Page 127 of Queen of Anarchy (Dirty Broken Savages 2)

45

River

The restof the week passes way too slow and too fast all at the same time. It’s like every time I look up and check the date, it feels like no time at all has passed, but then I can’t really remember what I did the day before.

It’s all a flurry of planning and plotting and making last minute adjustments to the plan to make sure this all goes off without a hitch.

Knox runs his simulations on the blueprints for the church with all of us over and over again, until we know our parts by heart. I’ve never seen this church in person, but I’m starting to dream about it now, about walking my path to get to where I need to be when I need to be there.

I think it’s pretty safe to say I have it down.

Gage is a planner, and the others follow his lead, so we all know the plan backward and forward before we’re even two days out. I know it’s important, and we have to be prepared, but at the same time, I can’t wait to just have it all go down and get it over with.

Rehashing it every day just makes it seem bigger in my head, and I want to be past this part already.

I want to get to the part where Hannah is safe and happy already. I want one goddamn thing to finally go right for her, so she doesn’t have to deal with Julian or anyone else from the Maduro family again. So she can raise her kid and start moving on from the abuse and pain they all put her through.

It’s that thought that I come back to throughout all the planning of this.It’s for Hannah. So she can live a better life.

All the guys have an air of determination about them, like they’re ready for anything and will do whatever it takes to make sure this works out. They’re just as committed to this as I am, except instead of doing it just for Hannah, they’re doing it for me.

It’s sexy and inspiring at the same time, and it’s kind of crazy how good it feels to not be doing this shit on my own for once. I always made it work, always got my mark one way or another, but it’s nice to be running through battle plans over pizza with four people who are just as invested as I am, instead of alone in my shitty apartment, wrapped in a blanket, not sure if I even remembered to eat that day.

On top of the determination, everyone is also still on edge after the attack the other day. Sometimes I find Gage looking out the window, like he’s making sure no one has walked up to the house without him knowing.

Dog has picked up on the tension and has taken to pacing in front of the door as well, like he understands what happened and is making sure it’s not going to happen again. Hell, maybe hedoesunderstand. Maybe there are some latent watchdog tendencies in him, and he’s protecting his home.

I barely leave the house anymore, and never without an escort, just like the guys said. I don’t put up a fuss about it like I might have before. I know they’re doing it because they’re worried about me being attacked again. Even when we all go out together, the tension in them is thick enough to cut with a knife, like they think someone is going to leap out from behind every car or building and try to take a shot at me.

They keep me flanked on all sides, and they’re always armed when they leave the house. Just in case.

A couple days before the wedding, Priest and Ash come with me to pick out an outfit for the ceremony. We plan to grab Knox’s tux on the way home, just so we won’t have to make a separate trip.

We walk into the store together, and I swear, we barely fit through the door because the guys refuse to leave my side. I would give them shit for it, but I can’t really blame them.

Priest usually comes along when I have to go out, making good on his promise that he won’t let anyone take me from him. His tension is easy to pick up on, from the set of his jaw and the way his blue eyes flash when he looks around. He’s easier to read than he used to be, and although I likethatpart, I wish the thing I could read in him wasn’t just a fuckton of stress. Even Ash is alert and serious, not fiddling with his coins or cards like usual, and not even making jokes, which is really not like him.

They both stand outside the dressing room while I choose an outfit, opting for a suit with a jacket and low cut blouse rather than a fancy dress.

It’s still in Natalie’s approved colors, so she won’t be able to go off on me for violating the dress code or whatever, but it’ll be easier to move in when the time comes. I don’t want to have to try to move through a crowd of people all freaking out and going in the opposite direction while worrying about stepping on the hem of a dress and falling on my face.

This is just more practical.

And it helps that when I step out of the dressing room to show off to the guys, they both stare me down like they want to back me into the dressing room and devour me.

I’m almost tempted to try to seduce them into it, curious what kinds of fun the three of us could get up to together. But we need to be alert, and it’d be pretty hard to focus on anything else if they were both balls deep in whatever holes they wanted to claim. So I behave, focusing instead on picking out the perfect pair of shoes.

I find a pair that are gorgeous but don’t have a crazy high stiletto heel. Not that I mind a stiletto sometimes— I’ve got some sexy as fuck ones in the shoe collection I’ve been amassing over the years. But just like with the rest of my outfit, I’m thinking strategically and tactically. I need shoes I can move fast in.

Because at the end of the day, it’s not really a wedding we’re going to.

It’s a rescue mission.

* * *

Everyone isas ready as they’re going to be when the day of the wedding arrives. I wake up in a flurry of nerves from a dream that I can barely remember—but I’m willing to bet it was about today. I drag in a deep breath and steel myself for what’s coming.

The Kings and I all gather in the kitchen, our usual meeting place, and go over the plan one more time.

---