Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
G us “Pirate” Sager glanced over at his older brother in the passenger seat of his sleek black Dodge Charger cruiser. Anxiety radiated off of Jumper in waves. Aerial, Jumper’s German Shepherd service dog, whined from the back seat. Unfortunately, the Charger was not big enough for Aerial to join them in the front seat, making Pirate wish they’d taken Jumper’s truck instead of his Charger. At least the truck had a bench seat for Aerial to curl up next to Jumper and help calm him.
“Breathe, brother,” Pirate reminded him. Marshall was five years older than Pirate, but Pirate often felt like the caretaker of the two. His big brother had a severe case of PTSD from his times with the teams. Pirate didn’t blame Marshall in the least. If he blamed anyone, it was the Navy and the traitorous bastard who’d led Jumper and his Navy SEAL team into a trap, killing four out of the six teammates.
It had been almost a decade since then, but Jumper only recently showed signs of improvement. Though there was no cure for PTSD, there were ways to help him. One of the first steps had been getting Jumper a decent therapist, one who sympathized with not only his trauma but also his alcohol and prescription drug abuse. Dr. Rutenberg deserved a medal in Pirate’s opinion. The man was a godsend and was always available to Jumper, day or night. He also went out of his way to get Jumper a service dog, which was how Aerial had come into their lives. Aerial was a former police dog who had been shot in the line of duty and retired at the young age of four. After going through additional training, she got her certification to be a service dog as well. But her former training as a police dog meant that she couldn’t go to just anybody. As soon as Dr. Rutenberg had gotten word of Aerial, he’d worked tirelessly to get her for Jumper.
Having Aerial in his life had given Jumper a sense of security he hadn’t had in a long time. The dog was amazing at sensing Jumper’s emotions and was trained to alert when a panic attack was imminent. She also was the reason Jumper now had Jasmine in his life.
Dr. Jasmine Sharpe, DVM, had been Aerial’s vet for nearly two years before Jumper got his head out of his ass long enough to ask her out. Pirate loved Jazz—like a sister. The curvy vet was shy but had a take-no-shit attitude. Best of all, though, she loved Jumper fiercely and was willing to work with him and his anxiety rather than put up with or ignore his struggles. Jazz had such a good heart and his brother was a lucky bastard in Pirate’s opinion. Though the two were engaged and about to be married in two months, Pirate already considered Jasmine a sister and a part of his family.
Unfortunately, Jasmine’s presence in their lives also meant putting up with her trouble with a capital T best friend.
Sophia Groveton.
Pirate ground his jaw together. If he didn’t go to jail for murdering that little minx before Jumper and Jazz said, “I do”, it would be a miracle.
“She’s not answering her phone,” Jumper said suddenly through gritted teeth.
Jumper’s head injury from last August was mostly healed. Other than the occasional headache, all of his most recent scans had come back with positive results and his doctors had very high hopes that Jumper would suffer no lasting effects. Due to the injury, Jumper had been prohibited from driving until the doctors cleared him and then he had to go to the DMV to take a test to get his license unsuspended. Which was why Pirate had accompanied Jumper to Pitts on his day off today.
Jasmine, Sophia, who was Jazz’s maid of honor, Beatrice Groveton, Sophia’s mom, Zoe, who was Sheriff Carlos Santiago’s girlfriend, and Amanda, Jasmine’s receptionist from her animal clinic, were attending Jasmine’s final dress fitting. Pirate knew that Jasmine’s parents lived in Florida and Jasmine had a rocky relationship with them. Mr. and Mrs. Groveton, Sophia’s parents, acted more like parents to Jasmine than her own did. Pirate hadn’t been paying much attention to the details of the outing, but he knew that Jasmine’s mom was attending the fitting via a video call.
It wasn’t often that the lovebirds were apart. Since Jumper was unable to work due to his injury, he went to the vet clinic with Jasmine during the day to lend a hand there. During their first dress shopping excursion, Jumper, Pirate, and some of their club brothers went to Pitts with them but hung out in the city while waiting on the women. It was only Jumper and Pirate today. Jasmine wasn’t traditional in the fact that she cared if Jumper saw her dress before their big day, but she was aiming to surprise him.
“I’m sure she’s fine.”
Jumper and Pirate had been at an indoor golf course across the city when Jumper got a text message from Sophia to get to the shop. Neither Jumper nor Pirate knew why because neither Sophia nor Jasmine were answering their phones.
Longest twenty minute ride of Pirate’s life. He was going to turn Sophia over his fucking knee if this turned out to be nothing and she’d gotten Jumper worked up over something trivial. Did the woman not understand how easy it was for his brother to be triggered, especially when it came to Jazz and her safety?
