Page 100 of Hunter

“Fuck yeah!” Jax hooted before Anna slapped him on the arm.

“Three-year-old, you dipshit,” Anna hissed.

“Seriously?”

Mallory burst out laughing and buried her head back into my neck, Adair wrapped tightly between us. She wobbled, and I tightened my grip and pulled them closer to stop them from falling.

“You better hold on tight,” Mallory whispered into my ear at my breath of relief. I could hear her soft chuckle beneath Anna and Jax’s squabbling, with Wolf trying to shut them up.

I smiled into her hair, feeling like the happiest man in the world, and whispered back, “Don’t worry; I ain’t ever letting you go.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Mallory

Isatinside the clubhouse two weeks later, joined by the club girls, old ladies, Anna, Kay, and Bell—basically anyone with a vagina—as we waited for the men to come back inside. I was annoyed, if not pissed, at their need for this archaic ritual that seemed completely pointless if you asked me. I made it known, too, as Anna passed me a beer.

Georgia, who turned out to be nice though outwardly bitchy, painted my toenails. She had finished my fingernails a few minutes earlier after I had been pampered from head to toe the entire day. Why? Because I was getting married tomorrow to my fiancé, who had insisted on having the wedding as soon as humanly possible. The sooner I was chained to him, the better.

And where was this fiancé, you ask? He was getting his ass kicked in the parking lot.

“It’s fucking stupid,” I seethed. “The wedding theme is ivory, not black and blue!”

“Stop moving,” Georgia instructed. “You’re gonna ruin the paint.”

“It’s club tradition,” Baby said from where she and the other girls sat on one couch, the old ladies on the other. “This way, they get everything off their chests.”

“Don’t worry about Hunter,” Amanda, Polo’s old lady, said. “He’s a big boy. He can handle himself.” She only rarely came to the club, choosing to stay at home with the kids, who were all but grown now. She was a lovely lady, and I wished she had been here on that awkward first day when I had clashed with the club women. She was mothering and had been the one to tell the other old ladies off once she had found out what had happened. That was after both Anna and Kay had chewed them out. Now, the old ladies didn’t bristle at me when they saw me. They had somewhat warmed up to me, but there was still a lot of work there. Even so, they had all jumped in to help with the festivities, because nothing brought women together like a wedding.

“But Wolf is huge,” I said, emphasizing his massiveness with my arms.

Wolf, Ripper, and Hunter were the biggest brothers in the club, and while Ripper and Hunter had only an inch or so difference in height, Wolf was at least six-seven. That was almost three inches taller than Hunter. Not to mention, he was also bulkier and broader.

“Wolf’s an old man with pride,” Anna scoffed. “He’ll get as pummeled as Hunter will. Then they’ll get over it.”

“If Wolf hits him in the face, I swear I’ll kill him,” I seethed.

I already told Hunter if he came back black and blue, I was going to cover him in makeup. No way in hell were my wedding photos going to be sacrificed because of this stupid rite. Why couldn’t guys kiss and make up over apologies like normal people?

“Jeez, Mal, didn’t think you were the bridezilla type.” Bell laughed, swapping my beer out for a pink martini. “Where’s the squirt, anyway?” She looked around the room for my little page boy.

“My mom’s looking after him while she’s having the church decorated,” I answered, taking a sip of the fruity drink. “How’d you know how to make this, anyway? You’re only eighteen.”

Kay grinned. “I taught her all she knows. Figured she better learn what it is she’s drinking before she hits the streets in a few years.”

Bell sat down beside me, making the couch bounce and Georgia growl. Bell growled back before scowling at her mom.

“Yeah, she also let me drink as much as I liked on my eighteenth birthday party at the house so I’d experience a real hangover to deter me.” Her face soured at the memory. “God, it was awful.”

I looked over at Kay, shocked.

She just shrugged, guilt-free. “She hasn’t tried to sneak drinks since.”

I had thought of Kay as the soft, mothering type. Apparently, though, she was loaded with a lot of tough love.

Anna laughed as she looked between mother and daughter. “Yeah, I even offered her some vodka last week, and she looked like she might puke.”

“Anna!” Kay chastised.

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