28 #2
The certainty warmed me. Before I could answer, Evan slapped a hand over his heart and claimed the conversation.
“Thank God. And I refuse to be left out. I will not be relegated to random guest status at this event. I am too invested.”
I folded my arms, because I knew exactly where this was headed. “You are not a bridesmaid.”
“I know that,” he said. “I need something better.”
Jax made a sleepy sound while Evan stared into the middle distance, apparently assigning himself a ceremonial rank. “Bride’s Guard,” he said finally.
I stared at him long enough for him to reconsider the title on his own. “No. Better. Honor Escort.”
Blue snorted, which encouraged him exactly as much as it should not have. I shook my head. “Absolutely not.”
He pointed at himself with complete conviction. “Ceremonial Blade.”
“That sounds like you’re there to assassinate someone,” I said, because apparently I was participating now despite myself.
“Only emotionally,” he replied.
Blue was laughing too hard to help, and I could already hear this argument repeating before the wedding. “Whatever title you invent for yourself, it is not going on an invitation.”
“Fine,” he said. “But spiritually, I remain a highly decorated member of the bridal ranks.”
That satisfied him for nearly three seconds. Then his eyes narrowed at Blue with fresh purpose. “Are you getting Priest tattooed?”
Blue looked at him, then me, and bit her lip. The answer was already there.
I pointed at her. “No.”
Evan made a delighted noise. “Yes.” His whole face lit as if Blue had just invited him to participate in the surprise personally.
She laughed, caught. “I was actually thinking about it.”
He shot out of the chair, bouncing once on the balls of his feet. “You have to let us come with you.”
Blue laughed harder. “Evan.”
“I am completely serious. I need to witness this. Lila needs to witness this. We are your emotional support team.”
I looked at her over the edge of my disbelief. “You were really going to do it?”
She lifted one shoulder, suddenly shy. “As a surprise.”
“That is so unhinged,” Evan said fondly. “I’m obsessed. We’re going.” His delight made it sound less like a suggestion than a travel itinerary.
Blue looked between us and laughed again. “Fine. Of course you can come.”
I set down my glass, and both of them noticed. The grocery-store encounter had sat wrong with me, but saying it aloud meant admitting how much it bothered me.
Evan’s eyes narrowed immediately. “What is that face? That is not your overwhelmed by biker wedding chaos face. That is your I have gossip and I’m pretending I don’t face.”
I sighed. “I had something odd happen.”
He sat straighter, interest snapping into place. “Tell us everything. Does it involve a certain stubborn biker inserting himself into your life like a very handsome infection?”
I gave him a look that should have ended the question. It did not. “No. I ran into Jude.”
The humor disappeared from the room. Blue shifted beside me, one hand rubbing absently over Little Jax’s belly. “Jude? Here? In Bay of Saints?”
Evan leaned forward, all of his silliness sharpened into concern. “Why exactly would Jude be grocery shopping out here, at the store we shop at, in a town where he does not live? Because I hate that already.”
“I hated it too,” I muttered. “I literally ran into him with my cart. I just stood there staring at him like an idiot for a second because what was he even doing there? So I asked.”
Blue’s brows pulled together. “What did he say?”
“That he’s dating someone who lives out this way now.
Said he was shopping to make dinner for her.
” I rubbed my thumb along the side of my glass, remembering the little chill that had followed me home.
“Then he smiled and told me what a surprise it was to run into me there. Said it looked like fate liked to keep bringing us together.”
Evan’s expression changed without theatrics. That bothered me more than one of his dramatic reactions would have.
“Lila,” he said, quiet for once, “that is too much of a coincidence. I do not like that. We move out here, and suddenly Jude has a woman in Bay of Saints? When that man has been orbiting you like a creepy little moon for years?”
Blue opened her mouth, concern already written across her face, but the front door opened before she could add anything.
Jade came in with her backpack on one shoulder and her attention fixed on her phone.
The tight line of her mouth told me something on the screen had gotten under her skin.
