by Tonya Brooks
Another cheer went up and the Heathens led the way around the house to where the reception was being held on the rear lawn. Harley had arranged dozens of tables around the pool and a massive buffet had been situated beside a grill that housed an entire barbecued hog. A bar had been set up along with several kegs, and instead of champagne, the fountain spouted beer.
When it was time to make the toasts, Joe stood and thundered, “Listen up.” His booming voice rolled through the crowd and gained the attention of everyone present. “A lifetime ago, I walked through hell beside a man that I was proud to call brother. He was the finest man I’ve ever known and the toughest son of a bitch on the team. He proved that when he carried my big ass for miles through hostile terrain and saved my life.”
“A few years back Jed called and asked if I could keep an eye on his son and make sure the boy stayed out of trouble.” Joe snorted a laugh. “That’s when I met the second finest man I’ve ever known. Luke is his father’s son and before long he was the toughest son of a bitch in the club. He saved my life in more ways than one and I love him like he was my own son.”
“I knew Easy was the woman for him the minute I met her.” Joe said smugly. “It’d take a hell of a woman to handle Wild Man, and there ain’t no doubt, she’s a hell of a woman. She’s also a damn fine rider and welcome to ride with the Heathens anytime.” A roar of consent came from the club members. Joe raised a shot of Jack and said, “To Luke and Easy, live to ride, ride to live.”
Luke stood and was enveloped in a fierce bear hug. “Love ya, Joe.”
“You too, Son,” the older man said with gruff affection.
Jed rose as well and the two warriors clasped hands before sharing a hug. “You did good,” he told his oldest friend proudly.
“We did good.” Joe grinned.
~~~~~
After the toasts had been made, with Jack instead of champagne, the happy couple cut the wedding cake. It was a massive concoction of dark chocolate icing decorated to look like a stack of tires, with a bride and groom astride a motorcycle on top. The good citizens of Lakeside were shocked to say the least, and the Heathens were having a hell of a good time. The Baker family just sat back and enjoyed the show, and what a show it was.
The Bad Boys took the stage where their instruments had been set up on the verandah and played I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing as the bride and groom shared the first dance. By this point Luke had shed the shirt, but kept his colors on, and was showing off the new tattoo on his bicep that said, Easy’s Man. The bride was showing off some new ink herself. Her left shoulder proudly proclaimed, Property of Wild Man, while her bicep read, Luke’s Woman.
When the dance ended, as requested by the bride, John went right into Pony. Easy unbuttoned the skirt to reveal a pair of white leather shorts underneath and Luke’s wicked grin showed his appreciation. Then she began to dance around her husband, grinding that long, lithe body against his while their guests shouted their approval. Luke snagged her hips, pulled her ass against his pelvis and showed his new bride how to drop it like it was hot much to her delight.
When their scandalous dance was over, Ricky began the intro to Bad Company. “Yo!” Luke yelled and held up a Bando fist. John recognized the martial arts technique often referred to as a five finger death punch and switched to the grittier version by the band Five Finger Death Punch. The dance area filled up with locals and bikers alike. The band went straight into Wanted Dead or Alive and followed that with The Outsiders and the OMC shouted their appreciation.
After the band took a short break, Desi and John sang, Don’t Cha. Much to the surprise of everyone, Harley, Easy and Cyn stepped up to the three stripper poles that had been brought in during the break, and put on a show that no one was likely to stop talking about. Matt and Luke looked ready to kill the crowd of cheering men watching their women dance and probably would have if Jed hadn't warned them to behave their damn selves and let the women have fun.
John damn near fell off the stage watching Cyn move that gorgeous body. She was wearing those ‘fuck me’ shoes with painted on jeans and a black leather bustier. When he tore his ravenous gaze from her, he noticed the men eyeball fucking his woman and his expression quickly mirrored his brothers. Mark was just staring at his own wife with eyes full of heat as Desi did her version of a pole dance with the microphone stand.
