Unbridled (The Monroe Series Book 2)

by Nicole Dykes

“I’ll be back in a week for a bit.”

  “Sweet man, I know they have some great work lined up for you.”

  A rush of excitement flows through my body. I can’t fucking wait. His eyes drift to Hannah, “And who is this?”

  I pull Hannah forward, gently, “This is Hannah Martin, an Overland Park native.”

  He holds out his hand for her, and she shakes it, “It’s nice to meet you, Hannah. I’m Danny.”

  “It’s very nice to meet you, too.”

  He winks, “Well, I better get back to work, or your brother will have my ass.”

  I laugh, “You in charge this weekend?”

  “At least ‘til Jax pulls his sorry ass out of bed Sunday. They are closing down early for the wedding, though.”

  “Cool, see ya there.”

  He waves as he leaves and I see Hannah staring off at him. “I think he has more tattoos than Jackson.”

  She’s not judging him; I think she’s fascinated. Hannah’s been sheltered way too long. “Yeah, I think he might, although he has a smaller canvas.”

  She laughs at that. “So, where is your shop?”

  I lead her through the door to my empty shop. No employees or bikes fill this garage yet, but in a week or so I’m going to change that for a little while.

  She walks around, “Wow, this is really great.”

  God, I love it in here. So much potential. So much hope.

  Hannah walks closer to me, smiling, “It’s amazing, but doesn’t it hurt to be here?”

  She does know me pretty well. “Well I get to use it for a little while, so not yet. But when I go back to start the football season again, it’s going to hurt like hell.”

  “So why do it?”

  I raise one eyebrow at her, “You know why.”

  “Right, we’re both just controlled by our fathers. But you know what Luke, I actually think yours would understand.”

  “Yeah I don’t think so Hannah. And he is he’s gone anyway, so I’ll never know.”

  This isn’t exactly where I was going with this, but with Hannah and me, things always go in another direction than I plan.

  She places her hand on my shoulder, “I’m sorry he’s gone, but he loved you. I think he would have wanted you to be happy.”

  I move away, I don’t want to think about my dad right now. I just wanted to show Hannah this part of my life. “Well, we better go. Brooke is probably having a panic attack right now.”

  Hannah looks like she wants to say something, but she drops it. “Okay.”

  I say goodbye to a couple of people at the shop and then we drive to Brooke and Dylan’s house.

  I get the bags and we walk up the sidewalk to the house. Jax opens the door and says jokingly, “Fucking run. Now, while you still have the chance.”

  I laugh, “Brooke giving ya hell?”

  “Yeah, she’s crazy. I’ve been trying to get Dylan to back out of this mess, but he’s all giddy and shit.”

  I hear Hannah giggle at that, and Jax greets her with a hug, “Well, hello Hannah. Good to see you.”

  “It’s good to see you, too.”

  We walk in, and I see Brooke running around the house like a mad woman trying to get everyone ready to go to the dining hall. She stops for a second when she sees us and walks over, “Thank God, you made it. Are you trying to scare me to death?”

  “Yes, Brooke, that was the plan.”

  She rolls her eyes, but she’s grinning and hugs us both. “I’m glad you’re both here. I know I’m out of control, but it’s kinda an important day.”

  I laugh, she’s really grown on me. Maybe I’ll refrain from giving her a hard time this weekend. “How can we help?”

  She looks us both up and down, “Well, you guys can go change.”

  Alex walks out of the kitchen, phone in hand, “Okay, Brooke, the caterer is there, and they are setting up. It should all be ready by six o’clock. Right on time.”

  She ruffles my hair and gives me a hug, “Jax warn you about this crazy shit?”

  I nod, “Yep, but I ignored it.”

  Brooke places a hand on her hip, “I’m not that terrible.”

  Alex shakes her head and places a firm hand on Brooke’s shoulder, “Honey, you are certifiably insane; but hopefully, you will go back to normal tomorrow night.”

  She hugs Hannah and fluffs up her hair, taking her hand she pulls her toward the bathroom, “Come on, let’s get you ready for dinner.”

