Rock My Heart (23 page)

“Who was that?” Jaden inquired as he lit a Marlboro and dragged from it hungrily.

“Who do you think?”

“Oh…
him
. What did
he
want?” his brother inquired derisively.

“Just to wish Syd and I good luck since he can’t come without our wedding being turned into a bigger circus than it already is.”

“Well, that’s definitely a good thing.” Jaden pulled out his top of the line iPhone and voice dialed Faith only to immediately get her voicemail. “What the fuck? Did he mention Faith to you on the phone?”

“No,” Kaz lied straight-faced as he stared into his brother’s amber eyes. “Why would he mention her when I can’t stand the bitch?”

“It’s weird. Her phone is turned off and she’s not picking up any of her calls. Doesn’t that seem strange to you?”

“Seriously, Jaden, it’s my bachelor party and the only reason why you are still allowed to attend my wedding is because both Talia and Sydney begged me to let you come. If she were here, that ‘yes’ would turn into a ‘no’. I don’t want to see or know anything about Faith at the moment and neither should you. How long do you plan on playing this game with Tal and Faith because seriously, someone is going to get hurt and that could be physically, psychologically or both. You don’t even know how much you’re fucking up and it pisses me off.” Kaz finished his cigarette and threw it on the ground where he ground it out and started walking back towards the strip club.

“Not this fucking conversation again, Kaz—”

“—yeah, you’re right because I am about to go back inside and watch some naked women shake their tits and asses in my face rather than get into this argument with you yet again. I feel like a fuckin’ broken record and you. Aren’t. Listening. So fuck it, I give up. Do what you gotta do but don’t come cryin’ to me when Tal leaves your ass high and dry. You said it best: it’s
your
life. Go ahead and fuck it up…you’ve done a pretty good job of doing just that all these years.”

Jaden didn’t reply and Kaz didn’t expect one. He just wanted to have fun for the rest of the night and the following day, he would marry the woman he loved with all of his heart.

He was through with acting as the moral compass for his brother and he was done with being his keeper.

He had his own life to live now and he planned to live it to the fullest.

Chapter Twenty-One

A Nice Day To Marry A Rock Star

TALIA WAS AN angel and a saint.

If she hadn’t been there the day I decided to marry Kaz, I would have been a complete and absolute wreck.

My grandfather and mother had flown in for the occasion and to my surprise, my mother had a man on her arm, a good looking Norwegian she’d met on her most recent visit to the country. She also looked slightly bloated but I didn’t want to say anything to her in case I offended her.

She broke the news to me while Talia helped me with my makeup. My hair had already been twisted into a lovely French Twist with pearls woven throughout by my hairdresser.

“Edmund and I are having a baby. I’m four months pregnant and it’s a boy.”

My heart felt like it almost stopped before I turned toward my mother. “Excuse me? Pregnant? At your age?”

“Oh for God’s sake, Syd, I’m younger than Halle Berry! I am only forty-five for Christ’s sake—”

“—yes, but you’ll be forty-six by the time the child is born next year. I thought you had a tubal-ligation after my birth?”

“I did but it was reversible and…Edmund is the first man I truly do love and care about after…what your father did to me at such a young age. I thought you would be happy for me. We’re getting married and I will finally be settled. Isn’t that what you always wanted?”

I felt so foolish at that moment. Of course it’s what I wanted for my mother. I’d be lying to say I didn’t. She’d done the right thing and never brought a man around while I was growing up because she knew none of them were permanent and she didn’t want me to call any man she dated my “uncle”. She was a great single mother and my grandfather had been the perfect surrogate father. I couldn’t have asked for a better childhood.

Now that my real father and I spoke on occasion, my life had finally come full circle. I was slowly getting to know my half-brothers and their wives, and life was good. Why in the world wouldn’t I want my mother to be happy too? It was absolute madness for me to be acting this way.

I stood and walked over to my mother before I embraced her. “I’m overwhelmed with joy for you, Mom. If anyone deserves to be happy, it’s you.”

“And you deserve happiness too!
Jeg elsker deg, min lille engel,
” she whispered before she embraced me again.

I love you, my little angel.

That is what she used to say all the time when I was growing up, even after I wasn’t so little and I don’t think I’d ever been an angel.

“
Takk, Mamma…Jeg elsker deg også.
”

A lone tear dropped down her face as she smiled and I handed her a tissue so she could wipe it away. “I know you do, sweetie. This is your day and I promised not to spoil it. I hope my news doesn’t take anything away from today belonging to you.”

“Are you serious?” We separated and I shook my head at her. “I can’t believe Baby Kaz is going to have an uncle younger than he is and a playmate too.”

My mother rolled her eyes. “That was supposed to be a surprise but your grandfather can’t hold water. Edmund and I met because he is going to oversee the building of the Landvik Hotel, Spa and Casino on the Strip. Papa purchased the land where the Sahara Hotel and Casino
used
to be and he plans to build a new hotel. He believes with the right people, he can do in Vegas what he has done to the tourist industry with luxurious cruises. He is offering cruises to Los Angeles and then the guests will take a private jet here to Vegas where they will stay at his hotel. He thinks it’s brilliant and well, you know how Papa is…”

I smiled. “Well, that is the best news I have heard all day. It means I will actually have more family here in Vegas.”