As soon as the last note ended, all four of the bad Baker boys swooped in and claimed their women. John didn’t give a damn if he was supposed to be performing or not. There was no way in hell he was letting Luke’s friends or the underwear dude get near Cyn. Not after that performance. Holy shit, the woman could work a pole like nobody's business and he was as hard as granite again.
“John, what are you doing?” Cyn asked as he all but dragged her away from the dance area with his arm possessively around her waist.
“My brother’s friends are a fuckin' outlaw motorcycle club,” he pointed out tersely. “Guys like that don’t just back off when they want a woman, darlin'.”
“So you’re protecting me again?” She asked in amusement.
“Damn straight,” was readily agreed.
“Luke already assigned someone to do that,” she informed him and saw his look of outrage.
“The hell he did,” John growled and would kill his brother if he’d assigned one of those goddamn bikers to look after her. While the club had been closed for renovations, the Bad Boys had played at the Heathens clubhouse a couple of times. John had seen how the bikers treated women and there wasn't a damn one of them that he would trust around her.
“He’s a real badass,” Cyn teased and saw his expression darken even more. “Here he comes now.”
John turned and leveled a killing glare at the man moving up behind them. Relief washed over him when he saw his father. “Pop’s looking out for you?”
“Yep,” she admitted with a devilish grin.
“Do not let her out of your sight,” John warned his father.
Jed nodded solemnly even though he was amused as hell at his son’s command. John was jealous and who could blame him? Cyn was a beautiful woman, smart as a whip, with more than her fair share of sass. She'd be a good match for his son and the knowledge greatly pleased the older man. “I’ll take care of the little gal.”
John growled something unintelligible about bikers and underwear and headed back to the stage. It was gonna be a long afternoon.
~~~~~
Sexy Grayson had been to some wild parties in his life, most of them he had hosted, but he’d never seen anything like this. He didn’t know much about small towns, but there was no way in hell that Lakeside was normal. Although his sisters loved the backwater burg, he was convinced that some of the residents could be escapees from a mental institution.
Like the crazy old lady with a goat on a leash. Oh, yeah. Now she was a real piece of work. She had thoroughly chastised him in front of everyone for appearing on a billboard in nothing but his 'skivvy shorts'. Then when no one was looking, the lusty old broad had pinched his ass, given him a flirtatious wink and said, “If you’d like me to return the favor, my house is next door to the manor.”
Beer sprayed out of his mouth and nose at the unexpected and appalling offer. While he struggled to regain his breath, Sexy hastily excused himself and got the hell out of the vicinity. He seriously needed a brain bleach to rid himself of the mental image of a nearly naked geriatric. A shower to scrub away the taint of those hungry brown eyes undressing him wouldn’t hurt either.
Then there were the Bakers, the family that Easy had married into. Sexy knew that his family was eccentric, but these people took the cake. Matt had married Harley, whose mother had married Matt's father. So his mother-in-law was now his step-mother and Harley's father-in-law was her step-father. It got even more confusing since the older couple had a newborn daughter. He was still trying to figure out if little Daisy was Matt and Harley's sister-in-law or their half sister.
Now his new brother-in-law, Luke, wa
s probably the most shocking of all. The man appeared to be a decent, well respected attorney, but he was also an enforcer for an outlaw biker club. Sexy had thought his sister was yanking his chain about the biker thing until the whole club showed up for the wedding. Jesus Christ, she hadn't been kidding.
These guys were the real deal and even rougher looking than the ones he'd seen on TV. Their women looked just as hard core and they were all in a party mood. It was fascinating to watch the club and the locals warily watching each other from opposite sides of the yard. Like they had each staked out their turf and weren't about to mingle with each other
Luke and Easy had found a solution for that. He had danced with one of the local ladies, while Easy and danced with one of the bikers. The dance had barely begun before they switched partners. They kept right on doing it until the dance floor was filled with locals and bikers dancing together and it appeared that they were all having a hell of a good time.
