Epilogue
Lila
The clubhouse looked different that day.
I had only been there a handful of times, never enough to know all its moods, but the backyard caught me off guard anyway.
White chairs curved beneath the grove near the lake, late-afternoon sun breaking gold across the water behind them.
Flowers climbed the arch while soft fabric stirred overhead, and lanterns waited dark among the branches for evening.
The whole property had been gentled for Blue and Priest without losing what it was, which somehow made it more beautiful.
I stood beside Blue in a flowing indigo dress Evan had chosen after declaring that if Priest wanted the wedding colors to match her eyes, the matron of honor should look like part of the plan.
The low lace-up back and dramatic slit had earned his hands clasped theatrically to his chest while he announced I looked “romantically dangerous.” My sling was finally gone, though my shoulder still carried enough ache to discourage anything too enthusiastic.
Evan hovered nearby looking so pleased with himself he might have floated if gravity allowed it.
He had rejected bridesman because it sounded “underwhelming and spiritually beige,” so Blue had surrendered and let him spend the day calling himself The Man of Glamour.
He wore the title with the solemn importance of royalty.
Jade stood farther down as junior bridesmaid, dark hair pinned up and dress floating around her knees.
She was trying hard to look unimpressed, but every time Little Jax made another circuit through the wedding party her face betrayed her.
The baby wore an indigo shirt beneath his tiny cut, boots on his feet, and the serious expression of a much older man being forced to tolerate compliments.
The ceremony hadn’t even started, and Little Jax had already been passed from Blue to Priest to Evan, then me, Deacon, Jade, and Raina like the most beloved football in Bay of Saints.
Deacon took his place beside Priest as best man when the music changed.
Even across the aisle, I caught the way his gaze found me first, slid to Jade, then settled on Blue waiting to walk down.
Something in his face softened into that proud warmth I was still learning could live so comfortably on men in cuts.
My life had changed in ways I never could have predicted, and apparently one of them was watching dangerous men get wrecked by love.
The ceremony was beautiful because nobody tried too hard to make it beautiful.
Priest never looked away from Blue. Not when she came down the aisle, not when she took his hands, not even when Little Jax gave one deeply offended noise because Max had stopped him from chewing a boutonniere.
When the vows began, Priest drew a breath and looked at Blue with the focus of a man about to swear himself to the only person in the yard.
“I promise to love and honor you, to stand by your side through every storm, and to protect our family with my last breath and to never let you out of my sight again.” His mouth tipped, rough face softening without losing the smugness.
“But let’s be honest, we both know I’m only allowed to say all this because I finally learned how to follow your rules.
I spent months tearing the world apart looking for you, only to find out that the toughest president in the state is completely helpless against a woman who knows how to disappear into thin air.
You are my queen, my boss, and the only person allowed to put me in my place. ”
He winked. Actually winked. Laughter rolled through the chairs, and Blue laughed with everyone else even while tears tracked down her cheeks.
When she answered, she looked at him with enough love on her face to make the rest of us feel like witnesses to something private.
“I vow to love and honor you for the rest of my life, and to raise our beautiful baby with the most stubborn man I’ve ever met.
I promise to always listen to you, mostly because the last time I overheard you talking, you were saying some incredibly stupid things about us just being a casual fling. ”
The laughter got louder. Priest groaned under his breath while Blue let him suffer for another second before continuing, slow smile turning sassy.
“I’m glad you finally got your head screwed on straight after a few months of panic, because I am way too strong to ever be anyone’s second best. You are entirely mine now, and if you ever forget it, just remember, my tracking settings are permanently turned off. ”
Priest muttered, “Baby...”
Blue’s smirk deepened. “I promise to always be your old lady, even when you act like a stubborn old man. I love you, your brothers, and most importantly, I love the way you’d burn the world down to search for me.”
The laughter came softer after that, emotion threaded through it.
Rings were exchanged. Blue cried. Priest pretended not to and failed.