The Charger’s tires squealed as Pirate took the corner too fast into the parking lot. He claimed the first empty parking spot they came to, not bothering to care if he was perfectly in the lines.
The brothers jumped out into the brisk February air, Aerial on their heels. They were both wearing their winter jackets that had their club colors sewn into the heavy material, so they didn’t have to worry about putting on their cuts as they raced into the dress shop.
A sea of white lace and frills assaulted Pirate’s eyes upon entering. Soft music played overhead. Mannequins in god-awful dresses adorned the large display windows. How the fuck did women walk in those monstrosities?
The large glass double doors opened to rows upon rows of gowns in plastic bags hanging on racks. He had no idea why there were large numbers above different sections, starting at zero and going up to twenty-two the further they got into the room. He did understand the word ‘Maternity’ though. The racks split down the middle to form an aisle lined with a white rug, compared to the pinkish carpeting elsewhere.
Pirate followed Jumper down the aisle until they reached a wide open area with far too many mirrors. Why the hell were there so many mirrors? On the left were cubicles with open curtains that he assumed to be changing rooms. In the middle was a stage of sorts that kind of reminded Pirate of a tiered wedding cake.
Couches and chairs circled the stage. A counter towards the right had champagne bottles and glasses, a tray of cubed cheeses, crackers, and grapes, and a weird paper tree that took Pirate a moment to realize was made out of napkins.
“Stop her!”
The sound of Jasmine’s shout brought Pirate’s attention to the group of women standing to the back of the wide room. Jasmine, dressed in a very elegant and flowy wedding gown, had tears streaking down her cheeks. Jumper made a beeline for his fiancée, the other women parting to allow him through.
A flurry of red came streaking towards Pirate. He automatically put out his arms to stop Sophia—and not just because Jasmine had ordered him to. He’d been around the minx long enough to know that expression on her face meant that she was about to do something that would require supervision if she didn’t want to end up in handcuffs.
Sophia stood tall at five-eight. She had a lean body type that required no exercise or dieting to maintain. Pirate knew this because he’d heard Jasmine mention it more than once. Jasmine was around the same height as Sophia, but she had curves and a rounder body shape than her best friend. Jumper absolutely adored Jasmine and hated when she talked down about her body size. When she’d mentioned going on a wedding diet, Jumper flat-out told her not to. Pirate had overheard Sophia echo Jumper’s words more than once to Jazz as well.
Pirate had learned early on how protective Sophia was of Jasmine. The two had been best friends since grade school and were closer than most sisters. Sophia didn’t allow anyone to talk shit about her bestie—including her bestie.
In comparison to Jasmine’s blonde hair and pale skin, Sophia had black hair and a natural tan. Jasmine was shy and soft spoken while Sophia was loud and had never bitten her tongue in her life. The two were so glued at the hip that Sophia was around the apartment Jumper and Jasmine shared with Pirate so much that she practically lived there too.
More than once, Pirate had gotten up for work in the morning to find Sophia cooking breakfast in their kitchen. He’d even taken her key back from her multiple times but she always got a new one. He wouldn’t put it past her to have made a number of copies anyway.
Sophia was feisty and a bit crazy. Okay, a lot crazy. She did what she wanted, said what she wanted, and went where she wanted. The fact that she came from old money meant that she didn’t need to hold down a nine-to-five job like the rest of the world. Though she had eccentric tendencies, Sophia wasn’t flamboyant about her money as so many were. It was probably her one redeeming quality in Pirate’s mind.
Well that, and her unwavering loyalty to Jasmine.
“Let me go, you filthy pirate!” Sophia tried to wrench herself out of Pirate’s tight hold, but he had a lot of practice restraining her. He also knew she was not above kicking him in the balls to get free, as his nuts had unfortunately found out the hard way once before. Pirate, though, was a former Marine, having gotten out three years ago on a medical discharge after losing the lower half of his right leg. Sophia had never stepped foot inside a gym in her life. Despite how hard she tried to break his hold, she couldn’t.
Pirate shook his head at her name-calling. Frankly, it was tame in comparison to some of the others she’d used. “What’s going on?”
He did not like seeing the tears on Jasmine’s face.
Two employees hung back towards the changing rooms, conversing softly to themselves. Mrs. Groveton, Zoe, and Amanda were all hovering around where Jumper was holding Jasmine, with Aerial at their feet.
It was Mrs. Groveton who spoke up. “We were on a video call with Jasmine’s mother,” she answered softly. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears too. “Mrs. Sharpe said some…unkind things about Jasmine’s choice of dress. It upset Jasmine.”
