33. Hayat
Chapter Thirty-Three
Hayat
There was a garden area at the hotel Abi and Vaughn were staying at where they had set up flowers and chairs and an arbor for the small wedding ceremony. Jace, Kin, both my parents, Vaughn’s parents, his brother Ryan, and his wife Nova were all present, along with Ali and Evan. Poppy and Gammy were there with Pop-Pop and Nana because Abi considered them grandparents. Abi’s aunt Kassa and uncle Gray were there but not Bentley or their daughter Caprice. Aunt Emmie and Uncle Nik came as well, but that was the extent of the small wedding’s guests.
When the music started, Vaughn appeared at the arbor with the minister. Offering Sammy his good arm, Elias escorted her down the makeshift aisle so that she could stand beside her brother. Once she took her place, I slipped my hands through Jamie’s and Sparks’s arms, and they walked with me down the aisle.
Seeing my guys, a few people started murmuring quietly, but I simply smiled and kissed both their cheeks before they took their seats beside Ali and Evan. Poppy caught my gaze and lifted a brow before winking at me. I grinned back just as the wedding march began, and all eyes turned to watch as Jace walked Abi down the aisle.
Tears filled my eyes as soon as I saw her. She was the most beautiful bride I’d ever seen, glowing with love and pride as she walked toward the man she loved more than life itself. At one point, I heard Vaughn choking back a sob, but then Jace offered him his daughter’s hand, and the minister began.
I cried during the entire ceremony, but so did almost everyone else, especially Kin and my mom.
Once the minister pronounced them husband and wife, he didn’t have to tell Vaughn to kiss his bride because he already had her lifted off her feet and was kissing her in a way that Jace should not have been witness to.
A million pictures later, we entered the ballroom where the reception was being held at the same hotel. Sparks and Jamie were back at my side, both with a hand on me somewhere. Jamie’s playing with my hair. Sparks’s rubbing over my ass whenever my dad or Uncle Jace wasn’t around.
Over ten minutes passed before the DJ announced Mr. and Mrs. Christian Vaughn. Bride and groom walked in, hand in hand, my bestie glowing even more, which made me wonder what she and her husband had been up to during those ten minutes before their entrance.
They went straight into their first dance, and then Elias and Sammy joined. Not wanting to be left out as the maid of honor, I pulled Jamie and Sparks onto the dance floor with me, and the three of us swayed together. Laughing happily, I laid my head on Sparks’s shoulder and stroked my fingers down Jamie’s cheek. He needed a shave, but I liked the scruff he had going on.
Our dance was over far too soon, but then it was time to take our seats and eat. Sammy and Elias were at the same table with the bride and groom, and there were three empty spots for me and my dates across from my bestie. Leaning forward, I wiggled my fingers, and Abi instantly placed her hand in mine. Then I did the same to Sammy. The three of us held hands, making a triangle at the round table with the men we loved surrounding us.
I wasn’t going to think about Ky being there somewhere. Sitting with Maddie, letting her touch him. Hug him. Maybe even kiss him. No, I wasn’t going to let that kind of heartache and jealousy ruin this day for Abi, the sweet, amazing girl who deserved every happiness in the world.
Sammy’s fingers tightened in mine, giving me one of those smiles I’d realized in the short time of knowing her that she reserved only for Abi. In that moment, it felt like the three of us were a tribe, connected by our love for Abi.
“A biker, a mafia prince, and a cartel assassin walk into a wedding,” Jamie began. “There’s a joke in there somewhere. Give me a minute. I’ll find it.”
Everyone at our table laughed, even if Sparks shot his friend the middle finger. I kissed Jamie quickly before turning to Sparks. “Assassin, huh? Am I going to get any bedtime stories about these assassin adventures?”
Leaning his face in close, he rubbed his nose over mine. “No, goddess. Because for as long as there is breath in my body, you will never know the nightmares I’m capable of creating. You’re my light and outshine all the darkness that lurks inside me.”
