24. Bear
24
BEAR
E ven though it was bad luck to see the bride the day of the wedding, I spent that morning fucking Julia like the world might end. Hell, for all I knew, it would.
She explained her beef with fate, and even though I never believed in any of that shit, I couldn’t deny that things between us felt karmic in a way nothing ever had before. She was meant to be with me, and I was meant to be with her.
It was why none of my other relationships had turned into anything serious. In a morose sort of way, perhaps that was why all her previous boyfriends met the business end of her family’s high expectations.
It was too late to do anything about it. The wheels were already turning and this fucking train was barreling toward the cliffside. Pumping the brakes would do nothing. When I came deep inside her with whispers of love and adoration on my lips, I memorized everything about the moment—the way her hair smelled like flowers and sunshine, the way her dark eyes got impossibly darker when she climaxed, the way her body gripped me like she was trying to pull my soul into hers.
We lay in that bed worshipping each other until we had to get up or risk being late to our own shindig. Worry lines creased her forehead, and even though she tried to hide it, her swollen, puffy eyes told the tale of how much she’d been crying.
“It’ll be okay, my love,” I said, brushing the hair behind her ear.
She attempted a smile but didn’t commit, and that should have forced me to pull her back into my bed, perhaps keep her there all day. Fuck the wedding.
Then, she got up and ran to the bathroom to vomit, and I tried not to take it personally. She said it was wedding-day jitters, and I took her at her word, even as I held her hair and rubbed her back. When she felt better, I helped her gather her things and loaded them into the truck.
By the time we made it to the farm, all of my groomsmen had already shown up, even Hollywood, and that motherfucker would be late to his funeral.
“Well, look at what the dirty, rotten alley cat dragged in,” he said, clapping from his spot at the far end of the groom’s dressing room. He wore a white T-shirt, his boxers, and nothing else, clearly in the middle of changing into his suit.
“It’s about time,” Thor said, already dressed. He’d probably been ready to go since five this morning. “I was about to send the cavalry after you.”
“It was difficult to leave her,” I said, glancing toward the door leading to the bride’s suite on the other side of the hall. It wasn’t anything fancy, just an old farmhouse that had been converted into a venue for conferences and weddings. The club had owned it for longer than I’d been alive and paid a company to maintain it. I didn’t know how to feel about marrying the princess of the Caputi family when a lot of her family members had disappeared in the back forty.
“No kidding,” KC said, buttoning up his black shirt. “They’re only two rooms away and I’m twitchy as fuck.”
I looked to the other side of the room, finding both Castor and Pollux ready to go.
“What do we know?” I asked the computer genius.
He shook his head. “Hard to say. The ones I’ve got tabs on are moving this way. But I can’t get a read on Gabriella.”
“She’s coming,” said a deep voice from the doorway. Leo rubbed his hands together and walked inside, glancing at me and my brothers in various states of undress. “Trust me. She wouldn’t miss this opportunity.”
“She must know she’s walking into a trap.” KC finished with his buttons and moved on to the cuffs. “She can’t think this ends well for her.”
“After the raid earlier this year, she’s unhinged,” Leo said. “She wants my head so badly, she’ll be too overzealous to resist.”
“Not to mention the body count,” Hollywood added, finally putting on his pants. “She’s got two clubs and most of the Caputi army with her.”
Leo smirked. “Only until the bosses turn on her.”
I took a deep breath and prayed that plan held firm. I’d imagined this ending a thousand different ways, and in most of them, the bosses turned on us at the last minute and killed everyone I loved.
“It’s almost time,” Leo said, patting me on the back. “I’m going to go be with my sister. Try to enjoy yourself, huh? It is your wedding. You’ll only get one.”
I sighed as he walked away because, technically, I was already married to the bride, even if we hadn’t proclaimed our vows in front of an audience yet. I changed into my suit while the rest of my brothers made light of the situation, but an undercurrent of tension boiled between us, all nerves and anticipation of the battle to come. Even though we’d planned for it by wearing Kevlar under our shirts, today would be bloody and violent, and at the end, I prayed we got out of it with everyone we had going into it.