For how furious Sophia was in his arms, Pirate knew that the older woman had severely undersold the story.
Pirate looked down at Sophia. He shook her slightly to get her attention. “What the fuck did she say?”
Sophia might be loyal to the point of crazy, but she wasn’t a liar, nor did she mince words. Jaw tight, Sophia turned her furious hazel eyes on him. “Something about how she didn’t know elephants could wear lace. She told Jasmine that she hasn’t lost enough weight for that dress. Said that at least she has two more months to keep trying .”
Pirate’s head snapped up. He couldn’t see all of Jasmine with the way Jumper was holding her, but what he could see was very flattering. So what if Jasmine had some extra fluff to her? The dress she was wearing made her look like a Disney princess in Pirate’s opinion.
He looked back down at Sophia. Both he and his brother stood almost a head taller than the best friends at six feet. He was grateful Sophia wasn’t wearing heels or she might have tried to use them against him. “What else did she say?”
As awful as that was, he doubted that was all of it.
Sophia’s jaw tightened. “She told Jasmine that unless Jasmine could look like a proper bride, as in a skinny bride, she would not be attending.”
Pirate didn’t need to look at Sophia’s mother for confirmation. “Good. Jasmine shouldn’t want the bitch there anyway.”
Sophia stopped her struggles, looking almost shocked at Pirate’s words. “She’s her mother. As strained as their relationship is, Jazz still wants her there.”
Pirate didn’t understand it. His own mother was thrilled to have Jasmine as a daughter-in-law. She’d been traveling up and down from North Carolina since the couple had announced their engagement to help Jasmine with the planning. Though she hadn’t been able to make this dress fitting due to a work conflict, she had been at the others. Jasmine also had Mrs. Groveton, Sophia’s mom, in her life. She wasn’t without a maternal figure.
“And where are you storming off to?” Pirate questioned Sophia.
Sophia’s smile was wicked as she said, “To personally uninvite her and to give her a piece of my mind.”
As crazy as that sounded, it was very Sophia. Pirate, though, did not loosen his hold on her forearms. She’d take the opportunity to run if he did and follow through on her plans.
“Your best friend needs you here,” he tried to persuade her.
“That’s why I waited for you and Jumper to arrive first.” Sophia looked over her shoulder at her bestie. “She’s in good hands.”
Pirate could not argue with that statement. “She needs you too. I highly doubt she’s going to keep that dress now.”
“She better,” Sophia snapped. “She’s beautiful in it.”
It was then that Pirate realized Sophia, Amanda, and Zoe were all wearing the same red dress. He knew that red was the accent color—whatever that meant—of the wedding. His tie and pocket square on his rental suit were also red. The fact that Sophia was wearing Chuck Taylor high tops seemed out of place. Amanda and Zoe were both in heels.
“Don’t you need to change?” he asked her, hoping that would be incentive enough to distract her from dashing off half-cocked.
Sophia looked down at herself. “Fuck,” she muttered. Her shoulders relaxed some and she released her defensive posture. “Forgot I was wearing this.”
Pirate slowly loosened his grip on her arms. When she didn’t bolt, he let his hands fall down to his sides. He could hold her and keep her from leaving as long as he had a grip on her. If she ran, Pirate would not be able to catch up to her. His prosthetic leg was good for standing and walking, but not for the jarring pressure of running. He had a different attachment for when he went jogging.
He put a hand on the small of her back and guided her over to where Jasmine and Jumper were standing. Jasmine looked calmer, but still upset. She wasn’t actively crying anymore, which Pirate was happy to see.
Pirate leaned over to press a kiss to her cheek. “You look beautiful, little sis. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.”
She beamed up at him, still pressed tightly to Jumper’s broad chest. “Thank you. I shouldn’t let her get to me,” she admonished herself. “I just wanted her to like my dress?—”
“Sucker!” Sophia suddenly shouted. Before Pirate could snag her, Sophia was racing towards the glass front doors. “Jumper, she’s all yours until I get back!”
Then she was out the doors, jogging down the street in her high tops and red dress.
Jasmine gasped. She put a hand out to touch Pirate’s arm. “You need to go after her!”
“Go after her?” Pirate snorted. “I agree with her. I’m not going to stop her if she’s actually going to go tell your mother off. Jazz, no one has a right to speak to you like that, not even the woman who popped you out of her lady parts.”
Unfortunately, Jasmine didn’t laugh like he was hoping she would. “I don’t care if you stop her,” Jasmine told him sternly. “I care about her not getting arrested two months before my wedding!”
Fair point. “Fine,” Pirate grumbled. “Where is she going?”
