by L. Ann Marie
‘Brother, Dean needs you right the fuck now!’ Mase is yelling. Jesus.
“Where?”
‘Side door Activity Center hurry up!’
Fuck. I push and step through the door a second later. “What happened? Is she okay? Did someone touch her?” They’re laughing and I’m fuckin’ pissed.
“Relax Brother. Come have a drink. She’s on her way and wanted you to be here,” Jessie says and I relax.
I find Mase. ‘Don’t ever fuckin’ do that again.’
He comes up behind me and I turn. “Sorry Christian. Dad told me to get you here fast.”
I see it and lean back. What the fuck? “She’s marrying me?”
“You’re like the fuckin’ Grinch of surprises,” Jessie says throwing his hands up.
“She’s marrying me? Today?” No way.
I feel her and turn. She’s in a white dress with neon colors down one side. There’s sparkly shit in her hair and her beautiful blue eyes are shining at me. I push, moving to her, then hold on getting her up in a classroom without an audience.
“Christian!”
Fuck that might have been too fast for her. I put her down and hold her face. “You’re marrying me?”
She’s shaking. “What the hell just happened?” she yells.
“You want to marry me? Today?” Why won’t she fuckin’ answer?
Her hands start moving and I hold them. “I did, but I don’t even know where we are. You think you can take freaky down a couple of damn notches so I can get married?” She’s still yelling and I kiss her.
She pushes me away. “I lived with no damn music, billboards telling me to marry you and people proposing every damn place you’ve brought me. Today I’m supposed to get married and make that dream come true for myself and we’re God knows where instead of actually GETTING MARRIED!”
I suspend us back down stairs and she screams. Everyone is laughing, but I can’t take my eyes off my soon to be wife. “We were just upstairs.”
“Oh. Thanks for making that quick. You think we could...oh, I don’t know...GET MARRIED NOW?”
I laugh. “Anything you want babe.”
I look for Pres, but he’s not up here. “Are we fuckin’ done in Never Never Land? I got a party to get to,” Jessie says making me laugh. He stands in front of us and my family gathers around.
I look back then at him. He’s marrying us? Oh my fuckin’ God this is priceless. “All yours Brother.”
“That was fuckin’ cool by the way,” he says smiling. Everyone laughs.
We listen and repeat his words and I’m surprised he didn’t swear once. As soon as he says I can kiss her I do until she laughs. “They can’t pull us apart you know.”
“Yeah.”
“Jesusfuckin’Christ. Mr. and Mrs. Blackhawk! Everyone welcome your new Princess into the Club. I need a fuckin’ drink.” He throws the paper and walks away making me laugh. I don’t let my sparkling Little Pixie go as everyone welcomes her. I’m glad it’s just Serenity, the Officers and my family.
Pres steps up and Dean takes his hand for a second. I’m shocked and look at him. “Thank you for walking with me. It mattered and made this the best day yet.”
“You made this happen?” Everything he did for this hits me. I close my eyes for a second letting it sink in. He helped get the paperwork for the license pushed through and Jessie’s license to marry us a couple of weeks ago. He walked with her in place of her dad. Even has the cabin and Security set up for us so we have a place to go tonight. That’s what he was doing yesterday. Fuckin’ Pres.
“No. I told her it meant something to you and she decided it meant something to her too.” Typical Pres.
“You’re right. This means something to me.” I hug him shocking the hell out of him.
“Brotherhood means never alone. I’m so fuckin’ glad you’re not alone anymore Brother,” he says so only I hear him and walks away. I feel that hit me deep. He fixed the disconnect.
I can’t help but smile. “Love the fuckin’ Brotherhood.”
~~Until the next one faithful readers~~
Happy Reading!
Keep going for a sneak peek at MC: Ricky, Book 10 of the MC Series.
M C: Ricky
Coming Soon
Copyright 2017
L. Ann Marie
"Just go. You'll miss Christian's party. Of all the days, he's the Brother that deserves everyone there."
I'm shocked. "Of all the days? You knew?"
His hands go through his hair, but I'm not smiling today. He turns his head looking out the window. "I knew she would try again. Judy and Dakota have been shielding for me. For like a fuckin' year. He showed one night and stopped her, then started shielding. I didn't want anyone to know. With all the shit happening then the shit with Pres, it was too fuckin' much to deal with. Trying to keep people focused was hard enough without my shit mixed in the middle of it all." He takes a breath and his head falls forward. "Once Pres moved me up I couldn't say. It was a weakness and would have been used to keep me in the KC."
"What the fuck are you talking about? You had a girl that was ready to kill herself. You think the Brothers would turn their back on you?"
He looks right at me. "Yeah, I do. You think they'd move me with something like this hanging over me? The same Brothers that are pissed because they had no fuckin' clue about the kids, the Protectors, the ones that laughed at Christian—for fuckin' years. Yeah they would."
"Ricky, not one fuckin person that matters would turn away from you."
His hands wave in front of him. "No, they wouldn't, but pity would have played out here. That's what happened. Dakota saw it and warned me. Judy offered to help and I took it. I couldn't walk away from her. She was broke and I couldn't be her reason. With that, I would have been seen as weak. Pity is a funny emotion. Dakota says it would have held them back from adding more to my plate."
Fuck. Dakota wouldn't say it if it didn't matter. "You didn't love her?"