Evan cried openly while muttering, “I spent too much on waterproof mascara for this.” Jade wiped beneath one eye, then scowled when she caught me noticing.
When Priest finally kissed Blue, the whole yard erupted.
Later, the backyard glowed around the lake as the reception settled into full swing.
Lights strung through the trees doubled in the water.
Music rolled across the grass, and the dance floor stayed crowded with old ladies, children, club brothers, and several grown men who had apparently lied about not dancing.
Priest and Blue took their first dance to Chasing Cars. Of course they did. He held her like keeping her close was now an official duty, while she looked up at him with the calm certainty of a woman who knew exactly what kind of stubborn man she had married and had chosen him anyway.
Little Jax made another lap through the reception during the next song, this time in Patch’s arms while Max threatened violence if anyone gave him frosting.
A few yards away, Jade and Cage ended up together when the music slowed.
Cage held her carefully at first, like one wrong move might send her retreating.
Jade rested her hands on his shoulders, and every so often her guarded expression softened when she forgot to protect it. He looked completely wrecked by her.
“Don’t cry at teenagers,” Deacon muttered against my ear.
I turned my head and found him already watching me instead of them. “I’m not crying.” I was close enough that he could see the lie for what it was.
“You got that look.” His mouth twitched because apparently my emotional vulnerability was entertaining.
“What look?” I asked, even though I knew I was walking straight into whatever smartass answer he had waiting.
“That mom look where you start planning a wedding after one slow dance.” He sounded far too pleased with himself.
I scoffed and looked back at Jade. “She is sixteen.” There were entire years between one dance and anything resembling what he was accusing me of.
“Exactly. You’re ten years ahead already.” He barely got the words out before I elbowed him lightly.
Deacon caught my wrist instead of letting me retreat and kissed the inside of it, an unfair move from a man who had just accused me of becoming my mother. Then he pulled me onto the dance floor before I could retaliate properly.
Dancing with him was dangerous even fully clothed and surrounded by people, because Jackson treated every song like an excuse to remember we had bodies.
One hand settled at my waist while the other closed around the back of my neck.
He brushed a kiss against my temple, then drew back far enough to take me in.
“You look too good tonight,” he said, the complaint already written across his face.
“That sounds like a complaint.” I let my hands settle against his shoulders and enjoyed how easily his attention narrowed to me.
“It is. Everybody else gets to see you.” He said it with enough seriousness that I almost laughed.
I smiled instead. “You are impossible.”
“You like impossible.” His answer came without hesitation, and annoyingly, he had evidence.
He spun me beneath the lights and brought me back against his chest. The world shrank to clean soap, leather, and his hand warm at my back.
Halfway through the song we gave up pretending to dance and started kissing, because apparently surviving seventeen years apart had done nothing for our ability to behave in public.
“Gross,” Jade called as she and Cage moved past us. Cage laughed beside her, wisely staying out of whatever came next.
Deacon didn’t lift his mouth far from mine. “Mind your business, baby girl.”
Jade looked personally offended. “That is my business. You are doing it in front of my eyes.”
“Then look somewhere else.” Deacon sounded entirely reasonable, which made it worse.
Jade immediately turned to Cage for support. “See?” she told him. “This is exactly the kind of trauma I was warning you about.”
I laughed against Deacon’s shoulder. He used the opportunity to kiss beneath my ear and lower his voice. “You know she loves us.”
“She tolerates us.” I could still hear Jade complaining as Cage steered her farther away.
“Same thing at that age.” Deacon sounded confident enough to have raised several teenagers instead of discovering his first one weeks ago.
Across the yard, Evan was very clearly ignoring Ink with so much effort that it had become a performance.
Garrett stood beside him in a dark suit, one hand low at Evan’s back, comfortable enough in the date role to make Ink look like murder had become an appealing hobby.
Vixen kept drifting into Ink’s space whenever Evan happened to glance that direction, touching his sleeve, leaning too close, laughing at things nobody had said.
Ink shrugged her off once, then again, and the third time carried enough cold irritation that I saw it from across the lawn.