Uncontrollable (35 page)

She didn’t show or call her back.

 My life has been replaced with wedding planning
and baby stuff. When we are in bed her tablet is on while she looks for things.
She will show me things and ask my opinion just like Micah said she would, but
I find it refreshing. I love that she asks for my opinion.

“I need a new beer.” Parker stands pulling me out
of my thoughts.

“Me too,” Micah says also standing.

 I get up and follow them into the kitchen. Angel
and Holly are going through a few magazines that Holly had brought over. My
eyes instantly go to her wrists. The sight of them still makes me sick. The
bruises on her face are pretty much gone. The only one that remains is the one
on her forehead from Jax shoving her head into the dashboard. Last night when
we told our friends about her pregnancy, there were tears shed. Everyone feels
bad for what happened to her. I think we all blame ourselves in some way. I
even caught Parker staring at her wrists several times last night. I think he’s
taking it harder than he wants to let on.

After he arrested Jax, he called to tell me that
her car was trashed. There was blood on the dash, and you could see that they
had struggled in it. And he had found a baggie of drugs in her glove box. I
told him I would pay to have it cleaned and then to fucking sell it. There was
no need for her to see that car and have flashbacks.

 “Have you picked out flowers yet?” Holly asks her
getting my attention.

 “Yes. They were the first thing I decided on.”

 “Hopefully you picked black roses,” Parker says
bending over into the fridge to grab some beers.

I also notice that he has been teasing her more
lately. Like he’s trying to cover up the real emotion he felt when he found her
in that basement and the terror in his eyes that I saw when he realized she had
been drugged.

 “Why black?” Angel asks turning to face him. “Oh,
because black is Slade’s favorite color?” she asks.

 “No.” He turns around and smirks at her. “Because
marrying kills you.” He looks at me, and I don’t miss the wink he gives me.
“You have totally killed the Slade I know. Now he is going to be a little bitch
to a demanding pussy that has a hold of his balls forever.” He shudders. “It’s
pathetic.”

 Holly gasps, thinking he’s serious, and Micah
starts laughing knowing he just wants to get her riled up.

 Angel picks up the knife that sits in front of her
with icing on it from when they had baked a cake earlier. She had been craving
chocolate cake all day.

 She turns to face him and leans back against the
island. “You know what, Parker? One day the right girl is going to come along.”
He laughs at where her point is going. “And she is going to grab a hold of you
by the balls.” His laughter dies down. “And I am going to enjoy watching her
squeeze the life out of you, as you so colorfully put it,” she finishes off
before she slides her index finger down the knife picking up the leftover icing
before putting her finger in her mouth and sucking off the icing.

 Angel doesn’t know that Parker was there, that he
was the one to find her down in that basement. That he lied to the cops and
falsified evidence to make sure Jax would spend the rest of his life in jail,
or the fact that he was there at the hospital when she had her freak outs. And
we all want to keep it that way.

The drugs Tate left along with the beating he gave
Jax… Parker took care of all of that and made sure it all went against Jax. I
made a call about Dallas; who we had left back in his office tied to a chair
and gagged. Tate made a call to give away Jax’s location, all anonymous of
course. But Parker looks at her differently. He’s called every day and come
over to check on her since he walked out of her hospital room after I had to
have her sedated. And I know he’s just as terrified as me now that Jax is
trying to get immunity but he’s gonna do whatever he can to make sure that
doesn’t happen.

 Parker shakes his head. “Won’t happen,
sweetheart.”

 “Oh it will. Look at all your friends. They all
have someone.”

“Tate doesn’t,” he responds with a smile.

She rolls her eyes. “He’s the exception.”

He laughs at her excuse. “Well maybe I can be an
exception as well,” he offers.

 She shakes her head. “There can’t be two.”

He goes to quip some comment to her but she turns
away from him clearly ending their conversation. She speaks to Holly. “I picked
yellow lilies because they were my mom’s favorite flowers.” Then she looks up
at me. “But if you want to do black, we can.”

Her mother’s favorite.
I walk over to her
and place a kiss on her forehead. “Yellow lilies sound perfect, Angel.”

 Parker’s face falls, and he looks down to his
beer. “Sam I...” He’s about to apologize for mentioning black flowers. He knows
how her mother passed and how hard it was on her. But his apology is cut off by
her cell phone ringing.

I go to walk out of the kitchen when I catch sight
of a picture of a cake sitting on the counter. “What’s this for?” I ask Holly
since Angel is now on her phone.

 “Oh, she has decided to make your wedding cake.”
She claps her hands excitedly.

 “Really?” I ask surprised. I look up to Angel as
she speaks on her phone. She catches me watching and mouths
your mother
as if I was wondering who she was talking to.

 I smile walking out of the kitchen.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Two weeks goes by a lot
faster than you can imagine. Slade finally started going to the firm a few days
a week. Tate is starting to stay at his own house again. He is even bringing
girls around. The only thing I still can’t figure out is Missy. She has been
ignoring all of us. I’ve tried calling her and texting. She never answers her
phone, and her texts are short. Slade just keeps telling me that it has to do
with her school.

