65
Everything
Amanda
This wedding needs to end soon. I’m uncomfortable whether I’m sitting or standing.
The justice of the peace says the usual lines while Shade stares so hard at South that he looks like he’s consuming her with his eyes. It’s a little freaky, but South is smiling and running her fingers over his cheek.
They are so damn weird. Hopefully, they’ll be so involved with each other that innocent people won’t get caught up in it.
I finally meet Tera and I’m officially in love with the bundle of happiness. Her belly is swollen, and she waddles when she walks. It doesn’t stop her from being the best maid of honor. She shimmies around like a puppy that can’t sit still, crying her eyes out and saying she’s so happy for them.
Definitely not telling her about that guy’s computer.
It’s the least romantic wedding I’ve ever been to, but it’s absolutely perfect for the two of them.
Shade’s clear obsession with Gabriel standing like a frozen statue behind him is a sight. I take several pictures of the deer in the headlights look on his face. Their sister, Andi, is clutching Gabriel’s arm and shaking it with excitement. She’s pushy and loud, but no holds barred honest. South is spoiling Shade, with Tera trying to cry quietly behind her. Max, on tissue duty, is hovering behind her, handing them out and taking the soaked ones to toss in the trash.
After the embarrassingly thorough kiss that gets us all booted out of the courthouse we stand around gossiping.
I peg Shade in the chest with the tiny bag of seeds Tera handed out earlier. He doesn’t seem to notice, too blissfully in his own world to care.
“Fucking sap,” I scoff.
Everyone else does the proper thing, opening the bags and showering them both in seeds to celebrate.
“Honeymoon?” South glances at Shade with a sly smile.
“Please,” I roll my eyes. “You’re going home for a week and screwing your brains out.”
“That’s a honeymoon,” Andi points out with a grin.
“That’s their every day ,” I protest. “What are they going to do? Screw all over town instead?”
“You think they haven’t already?” Max smirks.
“Please don’t make me throw up,” Tera winces.
“Sorry,” he mutters as Asher absently rubs her back. His smile is a little tight as if his mind is far away from here.
“We need to head home,” Jake tells Gabriel with raised brows.
“Why?” Ace asks warily.
“I have a surprise for meine Seele ,” he grins back.
“Is it an ice pack?” I ask dismally.
Mikael’s arms wrap around me, allowing me to lean back and let him take my weight.
“Let’s get back and relax,” Cade smiles and leads the way to the car.
I make it through the ride with a lot of shifting in discomfort. Gabriel watches me with a smug smile that I try not to punch off his face.
“A soak in the tub after your surprise,” Jake takes pity on me.
“That sounds amazing,” I sigh.
We settle on the couches in the meeting room exactly as Jake tells us. Gabriel sits on a couch with Mikael and Ace on either side. Cade sits in an armchair. Jake stands, and I sit in the other armchair.
“What the hell is goin’ on?” Ace asks him for the fifth time.
Jake is arranging things in the room and tidying up.
“Why are you nervous?” Cade’s eyes narrow with suspicion. “You’re never like this.”
“Everything just so, Cadey,” he replies absently. “Straighten up and look like less of a pervert, would you?”
Cade gapes at him in disbelief. “The fuck did you just say?”
“Sir?” A hesitant voice pipes up from the door. We all look at the maid, making her more nervous. “Your visitors are here.”
“Excellent,” Jake claps his hands and drops onto the empty couch. “Send them this way.”
As she leaves, we all stare at Jake. The number of times he fixes his tie is a little concerning.
“You’re about to choke yourself,” I point out, much more comfortable now that the ibuprofen is kicking in.
Jake turns to me with a gentle smile, his eyes sparkling. “Surprise, my soul.”
Is that what meine Seele means? My brows furrow as footsteps echo until someone rounds the door.
My dad saunters in with his hands in his pockets and a casual walk. He’s taking in all of the random decorations and is unimpressed with the results. His eyes are like mine, his hair a paler shade of red, more like Cade’s, and cut short. He’s not a menacing figure, despite his muscles. He’s a regular older man with graying temples and a bald spot that he curses about but does nothing to fix. His jeans are ragged, and his casual, ratty marine shirt proves he still works out.
“Dad?” I slowly stand as if he’s a mirage.
The guys all stand up at irregular times, looking like spring toys that were meant to go off at the same time but missed it by seconds. I take my time moving closer to him. For some reason, I’m nervous.
My Dad is here , of all places. Judging everything he sees silently. Despite all my nerves, I’m glad to see him. I want a hug and a head pat. I’m too choked up to ask for it.
“Hey, Dad,” I say with a light laugh, tears popping up from out of nowhere.
“Hey, pumpkin. Nice digs.” His reply is casual, but he clears his throat, his eyes getting a little misty.
“Not mine,” I roll my eyes, hurrying for that hug.
He holds me for a second but his attention is somewhere else. Namely the men behind me. I can tell he’s glaring over my shoulder because his pats are absentminded instead of affectionate.
I pull away from him, barely catching his expression going from ‘you’re dead meat’ to ‘hi pumpkin, how are you’ innocence.