  Oh shit, Alex is going to do one of her signature makeovers on Hannah. That’s all I need, Hannah looking more irresistible.

  Chapter 33

  Hannah

  I walk down the long hallway of Dylan and Brooke’s house to the bathroom, and Alex pulls me in. I see loads of makeup on the counter and see that Alex has made this into her personal workspace.

  She sits me on a stool, in front of the counter with my back to the mirror. With anyone else, this would seem strange, but Alex is wonderfully weird, and I love it.

  “Okay sweetie, sorry for the abruptness, but Brooke is on a warpath and we have to get you ready.”

  “Well, thank you for your help.”

  She smiles as she starts gently plucking at my eyebrows, “So what are you wearing tonight?”

  I picked a simple black dress for tonight and another, navy one, for tomorrow, but nothing fancy. I wonder if this is a formal event tonight. I’ve never been to a rehearsal dinner before. “Um, I have a black dress.”

  “Is it in the car?”

  I nod, and she puts the tweezers down for a minute, “I’ll be right back.” She leaves and then comes back with the two dresses that were hanging up in the back seat of the car. “Which one is for tonight?”

  “The black one.”

  I can tell she isn’t all that impressed with my choice. “Hmm, well it’s really nice Hannah, but it’s kind of...”

  I wait for her to finish her sentence.

  “Churchy.”

  I laugh at that, most of my nice clothes are “churchy”. “I know. I didn’t have a ton of time to shop.”

  She leaves again and then comes back with a gorgeous, black dress. Holy crap. What did I get myself into? The dress is still simple, but it’s beautiful. It’s fairly short, I’m a short woman, and it’ll probably barely reach mid-thigh, and it’s fairly low cut.

  “Oh, Alex, I don’t know.”

  She smiles at me kindly, but also has a very determined look on her face, “You’re wearing it. You have to, it’s really no shorter than the shorts you have on now. And it does show a little cleavage; but if you’ve got it, flaunt it.”

  Alex has a way of making you feel like you can do anything. “Okay, I trust you.”

  She laughs, “Well, that’s scary.”

  A short time later, she has me looking glamorous in a black dress with my hair and my makeup done perfectly.

  I examine my reflection in the mirror, “Wow, you are phenomenal.”

  She smiles, “Luke is going to love it, that’s for damn sure.”

  The reflection in the mirror, saddens at that, and Alex turns me toward her, “What’s wrong?”

  “Can I tell you something?”

  “Of course.”

  “The thing with Luke and I, the physical part anyway, that’s kind of over.”

  She folds her arms, “Oh shit, what did he do?”

  “Nothing. It was both of us really. We both messed it up, beyond repair.”

  She drops her arms, “Oh, nothing is beyond repair, hun. Trust me.”

  “We are still trying to be friends, but it’s so hard.”

  I feel tears welling up in my eyes, and Alex gets a tissue and dabs at the corners, “I can’t imagine how difficult that would be. You guys seemed really happy together the weekend of the game.”

  “We were.”

  “Well, you started as friends, right?”

  I nod my head, “Yes.”

  “Well, you never know what’s going to happen. Sometimes, it takes a long time fo
r people to wake up and see what’s right there in front of them.”

  I laugh, “Oh, thanks.”

  “I know right now that sounds like a terrible thing, but Hannah, trust me on this one, you are so young. Maybe you need to just find out who you are. College is an excellent time for that.”

  I admire the hell out of this woman standing in front of me. Yes, I know that’s strange. I don’t know her very well, but her words really stick with me.

  She gives me a hug and then pulls back, her hands still on my shoulders, “Okay, let’s get you in some heels.”

  When we come out of the bathroom, we go into the living room where Brooke and Cassie are sitting. Alex looks around, “Where is everyone else?”

  Brooke stands up examining my outfit, “You look gorgeous, Hannah.”

  I nervously smooth my dress out, “Thank you. Alex is a genius.”

  “Agreed. She’s helped me out quite a bit.” She turns happily to Alex, “Everyone else is at the dining hall for the rehearsal dinner. We have to get going.”

