A round of applause implodes around me and I turn my attention back to my girl.
“Thank you,” I say, but I’m not thanking them for their applause. No, I’m thanking the girl standing in front of me, the girl clapping right along with them—the girl that believed in me when I didn’t. “But I wouldn’t have been able to kick my habits and stay clean if it wasn’t for this woman right here.”
Her hands still and drop to her sides as she angles her head, shaking it ever so slightly as she smiles back at me.
That smile is going to be the first thing I see every morning for the rest of my life.
“That, right there,” I whisper, as I continue to stare at her in awe. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why Heaven sent me this angel.
“That smile,” I continue. “It’s my why, my purpose and my hope. It’s that smile that reminds me I’ve got a whole lot of life left inside of me. I don’t need drugs to numb me because I’ve got something that makes me feel the good stuff I forgot existed, like love, like joy and instead of dreading the future I learned to reach for it.”
I take a step closer.
Then another.
I’m coming for you, girl.
Standing before her, I reach out and run the back of my hand down her cheek.
“Why would I ever want to be numb again when I’ve got someone who makes me feel like I’m on top of the world?”
Her eyes fill with tears and I drop my hand, lowering my voice so that only she can hear me.
“Why would I send myself to hell when I have an angel who brings me to heaven?”
I drop onto one knee, my lips quirk as her lips part in shock and she moves her hands to cover her face.
Look at me, girl.
You’re my temptation now. A temptation so sweet a man drops to his knees just to survive.
She drops her hands from her face and tears roll down her cheeks as I reach into my leather jacket and pull out the velvet box.
“Why would I ever want anything other than her?” I continue, flipping open the lid and turning it so she could see the ring sitting lonely inside, waiting to be one with her and seal our future.
“I wouldn’t,” I answer. “I don’t want anything other than you, girl. You brought me back to life, gave me a second chance, one I didn’t think I deserved, but you insisted I did. Thank you for that. Thank you for being the angel who rescued me and showed me how to smile again. You’ve given me so much but there’s one more thing I’m going to ask of you… marry me, Lace, give me forever, let me be the one who shows you the good and the beautiful… let me give you my leather and take from you your lace.”
The people around us fade, their gasps go unheard, all that matters is this girl in front of me and the answer to a question, a question I seem to have been waiting my whole life to ask. The both of us were down, at the end of our ropes with nothing left until that one night she came to the clubhouse. Some higher power gave us a shot at a rewrite and we took it.
Me.
Her.
Leather.
Lace.
Two people stronger than their temptations and their demons.
Two people who were born to love one another.
“Of course I’ll marry you,” she whispers. “There isn’t a single thing in this world I’ve ever wanted more than to be your queen.”
The grin spreads across my face as she drops to her knees before me and throws her arms around my neck, nearly toppling us both to the ground. I wrap an arm around her waist and bury my face in the crook of her neck.
“Love you, girl,” I murmur, pulling back slightly to cup her chin with my free hand and peer into her eyes. “You’ve always been my queen.”
I smile at her then bend my head and take the solitaire from the box. Some men give their woman a property patch and claim them to the world but Lacey deserves more than my colors, she deserves everything she’s dreamed of. We’ve talked a lot about rings and I knew she wanted something that reflected both of us but was still traditional. With that in mind I chose a round diamond, set high and surrounded in a halo of black diamonds.
For a diamond is just a piece of coal that has made it through a long period of stress and that center stone represents us just as much as the halo of black diamonds that shines around it.
I’ve got my angel.
Girl, keep that halo shining.
Always shining on me.
CHAPTER TWO
Lacey
I clutch his leather jacket as he turns his bike onto our block and realize I haven’t stopped smiling since we left the Y.M.C.A. As he pulls into the driveway, I lift my left hand to his shoulder and stare at the ring on my finger.
It’s really there.
I’m really going to marry Blackie.
Dreams do come true.
Killing the engine, Blackie drops down the kickstand before planting his boots firmly on the concrete. He glances over his shoulder and takes my hand, bringing it to his lips.
“Got one more surprise for you, girl,” he murmurs against my knuckles.
“It’s going to pretty hard to beat the surprise you just gave me,” I laugh, leaning my forehead against his back. “Do you know how happy I am?”
“I have an idea,” he replies. “You’re gonna’ want what comes next.”
I lift my head at the husky tone laced with his words and watch as he dismounts from the Harley, extending his hand for me to take. Slipping my hand into his, I raise an eyebrow suggestively.
“Oh, I always want what comes next, Leather,” I tease, wrapping my arms around his waist as he leads me to our house.
“Gonna have to wait on that, girl,” he grunts, as my hands trail down his stomach, lingering on the button of his jeans. “Lace,” he hisses as I cup him, feeling him grow hard against my palm. “Ain’t nothing I want more than to drag you upstairs and fuck you until you forget your name but—.”
“But? Isn’t it some cardinal rule you have to fuck your fiancé until she forgets her name and screams yours?” I whisper as I continue to palm his erection through the denim and he fumbles with the key.
