Needing Carrie: A Savage Brothers MC Novella(13)

“Dragon, put me down,” she mutters, but at the same time she snuggles into him.

“I’ll bring you back, after,” he tells her.

“After what?” Skye asks the question each of us are wondering.

“After I put some lotion on Nicole’s ass.”

“Oh no you don’t, Dragon! Put me down!”

“What are you griping about now, Mama?”

“I know too well what your special lotion is! I have a wedding to get ready for, and there’s no time for you to be coming all over my ass,” she grumbles hatefully and the whole room erupts in laughter. Personally, I think she’s crazy. If that was Jacob, I’d be urging him out the door even quicker.

Dragon doesn’t answer where we can hear him. Instead, he leans down and whispers something in Nicole’s ear. I wish I knew what it was because she reaches up to kiss him, and they leave the room right after that, without another word.

“Damn,” Skye mutters.

“What?” Dani asks.

“I need to go find my man,” she mutters.

“What? No! You get back here!” Dani orders, but Skye ignores her.

“I’ll be back in twenty minutes…thirty if I’m lucky,” she laughs leaving. Dani watches her for a minute, then turns to look at me.

“Okay, carrot top here’s the deal. We have two hours before you need to be out there walking down the aisle. I’ll be back in thirty minutes…forty if I’m lucky.”

“Forty?” I laugh.

“Yeah, if I tell Zander that Bull and Skye are sneaking out and for thirty minutes, he’d die before he won’t try to outdo him.

“This doesn’t seem fair. Mary won’t even let me see Jacob,” I protest. Everyone and their grandmothers are getting lucky on my wedding day, but me!

“Yeah, but just think, Dragon and Nic are taking Jazz for the rest of the week. Which means you and Dancer get the next three nights and four days to be completely alone, you hooker,” she complains, leaving me in the room by myself. Three nights completely alone with my man? Guess that answers the honeymoon question.

I look at the box in my hand and with a smile decide to look and see exactly what Jacob sent. The tag says, “Something borrowed.”

I open it up, it’s a small box. There’s no way it’s a wedding dress. I’ve been worrying about what to wear. The girls are all being very mysterious, they just keep telling me that it’s taken care of. I’m trying to trust in them, but I figured if anything that would be my, something new. That was the pearls. There’s a white sundress in the closet here that Mary has kept since my years of staying here. I could probably still fit in it, but I was hoping for a real wedding dress. Still, as long as I get to marry Jacob, I don’t really care. As I place the lid on the table and look in the box my heart stops. It’s a bracelet with a locket on the top. I know exactly what it is, because I’ve seen Mary wear it over the years. Still, I need to see the picture inside. With trembling fingers, I open up the locket. There I see a miniature picture of me, Jazz, Jacob’s sister, and Jacob posing for a picture around a Christmas tree. It was the last Christmas we had together before Jazz died. This is further proof that Jacob knows me like no one else. He knew I would want Jazz with me today.

God, I love that man.





14





Dancer





“Daddy!” Jazz cries as I walk into her room at Mary’s. She’s supposed to be sleeping, but I knew she wouldn’t be. For Jazz, there’s too much going on to ever take a break and sleep until you don’t have a choice.

“Hey, Princess. Are you ready for today?”

“Uh huh! Mamaw gave me dress!” she says excitedly, leaving out one of her words. She makes me smile. A real smile. The kind I wear more and more these days.

“Good. She’ll be in here in a minute to help make you even more beautiful. Daddy just wanted a minute to love on his best girl,” I tell her, pulling her up into my lap, as I sit on her bedside.

“Love you, Daddy,” she whispers, wrapping her arms around my neck and planting the sloppiest kiss imaginable on the side of my face. I’ve experienced about all the dark in life a man could stomach. But, I know that there is nothing so dark that the feel of your daughter telling you she loves you couldn’t push it away. Her love is much like her mother’s. Sunshine. Warm heat. Happiness.

“I love you too. I better get going. Daddy needs to make sure Mommy gets all her surprises.”

“Tell me a story!” she demands, and her eyes, so much like her mom’s shine up at me, pleading. I instantly melt. There’s nothing in this world she could ask for that I wouldn’t give her. I think she’s already discovered that, but I hope she hasn’t—or else I might be in real trouble later on. “Please, Daddy,” she asks again, that little chin wobbling. Who am I kidding? I’m already in real trouble with this one.

“Okay, a quick one. What story do you want?” I ask, already knowing. There’s only one story I’ve told her over and over, since the first moment I held her in my arms. Mine and Carrie’s story—at least in fairytale version.

“Princess and Toll!” she cries excitedly.

“Troll,” I correct her—like I always do. She ignores me, like she always does.