jeans, white dress shirt, and cut.
Demon’s outfit was downplayed, but he knew from Gia, Ardy was wearing the full shebang.
That’s meeting in the middle, though, and if a relationship is anything, especially in our world, it’s give and take. He’d never say it out loud, but Demon looked happy. It was an emotion he wasn’t used to seeing on his friend’s face. The man had been weighed down for a long time. This life had a way of aging you and turning you hard if you weren’t careful.
They walked outside into the living room. People rushed around and the women formed a
physical barrier between them and the bedroom where the bride was. Demon strolled out through the back of the yard where everyone sat in white wooden chairs.
Lefty took a seat beside Gia, admiring the fuchsia-colored dress that led out to a white skirt dotted with pink and yellow flowers. She looked like the island blossom he’d come to think of her as. Pride swelled in his chest. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She relaxed into him.
That’s my girl. Music he didn’t recognize began to play.
There were no groomsmen or bridesmaids, just the two of them and Flow. The kid stood up