That was when he realized that Luke really was perfect for Easy. The man understood her and loved her just the way she was. Just like she loved him. Both of them had high profile careers that required them to maintain a politically correct image, but they also had a wilder side that reveled in the outrageous biker culture.
His sister Dizzy's husband seemed like a perfect match for her as well. Brett fully supported her passion for writing the most horrific, spine tingling novels, and he didn't even bat an eye this morning when she set the kitchen on fire while making toast. Sexy had never seen his sisters so happy and so much in love that it should have been a sin.
Speaking of sin, he spotted the stunning Cyn across the yard laughing and playing with a couple of kids. The boy had to be Matt's son since he was his spitting image, and the girls flaming hair assured him that she belonged to Mark as his wife had the same glorious hair. Desi was an amazing chef whose culinary skills surpassed anything he'd tasted on several continents. He'd praised her profusely last night at dinner until her husband had jealously swept her away.
Much like John had swept Cyn away the night before, but with less finesse. And John had used finesse alright. Sexy had to admit that was one of the smoothest moves he'd ever seen. Women were suckers for romance, and once John had started singing to her while they danced, Cyn had been a lost cause.
Not that Sexy had tried getting the woman into his bed. She'd been more interested in his shoe line than she was in him. Talk about an ego check. Cyn was a hot little number alright, but he'd been in pursuit of a certain model for months now and that woman could set his blood on fire with a look. The sooner he got out of this Real Housewives meets Sons of Anarchy town and back to the chase, the better.
~~~~~
Jed and Joe stood shoulder to shoulder as they watched the crowd’s antics. The two men could not have been more different physically, but they bore a remarkable resemblance in stature. They were warriors through and through and it was evident in every line of their bodies and their expressions as they kept a watchful eye on the proceedings.
Claire walked up to the two men and handed baby Daisy over to her father. “You dance, Joe?” She asked expectantly.
“I’ve been known to cut a rug,” the biker admitted as he looked down at the petite, classy blonde. It had been a long time since he’d been around a woman like her. They usually ran the other way when they saw him, but this little lady didn’t seem intimidated by his size or his appearance, so he asked, “You wanna dance?”
“Thought you’d never ask,” Claire said with a mischievous smile as she placed her hand in his and led him out to the area set up for dancing.
She was such a tiny little thing; Joe was afraid he’d crush her. He wrapped his big hands carefully around her and said, “Jed’ll kick my ass if I break you.”
She laughed at that. “You’re probably the only man who’d have a chance against him.”
Now it was his turn to laugh as he shook his head. “Not even in my prime could I best that one,” he confessed in his growling voice. “His call sign was Wildman for a reason.”
Claire didn’t doubt that for a minute. Her Jed was still a wild man and she loved it. “Maybe you can help me convince him to buy a bike,” she suggested.
“You like bikes?” He asked in surprise.
“Like ‘em so much I named my daughter Harley,” she admitted.
Joe stared at the woman with new respect. Jed had found himself a hell of a woman, it seemed. Some guys had all the luck.
~~~~
When the newlyweds left and the party finally began to wind down, the band broke down their spare equipment and carried it into the music room above the carriage house. The second floor was where they had always practiced and it was full of memories. John's entire life was encapsulated in this room. He'd had some of the best times of his life up here playing with the band. It was one of his favorite places to be.
Once his band mates took off, he leaned against the doorjamb and watched Cyn walk around the room taking it all in. Somehow having her in this space felt right. She just seemed to fit. Like she had been with him all along. Like she should be with him from now on. It was a sobering thought so he stepped into the room and closed the door on the world. Unfortunately, it wasn't as simple to shut out the crazy notion that Cyn belonged with him permanently.
"You guys actually play all of these instruments?" She asked in amazement since the place looked like a music store. A wide assortment of instruments were placed at intervals between well worn furnishings while faded posters of rock bands and a variety of guitars, banjos and the like covered one entire wall.
