“Mae,” Stephen whispered as I approached. He held out his hand and I slid mine in his. I met his gaze and saw his eyes begin to shimmer with tears. “You look so so beautiful, my girl,” he rasped, fighting the lump in his throat.
My girl . . .
“Thank you.” I pulled back my hand and ran it down the lapel of his tux. “You look very handsome.”
Stephen smiled, then lowered his head. When he looked back up, he said roughly, “It is an honor for me to walk you down the aisle today, Mae. I have waited for a moment like this for too many years to count. I cannot believe we are actually here right now. It’s like a dream.” His gaze drifted over my shoulders to my sisters. “All of us. All of you looking so perfect . . .” he cleared his throat. “My brave daughters.”
“Father,” I whispered and blinked away my tears.
Stephen stilled. “Father . . .” he repeated, and this time a tear drifted down his cheek. “I will never tire of hearing that word from your lips.” He kissed me on my cheek, then threaded my arm through his. “I believe it is time. I do not want to face Styx’s wrath if we don’t get you out there and married as soon as possible. He is not a patient man when it comes to you.”
I laughed, but knew he was right. Styx would not think twice about marching in here and carrying me to the altar to speed things along if I did not hurry up.
Sia waited at the doors. “You ready, Mae?”
“Yes,” I said but then quickly held up my hand. “Just . . . one moment, please.”
I moved to the window that overlooked the yard as my sisters took their places. I discreetly looked through the glass, and I felt a wave of nervousness as I saw all the brothers in their seats. Phebe and Sapphira were beside AK, Flame, and Vike. Letti and Beauty were with Bull and Tank. I saw Ky at the altar, dressed in a white shirt and his cut . . . and then I saw him.
My heart stopped beating, my lungs stopped breathing, and my body stopped moving. Styx, my Styx . . . he was . . . he was . . . beautiful.
He stood at the altar with Pastor Ellis before him. His head was down, and he was rocking from side to side. I knew how nervous he was. His hands wrung together at his front. And then he turned to hear something Ky had said, and my breath whooshed through my parted lips.
He wore dark jeans and a black bolo tie with the Hangmen emblem embossed in the silver buckle. And then there was his cut. The top couple of buttons of his shirt were undone, showing his many tattoos and tanned skin. His dark hair was messy, exactly how I liked it. And then there were his hazel eyes, bright under his furrowed brow, his dark stubbled cheeks making his irises look even greener.
He was about to become my husband . . .
“You good, Mae?” Sia asked, and I turned to face my sisters.
“I am ready,” I said, knowing each word was true. “I am more than ready.”
Sia smiled and left through the doors. I took my place beside Stephen, behind my sisters and waited for the music to begin.
Today I would marry the boy who had pulled me from my deepest despair. Today, I would become Mrs. Mae Nash . . .
. . . at long last, I would be home.
Chapter Seven
Styx
I saw Sia emerge through the doors and give me a huge smile. She threw up her thumbs, telling me Mae was ready. I kept my hands joined together so no fucker here could see them shaking.
I would sign today. I’d fucking made peace with that shit. The pastor knew, my brothers would expect nothing else, and now all I had to do was wait for Mae to walk outta that fucking door.
Ky leaned toward me. “You shitting yourself?” I glared at him. He laughed, and I pulled at my collar. It was fucking too hot out here.
The sound of Sia clearing her throat came from the back of the yard. I looked up, as did everyone else, and some froufrou classical music started to play from the sound system. It wasn’t Nelson or Waits, but Mae had picked it, so that made it all fucking okay.
Sia opened the door. I couldn’t see in, but I didn’t have to wait long. Grace stepped out looking as cute as fuck in her little white dress. Ky smiled as his daughter began throwing white petals on the floor. She walked down the aisle like she had no fucking care in the world then ran the last few steps until she was by Ky’s side.
“Good fucking job, kid,” he said and took hold of her hand.
Lilah was next, followed by Maddie. Ky was fixed on his wife, and when I looked at Flame, the brother looked about ready to launch from his seat just to be with Madds. Bella followed, Rider and his mother, Ruth, smiling at her from the back row.
