Chapter 35
Rogue
“Love the dress,” Summer gushes when she is able to steal us away from our well-wishers. She takes Ivy’s hand and leads us across the barn. “I have a surprise for both of you.”
She gestures at an area across the dance floor where a beautiful three-tier cake is on display.
“That’s a cake.” Ivy’s eyes round. She takes a step forward.
“How?” I ask.
“Jett apparently baked the cakes the night Stains got into the kitchen. And he decorated them last night after they got back from cleaning up any evidence of the shoot out.”
Summer and I follow Ivy so we can take a closer look.
“Your brother is a miracle worker.” Adira joins us. “It’s gorgeous.”
“Stunning.” Ivy’s eyes shine with unshed emotion. “Everything about today is turning out perfect.”
Food and champagne start to circulate, but we barely get a chance to touch it before our first dance is called.
Her body pressed to mine I sweep Ivy around the floor to the slow melody of “Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star.
Rebel and Summer join us for the next number. Slowly the dance floor fills.
I catch Riot standing over Kelsey who is seated. He offers his hand and she gets up and walks off to talk with one of the queens.
“Those two aren’t happy,” Ivy says.
“Tomorrow’s problem.” I’m sympathetic. Sonatina seems hellbent on getting between Riot and Kelsey. But I don’t want anything dragging our perfect day down.
Dinner is served and then it’s time to cut the cake.
We catch Summer’s nephew Ernie stealing the tiny pearls at the bottom of the second tier and eating them under the table.
I offer my bride a piece. She takes a bite and I seal the moment with a kiss that has both our lips covered in the tastiest, silkiest vanilla bean Italian meringue.
Sonatina takes the stage. She sings three songs before she gestures for Riot to join her and announces that they will be singing their new duet.
He goes, but he doesn’t look happy about it until he jogs on stage. Then he’s a showman.
It’s gotten late, but the only reason I notice is because I want Ivy all to myself. We’ve spent the evening in this intimate bubble of happiness, surrounded by the people we love. It’s been everything we wanted and then some. But we have an early flight in the morning.
A honeymoon in the Maldives is waiting for us. Alone time. Privacy. Nothing but the enjoyment of each other. Utter bliss.
Adira who has spent his evening making sure everything continues to run smoothly flirts with Ivy’s lawyer, Nathaniel.
“Do you think it’s Nathaniel?” she asks. “The man behind the mask?”
“Perhaps.”
“Well, who else could it be?” she asks.
I glance around until I settle on another man who seems to be watching them intently. “I have an idea.”
Sonatina announces that she and Riot will sing 'Chokehold'.”
Kelsey looks like she could kill Riot. She downs another glass of champagne and accepts another from her new queen bestie.
“Tell me what your idea is.” Ivy pats my chest. Smooths her hand over my shirt. “You can’t keep these things from me, husband.”
“Ah shit.” I love the way she calls me that. I spin her out and back into my arms. “I’m going to be in trouble if you keep calling me husband like that. You could literally make me do anything just to hear you say it.”
“Husband.” She smiles. “Spill the tea.”
I nod my head in her friend Ben’s direction. “My money is on him.”
“No.” Her eyes widen. She bites her lip. “Maybe. Do you think we’ll ever know for sure?”
“Not tonight. But if there’s anything real with either man, I’m sure you will be the first person Adira tells.” When the song ends, I lead her from the dance floor. Sonatina and Riot both leave the stage, and the wedding music playlist Ivy and I created pipes through the speakers.
We find Rebel and Summer at the edge of the dance floor slow dancing. She has her arms wound around his neck, and his hands are on the sides of her belly. They smile like this wedding night is their night. Rotten thieves.
Still, I clap Rebel on the back. “We’re going to sneak out now."
“Do you think anyone will be able to work out what happened last night?” Ivy asks, her lips pinched with concentration.
“They’ll ask questions. But I doubt they’ll find anything.” Summer rests her cheek on Rebel’s chest. She looks at peace. “The Sheriff’s Office is going to be a man short for a while.”
“And Violet?” Owen still doesn’t know what happened to poor Stains.
