Page 123 of Rent Free

Shayne snorted. “It rains, yes. But your wedding is inside.”

That was true.

“I’m scared I won’t be able to walk,” I breathed.

“Then I’ll carry you.”

I looked up to find Atlas there.

I knew he would be.

I mean, Forest didn’t arrive on his own.

“I don’t want you to carry me,” I grumbled, standing up again with the physical therapist’s help.

Linda, my PT, lifted me using the belt around my waist.

I walked to the end of the bar.

It was hard.

It was stupidly hard.

But I did it.

And I’d keep doing it.

For them.

ATLAS

6 months after the accident

I stood at the end of the aisle.

My heart was pounding.

It wasn’t pounding because I was about to get married and sign my life away—I’d gladly give my life for hers a million times over.

No, it was pounding because I was standing in the middle of an open field with all of my brothers on one side, all of Pepper’s brothers on the other, and she was walking down the aisle on her father’s arm.

Her father who looked like he was with it today.

Thank God.

That’d been her one and only want throughout this entire process.

She wanted her father to walk her down the aisle.

She didn’t care where we had it, when we had it, or who was there.

She just wanted to be walked down the aisle by her father.

What did I want?

I wanted to marry her.

As long as she was happy with everything, I didn’t care how she got there. As long as she said ‘I do’ at the end of the day.

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