  I ride with the girls to the fancy dining hall, downtown, and walk in with them, nervously.

  Brooke walks over to Dylan right away, who looks thrilled to see her. She looks like a nervous wreck and is making huge hand gestures while talking to him. Then I watch from a distance as he magically calms her down and takes her in his arms.

  They look so peaceful at that moment.

  How did he do that?

  Still watching them, I catch Lucas gliding across the large room in my direction. He examines my new look, “Wow, Hannah, you look…”

  “Odd, I know, it’s like it’s not even me.”

  He casually smiles, shaking his head back and forth, “You’re in there. You look beautiful.”

  My stupid heart flutters when he says that. Why does it always betray me when it comes to Luke?

  I don’t want to have these romantic feelings for him. I want to just have friendly feelings, like he all of a sudden has for me. Or maybe that’s really all he ever felt for me, just friends.

  That would explain why it’s easier for him.

  “I forgot to ask you earlier about sleeping arrangements tonight, but you are more than welcome to stay at Brooke and Dylan’s with me. I mean, not with me, but in my room and I can take the couch, or in Cassie’s room. Or I can rent you a hotel room. Whatever you are most comfortable with.”

  Of course, not with you.

  I get that part.

  “Actually, Brooke, Alex, Cassie, and Gabby are all staying in a hotel suite close to here, and they invited me to stay with them.”

  “Oh, that’s awesome. I didn’t know that.”

  “Yeah. It sounds like fun. So, I think I’m going to do that.”

  He smiles, “Very cool. I’m sure it will be a good time.”

  When they asked me I wasn’t sure, but it beats the hell out of sleeping under the same roof as my buddy, Lucas.

  I sound bitter, I know that. I know he’s trying really hard, but I just don’t know how we can work this out.

  After the rehearsal, Brooke and Dylan say a really long goodbye, and Luke and I say an awkward quick, “See ya tomorrow at the wedding” one and then I ride to the hotel with the girls.

  The hotel suite is massive and so luxurious, I find myself staring when we walk in.

  After the awe wears off a little, we all sit around in the living room.

  Brooke seems oddly calmed down now, “Okay, so we can order junk food, although I probably shouldn’t eat much since I have to squeeze into a tight wedding dress tomorrow.”

  Alex laughs, “Yeah, we all do. Hannah included. The dress I brought for her to wear tomorrow doesn’t have much give either.”

  That’s another surprise, I had no idea she brought me another dress along. “Thank you, Alex. You didn’t have to do that.”

  She shrugs, “I really wanted to. I think you’ll like it.”

  Brooke giggles at that and takes a sip of her champagne, “Oh no, God knows what she’s going to put you in tomorrow, Hannah.”

  We order dessert from room service, watch girly movies, and Alex does all of our nails for the next day. This is the closest I’ve had to a sleepover in a long time, and I have to admit it’s really nice.

  Brooke announces we have to get to bed, so we all go to our designated rooms. Gabby sleeps in a room with Alex, Brooke has her own room, and I go the room with Cassie.

  I climb into my bed and Cassie climbs into the other one after turning off the light.

  I stare up at the ceiling, a little bit of light is streaming in from outside. “Are you excited for tomorrow Cassie?”

  “Oh yeah!” she answers with so much excitement, “I love weddings, and I mean, tomorrow Brooke is going to be my sister-in-law. It’s pretty freaking cool.”

  “Yeah, it is.”

  “I’m happy you are here, even though you and Luke aren’t together anymore.”

  I turn my head to look over at Cassie, “How do you know that?”

  “It’s pretty obvious Hannah. I mean, you two look so uncomfortable around each other. It’s a huge contrast to the other weekend when you couldn’t keep your hands off of each other.”

  Wow, so everyone knew there was something going on between us, and now everyone knows that it isn’t going on anymore.

  “So what did my jerk brother do?”

  “He didn’t do anything Cassie.”

  “Please, he did something. I don’t think he cheated since you are here.”

  I shake my head even though she probably can’t see me, “No, we weren’t even officially together, but he didn’t sleep with anyone else that I know of. We just decided to be friends.”

