Page 34 of To Have and To Hold

Jackie burst into tears and blurted out, “I made the biggest mistake of my life last night. I got married.” Jackie held up the wedding band that shone bright on her left third finger.

She moved toward Coco and hugged her friend, needing comfort. Coco wrapped her arms around her in shock and heard her say, “What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

Chapter 18

Colin’s mind raced with everything that happened during and after Vegas, leading up to his big day today. He was getting married to Coco in the next half hour at her family’s church in Barbados.

He couldn’t believe that Abbott had gotten married before him and was still at this moment trying to sort out everything with Jackie. After the initial shock wore off, his brother had decided that being married to Jackie; he now didn’t have to go to the trouble of searching for a wife. He had one right now at his disposal and had settled into the idea of being a married man, but Jackie on the other hand was not playing along and was causing Abbott grief. A smirk graced his features, he didn’t envy his younger brother‘s predicament, Jackie was going to be a handful. No one knew of the marriage yet but him, Jacob and Coco and if Jackie got her way, no one would. But Colin knew his younger brother and his stubbornness, and the way he was looking at Jackie since arriving in Barbados, said she was about to be in trouble.

His mind turned to everyone that had arrived to support his and Coco’s big day. He was pleased that Shayla, Valentina and Iris, his half-brothers’ mothers were here for his big day. All three women had been a very important part in his life growing up, despite the fact they were not in good terms with his father and were tolerating him while he was here attending his wedding to Coco.

His father stood beside him as he adjusted his tie, the mood tense between them. He’d lost the buffer of his brothers as they had all left to help usher in the wedding guests. He still felt hot all over, unable to cool down even with the ceiling fan andAC going on in the church. He stared at himself in the tall mirror and his eyes met the same blue of his father’s. His face looking like it was chiseled in stone and his mouth held in a sad smirk. But there was something else on his face at this moment, that looked like regret. He thought he imagined it because in a blink it was gone, and he stiffened when he heard his father say.

“So even after our conversation that night, you decided not to heed my words.”

“I warned you, son, that you were falling in love with her the way I fell for your mother and that you will end up like me if something should happen to her. You will follow the same fate as me one day and will live in darkness when she is gone.”

“It is not like that, Dad. I—”

His father gave a dismissive, short laugh. “You’re lying to yourself, son, and you know it. You went back to her because you couldn’t stay away any longer and when you see her walking down the aisle to you, then you will finally admit to yourself what she means to you. When that happens there will be no going back.”

His father shook his head and Colin froze inside, his head spinning because his father was right. They’d always been able to read each other, and he knew that he tried burying his feelings for her over the years; why else would he have kept tabs on her and then come to her with a proposal of marriage. A realization came over him and he felt at peace and joy with the sudden knowledge that it had hurt him badly the first time he had to let her go and he’d survived, but now, he had no plan of ever losing her.

Being with her these past months had grown into something more than what they had as young high school kids. They’d grown while apart and experienced life, but being withher now, he’d never felt so alive and connected to another soul, even his family. Her smile, laugh and teasing, lit a glow in his heart; her kisses soothed his soul; her body accepting his made him feel like he could conquer the world. She was his lady, and he planned after today to make their marriage a reality. He smiled with this vow and his expression changed to one of determination.

“Colin—” his father’s voice was harsh with warning.

But then there was a knock on the door and it opened to reveal Dyson’s mom, Shaya, standing there in a yellow jumpsuit. She sported light blue pumps on her feet and a light blue clutch purse, her twists on top of her head, and big gold earrings in her ears. Her eyes were done in yellow and blues, her already smooth face concealed by foundation and powder, cheeks shimmering with a light blush and her lips wearing a flesh-toned gloss. Even at her age and having two children, her body had snapped back into the athletic shape from her youth as a track star. She now owned several gyms for women.

“Thanks, Shaya.” He said as he approached her and leaned down to offer a kiss of affection. He loved each one of his half-brothers’ mothers, but had a soft spot for Shayla, who showered him with love but didn’t handle him with kid gloves because he had an absentee father. Shayla wasn’t afraid to speak her mind if she thought you needed to be dealt with and humbled. She pulled him into her, giving him a hug and kissed his cheek. “So very proud of you and the man you have become.”

She pulled back with tears in her brown eyes and a happy smile on her face. Then she nodded and jerked her head for him to go. He strode down the short hallway to the inside of the church, where his brothers were waiting along with Coco’s bridesmaids, leaving his father behind.

****

Brock Norris went to follow his son when Shaya stepped into his path.

“His future is not yours, Norris.” He grimaced in irritation because she’d always refused to use his given name, and it shouldn’t matter to him but for some reason hearing his last name pass over her lips grated on his nerves.

“And he is not you either.” He lifted his eyebrows at her pointed comment. “He is a lot stronger and open to love thanks to his grandfather teaching them what love looks like and moving on even if you lose that special someone, and to not abandon the living who need and love you.”

“You don’t know anything.” He bristled, but a sense of guilt shot through him. He had begun to realize how much he was missing when he saw his children all together hear in Barbados and how all grown up, they were. The bond they shared with each other and their grandfather. A sense of jealousy for his father had come over him before he acknowledged that he only had himself to blame.

“You stopped living and became a shell of a son and father; he won’t. Thank God it was only that one time and the only remarkable thing about that night was that we conceived our son.” She snorted in disgust and then looked him up and down as if he was a bug in the room, then turned to walk away, but a sudden rage poured through. Everyone had been making him feel guilty for loving the only woman that was his everything to him and he never wanted to feel that loss again so he’d distance himself from ever having feelings for another person and that included his sons and their mothers.

“Don’t you walk away from me.” He strode after her as she stepped to the door.

“Ha that crown is yours alone, I am going to go and watch your son get married to the woman that he loves, and the rest of them and our son will hopefully follow. And not—”

Shayla let out a small squeal of surprise when he pulled her around and then up against the wall. His knee pressed her legs apart and he pushed himself into her. His cock rose at the feel of her warmth against him.

“That wasn’t only the remarkable thing about that night, Shayla.” He chided.

He leaned forward, despite her hands bracing against his chest and he licked the side of her neck and suckled her ear into his mouth, remembering how she liked it. He could feel her shiver and her heart was now racing against his chest.

“I remember sinking myself into your juicy, wet pussy over and over again. Making you scream. The little hitch in your breath you would do when you were about to come still haunts my dreams today.” He bit her neck hard as if to punish her for that slight confession.

“ And I bet right now you are getting wet for me.” He whispered against her ear and chuckled when she groaned as he pressed his knee up into her and moved his leg back and forth, feeling her hard clit through her clothes. She was no longer pushing him away but now gripped his shoulder as he used his knee to bring her to completion. Her breath hitched as he remembered, and he swallowed back his own groan as he almost came from her sighs.

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