Fifteen minutes before the ceremony was supposed to start, my groomsmen and I walked downstairs and through the kitchen to the backyard. Rows of chairs had been lined up on either side with an archway at the head, just in front of a view of the mountains in the distance. It truly was a beautiful spot to get married, and I lamented that today would not be about me proclaiming my undying love for my new wife.
Sure, that was a piece of it, but like so much about my union with Julia, the ceremony would be fake, a ruse meant only to draw the villain out of hiding so we could take her down once and for all.
“How ya feeling?” KC asked, grabbing my shoulder in a fraternal squeeze.
I swallowed my nausea and forced myself to grin. “All right. How about you?”
He laughed. “You’ve always been a shitty liar.”
“Truthfully?” I grimaced and rubbed my fingers over my tired eyes. “I’m pissed my dad can’t be here.”
KC’s features fell, and he nodded, wrapping an arm over my neck to pull me in for a sideways hug. “He would if he could; you know that.”
“Of course.” But if there ever were a day to regret his being locked up, it would be the day I got married and brought down the bane of our existence. This had been his plan—well, maybe not the whole shooting up my wedding day part, but the rest of it. He’d advocated for peace between our families when Saint spared Leo’s life a year ago. He’d fought like hell to keep me from having to marry Julia, but if he could see how strong she was, how happy we were together, I’d bet he’d be proud to call her his daughter-in-law.
“V said she would take lots of pictures to show him,” Hollywood added, coming to stand on the other side of me.
I had my real brothers here; no one would ever replace Castor and Pollux in my heart. But these two knuckleheads had been with me through it all. KC and Hollywood were my best friends, my ride or dies, my brothers in spirit if not by blood.
“Thank you both,” I said, glancing between them as a wave of sentimentality hit me square in the chest. “Thank you for being here, for always having my back.”
“Hey, don’t start that shit,” KC said, pointing accusingly at me. “Hollywood’s gonna start crying and then I’m gonna have to clean him up before V kicks all of our asses.”
Hollywood wiped at his eye and sniffed. “I’m not crying, you’re crying, you son of a bitch.”
KC shook his head and laughed. “You got it, prez. I couldn’t have done anything without you, ya know?”
“We’re with you till the end.” Hollywood clamped my hand and pulled me into a one-armed hug before stepping back and playfully smacking my cheek. “Even if you are a short-dicked, hot-tempered piece of shit.”
“Oh, so you want to spend my wedding day on your back staring up at the sky with a bloody nose?” I tapped him back a little harder than he’d hit me.
“You couldn’t catch me if you tried.” He punched my stomach, and I nearly collapsed. But I wouldn’t let him win that easily.
“Hollywood, I’ve been kicking your ass since?—”
“Enough,” KC cut in, putting his arms out between us. “If either of you ends up bloody today, Sunshine’s gonna kick my ass, and I don’t make a habit of pissing off my wife. Understand?”
I narrowed my eyes at KC, but ultimately gave Hollywood a nod of agreement. It wasn’t the right time to go running off into a wrestle.
“Besides,” KC said, “no one’s dick is as big as mine, and I could take you both out with one hand.”
Hollywood stared gape-jawed at KC, but I burst into hysterics, needing the laugh to soothe my nerves.
My brothers and I took our spots in front of the archway as the rest of the “guests” filled in the chairs on either side. Most of them were members from the other clubs, and when Lore showed up last night with the Indiana crew in tow, I started to feel a little better about all of this. Of course, aside from my family in the club and the MC princesses, neither of us had any real family here. Chesco would arrive when his father did and Julia didn’t want to drag Della into this more than she already was. So it was just down to strangers and other Roses to bear witness to the greatest lie I ever told.