“Dad, these are the guys that have been helping me through my rough patch,” I tell him sternly.
His eyes narrow on me, a million questions brimming but he doesn’t ask. He learned a long time ago that not hearing about my mischief means he won’t get yelled at by Mom for being an accomplice. He’d have to be an idiot not to notice something is wrong here. Between the amount of guards and security, my bruised-up face, and the fancy suits they’re wearing it’s weird. Dad isn’t dumb.
“Do I want to know details?” He asks, resigned to my screwed-up life.
“ No ,” I widen my eyes for emphasis.
He nods and sighs the only way a man who’s tired of his daughter’s antics can. It doesn’t matter how old I get. It will still be the same sound.
I introduce them one at a time, giving the guys a chance to say hi before moving on. Ace is casual, Gabe is stiff and cold, and Mikael is nervous, which is hilarious. Cade looks sad, probably thinking about his own dad. Jake is all friendly smiles and eager eyes. Dad’s eyes narrow on him, giving him a thorough once over.
I get the uncomfortable part over with quickly. I’m not going to leave my dad guessing about their status in my life. Mom, yes, because she’s nosy as hell. Dad? Not so much.
“I’m dating all of them.”
The guys stare at me like I’m insane for throwing it out there. The only one that’s pleased about it is Jake. He looks proud and stands taller, giving me a wider, more real smile.
Dad stiffens up. His eye twitches for a second. He takes another look around them. Really noting details this time. They stare back with varying expressions. From cold blankness to sheer delight with uncomfortable in between.
“Mafia?” Dad sighs again.
“Nope.” He’ll never guess, and I’ll never tell. Gabe doesn’t protest it, either. He looks too nervous to say a word wrong. They’ve all fallen so quiet I could hear crickets.
“Drugs?”
I scoff, “No.”
“Just rich jerks?”
“Yeah,” I chuckle. Gabe’s eyes narrow on me in silent protest.
“I guess that’s fine,” he shakes his head. “You know your mother is here.”
“Yeah?” I glance at him warily. “Where is she?”
“Still talking to some girl about a vase that looks glued together. It’s like someone used duct tape and prayer to keep it standing.”
Oh shit. It’s the stupid priceless vase I knocked over when I was struggling. I did my best to fix it and failed miserably. Not that Gabriel complained.
My face pales. Dad’s eyes narrow on me.
“Don’t tell me. I need deniability.”
I nod with a tense, guilty smile.
“You know you’ve created the perfect storm here, right?” He raises an eyebrow and begins to look smug. When he drops an arm over my shoulders, I know I’m in trouble.
“What do you mean?” My tone turns cautious. Whatever he’s about to say, I’m not going to like.
“There’s five of them,” his smile becomes demonic with pleasure.
I look at the guys and back to him before it sinks in.
“Oh, no,” I mutter weakly.
“Oh, yeah. I’m not going to hear a lecture for months after this.” He sounds like he’s basking in the daydream of it already.
“ Damn it,” I whine.
“Language. Pick out which one you like the least. We can throw him at her as a distraction. You can be happy with four, right?”
“Dad,” I glare at him.
“All we have to do is keep tripping people. We’ll make it, at least. There are windows right there.”
“May I ask who we’re being sacrificed to?” Gabe raises a haughty brow. As if my dad would be cowed by his frosted over act.
Dad raises an eyebrow back and smirks. “Just wait, kid. If you think Amanda is hardheaded, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
“Damn it, Dad,” I grit out. He could at least lie and say I’m a kind and caring person. No one would believe it, but it’s the thought that counts.
“Language, Amanda Jane,” Mom mutters without any of the usual disapproval my cursing earns. She’s just as short as I am, with ample hips that sway. Her brown eyes, a clone of mine, sparkle as she takes everything in. With her blond hair knotted at the back of her head, the light makeup, and her soft flower-covered dress, she looks harmless.
What a lie that is.
She stares around the space with awe. “Am I allowed to touch anything?”
“Yes, Mom,” I sigh in exasperation. It sounds a lot like Dad’s. My words snap her out of her dreamy haze. Her eyes narrow on me and her arms cross over her chest.
“Did you break that vase in the hall, Amanda Jane Jefferson?”
My shoulders tense while Dad looks at me in fake surprise.
“ Amanda! Did you do that?”
He’s laying it on a little thick, but I have been gone for a while. He’s paying me back for all the lectures he’s endured without being able to throw me under the bus as a distraction.
“It was an accident,” I tell them both through gritted teeth.
“I knew I recognized that glue job. You’d think you would be better at it by now,” Mom shakes her head. “Did you apologize?”
“ Did you?” Dad taunts. I throw an elbow into his side. Enough is enough.
“Yes, I did.”
“That’s a step up,” she rolls her eyes. When she sees the guys her eyes narrow and shift to me. “And who is this?”
She’s trying to figure out which one I’m interested in. If I introduce just one of them, she’ll have someone to focus on. The joke’s on her, though. I introduce them all at once, which should piss her off.
Instead, she practically squeals when I introduce Jake.
“I’m honored to meet you in the flesh,” Jake grins.