“It’s his legacy…to you. He was going to surprise you and Kaz with it because when the hotel is completed, you’ll inherit the hotel once…he’s gone.”

I noticed the look in my mother’s cerulean blue eyes and my smile faltered. “Mom, what’s going on? Is grandpa sick?”

“Prostate cancer. His doctors are the finest in the world and he is being watched very closely but his doctors have had him tested thoroughly and he doesn’t have a radical or progressive form of the disease. His specialists also don’t believe he needs to undergo a radical
prostatectomy so in the meantime, we have to wait. He is elderly and the disease in men over seventy isn’t the same as the disease if a man in his thirties were to develop prostate cancer.”

My mom paused and sipped from a glass filled with San Pellegrino water. “We didn’t tell you because honestly, Papa isn’t all that concerned and he has several physicians who accompany him everywhere we travel. He has lived a good life, Syd. He doesn’t want this disease to interfere with that and he wants to go the moment his quality of life isn’t as stellar as it is now. We can’t argue with that and to be honest, we really shouldn’t have a say. It’s
his
life, not
ours
.”

She walked out of the suite, leaving Talia and I to stare at one another. “Well, she provided you with something new—your very own hotel and casino. What about something old and something blue?”

“Shit, I didn’t think about that.” I studied my short but carefully manicured fingernails.

“Well, I did.” Talia approached me before she opened her hand. “I know you were raised Lutheran but I was raised Catholic—as if that is a surprise with my mother being Creole and my father’s family originating from Milan—but it’s a St. Christopher Medal pendant in white and blue agate on a solid platinum chain. My step-father had to outdo my real father by buying it for me as a birthday present…my thirteenth, I think but I’m not sure. Anyway, I’m twenty-five now so I consider it to be something old…or older anyway. Plus, it takes care of the last two superstitions to provide you and Kaz with a jinx-free wedding,
and
a lasting marriage.”

“Thank you, it’s beautiful” I embraced her and we had a shared moment of silence before we parted and she cleared her throat. “Here, let me put it on for you and then you can take a good look at it in the mirror.”

She fastened it around my neck and it hung high, at least an inch from where my breasts dipped.

I had decided not to go with the conventional, frou-frou wedding dress with meringue overload. Instead, I picked out a gorgeous, floor-length silk gown by Lela Rose. It had a gorgeous black lace appliqué delicately stitched over an ivory strapless gown with a boned bodice, which provided extra support for my oversized breasts and the lace provided lovely, short-capped sleeves. The dress dipped in the back though not low enough to show off my tattoo. The only tattoo that would be visible would be the one on my right arm but I was happy to show it off since it was feminine and the heart combined with a music note was a perfect dedication to the day.

Talia, my maid of honor, was wearing a gorgeous one shoulder, black lace gown by Emilio Pucci, which ironically, cost more than my wedding dress. In my former life, this would have irritated me to no end but now, I frankly couldn’t be bothered to give a damn. We both chose the dresses we liked and that’s the way it should have always been.

The bridesmaids: Laurel, Sasha and Jerrica, were all wearing floor-length, black lace, cap-sleeved downs with silk boned bodices to cover their goods in the front while the lace swept all the way to their panty lines in the back and smooth silk took over.

I admit it seemed a bit gothic for my bridesmaids to be dressed in black but Talia wanted them all to match me somehow and no one liked the idea of an ivory dress so black became the color they all agreed upon.

To be honest, when we finally all met up with one another, away from the men since Kaz couldn’t see me until the wedding, we didn’t look gothic at all. We actually looked like were about to attend the Academy Awards or the Grammys to be honest. All of our dresses were expensive, tailored and fit us perfectly.

All four opted for fancy chignons and when I looked at them carefully, they all wore the same St. Christopher Medal pendants I had on except theirs was white and black agate on platinum chains. I had fresh tears in my eyes I tried to hold back but they tumbled down my cheeks anyway and Talia strolled over in a flash to wipe them with Kleenex before she repaired my makeup.

“Put your big girl panties on and I don’t want to see
any
crying, you got that?” She glared at me with pale green eyes. “This is a happy occasion and there is no reason for any tears. Not when Kaz puts the ring on your finger, not when you have your wedding dance and certainly not when you cut the cake. Look at me, I’m serious, Syd.”

I nodded my head compliantly and breathed deeply. “Fine. No more tears. I promise.”

“Why couldn’t I ever make you do that?” Laurel dead-panned. “It’s so unfair because you never listened to me and I’m your best friend too and have been since we were both in diapers!”

Everyone, including me, stared at my other best friend before we all broke into laughter. She seemed offended for a moment before she rolled her hazel-green eyes and laughed along with the rest of us.

Today was going to be a great day.

THE WEDDING CEREMONY itself didn’t take very long.

Kaz and I both agreed to get married at Vogue Hotel and Casino because it was free and great publicity for the hotel. Plus all our guests stayed for free too since the band had an exclusive contract with the hotel.

Of course the day brought out both Winter’s Regret and Scarlet Fever fans so the hotel was swarmed and the area we were using to get married had to be blocked off and guarded by security. Every wedding guest had to wear a special silver chain on their wrist and they were uniquely designed by Tiffany & Co. for us so security would know guests from paparazzi or journalists trying to sneak past.