“Fuck,” he grits, pushing my hand away as he fits the key into the lock. Before he can turn the key the door swings open and my father stands in front of us with a blank face.
“Dad,” I drop my hands away from Blackie’s waist and watch as he steps around me, putting me face to face with my dad. Blackie leans into me and I feel his breath against my ear before I hear his words.
“Surprise,” he breathes.
“Got something you want to share with your old man?” My dad questions, averting his eyes from Blackie back to mine as he crosses his arms against his chest and looks at me expectantly.
“Is that them?” I hear my mother call from inside the house and my eyes widen.
“Who else is here?” I ask, turning around to look at Blackie. He shrugs his shoulders in response and tips his chin towards the house. My dad steps aside and allows me room to walk in but immediately I freeze when I see the people standing around my living room and the engagement decorations that fill the room. My mom is grinning widely as she stands beside my stepfather. Next to them is my stepmother, Reina and my baby brother Danny who is trying to pop all the balloons.
“Well, let’s have it,” my father says as he and Blackie step inside the living room behind me.
I walk over to Blackie, loop my right arm through his and hold up my left hand.
“We’re engaged!” I exclaim, turning my gaze to my dad to gauge his reaction.
My father didn’t take a liking to my relationship with the vice president of his club. Blackie’s like a brother to him, his right hand, the man who stepped into his shoes to rule his club when a bomb threatened to destroy the Satan’s Knights and left my father temporarily deaf and unable to ride.
It’s not that he didn’t trust Blackie to do right by me, but, he had kept me sheltered from the MC life. He ne
ver wanted me to know the corruption that filled their lives and tainted their souls. He wanted to protect me from the danger that always seemed to find the Satan’s Knights and find a guy less like him.
I was just a kid when I first started crushing on Blackie. My father didn’t know it then, neither did Blackie. He was too wrapped up in the MC and his new role as my father’s vice president to even pay attention to his wife Christine, much less an awkward teenager with eyes only for him.
I understood why my father tried so hard to keep me away from his club especially after Christine died from a drug overdose. Drugs she got from Blackie’s stash he was selling on the streets to minors. It was after her death that Blackie lost himself and my father vowed to change the direction the club was headed. Under my father’s regime, with Blackie as his right hand and an unlikely alliance with mob boss Victor Pastore, the Satan’s Knights steered clear of all drug deals and cleaned up the streets of New York.
Still, it wasn’t enough for Blackie. He never got his retribution for Christine’s death and the images of finding her face down in a bathtub haunted him years later. Then a chance to make right on her death presented itself and Blackie became obsessed with making the men who distributed the drugs to him pay. Blackie relapsed and became hooked on heroin again. He hit the bottle heavier than usual and almost died.
He almost died.
And that nearly killed me too.
I sat vigil by his bedside, prayed for him to wake up from a coma and give me chance to be his. We had already had one night, one night I was never allowed to mention, a night I thought I imagined but, it wasn’t enough. I was destined to spend my life with Blackie—he just didn’t know it yet. But the moment he woke up I made it my goal to show him we were meant to be.
I got my guy.
And my dad, well, he’s still getting used to it.
But he knows no one will ever love me like Blackie does. He’s laid his life down for mine more times than I can count and there isn’t anything that man wouldn’t do for me. He loves me. He accepts me, flaws and all. He helps me conquer my illness on a daily basis. He gives me hope… he’s the leather to my lace.
My dad smiles widely staring over my shoulder at Blackie before he wraps his arms around me and hugs me with all his might.
“Congratulations, sweetheart,” he says sincerely. “I’m happy for you, so damn happy for you,” he whispers.
I know he genuinely is. I also know he’s relieved because there was a time my father was controlled by the same illness that torments me. He never thought he’d find the light in the darkness until he found his sunshine, until he found my stepmother Reina. Like Blackie helps guide me away from the darkness that sometimes invades my mind, Reina does the same for my dad.
He kisses the top of my head, tucks my hair behind me ears and bends his knees so his eyes are level with mine. I have my father’s eyes. In color and when my maker rules my eyes mimic the same anguish that reflects in his.
“You’re going to make a beautiful bride, absolutely beautiful,” he sighs, rising to his full height to peer over at my husband to be. “You’re a lucky man, Black.”
“Don’t think I don’t know that,” he replies and my father releases his hold on me to walk over to Blackie and bring him into an embrace.
“Fucking bastard went and fell in love with my daughter,” he teases.
“I won’t apologize for it either,” Blackie replies grinning.
“You better not,” dad says before my mother steals my attention and drags me into a hug.
“My little girl is getting married!” She exclaimed joyfully, eyes full of happy tears.
My little brother tugged on my leg and demanded my attention next.
“Danny, what did I tell you about hanging on your sister?” Reina scolded, prying his chubby hands from around my leg.