Then she noticed the baby in Blue’s arms, and the tension left her face.
Her phone disappeared into her back pocket as she headed for us.
One glance at Evan and Blue was enough to end the Jude conversation. They both understood, and Jade gave us no reason to linger there anyway.
“I need some baby time,” Jade announced.
Blue handed Jax over. Jade took him with easy confidence, settling him against herself while her whole expression softened.
“Well, hello to you too,” I said.
“Sorry,” she murmured, already cooing at Jax and barely sparing us another glance. “He’s cuter than all of you.”
“That’s fair,” Evan said.
Blue watched Jade for a moment, affection warming her expression. “There’s something I wanted to tell you.”
Jade looked up, still rocking Jax gently. “What?”
Blue’s smile turned soft with the pleasure of saying it again. “Priest and I are getting married.”
Jade lit up. “Wait, seriously? Auntie Blue, that’s amazing.” Her grin widened as she looked between Blue and the baby. “Honestly, Little Jax was already giving strong ring-bearer energy, so this feels right.”
Blue smiled. “And he is going to need a beautiful young woman to carry him down the aisle since he can’t walk yet, don’t you think?”
The surprise on Jade’s face landed exactly the way Blue intended. “Wait, really?” Her smile came quick and bright. “Yeah. I’d love that. Somebody’s gotta help him make his big dramatic entrance.”
Blue turned back toward Evan and me, her smile lingering. “The club is having a family day this Sunday. It’ll be the first one I’m bringing Little Jax to, and I’d really love for you all to come with me. I want my people there.”
Evan answered before I had fully decided how I felt about that invitation. “Absolutely. A gathering full of hunky bikers and food? I’m not even pretending to deliberate.”
I gave him a look that should have reminded him this invitation was not being extended for his personal entertainment. He ignored it. “What?” he said. “I’m being supportive.”
Supportive was one word for it. I turned back to Blue, already seeing complications where Evan saw bikers and free food. “I don’t know if that’s really a good idea.”
At the exact same moment, Jade asked, “Is my dad going to be there?”
Whatever argument I had been preparing lost most of its force. Blue must have seen the same thing in Jade’s face because she answered gently. “Probably. He lives there.”
Jade went quiet, but hope flickered across her face before she could hide it. She had known Jackson only days, yet every chance to see him already mattered. After sixteen years wondering who her father was, of course it did.
Of course she wanted to go. I looked at her holding Little Jax, trying so hard to act casual about the question, and gave up the argument before it could become one.
“Alright,” I said. “We’ll come. Just tell me what time and where we’re supposed to go.
” Jade’s face brightened before she could stop it.
Blue smiled, pleased for both of us. “I will.”
Evan turned toward me, keeping his voice just low enough to make the comment feel conspiratorial instead of private. “Very brave of you, agreeing to be in close proximity to your sexy biker on his own turf.”
I swatted at him without looking. “Shut it.” He grinned, entirely too pleased with himself, and I ignored him as best I could.
Jade shifted Jax a little higher against her shoulder. “Will Cage be there too?”
Blue’s smile changed just enough to tell me she had noticed the supposedly casual question too. “Probably. Ledger usually brings him when the club does family stuff.”
Jade nodded like the answer held no special importance. Across the room, Evan caught my eye with commentary already building behind his expression. One warning look kept it there, though his wounded response suggested he considered that censorship.
The conversation drifted back toward the wedding.
Blue talked through more of Priest’s plans while Evan kept lobbying for a role nobody had offered him, and Jade smiled down at Jax whenever he made a sleepy sound.
The easy warmth should have settled me. Instead, Sunday took shape in my head for a different reason: not family day, but Sunday family dinner.
The second Dad learned Jade and I were skipping his table for the Saints’ compound, he would hear rejection before anything else.
Matty would reinforce every concern. Questions about Jackson, the club, Jade, and my judgment would follow, wrapped in the same family concern that could still make me feel twelve when they disapproved.
I was going to have to make that call, and it was going to be a shitshow.