Page 9 of Bound by Blood

“I like her!” Lucy Miller’s voice floated down the hall after her.

“Right?!” Jane agreed.

CHAPTER FIVE

Laney stared at herself in the mirror and sighed in despair. She was unrecognizable. How had her life come to this? One moment she was a top Yakuza assassin being sent out on assignment, the next she was a… bridesmaid? And she had actual female friends, something she’d never been able to claim before coming to North America.

The door burst open and Laney automatically reached for her gun, only to realize it was not sheathed in its usual place at her back. Instead, she had it tucked into a holster between her thighs. Not a comfortable place, but there was no way she was walking down a freaking aisle without a weapon. And the rose-coloured, satin sheath she was wearing gave her few concealment options. Three women rushed through the door. Two dressed similarly to Laney and one dressed in a stunning white creation that cost more than the groom wanted to know.

“Holy shit, she’s actually wearing a dress!” Anya shouted. She wore a strapless, knee-length crinoline-skirted version of the rose-coloured satin dress that had Laney wondering how she ended up with a scoop-necked tight version that showed every damn curve. “You owe me fifty dollars, Addie!”

“Seriously?” Addison said, entering the room on Claudia’s arm. She looked stunning in her own version of the dress that bared one shoulder and draped classically down her tall, curvy body, kissing every inch lovingly. Claudia definitely had an eye for fashion and figures. “I guess I underestimated how much Laney loves Claudia.”

“I love my job. She threatened to fire me,” Laney grumbled, tugging on the skirt and hoping it didn’t look as figure-hugging as the mirror indicated.

Claudia put Addison’s hand on the back of a chair and reached out to run her fingers through Laney’s hair, smoothing the beautiful, straight black hair over the younger woman’s shoulders. She stepped in front of Laney and hugged the smaller, deadlier woman close. Laney usually had a pretty strict no-touching policy, unless it was ass-kicking lesson time, but she figured since it was Claudia’s wedding day she could relax her professional persona a touch.

“You look stunning,” Claudia whispered, pulling back, her green eyes sparkling with tears.

“Your make-up will run,” Laney said in as practical a voice as she could manage, her own eyes tearing. She blinked back the unfamiliar sensation and stepped back from the taller woman.

Having friends was so new to her that she often found herself navigating uncomfortable situations and sensations with these three women. She jerked her head around in annoyance at a clicking sound to find Anya taking pictures.

Anya grinned unrepentantly. “Blackmail material. I doubt you want pics of you in a dress and make-up hanging around for all eternity.”

“You have no filter, small purple-haired Russian brat!” Laney snapped, reaching under her dress, determined to once again shove a gun in Anya’s face, their usual method of communication.

Claudia laughed throatily. “We don’t have time for this. It’s aisle time ladies, and I assure you, if you think I've been a bridezilla up till now, you’ve seen nothing yet if anything fucks up my perfect wedding day.”

Anya stopped taking pictures and rolled her eyes. “Fine. I think I got one of her with her hand all up in her business anyway. Besides, you have the biggest hitters from the Russian and Italian mafia out there and your personal bodyguard is wearing Elie Saab with a gun strapped to the inside of her thigh. How exactly do you think your wedding day is going to go flawlessly?"

Laney growled at the pixie-like troublemaker.

Claudia grinned and hugged Anya. “You are a grade A pain in my ass and I still love you! Even after all that tequila at my bachelorette… and the penthouse pool full of strawberry Jell-O.”

“It didn’t work out the way I planned. It was more like Jell-O soup,” Anya complained thoughtfully while Addison giggled in the background. “Your pool it way too big, Clods. Next time I’ll have to bring more than 300 Jell-O packets.”

Laney wanted to laugh too, but she bit her lip. She’d never in her life done anything so outrageous or fun. She thought she was going to get fired when Daniel discovered them. He’d merely looked surprised, helped discreetly pull the naked, drunk and dyed pink women from the pool and had security take them home while he took care of his own woman. To be fair, it was Laney’s day off and Claudia told her she had a duty as a bridesmaid to attend the bachelorette party. She had discovered the next morning, during her very first hangover, exactly how much of a sacrifice that duty could be.

“You’ve been banned from my penthouse for the foreseeable future, according to my imminent husband,” Claudia announced. “As for the less savoury elements of my wedding guests, your brother is out there, Anastasia, and he’s the scariest of the bunch. As the adored younger sister of Vladimir Sitnikov, I expect you to pull out some serious pout action on behalf of your best friend if he decides to fuck up my wedding day.”

Anya stood up straight as her diminutive height would allow and gave Claudia a salute, “On it, bestie! Let’s get on with this bitch. There’s an open bar out there with my name on it!”

Addison made her way over to Laney and gently took her elbow. Leaning over, she whispered in Laney’s ear, “Don’t tell her she’s part of the wedding party and subject to pictures before she gets to hit up the reception.”

A small smile curved Laney’s lips. “I’m happy to keep her in order.”

“If only your methods weren’t so violent.”

“Violence makes me feel peaceful. I sleep better at night after a good ass-kicking,” Laney whispered back.

Addison laughed and squeezed Laney’s arm affectionately. “You are as much of a brat as Anya. You just hide it better.”

“Are we ready?” Claudia asked, adjusting her dress and turning her beautiful eyes toward her three friends. “I think I’ve left my groom sweating long enough.”

Tyson King was an orphan and had few close friends. The only person he wanted standing at his side was Daniel Mercer. As there was only one groomsman and three bridesmaids, one of which was blind, she decided to send the three women down the aisle together, side by side.

Addison stood tall between Laney and Anya, trusting her two smaller friends to get her to the front of the beautifully decorated ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton. They moved easily up the aisle between the chairs, confident with each other. As they neared the front, Laney felt the momenthiseyes touched her. Though her feet, in strappy silver heels, continued gliding forward, in her mind, she stumbled. Recoiled.

---