“She’ll tell Owen the truth. I truly believe that,” Summer says. “She got mixed up with some bad guys for a good reason. She just needs time.”
“Not too much time,” Rebel says gruffly.
“And on that note, it’s time for us to escape.” I wink at my brother. “If anyone asks your me, okay?”
Rebel chuckles as Ivy and I head for the exit.
“The rest of the night… just you and me.” I wrap an arm around her waist and spin her off her feet under a blanket of midnight and glitter. I crush my mouth to hers, kissing her hard and deep and with every ounce of love in my body.
This woman is my wife. My eternity.
We’ll build a family together. Grow old together.
“You bitch.” Kelsey’s voice rings out loud and clear, destroying my fantasy of being alone with Ivy.
My wife stops kissing me and pulls back to look over my shoulder. “Oh shit.”
“What the fuck is stealing my wife’s attention?” I mutter as I turn to see Kelsey hobbling as furiously as she can toward Riot and Sonatina.
The pop princess has her hands on Riot’s chest. Their lower bodies couldn’t get closer, though they’ve started to push apart from each other. There is a couple of inches between their mouths.
I can only imagine how close they were before Kelsey spotted them.
“Damn it, Riot.” His bullshit is totally ruining my time with my wife. Yes, I’m aware that I have the rest of our lives, but I don’t want to lose a single moment to this spectacle. “He couldn’t have kept it drama free until tomorrow.”
I let Ivy’s feet touch the ground as Kelsey finishes closing the distance to her wayward rockstar.
“Kelsey.” He grabs her arm and stopping her in her tracks. Her chest heaves, her eyes burn into Sonatina.
If I was the popstar I would seriously be scared of bursting into flame.
Sonatina isn’t afraid. She puts her hand on Riot’s shoulder again. Puts herself at his side. “Get a hint, Katie. He doesn’t want you. Why would he, when he can have me?”
Kelsey moves so fast, it’s hard to tell how she lands the punch that has to cross her body to meet the other woman’s mouth. “It’s Kelsey, you stupid bitch.”
Sonatina grabs at her bloody mouth. She cries out. “I think you knocked out one of my teeth.”
“You’re going to be okay, Sonatina.” Riot turns his back on Kelsey. “Here, let me see. Yeah, you’re missing a tooth. Come on let’s get some ice.”
Kelsey crumples.
“I should comfort her,” Ivy says.
“Nooo,” I complain. I’m a bit petulant about how much of my wife’s attention my family plan on stealing.
Ivy clasps my face between her hands and stares deep into my eyes. “This is our life, right? Your family is a part of our forever.”
“Then maybe we should run away,” I retort.
“Or maybe we take a minute out of our forever to make sure that Kelsey is okay. Well, not okay. But not alone.” Ivy pecks me on the lips when I surrender by putting her feet on the ground.
“I love your big heart,” I’m loathe to let her go.
Ivy walks over to the other woman and puts her arms around her. “That looked…”
“He chose her.” She hugs herself tightly, anger and hurt radiating off her. But she pastes on the worst kind of fake smile. “Oh my God. It’s your wedding day. You’re married. Mrs. Maddox. How does it feel?”
“Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do?” Ivy asks, ignoring Kelsey’s attempt at refocusing my wife.
That’s one of the multitude of things I love about Ivy. Her heart is just so big.
“What the hell?” Kelsey’s eyes widen at something in the distance.
Three men appear from around the side of the house. One is Davis. The second is tall, thin and dressed head to toe in black. Tattoos, piercings, and leather cuffs give him a dangerous vibe.
The last is a brown-haired man with a limp and—when they get close enough for us to see them properly—a face that looks like it’s been through a meat grinder recently. Black and purple bruises cover his swollen jaw, and one eye is sealed shut. There are a couple of stitches at his temple.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Davis says. “I thought you would want to hear about this immediately.”
“What is it?” And why does it suddenly seem like the night grows heavy?
“As he said, we’re sorry to be crashing your wedding like this,” the third man says, taking a leather case from his pocket. “But unfortunately, it is necessary.”
