Jet: A Marked Men Novel (29 page)

That made me snicker and before I knew it, we were pulling into the passenger drop-off area and we had to say good-bye. She came around to my side of the car and leaned against the door. I put my hands in the back pockets of her shorts and pulled her so we were flush. She put her hands around my neck and I kissed the tip of her nose.

“I’ll be thinking about you all the time.”

“Don’t. Just go have fun and be a rock star. You being here was everything I needed.”

“Call me if you need me.”

“I’ll always need you. I’ll just call you because.”

“Fair enough.” I pressed my mouth to hers with enough intensity to let her know she would be missed. When I pulled back there was moisture in her eyes and I was ready to rip up my plane ticket on the spot until she gave me a half smile.

“I really do love you.”

“Good thing I’m going to marry you, then.” I winked at her as she smacked me on the arm.

We said another good-bye and this time she kissed me. Saying good-bye sucked, but it was bearable because unlike the last time I had left her behind, this time I knew she would be there when I got back. She had on my ring, and she gave me her heart and her trust. I was her future and she was my entirety. Damn, I might be in the first metal band that sang love songs after all.

Epilogue

Jet, A Few Months Later, The Fourth
of July

I
can’t
believe you have a yard with grass, sprinklers, and a barbeque. That is some
serious adultlike shit.” I handed Rule a cold beer good-naturedly even though he
glared at me.

“I’m not the one rocking a wedding ring.”

I absently looked down at the wide titanium ring on
my left hand. The same topaz that sat on Ayden’s finger rested on mine. I had
told her we could wait until she was done with school, that I could wait until I
had the new business up and running, to actually get hitched, but after being
gone and apart for two months that wasn’t something either of us wanted or had
the patience to wait for. As soon as I got back to the States, I packed her up
and hauled her to Vegas for a long weekend. It had turned from a simple ceremony
between the two of us into an epic party weekend, when all of our friends had
decided to crash the event. I knew she wanted something more formal, more
traditional, but every time I brought up doing a reception or some kind of
ceremony here for everyone, she would roll her eyes at me and tell me that she
had to pay Shaw back and that Asa’s hospital bills weren’t going anywhere. I was
going to let her get away with that excuse for a little while, and then I was
just going to plan one for her anyway.

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing. The house is
awesome and this yard is badass. I just never pictured you manning a grill and
being all domesticated.”

Those pale eyes of his were still as sharp as ice
shards and he still mixed it up with his hair; today it was his natural dark
brown and a startling lime green that was spiked up in a hundred directions.
Now, though, there was just something inherently more settled about him. I
wondered if Ayden did that for me, wondered if it was so obvious to other people
that with her, I had found my place and had been able to put out most of the
bonfire that used to burn me alive.

He tilted his head to where the girls were sitting
on the deck that jutted out from the back of the house. Shaw was cracking up at
some story Ayden’s brother was telling and Ayden was leaning back watching me
talk to Rule. I lifted an eyebrow at her and she just shrugged. Asa could charm
the pants off a nun, but ever since he had gotten mobile again he had been on
his best behavior. His recovery had been long and tenuous. He had had not one
but two major setbacks, and Ayden had just decided to repeat the semester at DU
until he was out of the hospital because she had missed so much school taking
care of him and being in Kentucky. As soon as she was able, she had packed him
up and brought him to Denver with her, so not only did I have Cora’s big mouth
to contend with, but also Asa’s slicker-than-slick charm.

Asa and I weren’t exactly friends. I didn’t trust
him as far as I could throw him, but he seemed to be operating on the up and up.
I think he had a healthy fear of what I would do to him if he messed with Ayden
in the slightest, and his brush with death had seemed to give him some brief bit
of clarity. As much as it bugged me because I now knew exactly how complicated
their dynamic was, I could see he really did love her. I know Ayden was hoping
for a total transformation, but the guy was just too smooth, too good at reading
people and playing games, for me to believe that was going to be the case. I
really felt like he wanted to go straight for his sister, so for that alone I
was willing to give him a chance. Since I was on the road at least once or twice
a week with the new label, I liked having him at the house with the girls, even
if he still had a cast on one arm and a walking boot on his foot.

“He’s almost as pretty as she is, isn’t he?”