Jasmine’s expression turned sheepish. “Probably the airport.”
“The airport?” Pirate’s jaw dropped. He knew that her mom wasn’t in the state, but somehow hadn’t put it together that the airport would be Sophia’s destination.
Jasmine opened her mouth to say something, but then something caught her attention over Pirate’s shoulder. Her eyes went wide. “Look, there she is! She’s flagging down a cab!”
Pirate turned in time to see Sophia standing on the sidewalk opposite of the dress shop with her arm raised as a yellow cab pulled up in front of her. “Crazy woman doesn’t even have a fucking jacket on,” Pirate snapped as he ran towards the doors. He gritted his teeth against the discomfort the fast movement caused his right knee.
Pirate made it outside and into the middle of the street in time to see Sophia’s cab pull away from the curb. He cursed when he saw her raise her middle finger to him out the rear window. For added measure, she also stuck her tongue out at him.
There was no way he was going to chase down a cab like he was in some B-rated action movie, even if he’d had two working legs. He quickly turned, spotted another cab and put his fingers to his lips. The sharp whistle caught the attention of the cabbie, who pulled over for Pirate to get in.
“Closest airport!” he ordered as soon as the door was closed. He still had no idea where he was going. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he tried to call Sophia. The call went straight to voicemail.
Pirate ground his teeth together. That woman was going to give him a fucking ulcer!
Sophia chuckled to herself as she lost sight of Pirate standing in the middle of the street as her cab turned a corner. Like she was going to let the man stop her from giving her bestie’s mom a piece of her mind.
She patted her pocket to check for available flights—and paused when she remembered she was in her bridesmaid dress. Shit! Her eyes went wide as she realized she left her phone with her jeans, shirt, and jacket at the bridal shop.
Oops. At least she had her credit card and driver’s license on her. She’d just have to wait until she got to the airport to see what flights were available.
Sophia didn’t like carrying around a big, clunky purse. Once she’d discovered bras with a ‘wallet sleeve’, she’d been sold. Other than some of her fancier pieces of lingerie, all she wore were bras with pockets.
At least she owned the bridesmaid dress already. Sophia’s dress hadn’t needed any alterations, unlike Amanda’s and Zoe’s. The only reason she was in her dress was so Jasmine could see the four of them lined up together.
What had been an amazing moment between Jasmine and her bridesmaids had quickly turned sour as soon as the dress shop employee had held up the tablet so Jasmine’s mom could see. Bitch of a woman couldn’t even bother to come up and celebrate her daughter’s engagement with her because it would ruin her “plans”.
Sophia crossed her arms and glowered. Jasmine was the sweetest, smartest, and most awesome person Sophia knew. How dare her mom try to ruin her wedding dress for her? So what if she wasn’t the size of a twig. Who cared? Jumper certainly didn’t. It was one of the reasons Sophia approved of him so much for her bestie. Jumper couldn’t keep his hands off of Jazz, curves and all.
Sophia had even confessed once to Jasmine that she was jealous of Jazz’s curves, but she was pretty sure Jasmine thought she was joking. Sophia hadn’t been. She’d been dead serious. Jasmine had definition to her body. Sophia’s was just… bleh . She had small boobs, no butt or hips, and an elfin sort of face.
As the cab pulled up to the drop off area at Pittsburgh International Airport, Sophia tapped her card against the screen on the backseat and gave the man a nice tip. He hadn’t gone above and beyond, but he did get her to the airport safely.
She probably should pull some cash while at the airport just in case. While it was hard to believe that some places didn’t take credit cards, she’d traveled enough to know it was true.
Walking through the large doors of the massive tan building, Sophia headed over to the ticket counter. The lines for the self-service kiosks were longer than going up to talk to a live person. Sophia didn’t mind people; she just minded assholes.
The line took about fifteen minutes, long enough for Sophia to regret not having her phone with her to at least play a game on or something. Maybe she should stop by a gift shop and pick up some things. It would depend on her flight’s timing if she was doing it before or after her departure.
Finally, she got up to the counter.
“Hi,” she greeted the PSA man behind the counter.
His name tag read Keith . “Hi,” he smiled back at her. “What can I help you with?”
Sophia only knew whereabouts she wanted to go, so it took Keith a minute to track down the nearest airport, route, and book her a rental car.
“First class,” she told him, handing over her black credit card and driver’s license.
“Just one ticket?” he verified. His expression clearly stated that he would love to be her plus-one.
Sophia opened her mouth to confirm the single ticket when another license was slapped down on the counter next to hers. “Two,” a deep voice corrected.