“Kelsey.” Riot comes storming back out of the house. He stops when he sees the two strangers. Then comes to join us.
Summer and Rebel come out of the barn, probably attempting their own escape. Spotting the seven of us, they come over.
“What’s going on?” Rebel asks me.
“I have no idea.” I hold Ivy closer.
The man holds his badge up for all of us to see.
“You’re FBI?” Ivy’s voice fills with concern.
Agent Lane must have sent him once he realized he was right about Lily’s fingerprints being on the knife. We thought we’d have more time and that they’d have left before he came back. Hopefully they have left. We haven’t checked to find out.
I can tell by the tightness of Ivy’s fingers curled in my shirt that she’s thinking the same thing.
It’s too soon for them to come asking questions about the men in the pit.
“I am ma’am.” He puts his badge away. “I’m Agent Soren Lane. I was assigned to Riot’s stalker case.”
“That’s impossible.” Rebel crosses his arms over his chest and stares the man down. “You’re not Soren Lane. Agent Soren Lane was here the last couple of days. I rang the bureau to make sure. They assured me he was Soren Lane.”
“I thought his name was Simon Lane,” Riot says. “That’s what I told West.”
“You were distracted,” Rebel says.
“Hence the confusion. If West, as you call him, had been told it was Soren Lane, the ruse would have been up from the beginning.” The man with the combat boots and leather cuffs steps forward.
“I take it he knows you?” I ask the agent.
“He’d be too stubborn to admit it, but yes,” the agent says. “He’s my best friend.”
Uh, what now? West has friends? And his best friend is in law enforcement?
“It wasn’t until I found Soren that we realized what was going on,” Leather cuffs says. “Believe it or not the man who you’ve been dealing with is a former agent. And there is an Agent Simon Lane too. He’s just not the man who showed up here.”
Rebel’s brow has pulled tight. He’s trying to put something together. Finally, he says, “You’re Micah.”
That’s what he’s confused about? When we have a Russian nesting doll FBI agent situation. He thinks he knows the guy.
“Could be.” The man shrugs. “It’s not important.”
“Damn straight. What is really going on? Why would he pretend to be…” I focus on the man with the cuts and bruises. Still can’t believe he’s the real Soren. “You?”
“As I stated I was assigned to Riot’s stalker case.” Agent Soren puts his badge away. “I was on my way here when he managed to get the jump on me.”
“He was my stalker,” Riot’s jaw drops.
“No,” the real Soren says. “At least, he isn’t your original stalker, and I don’t believe you were his goal at any point.
But he did use inside information about your stalker as an opportunity to set up his arrival here at the ranch by making it appear like your stalker had escalated.
And he counterfeited my credentials to give him access to you all. ”
“But he helped us.” Summer looks to Ivy. “Didn’t he? With Kyle. And with the goat.”
“Because none of us are his targets.” Ivy gets in my face. “Remember what Nicole said? That he would make her pay. That it would be worse than what she’s already been through.”
She did say that.
“You’re talking about Lily Hawthorne, aren’t you?” The man looks like he’s been kicked in the gut by a horse. He turns a greenish gray. He turns to the other man. “You were right then.”
“I told you.” The man who Rebel called Micah pulls out his phone. “I received this message a few hours ago.”
He presses play on the audio message and West’s voice comes through loud and clear. If the message he left is in code, it’s crystal to all of us by the time the scuffle breaks out that he and Dizzy found trouble. And that he’s asking the man Rebel called Micah to take care of Dizzy.
“He said you know what to do,” Ivy says.
“And I did it,” Micah says. “I found Soren and I brought him here. Now you better show us where they were staying.”
“But he’s FBI.” Why would West want her handed over to the people he’s been keeping her hidden from?
“I’m not acting as an agent in this matter,” Soren says.
“Trust us,” Micah says. “Trust
“I’ll show you.” Ivy hurries toward the path.
This is our life, isn’t it? Always on the verge of being a complete clusterfuck. But one we’ll survive together. Finding the sweetness and happiness between the messes and the mayhem. Loving each other no matter what comes our way.
Together. Forever.