 She finally answered me yesterday and sounded like
she had a bad cold. I invited her to my wedding shower, but she sadly declined
saying she didn’t feel like getting out, but promised she would be at the
wedding. I’m pretty sure the only reason she’s coming is because she’s in it.

It’s the night before my wedding day, and we are
all gathered in the Long’s living room with the exception of Missy, as I open
all of my gifts. I hold up a box that says from Courtney A.K.A. Kitten on it. I
rip off the white wrapping paper and silver bow to reveal a white box. I look
up at her, and she smiles as she rubs her growing belly.

 Opening it up, I uncover a white lace teddy. “For
your wedding night,” she says with a little laugh.

I hold it up to my body and smile. “Thank you,
Courtney.”

 “Is there any way I can see that tonight?”

I spin around and shove it back into the box when I
see Slade standing at the end of the living room with a smile on his face. He’s
wearing a gray t-shirt that has black scribble across his chest and a pair of
dark blue jeans on. His leather jacket hangs loose on his broad shoulders as he
slumps against the doorframe.

 “What are you doing here?” I ask surprised.

“I thought I would come by and say hello.” He
pushes away and starts to walk toward me.

 “Liar,” I say with a smile.

As he reaches me I realize his hands are behind his
back. “What are you doing?” I repeat trying to see his hands.

“I had a gift to deliver,” he says bringing his
hands around to his front. He is holding a small box that is wrapped in light
yellow wrapping paper.

“A gift?” I ask raising an eyebrow.

He clears his throat, and I look up at him. His
face is expressionless, but I can see the apprehension in his eyes.

I look around at everyone in the now silent room as
they watch us. Courtney already has tears rolling down her face, but that’s not
unusual. Her pregnancy hormones had her bawling yesterday when we watched a
commercial for Walmart.She said that there was just something so heartwarming
about a little boy riding a bicycle. It practically had her in sobs. Poor
thing. What does make me pause are the tears running down Vivian’s face.

What is going on?

 Does she know what’s in this box? And why is that
thought making me hesitate to open it?

I bring my eyes back to Slade as he places his hand
in mine. He leads me back over to the couch and sits down, pulling me beside
him. He places the box on my lap and guides my chin to look over at him.

“Since you have entered my life, I have wanted to
give you everything you have ever wanted.” He releases a sigh. “But there are
things in life that are out of my reach, Angel. And those things tear me apart.
I once told you I was going to give you the world but sometimes the world is a
cruel place,” he says softly.

When he doesn’t say anything else I look down at
the box, and I feel that whatever is in this box means a lot to him. And it’s
going to mean a lot to me.

 Everyone in the room is silent as they watch me
slowly untie the beautiful off-white ribbon and carefully tear the tape holding
the paper together on the sides. I take a deep breath and lift the lid off the
box. Letting the breath out, I pull back the tissue paper to reveal a thin
silver anklet chain that has a small silver heart locket.

Lifting it up I open the locket and see a picture
of my mother. I feel a knot form in my throat and tears fill my eyes. I run my
finger down the small picture. It’s of her on her wedding day. The same one I
have sitting on our fireplace mantel. She is smiling and looks so happy.

 I look at the other side of the locket to see it
holds the other half of the picture; my father dressed in his tux with the
biggest smile on his face.

 I can’t hold back the sob that escapes my lips. I
can’t explain the emotions that are running through me. All I know is that I
can’t pull my eyes away from them.

 “Angel?”

 “Yes?” I croak still looking at my parents’
pictures.

 “Will you look at me?” The desperation in his
voice has my eyes slowly looking over at him.

His baby blue eyes are locked on mine, and he
reaches up placing a hand on either side of my face. He gently runs his thumbs
along my cheeks as he wipes the tears away. “I know you would give anything for
them to be here with you on our wedding day. For your mother to see how
beautiful you look and for your father to walk you down the aisle.”

Another sob wracks my body. “And they will be,
Angel.” He looks down at the ankle bracelet and then his eyes move back to mine
“Every step of the way. They will be right here with you as I vow to always
love you and take care of you. My Angel.”

I close my eyes as new tears slide down my cheeks.
“Thank you, Slade.” I try to sound as thankful as I truly am but it comes out
forced. The lump in my throat is making it hard for me to form words.

He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into his
chest. One arm holding onto me tightly while the other rubs my hair down my
back. “I love you,” he says before he kisses my hair.

 I can’t speak. I nod my head quickly into his
shirt as I sniff. He holds me like that for several minutes until I can calm
myself down. When I finally pull away he gives me a soft smile. “You okay?” he
asks helping me rub the tears off of my face.

 I nod. “Thank you. It’s beautiful.”

He leans over again and kisses my forehead before
he stands and looks around the room. “I won’t keep you ladies,” he says
somewhat shyly like he just realized a room full of my girlfriends and his
mother were watching our exchange.

 Courtney gives him an evil look as she tries to
control her tears, and Vivian stands to give him a hug goodbye.