Rule’s question snapped me out of my reverie and I
gave Ayden a wink before turning back to him.

“He’s a pain in the ass.”

Rule snorted and turned over the burgers he was
watching.

“Shaw likes him, which surprises me after
everything he put Ayden through, and Cora thinks he’s a riot.’

“That’s because they’re chicks and that dude has
more game in his pinkie finger than we have combined. It’s unreal.”

Rule squinted his eyes a little, in the direction
where the rest of the group was sitting in a circle lounging on lawn chairs on
the grassy lawn. Rowdy and Nash were messing around with a whole pile of
fireworks that looked illegal as hell. I assumed they probably came from across
the state border in Wyoming. Cora was sitting next to Rule’s older brother Rome
and neither one of them looked too happy with the situation or the company.

“I know all about siblings being a pain in the
ass.”

I had only seen Rome a few times since he had
gotten back from Afghanistan. I knew through the grapevine—the grapevine being
Rowdy—that he and Rule weren’t exactly feeling the brotherly love. I guess Rome
was still pissed at his folks about something to do with their other brother and
it was pretty obvious whatever had happened involved Shaw, because the older
Archer brother was barely civil to her and this was her house. I knew Rome and
Rule were tight, so whatever was going on was going to have to be addressed, but
I guess Rome was wound pretty tight and had been pretty unpredictable since his
return. Nash had mentioned a couple times, since they were roommates now that he
had never seen the big guy drink the way he did now. I knew the guys were
worried about him, but Rome was the oldest and by default the leader, so I think
they were having a hard time addressing any of it with him.

Rule’s pale eyes flicked back to me. “How are
things with the rest of the family?”

I shrugged and watched as Ayden got up and started
down the steps of the deck. I wondered if my heart was always going to turn over
when it realized she was coming to me, always to me. I could watch her move all
day on those killer legs and I elbowed Rule in the ribs when I caught him
checking them out as well. He just lifted an eyebrow like it was an involuntary
response.

“The same I guess. Mom hasn’t forgiven me for not
inviting them to the wedding in Vegas, even though I told her she could come as
long as she left that bastard at home. She just doesn’t get it. Ayd’s even tried
to talk to her, tried to explain that as long as she stays with him that she
won’t be part of our family. God forbid we have kids, because the old man is
coming nowhere near them. Sometimes, it looks like the sun is shining through
the clouds, only for it to disappear again. I have more important things to
worry about and focus on, so that’s what I do.”

When Ayden reached my side, I hauled her in close
with an arm around her neck and planted a kiss on her temple. Her arm went
around my waist and she leaned against me lightly. Rowdy was almost done with
the piece that took up my entire ribs on the backside and she was used to having
to be gentle with the tender skin and new ink.

“What are you two over here gossiping about like a
bunch of girls?”

Rule narrowed his eyes at her and I chuckled.
“Family drama.”

She made a face and snagged the beer I was holding
out of my hand.

“Yuck. Hey, are you going to be in town all week? I
was thinking about taking a summer interim class to catch up on some of the
stuff I had to miss last semester, but if you’re going to be around, I don’t
want to do it.”

It was a tough balancing act with both our
schedules. I was gone more than I had thought I would be, because starting the
label meant finding bands, and finding bands meant I had to go places where
bands played. With her being in school, that meant she couldn’t come with me.
Which sucked for both of us, but we were learning to adjust.

The first band I actually signed and agreed to work
with was the new band Jorge had formed after finally getting tired of Ryan’s
crap with Black Market Alphas. The band was amazing, even better than Enmity
was, in my opinion, and I really thought I could make Jorge into the star I
always thought he was. I loved it and had clearly found my calling, even though
I still played with the guys in town and wrote songs when I found the time. My
favorite time to sing was when I sang Ayden to sleep at night. I still refused
to learn any of that new country junk she liked, but luckily the old stuff still
rattled around in my brain and she never complained about it.

I was going to tell her to take the class
regardless, because it was important to her and we had the rest of forever to
spend time together, but I never got the chance. Across the yard, Cora
screeched, and the next thing we knew Rome was soaking wet as she dumped her
beer over his dark head, a feat that would have been impossible if the guy had
been standing, because she was itty bitty and Rome was a giant. Nash scooped her
up before she could lunge at the glaring soldier and Rowdy stepped between all
of them. Shaw bolted to her feet and came running down from the deck as Rule
stomped off in the direction of the fray. Asa could only watch from the deck
since his gimpy limbs kept him pretty immobile, and Ayden and I just watched the
entire thing in silence.