Of course, it didn’t feel like a lie when the music started playing and my sister appeared at the end of the aisle. She walked between the rows of seats, carrying a bouquet before stopping at the far end of the arch. Ru came next, followed by Selene, and finally Alba. And when I saw Julia standing at the end, wearing a beautiful strapless gown, holding on to Leo for dear life, I almost cried.
My heart pounded and my legs shook, and for a moment, one blissful heartbeat, I pretended this was real. I pretended my father was sitting in the front row and Julia’s uncles were on the other side, and she was gleefully walking down the aisle to hand the rest of her life over to me. She looked stunning, her hair falling in beautiful curls down her back, a radiance shining out of her that reminded me of those ancient paintings of Goddesses.
When Leo and Julia stood in front of me, I had to blink myself back to reality.
“Who gives this woman to this man?” Saint said from his spot in front of the arch.
“I do,” Leo said, “on behalf of her bloodline, her family, and her friends.”
He placed her hand in mine, and the weight of the world suddenly disappeared. I looked into her deep mahogany eyes and saw my entire future play out for me. I saw our kids growing up in a world where they wouldn’t have to worry about a war hanging over their heads. I saw her with gray around her temples, looking just as gorgeous for her age, and me with wrinkles at the corners of my eyes. I saw us playing the same games in twenty, thirty, forty years, enjoying it just as much. And I wanted it all.
“Hi, little wife,” I whispered, bringing her hand to my lips for a quick kiss.
“Hello, husband.” She grinned, and we turned to face Saint as he began reciting the planned ceremony.
“You look amazing,” I whispered, trying to keep my voice low.
“So do you,” she said. “Such a shame it’s going to be ruined.”
“Once this is over, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go,” I murmured. “We’ll get married on every island in Greece, if that’s what you want.”
“Careful,” she said. “I may hold you to that.”
I prayed she did. I prayed we made it out of this in one piece, that luck really was on our side for once. Saint went on with his speech, praising the merits of union and throwing a little jazz on some of the verbiage we’d selected, but we didn’t want the ceremony to last forever. The anticipation of what was to come hung over us like smog, choking everything into a haze.
Gabriella Caputi could come out of the woodwork any second now, and when she did, this idyllic romance would crash down around us.
“And now, the vows,” Saint said, gesturing for us to face each other.
“Do you, Julia Gianna Francesca Benita Natali Caputi,” Saint said, “take Roman Alexander Montgomery to be your husband, to have and to hold, to honor and protect, to love and defend, for all the days of your life?”
“I do,” she said, smiling up at me.
“And do you, Roman Alexander Montgomery, take Julia Gianna Francesca Benita Natali Caputi to be your wife, to have and to hold, to honor and protect, to love and defend, for all the days of your life?”
“I do,” I replied, returning her grin.
“Do you have the rings?” Saint turned to KC.
KC reached inside his pocket to pull out the velvet cloth containing the simple white gold bands we’d picked out weeks ago. Even though we were already married, the little circles meant so much for being just chunks of soft metal.
“These are symbols of your vows to one another, signs of your commitment to the promises made here today.” Saint went on, but the significance hit me right in the chest. Four months ago, I’d sat in that lawyer’s office, going over a contract that stipulated the rest of my life. It mandated we had children, that we share a last name, that we share a house, and I barely knew the person I was supposed to do those things with. I only knew that it could end a war neither of us wanted.
Now, here we were. I grabbed Julia’s ring from Saint’s palm and held up her left hand, sliding it over the knuckle of the third finger, placing it on top of the ruby one I’d given her a few days ago. She did the same to me.
“And now, in front of your family, the Steel Roses, and all the fucking Gods, I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your old lady!”
The crowd erupted into applause and cheers while I stepped closer to connect my mouth with hers. She smiled against me and held my jaw, deepening our connection.
When I stepped back, I knew no matter what happened today, I’d never regret marrying her… for real.