 “I’ll walk you out,” I say standing. He takes my
hand, and he says one last goodbye to everyone before I walk him out to his
car.

 “I love you,” I say as he opens his car door.

He looks down at me and smiles. “I should have
waited and done it privately,” he says frowning. “But I don’t get to see you
tomorrow.”

“No. I loved that you did it in front of the
girls.” I love when he shows others how much I mean to him.

 He looks unsure but gives me a small smile before
he kisses me one last time and gets in his car to drive off.

I walk back into the house to see everyone using
tissues and it makes me laugh.

“This is not funny,” Courtney says placing her
hands on her hips. I laugh harder. It’s hard to take a pregnant woman serious
when she looks so adorable.

“It was very sweet.” I sigh, going to pick up the
box off of the couch.

Her mouth drops. “Sweet? That’s like torture in its
best form. He literally broke my heart while stitching it back together.”

I smirk as she starts to tear up again. She takes
the anklet from my hand and smiles through her tears. “He was right,” she says continuing
to look down at the pictures. “They will be with you every step of the way.”
Then her eyes lift to mine. “They would be so proud of you, Sam.”

I huff as I feel the stinging sensation in my eyes
again. “I think being around you is making me emotional,” I admit.

 She smiles. “It’s that baby in your belly that’s
doing it, so get used to it.” Then she pulls me in for a hug. And we let the
waterworks flow.

I stand in my kitchen with
Micah talking about work when I hear the front door open and close.

 “You’re an ass,” Josh says entering my kitchen.

“Well hello to you too. I didn’t hear you knock,” I
say with a smile.

 “That’s because I didn’t,” he says flatly.

“What’s wrong with you?” I chuckle.

“The pregnant sex must not be good,” Micah chimes
in from beside me.

 I snort, trying to hold in my laughter, and Josh
scowls at him. “No, for your information, the pregnancy sex is just as good as
the everyday sex.” Then his eyes turn to me. “You gave Sam that anklet, and
Courtney keeps calling my cell while she cries her eyes out.”

 I frown. “Why does that make me an ass?” I thought
that was a sentimental gift.

“Because she keeps saying you’re the sweetest thing
ever…” He waves his hands in the air rolling his eyes. “Suck ass.”

 “Maybe you need to up your game, Josh?” I tease.

 He sighs. “It’s hard on her. You know she’s still
trying to find her father.”

 Angel and I have known this since the fight they
had outside of the bar one night. Her and Josh came over afterwards and
Courtney apologized saying she had been trying to find her father, and it was
messing with her emotions.

“She still hasn’t found out anything yet?” I ask.

 He shakes his head. “But speaking of fathers.” He
pauses. “Can you guys keep a secret?”

That makes me and Micah stand up straighter, and we
nod quickly. Josh sets a brown paper bag on the kitchen island and pulls out
one bottle of Crown and another bottle of rum.

 “Shit.” That is a ton of alcohol.

 “We are celebrating, my friends.” Josh claps his
hands together.

 “It’s not official yet,” Micah says pointing a
finger at him.

“Get used to it. We lost.” He smiles to Micah.

I look between them a few times wondering what they
are talking about before Josh waves him off. “We are celebrating my best friend
getting married. Thank God that he finally found the girl for him.” I smile.
“And then we are celebrating the secret,” he says happily.

“Which is?” I prompt.

He gets a big smile on his face. “Courtney and I
are having twins,” he says throwing his hands out to his side with a big
shit-eating grin on his face.

 “Holy shit.” Micah’s jaw drops to the floor.

I stand up and pull Josh into a tight hug. “That’s
awesome, man. Congratulations.”

 “I couldn’t believe it.” Josh shakes his head.
“Two. I’m having two babies,” he says still smiling.

I turn around and get us some glasses down and pull
the pop out of the fridge before filling the cups with ice.

 “When did you find this out?” I ask.

“We’ve known for a while but she wanted to keep it
a secret. Afraid that something would happen to one of the babies.”

 I can respect that. We had done the same thing
about Angel being pregnant.

 “Where’s dipshit?” Josh asks looking as if he just
realizes Parker’s not here.

 “He’s running late,” I say.

 “You don’t think he’s going to show up with
strippers do you?” Micah asks.

“He better fucking not. Parker will never here the
end of it,” I say pouring us some drinks.

 “Never here the end of what?” Parker asks walking
into the kitchen with Tate by his side.

Micah answers, “We were about to take bets if you
were going to show up with strippers.”

 Parker snorts as he grabs his dick through his
jeans. “No thanks. I value my cock and balls too much. The devil would have
them removed if I showed up at her house with strippers.” He cringes as Tate
laughs out loud.

 “She will have your dick and balls if she hears
you call her that,” I say making his and Tate’s drink.

 “What can I say? I like to live dangerously,” he
states before he takes a sip. “But not too dangerously.” He cups himself again.

Parker strikes up a conversation about his brunette
hottie that had him running late while I pull my cell out of my pocket and text
my soon to be wife.

Me:
I hope you have a great night with
the girls. Can’t wait to see you tomorrow
.