And then my eyes locked on the doorway. I counted. I’d counted to eight when I saw the first flash of white. I tensed, all my muscles locked tight as Mae stepped out of the door arm in arm with Stephen . . . and I felt like I’d just taken a fucking crowbar to the stomach.
Fuck, but she was perfect. Mae clutched onto both her bouquet and her father as she made her way to the top of the aisle. Then she looked up, paralyzing me with that wolf-eyed gaze. Every fucker here seemed to fade away as I saw her smile under her veil, her pink lips bright and shining through the lace. She started walking, and it took everything I had not to race down the damn aisle, rip the veil from her face and smash my lips against hers.
But I held still, just watching this bitch—the bitch who had flipped my world upside down as a kid—make her way toward me. And with every step, I saw it all in my head. I saw her crouched behind the fence, crying. I saw my defective mouth open and speak to her, her big fucking blue eyes seeming too big for her face as she looked at me, as she joined her hand with mine through the chain fence. Then her on the floor of the compound behind the dumpster, opening her eyes, lying in my arms, fucking bleeding and dying. Her watching me play Waits, me being able to speak to her again. Kissing her against the tree at McKinney State Falls, her forgiving me for freaking out over her scars, then her letting me make her mine. Getting her back from the cult, then never fucking letting her go again. Then the best of all, her telling me she was having our kid and that she would finally be my fucking wife.
All of it was there in my mind. Every fucking day I’d spent with her.
Mae stopped at the end of the aisle. Stephen kissed her on the back of her hand, fucking smiling through his tears. He then turned to me and shook my hand before moving to sit on the front row, fucking beaming at his daughters. Ky moved aside, and I held out my hand to Mae. The second her small fingers pressed against my palm, I fucking breathed.
Finally fucking breathed.
I caught a glimpse of her eyes through the veil then, before I was even asked by the pastor, I lifted it over her head, cupped her cheeks, and pressed my lips against hers. Like she did every time, she melted against me. I heard my brothers calling out and Vike’s fucking annoying voice shouting, “Ain’t at that part yet, Prez!”
But I took her mouth, not giving one shit. She was mine. I’d take her fucking pink lips if I wanted to—I owned her and she fucking owned me. When I broke away, Mae giggled against my mouth.
Pastor Ellis leaned forward, grinning. “Shall we begin?”
The pastor started talking, talking some religious bullshit I had no interest in hearing. Then it was time for the vows. We’d agreed on just the normal vows. I didn’t want a fucking fanfare. I wanted my signing to be quick and to the point. Mae had been understanding, of course. She always was.
Mae went first. Ky gave her the ring. With her hand in mine, she repeated what the pastor told her to say. “I, Salome Nash, take thee, River Nash, to be my lawfully wedded husband . . .” And I listened to her. I listened to her tell me she’d fucking stand by me in sickness and in health, ’til death do us part.
Pastor Ellis turned to me, and I felt my heart slam in my chest. I swallowed, feeling the python wrap around my throat. And it squeezed. It squeezed so fucking tight that I felt the muscles in my neck cord. Mae squeezed my hands. When I looked at her
, I realized Pastor Ellis had spoken.
“Are you okay?” Mae whispered just for us to hear. I nodded once. Then I couldn’t fucking tear my eyes away. I stared at my bitch and was fucking floored. All black hair and blue eyes and those fucking pink lips. Her dress, our kid in her stomach . . . all of it. All of her. So fucking perfect. Right here. Right now.
“Mr. Nash, your vows,” Pastor Ellis said, and Mae pulled back her hands so I could sign. But as she did, something in me snapped and I held on tight. Her brows pulled down in confusion; then she tried again. But I still didn’t let go. I knew she’d be able to feel the shaking of my hands as I gripped onto her. I knew she’d be wondering what the fuck was happening. So I looked to the pastor and nodded my head, urging her to talk. She looked lost as fuck as well, but I gave no shits. I fucking had to do it.