“You’re an asshole!” Cora’s voice was sharp and
loud as Nash hauled her over in our direction. She was pointing a finger at Rome
and her heated anger was almost alive in its intensity. Nash kept right on
walking past us and I heard Rule holler at his brother.

“What in the hell was that all about?”

Shaw looked anxious at Rule’s side when Rome
climbed to his feet. The guy easily topped six and a half feet and looked like
he could bench press a semi-truck without breaking a sweat. He also looked good
and pissed off on top of being soggy and irritated that his brother was getting
in his face. I glanced down at my wife (hell, yeah, I called her that any chance
I got) and gave her a questioning look.

“What do you make of that?”

She lifted a shoulder and rested her hand on my
stomach under the edge of my shirt. Her pinkie finger snuck below the waistband
and it made me suck in a breath. She still went to my head faster than a shot of
Jameson and nothing would ever be better than that as far as I was
concerned.

“Who knows? Cora has a big mouth and isn’t afraid
to give anyone her opinion, even if they don’t want it, and Rome doesn’t strike
me as the kind of guy to just sit back and let her steamroll him. He’s kind of
intense.”

She moved her finger a little lower and I narrowed
my eyes at her. She just gave me an impish grin and batted those bright eyes at
me.

Things in the yard escalated when Rule reached out
and shoved his brother in his massive chest. Shaw screamed something I didn’t
hear, and Rowdy yanked her out of the way as the older Archer brother returned
the favor by putting Rule on his ass. Some really angry and heated words were
exchanged and the next thing we knew, Rome was storming past us and slamming the
back gate to the fence on his way out. The roar of the Harley he had arrived on
rattled the tension in the air and everyone just kind of looked at one another
in silence. I sighed and reached out to put my hands in Ayden’s back
pockets.

“It’s never boring with this crew, is it?”

She stood on the toes of her boots—these were red
and my new favorites—and kissed me on the underside of my jaw.

“We’re a family, and when you’re a family, there’s
going to be issues. They’ll get it figured out. Shaw will make them. Let’s go
watch the fireworks.”

“It isn’t even dark out yet.”

She wiggled around until she was plastered to my
front and wrapped her arms around my neck. This girl was just the best part of
my day, every day, and I would never take that for granted.

“Those aren’t the fireworks I was talking
about.”

She made me laugh. She made me happy. She was my
family and my future, and while it might have taken both of us letting go of
what we thought we wanted and needed to be happy in order to see that all we
needed was each other, it was so clear to both of us now.

“You already lit the fuse, Ayd. You better be ready
to deal with the boom that follows.”

She licked her bottom lip and gave me the look that
told me she would never be afraid of the fire and the heat I threw her way. She
just stood in the center of it and let the embers fall all around her. Every
time she walked away unscathed, and I had a little less of it inside me burning
things up. We were going to leave without even saying good-bye to anyone, when
Cora’s head popped over the edge of the deck. She still looked mad but there was
something else moving around in her two-toned gaze.

“See . . . like I always said, you two
are just perfect. That’s what I want.” She sounded so sad and wistful that it
concerned me.

“I keep telling you that your expectations are too
high.”

Ayden nodded.

“Love isn’t perfect. It’s hard work and sometimes
it’s more effort to be in love than it is to just run away. If you keep looking
for perfect, the real thing is going to pass right by you.”

She waved a hand and walked over to sit down next
to Asa, who was watching the entire show in silence. I could swear I could see
wheels turning in his head.

“I’ll know it when I see it.”

I didn’t have a response to that because even
though Cora was a good judge of character, when it came to her personal life,
she was kind of like a lion tamer, always fending everyone off with a whip and a
chair no matter how fierce or tame the predator was.

I looked down at Ayden and I could tell she was
more than likely thinking the same thing.

“You ready to go?”

“Yep.”

And that’s how it was. We walked the same way, no
more running, no more fear, no more secrets. Just me and her, in sync and
together, even though we came from two separate sides of the spectrum. I was her
perfect future and she my perfect love and that was how every good love song
should end.