Sophia scowled and turned to glare at the man standing next to her. “Go back to your pirate ship,” she snapped, facing forward again. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“I’ve been told the bride gets what the bride wants, and the bride wants me to go with you.”
Sophia grumbled under her breath. Jasmine would send Pirate with her. “Fine.”
Keith looked back and forth between the two of them. “Um, two tickets?” He looked more disappointed than concerned for the new arrival.
“Two tickets,” Sophia begrudgingly confirmed. She turned to Pirate. “Do not get in my way.”
He dropped his head down so his mouth was right next to her ear. “My only stipulation is that we don’t wind up in handcuffs.”
Sophia tried to hide the shudder that rolled down her spine at his close contact. “I make no guarantees,” she challenged.
Pirate’s grin was wide—and so fucking sexy, damn him. Like his brother, he had a ruggedness to him that was far too appealing.
After Keith rang them up and got them their tickets and rental car confirmation for when they landed, he pointed them in the direction of the security gate. As luck would have it, their flight left in under two hours.
Sophia thanked Keith and wished him a nice day. He did the same, though he still looked like he wanted to switch places with Pirate.
As they entered the line for the security check, Sophia handed Pirate his ticket stub and license. “I hate paperwork.”
“I was surprised to see you at the counter,” Pirate said as he slipped his license back into his wallet. “I almost missed you because I assumed you’d be halfway through security by the time I caught up to you.”
“I forgot my phone,” she grumbled.
He looked her up and down. “You also didn’t pay for your dress.”
“It’s already paid for,” she told him. “But I probably should change so I don’t ruin it.”
“Which probably would have been a smart thing to do before you ran off half-cocked to the airport.” Sophia was going to argue but Pirate suddenly gasped, “Oahu?! What the fuck? Why are we going to Hawaii?”
“Because that’s where Jazz’s mom is,” Sophia told him, stepping forward as the line moved. “Woman can’t bother to come to her own daughter’s bridal dress fitting because it would have messed up her fucking vacation.”
“To Hawaii?” he repeated, aghast.
Sophia nodded. “Yup.”
After a moment, he said slowly, “My mom wasn’t able to come today either.”
“But she’s been involved,” Sophia argued. “Your mom’s awesome. She helps Jazz out when she needs it, offers her opinion but doesn’t do it in a way that makes Jasmine feel pressured. Your mom was there when Jazz bought her dress. Whereas Jazz’s own mother couldn’t bother to attend any of her shopping trips or fittings. So far, everything Jazz has chosen for her wedding has been wrong. From the location to the date to her fucking dress… I’m sick of it.”
Sophia held out her ticket for Pirate to hold. “Here.” He had no idea where she was hiding anything on that dress that she only needed him to hold her ticket stub.
Sophia bent to unlace her high tops. Then she swiveled around to unlace his boots. When she stood up, her hair was in her face. Pirate had the oddest urge to help move it for her. Instead, he carefully walked with his unlaced boots forward. He tucked both of their tickets into his inside jacket pocket.
As they got up to the security counter, Pirate pulled out his medical card and veteran identification card. He knew that Sophia knew about his leg. She’d been around their apartment too much not to know, but he couldn’t recall if she’d ever seen him without his prosthetic attachment. She’d come into his room once without permission to talk to him. He’d still been in bed and the covers would have hidden his missing limb—as well as his naked ass.
It was strange, the self-conscious feeling that came over him as he was ushered over to a different area. The TSA man waved a wand over him before Pirate was instructed to sit down and remove his leg for it to go through the x-ray machine along with his shoes, jacket, wallet, phone, and keys. He caught the eye of a little boy in line behind him who watched in raptured fascination. Pirate winked at the kid.
He’d gotten over the initial shame of his injury a long time ago. In a weird, twisted way, concentrating on taking care of Jumper had helped with that. Pirate had followed Marshall to Mount Grove as soon as he’d gotten out of the hospital. Other than his own physical therapy, there’d been little time to concentrate on his own injury.
Yet, he couldn’t help but glance out of the corner of his eye at Sophia to see if she was looking at him or what she thought of seeing him without his prosthetic leg and foot.
The woman looked impatient but not disgusted. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had her ticket, Pirate even wondered if she would have left him to get through security on his own.
Hawaii? Fuck. He wasn’t even sure what time they were going to land or if there were any connections. He was definitely going to be missing work tomorrow.
Once TSA cleared him and Pirate was able to put his leg back onto the socket attached to his real leg, Pirate grabbed his belongings and stood.
“Chop, chop,” Sophia snapped her fingers. “We have to get to the other side of the airport and I still have to pee.”
Pirate followed grudgingly, wondering what the hell he’d just gotten himself into.