  She scoffs at that, “Friends? With someone you’ve slept with? That doesn’t happen.”

  “It can happen, there are plenty of people who are friends after a relationship.”

  “But it wasn’t a relationship.”

  “Exactly, so it should be even easier.”

  She laughs again. She's not being bitchy, just totally honest. “I’m sorry for whatever he did. You guys seemed really happy together.”

  We were.

  We were so blissfully, ignorantly happy. “We both messed it up, Cassie. Now I’m just hoping we can fix it so we can be friends.”

  “Well, I’m rooting for ya.”

  I smile, the Monroes are truly incredible people. They should be studied. They just adopt strays like crazy and make them a part of their family.

  It’s wonderful.

  Chapter 34

  Luke

  “Rise and shine, fucker.”

  I open my eyes slowly and see Jax standing in my room with a cup of coffee.

  Shriller came into town last night for the rehearsal, and he, Jax, Dylan and I all went out to play pool ‘til late last night for a totally pathetic bachelor party for Dylan.

  Shriller is in the wedding with us. Yeah that’s right, Brooke’s ex-boyfriend is in her wedding and is fucking thrilled to be. We are not normal.

  I swear I figured if my big brother ever got married, his bachelor party would be one for the history books. But it was just four guys hanging out, shooting pool, with them having a couple of beers.

  I hide my head under my pillow, “Go away. The wedding isn’t until four thirty, we have time.”

  He pulls the pillow off of my eyes, “It’s almost eleven thirty, we’ve got shit to do. Don’t fucking make me physically get you out of this bed. I’ll do it.”

  I groan and throw the covers off of me, “Alright, I’m up. And what the hell do we have to do?”

  “Well, a shower would be good. If you smell like smoke from the bar last night at Brooke’s wedding, she’ll throttle you.”

  It’s funny how Brooke even has Jax scared. They had a rocky start too, but I swear they are best friends now. He adores her, just like everyone else.

  I stand up and stretch, “Alright man, relax. I won’t piss off the bride.”

  I get up, and shower
, and shave and send a quick text to Hannah.

  Me: Hey, you have fun last night?

  Hannah: I had a blast. You are very lucky to have all these crazy girls in your life.

  I smile at that. It seems Hannah is in a good mood today. I’m glad, she seemed distant last night at the rehearsal.

  Me: See ya at the wedding.

  After a late lunch at a local barbeque joint, we all head to the place where Dylan will make Brooke his wife. That still seems so strange to me. Dylan Monroe is getting married. One woman for the rest of his life, and I’ve never seen him more ecstatic about anything before.

  We pick up the tuxes and make the trip outside of the city to a totally abandoned country road. Dylan and Brooke, in true untraditional fashion, are getting married in a fucking field. You heard me right.

  My millionaire brother is having his wedding out in the middle of nowhere in a Kansas wheat field. Apparently, it’s a place he took Brooke when they were still sneaking around, and it’s where Brooke admitted her love for him.

  Whatever floats their boat.

  Of course, since Dylan is a millionaire, he found the owner of the field, and paid them to use it so the police won’t be called today. And there are really nice tents set up with dressing rooms for everyone, and portable bathrooms that are nicer than most people have in their homes.

  The reception is also going to be held here in a bigass party tent that’s being decorated as we speak. The dining hall they rented last night for the rehearsal was actually rented in haste, because they were still working on this one last night, behind schedule.

  So that’s why Brooke was totally freaked. But looking around, it looks like everything is almost ready, with a little under two hours to spare.

  Jax, Michael, Shriller, Dylan, and I are getting dressed already with a fucking photographer in our faces, trying to get candid shots of us getting ready, and all I’m thinking about is what Hannah will be wearing.

  She looked so fucking gorgeous last night and it made me miss her even more. I’m sure Alex is going to doll her up once again, and with all the fucking lovey-dovey shit that goes around at weddings, I’m hoping I can keep my focus and just work on being her friend.

  “What’s your mind on today?”

  I look over at Dylan, who is slipping on his vest, “Nothing, but your ‘oh-so-special day.’”