“It’s fine, Reina,” I assured, bending down to lift Danny into my arms. At two and half Danny resembled my brother Jack so much. Jack was Danny’s age when he was hit by a car and passed away. I was five years old when he died and until recently I blamed myself for his death.
It took a long time for our family to heal and none of us have truly gotten over the loss of Jack. He’ll always live in our hearts and right now he’s living through the eyes of Danny.
“This little guy can hang on me anytime he wants,” I say rubbing my nose against his. “Who’s my favorite guy in the whole world?”
“Um, Blackie?”
“No, silly boy! You are,” I say as I tickle his sides and glance over at my future husband. He’s so much more than my favorite anything… he’s the other half of my soul.
“So do we have any idea when the big day will be?” My mother asked, clasping her hands together—she probably already has every detail of my wedding planned in her head.
Blackie steps up beside me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulls me against his chest.
“The sooner the better,” he mutters as he nuzzles my neck.
I couldn’t agree more. I used to think I wanted the big wedding, fancy dress and a gargantuan bridal party but all that really matters is me and Blackie pledging to love one another forever.
Well that and the dress. The dress still matters. A big fancy dress with yards of lace, and a train that’s a mile long.
“What about a Christmas wedding?” Reina suggested.
“Christmas? Like actually get married Christmas morning?” Blackie asked.
“And I’m the crazy one,” my father mutters, lifting Danny onto his shoulders. “How’s the big fat guy in the red suit going to pull off a wedding and shimmying his ass down a chimney?”
“He has elves that will help,” Reina rebutted, eyeing Danny before staring daggers at my father. Christmas was big for Reina and I’m pretty sure she’d castrate my father if he ever slipped up with Santa Claus. My little brother will be believing in the jolly guy until he was sixteen if his mother had any say.
“I was actually thinking more like Christmas Eve,” she added, her gaze softening as it found me again.
“What do you think, girl?”
“A Christmas wedding would be beautiful,” my mother says. “Oh, picture a bouquet full of white roses, fresh pine and holly. We’ll get you one of those fur muffs too in case it snows. Oh gosh, Reina, how beautiful would it be if it snowed?”
I grin as they keep bouncing ideas back and forth and can’t help the excitement bubbling inside me as I envision everything they are saying.
“Lace?” Blackie prompts.
“Christmas is in a few weeks,” my father reminds us all.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea!” I say, spinning around to meet Blackie’s smile. “What do you say, huh? Will you marry me on Christmas Eve?”
“Girl, I’ll marry you any day… anywhere…”
He leans his forehead against mine.
“It’ll be the best Christmas I’ve ever had,” he whispers as he presses his lips against mine.
I closed my eyes, and I saw it…
The dress.
Blackie in a tux.
The fresh pine.
Even the big guy in a red suit.
It was going to be the best Christmas ever.
CHAPTER THREE
BLACKIE
I thought they’d never fucking leave but seeing her face light up the way it did when she started making plans with her mother and Reina—that shit was worth every minute of my pain my aching balls delivered. From the moment I slipped that ring onto Lacey’s finger all I wanted to do was bury myself between her legs and let her know that’s what she had to look forward to for the rest her life.
After Connie’s husband left to go to work, the women kicked Jack, and I out of the house so they could plan. Apparently five weeks wasn’t a lot of time to plan a wedding and the need was dire to get the ball rolling. We took Danny out for pizza and then went back to the clubhouse where most of the guys were and shared the
news with them.
I couldn’t ask Jack to be my best man because he had a bigger role in all this. He would walk Lacey down the aisle and give me her hand in marriage. So with him out of the running there was only one other man I’d want beside me.
Riggs.
That crazy motherfucker deserved the honor to. He’s been covering my ass since I first laid claim on Lacey, back when I was in the hospital recovering from the coma and she would visit me on the sneak from Jack. Even afterwards, when she’d show up at the clubhouse looking for me, he’d make up some excuse, sneak her into my room and pretend he was fixing her laptop.
Riggs was good people. Eccentric as the day is long but loyal nonetheless and when I asked him to be my best man he accepted with a grin on his face and pride in his eyes.
With my one and only job out of the way—aside from showing up in a fucking tuxedo, I was done. Lacey could plan her heart out for the next five weeks and all I had to do was sit back and countdown the days until she kissed the name Parrish goodbye and became Mrs. Petra. But before she made another damn plan, I was getting my fix of her.
After Reina called Jack and told him she was on her way home, I jetted the fuck out of the Dog Pound and headed home to my girl only to find the house dark.
“Lace,” I call, kicking the door closed and flicking on the lights. The decorations were still strewn all over the house and but the champagne glasses were washed and sitting in the drain board drying. I made my way towards the stairs and heard the water running through the pipes from the bathroom on the second floor.
Slipping my arms out of my leather jacket, I hang it on the newel post and climb the stairs. At first I don’t catch it but when I reach the landing, I can hear her singing our song as she showers. The same song of which the lyrics are tattooed to my chest.
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