Mom prances over to him and grabs both his hands like he’s a miracle she has to touch.
“Wait,” I begin warily.
“He texts her at three o’clock on the dot every day to give her updates on you,” Dad mutters to me.
My head snaps around so I can gape at him.
Jesus, this is the team-up literally no one asked for.
“Oh, no,” I groan.
“Oh, yeah,” Dad smiles back, perfectly content as he drops the next bombshell. “She’s dating all of them, Suzanne.”
Mom’s jaw drops, her arms falling to her sides in shock. It takes a minute for that to process while I shift in discomfort. Dad bails out on me and finds a glass and the whiskey.
“May I?” He looks back at Gabe with a gleeful smile overflowing with smugness.
“Just one,” Mom and I say at the same time with the same glower.
“Cade looks like he would love snickerdoodles,” Dad throws out as Gabe nods warily to approve the alcohol consumption. As a man saying that about another man I grimace for him. It sounds so wrong.
But it makes Mom focus on Cade with the intensity of twenty suns. She misses the fact that Dad fills the tumbler almost to the top.
“Dad,” I hiss, looking from the glass to him.
“How many kids are you thinking of having, Amanda? Three?” He raises a brow, salutes me with the glass and takes a sip. His other hand rises to flip me off while Mom is getting closer to a very nervous-looking Cade.
“Five, obviously,” Mom inserts with narrowed eyes. “One from each. I think that would do to start. And if there are any doubts that someone got skipped you can try again. Not a big deal.”
Ace gapes at her. Gabe looks stoic. Jake is grinning with delight.
“Don’t listen to her,” I assure Mikael quickly. He looks like he’s about to pass out.
“I was a big baby,” he tells me roughly. “You’re so small.”
“Aw, it’s really sweet that you’re concerned,” Mom coos at him before going back to being her real tyrannical self. “Amanda has wide hips. She’ll be fine.”
“Mom,” I groan and slap my hand over my face.
“Don’t let those hips go to waste,” Mom lectures with a raised brow. “Really, Amanda, I’ve been waiting for years.”
She begins to pace as she rants. I mimic her silently word for word. This lecture is way too familiar. It’s all about babies and my biological clock ticking down like a time bomb. The only thing that changes is the amount of time that’s passed. The script takes a sudden flip I wasn’t ready for.
“So, which one are you marrying?”
My jaw drops as I stare at her with bugging eyes. Who says that?
“I’m barely a widow.”
“He was scum, and I’m tired of waiting. Which one?” She eyes them like she’s sizing them up at auction.
“Mom, no ,” I tell her firmly, trying to take control of my life back without a hope in hell that I’ll succeed.
“Twins run in my line,” Jake offers sweetly.
Mom turns to him with sudden joy. “Oh, I knew I loved you! Pick Jakob, Amanda. He’s got the determination of a Jefferson.”
“You love babies ,” I grind out in frustration. “You’d love a factory if they spit kids out.”
“I also have paperwork with my sperm count,” Jake nods agreeably.
“You little asshole,” I gape at him in surprise. I was joking when I told him to do it. I should have known better.
“Language,” my parents say absently. My dad is focused on drinking one tiny sip at a time, and my mom is clasping Jake’s hand like he’s a miracle worker.
“You sit with me right here, my boy,” Mom says, dropping to the couch and pulling a willing Jake with her.
I take the drink out of Dad’s hand and slug some back.
“One drink, and then it’s mine again,” he protests, holding his hand out. “We can share the next one.”
“Absolutely not, Edward,” Mom pins Dad with a glare. He freezes with the glass halfway to his lips. “Your doctor said one glass, and that’s what you get. Amanda is not drinking. It might delay a pregnancy. She needs to start taking vitamins, not having alcohol.”
“I’ve added a medicinal tablet that has properties to help with conception,” Jake informs her solemnly. “No unnatural chemicals.”
“If you ever say anything about Cade playing with food again, I’m bringing this shit up,” I snarl. I can’t trust his all-natural remedies, it’s decided. And why would he give me that when I have a contraceptive in my…
My hand flies to my arm, feeling for the telltale rod. I almost drop to the floor with relief when I find it.
Ace drops onto his couch and gives me a smug look. “She’s got Jake now. We could get away, darlin’.”
“That’s what you think,” Dad says with a warning glance.
“Just let Jake fatten her up with baby dreams, and we’ll be ok,” I whisper back desperately.
Ace raises an eyebrow. “Nothin’ with Jake ever ends ok.”
“Are you from the south?” Dad asks without any tact.
“I am, sir,” Ace assures him calmly.
“What’s your take on…”
I zone out as football talk commences. Cade perks up and practically shoves me out of the way to join the conversation. Mikael firmly focuses on my Dad in a desperate attempt to pretend Mom doesn’t exist. Jake is happily assuring Mom that if no one else steps up to the plate he’ll make sure that she gets at the very least four grandkids. Mom is so delighted she squeals and taps her feet on the floor.
“If I ever turn into her, please shoot me,” I mutter in horror. Only Gabe hears me.
“It must be hereditary,” he taunts with an icy smirk.