Page 12 of Into the Fire

“Yeah,” I muttered.

“Bit early for all that,” Anson muttered. “Unless. . .?”

“We set a date,” Rosalie said, giving him a quick, tight smile.

“Ah.” A muscle thrummed along Anson’s jaw, and he shot me an unmistakable scowl.

“When is the date?” He cleared his throat.

“Uh, August fifteenth,” she answered before nibbling on her bottom lip.

“Still a bit early,” he muttered.

“Well, he’s making us buy other shit too,” I said. “We have the engagement party this spring, and it sounds like this shit has to be ordered in because it’s specially made designer bullshit.”

Rosie gave me a sympathetic smile. She knew I wasn’t into all this stuff.

“You’ll have fun,” she said, going on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek. “You guys need a normal day out.”

I begrudgingly agreed. We hadn’t exactly had many of those. The idea seemed to genuinely make her happy, so I plastered a smile on my face over the entire thing.

“What about the wedding dress?” Anson asked, nothing in the question suggesting he wanted her to have one. I could understand. Hell, I was living in those same feelings, but I alsoknew it was really the only way since Enzo was so fucking stubborn about his family traditions.

Unless some miracle came about, this was just how it was going to have to be, shitty as it was.

“I don’t know,” she mumbled. “I have to call my mom and Jamie.”

“Babe, you need to do that soon,” I said gently.

“I know,” she sighed. “You know how my dad was about everything. Things are better, but they aren’t like they were before. . .” her voice trailed off.

I got it. Before she had four guys. I knew I was accepted, but the other three weren’t exactly welcomed into the Bishop's home with open arms. This would probably only make it worse since it wasn’t me marrying her.

“Come on,” Anson said, nodding for us to follow. “Walk and talk. We have class.”

He reminded me of Cole for a moment. Cole drove me practically nuts with being on time. I didn’t mind walking into a place a few minutes late. It seemed Anson and Cole shared a similar quirk. Or maybe I was the odd one out for not giving a damn if I were late for something.

Better late than neverwas my motto.

We fell in step with Anson and continued our trek. I didn’t push the dress subject and neither did Anson. I knew she wanted to marry Enzo simply because of her love for him, but I also knew if she had her way, we’d all be up there with her. As it stood, this was simply the best it was going to get. We’d beenforever’das Cole had dubbed it, so this was it. Our rings were a symbol of her love and commitment.

It did sadden me to know I’d never get my ceremony with her though. I shoved the thought out of my head. Whenever I thought about it, I’d go into a funk that was hard to get out of.

We entered the class together and made to take seats in the back, but Anson snagged Rosie’s hand and led her to the front, her gripping me tightly and forcing me to follow.

I grumbled as we took seats and shot Anson a sour look.

“Front is better,” he said to me with a shrug.

I rolled my eyes at him but settled in.

Class started, and I listened while the professor droned on and on about the importance of vocal warm-ups. We did some introduction shit before some worksheets. Overall, it was pretty standard class shit that I found boring, but I caught the tiny smile on Rosie’s lips and it made it worthwhile.

When classes finished, we left, my arm around her and Anson on her other side like a third wheel. If he noticed, he didn’t seem to care.

“Where would you like to go tonight?” he asked as we walked.

“Can we go to that singing club everyone hangs out at?” Her green eyes glimmered.

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