My heart felt like it was going to explode with all the love I felt for him. I shouldn’t have had any room left over for Jamie, but I did, because he took up the same space Sparks did. Lightly brushing my lips over his, I whispered, “I’ll absorb that darkness anytime you need me to. I’m not going to break, knowing your past, Sparks. I’ll love you no matter what you’ve done. Because that was the you before me.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed, but before he could find his voice, someone grabbed the mic and started making toasts. Anya, Vaughn’s mom, went first, and I found myself crying again. Turning in my chair so my back was cushioned against Jamie’s, I dabbed at my eyes while she wished her son and Abi all the happiness. A few other people stood and spoke, but Sammy and I had already told Abi we weren’t going to be doing all the heartfelt sobbing bullshit.
Abi agreed she didn’t want to stir up Sammy’s crazy—whatever that meant. But she kicked me under the table. “Go on. You have to say something. Even if it’s an embarrassing story from when we were kids.”
“Why do you hate me?” I whined, placing my napkin on the table and picking up my glass of champagne. My parents couldn’t complain that I was drinking since it was to make a toast, so I was going to take advantage as much as possible.
Sparks tapped me on the ass. “You got this, goddess.”
Cheers and a few good-natured groans filled the ballroom when I walked over to take the microphone. Sending Abi one last glower, I focused on the people around me. This was my family—biological or honorary, it didn’t matter. We’d been through some truly rough times together, but also some amazingly happy ones as well.
“I’m up here under duress,” I said into the microphone, my voice filling the entire room. “But this is Abi’s big day, and I can’t tell my bestie no. Not even when I knew it might get us grounded for six months—which happened a few times, if I remember correctly.”
“It only happened one time,” Abi called out. “And it was all your fault, so stop blaming me.”
“Agree to disagree,” I argued over everyone’s laughter. Taking a sip of my champagne, I caught sight of Aunt Trinity sitting with her family. Her husband Jarrett was to her right, with Avalyn, who they had adopted six weeks after Maddie gave birth to her, between them. Banks was with Maddie, and there, sitting close to Maddie, with his storm-cloud gray eyes on me, sat Ky.
Maddie leaned her head toward him, a smile on her face as she got so close to him, she might as well have licked him.
Turning so I couldn’t see them, I caught Poppy’s gaze and forced myself to relax. “Abi has been my best friend since the day she was born. We’ve been through everything together. I thought it would always be just her and me. But slowly, we added more misfits to our group. We went from the Dynamic Duo to the Terror Trio, and anyone who messed with one of us knew they would get the wrath of the other two. We fought the silent battles side by side, just like we destroyed those who thought they could crush the ones we loved with their stinging words.”
I took another sip, daring to look at Maddie, letting the glitter in my eyes remind her of how Abi and I had once had her back. But I wasn’t so sure she’d ever had ours. She quickly glanced away, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. To keep it from quivering? Or to stop herself from running her mouth?
Lifting a brow at her in challenge, I turned my back on her again. “No matter what’s happened along the way, it was always—will always—be Abi for me. If I hadn’t already seen how much Vaughn cherishes Abi, I probably would have staked him with a drumstick by now. But I can see it in the way he looks at her, the way his entire face morphs into something that screams ‘I love this girl. I will kill for her. I am going to make it my life’s goal to always make her happy.’ I see it, Vaughn, as I’m sure everyone else here has too. And for that reason alone, I’m going to let you live. But only if you promise not to take my bestie away from me forever.”
Vaughn’s brown eyes met mine, and I saw the promise there, the one that told me I would always be welcome in his home, his life, his world because Abi loved me. I mouthed “Thank you” to him, before lifting my glass. “To some of you, Abi and Vaughn are moving way too fast, but having fallen fast myself, I understand the need to grasp hold of the person—or people—who kidnap your heart and attach themselves to your soul. So I’m going to toast to my best friend and the crazy man who loves her most in the world.”