"I do," he admitted as a statement of fact and without an ounce of pride in the accomplishment. Music came as naturally to John as breathing. Since he played by ear, he could play anything once he learned the basic cording.
"That's impressive," Cyn said in awe as she walked around what was obviously a concert grand piano covered by a drop cloth. She didn't even want to know how they had gotten the thing up to the second floor. Lifting the drape, she gasped at the beautiful instrument. "This should be in the house where it can be seen."
"Harley keeps nagging me to put it back," he admitted without much concern as he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a couple of beers. "It used to sit between the staircases until Pop threw it out of the house."
She stared at him in disbelief and accepted the bottle he handed her. "Why did he do that?"
"It was my mom's and she played it all the time," John explained with a shrug. "Guess he couldn't stand having it around after she died. It's strange because he kept the rest of the house exactly the way she decorated it and refused to change a thing until Harley came back. I thought he was gonna bust a gut when Matt mentioned that she wanted to re-do the place."
Which meant that Jed Baker had held on to his wife's memory for a very long time. It also meant that the memories surrounding the piano had been too painful for him to bear so he'd had it removed from his sight. Wow. The man had obviously loved his wife with a depth of emotion that was very rare. Although it seemed his sons had taken after him in that aspect as they were totally devoted to their wives as well.
She took a swallow and deduced, "I guess you get your musical talent from your mom."
"I can remember her sitting at the piano singing Sweet Child O' Mine to me," he confessed and rubbed the tattoo on his left bicep absently. "It was the first song I learned to play."
Cyn knew how to read behavior and seeing him rubbing his arm was a tell. "And the tattoo?" She queried.
John looked at the ink on his arm that was mostly hidden by his sleeve and smiled at her perceptiveness. "The notes are the chorus of the song," he said as he lifted the sleeve so she could see the intricate design depicting a staff of musical notes that swirled around and down his bicep. "The two notes at the end are a double G for GiGi. That's what Pop called my mom."
The man was so sweet and sincere that it was too damned adorable. In spite of her best efforts not to let it happen, her heart melted
a little more. "You know, under that bad boy reputation lurks the heart of a big old softie," she announced with a teasing smile.
"Darlin', you keep smiling at me like that and you'll find out there ain't nothing soft about me," he warned, the bad boy smile turned up to lethal before he drained half the bottle.
“I think it’s adorable that such a tough guy is sentimental,” Cyn assured him as she walked by the drums, knocking the stick bag to the floor. When she lifted it, a tin fell out and popped open to reveal a cache of cylindrical shaped objects. “Hello! What have we here?”
Ah, hell. John didn’t want to rat his boy out, but it was kind of hard not to with her holding the evidence of the drummers habit in her hand. “Alex, likes to take the edge off,” he admitted.
“Think he’ll miss one?” She asked and waggled her eyebrows. Cyn was feeling reckless and wanted to cut completely loose for a change.
“Nope,” he denied in surprise. Alex kept the shit stashed all over the place like a fuckin’ squirrel. "You smoke?"
“Not since college,” she confessed and realized that she hadn’t felt this carefree since her college days. John Baker was either very bad or very good for her. She hadn’t decided which yet. “Wanna burn one?"
John hadn't touched anything stronger than alcohol in years, but she looked so damn excited he didn't have the heart to say no. Besides, he had his shit together now. There was no way in hell he'd ever go back down that road again. Some things did not bear repeating.
"Fire it up. Lighters in the top drawer," he said and nodded to the old nightstand behind her. When Cyn opened the drawer full of lighters and shot him a puzzled look, he grinned and admitted, "Alex is a lighter thief. Dude never leaves home with a lighter, but he always winds up with everyone else's."
"He's got quite a collection," she laughed and selected a hot pink lighter with neon green flowers. Cyn lit the duby, inhaled and held the smoke in her lungs before passing it over to John. She finally exhaled and could already feel the effect. "Wow. Alex has good shit."