He looks away and I know. "I did at one time. I can't say I was all in with her, but I did love her. I saw her giving up and sent her to therapy. I took her everywhere thinking the same happiness I was feeling would wake her up. Nothing made her smile for more than a couple of hours. No matter what we were doing she'd always fall back to that quiet, morose personality until that's all there was. She gave up. I knew more than a year ago that it would never work for us, but couldn't walk away. She was always nervous, but with just us? She was happy and full of life. Little by little she was gone and it was more like an obligation."
He's not talking to me anymore. He's just getting it out. I get two glasses and a bottle and pour. Jack can't hurt—especially tonight. I put my hand on his back and the glass in his hand.
He looks down at it. "What the fuck did I think would happen Elizabeth? I had to psyche myself out just to go home. Put on a happy face." He laughs, but it's not happy and I feel that pain for him. "I always thought that before walking in the door."
I refill his glass and pull him to the couch with the bottle and my glass.
He tips his glass for me. "Judy is shielding for me. You should go to the party. Christian deserves everyone showing for him. I hope his girl is happy. I've never met her. He shields for her too because she doesn't like crowds either. I hope to fuck she's not depressed like Beckah."
I smile. "She's not. She's like Tess, a slip of a woman, but so full of life and fuckin’ cute. He calls her his Little Pixie and it fits. She's not able to shield or be touched, but she's fun, funny and loves him. They were made for each other—she's showy and happy where he's quiet and unassuming. She wears hats with everything. It's adorable." I smile thinking about Dean and her hats. I love that woman and I hardly know her.
He smiles. "He deserves it."
I saw how the Brothers treated him for years and have to agree. Uncle Danny throwing Pres's thoughts at him showed all the Protectors why Christian went to the reservation. With me, my father would kill
anyone that touched me, so being a teenager was fuckin hard. For him, some actually laughed, but the elders that saw him leaving the whores rooms thought he was a waste—to his family, the Club and the Brotherhood. It was fuckin sad. I kissed him one day trying to help, but he couldn't take it. How the hell do you live not touching people? He found his girl though. I smile. He got the girl and deserves every bit of it.
"I'm glad it's just shielding for her. I thought it was more like Beckah."
"No. Not at all. What started you with her?"
We drink and he talks. His body relaxes and I'm happy to see it. I thought we'd need a ride from the morgue, but he pulled it together and made it back fine. Well as fine as you can be when your girl jumps off a fuckin bridge. I'm so glad it wasn't the bluff at the Club.
At one we're laughing hysterically and he finds another bottle.
* * *
Ricky
Pounding is going to make my fuckin’ head explode. I cover my eyes and make it to the door. "Dad. God, don't fuckin yell today. I can't take it."
He's quiet and my head knows that's wrong. I move a finger and look at him still shielding my eyes. He's looking at the living room so I turn and freeze. Elizabeth is holding her head with a throw blanket barely covering her naked body.
"He's going to kill you," my dad says and I barely hear him.
"He's going to kill me," I agree.
Abo ut the Author
L. Ann started with the Baxters and is working on her fourth series, The Protectors. While her books feature ex-SEALs and Badass Bikers, L. Ann is writing about the strong women that these men need in their life to help right the world’s wrongs and keep their small part of the world safe. The women are extraordinary, strong and determined to make a difference.
The men fight for right in every book. Yes, they kill people. Yes, they shoot at the bad guys’ feet to cause them pain. Yes, they throw tampons at each other regularly.
That being said, they do these things while stopping human trafficking, bringing their Club into legitimate businesses, fighting gangs to keep drugs away from their town and kids, keep women sheltered safely while trying to stop domestic abuse. These are men that don’t leave a Brother behind. They don’t treat women as possessions and they don’t cheat. Respect takes on an honorable meaning. Women and kids are cherished. Everyone is looked out for and everyone is equal.
L. Ann has made an amazing Club, tackled the taboo subjects and made it easy to imagine living in a world where your protection comes from the freaky kids, SEALs and Bikers.
With readers writing about rereading the series over and over, she feels like she’s told her characters’ stories in a way that would make them proud.
Every book will make you laugh, every book will make you angry for the wrong that happens in the world. Every book will make you cry for the pain that a character feels. Every book gives you hope that we may just get it right yet.
Author contact links:
Connect via email: mailto:[email protected]
Connect with me on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/author.l.annmarie/
and
https://www.facebook.com/lann.marie.3
Check out my website: http://www.lannmarie.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LAnnMarie1
Other books by L. Ann Marie
The Protectors
Christian Book 1
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Princes of Prophecy
Prophet Book 1: http://a.co/d4kvNN1
Reader: Book 2: http://a.co/2fnBniC
Leader Book 3: http://a.co/j0YrU6y
Enforcer Book 4: http://a.co/jcysz8m
Coder Book 5: http://a.co/gMArhyO
Sniper Book 6: http://a.co/ghUPQDS
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The MC
Knight: http://a.co/drLpl5V
LaPonte: http://a.co/b3tYTaP
LaPonte-Karr: http://a.co/9q2xch5
Pres: http://a.co/aWErBHQ
Blackhawk: http://a.co/a765z4b
Tailley: http://a.co/h6KD5An
Callahan: http://a.co/eIzq1My
Brighton: http://a.co/dJ900LL
Moniz: http://a.co/i8q8ZM3
Behind the Scenes: http://a.co/eEpfH4F
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The Baxters
She Found Us: http://a.co/1LuiEaa
Our Wife: http://a.co/4iqSmcI
Our Angel: http://a.co/dVMurUd
Jake: http://a.co/iZe1w5I
Rayne: http://a.co/7yE00JD
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Stand Alone
Spying Eyes: http://a.co/ic4qbvT
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