his chin while I caught my breath, I stared at the two deep purple bruises on his chest. My hand covered them and I felt his heartbeat under my palm.
He took three bullets that day.
Two to his heart.
But it was still beating.
32
Tuesday Clark’s orchard had been turned into a magical fairy tale world. Unless she always had lights strung from the trees, flower petals dusting the grass, tables with tall, wide candles lit, and lanterns set all along a white runner that led to the place where Hadley and Brady would say their vows.
I couldn’t say I’d ever given much thought about getting married, and I certainly hadn’t thought about the ceremony, but after looking around the large gathering—large because the Walker, Lenox, Clark, and McCoy clans were big and getting bigger—there were a lot of people. All of them close, all of them important, all of them family—some by blood, all by bond.
It was a far cry from how I grew up, but even I knew this was what family meant. Arguments, disagreements, knock-down-drag-outs, good times, the best times, and the worst times, nothing broke the bond. It might shake them, but they always made amends. I supposed that was something they learned from Jasper, Lenox, Clark, and Levi. The forgiveness part of that equation I reckoned came from Emily, Reagan, Lily, and Blake.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Liberty hustling my way with a huge smile on her face.
“What’s the deal? Is this a competition or something?” she asked when she was still five feet away.
“Come again?”
“A race?” Her unusual cat eyes danced with humor.
“Woman, I don’t have the first clue what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“I leave on an op, I’m gone three weeks, and you’ve shacked up with my cousin.”
“Yep.”
“Yep? Just yep?”
Liberty McCoy was one of my favorite females. Not only was she the toughest chick I knew, and there was a time when I would’ve gladly served by her side, but she loved Drake. And just like anything Lieutenant Liberty McCoy did, she excelled at it. And Drake now lived a life that was full of worry when his woman deployed, but so full of the good stuff it made every moment of worry worth it. She was also honest, kind, and like the rest of her family, loyal.
“Not sure there’s anything else to say.”
Her smile waned and she stepped closer.
“I knew,” she whispered conspiratorially.
“Knew what?”
“When you were in the hospital and we were on the phone and you were telling me about the nurse who wanted to give you a sponge bath so she could see your wonker—”
“Don’t call my dick a wonker.”
“Well, I’m not calling your dick a dick. We’re actually not even talking about your wonker, that was just a point of reference.”
“My dick usually is.”
“We’re not talking about your dick,” she growled, and I busted out laughing. I did it so hard and so long my shoulder started to ache.
“You just wanted to see how many times you could get me to say dick.” She’d caught on.
“Yeah, Liberty, I wanted to see how many times I could get you to say dick while getting increasingly pissed about saying it.”
“That’s how I knew.”
I still had no idea what she was talking about, and when my eyes landed on Adalynn in her dress, Liberty lost my attention.
Goddamn, Addy was gorgeous. She’d left her hair down, but instead of it being straight like she normally wore it, there was a sexy, messy wave to it. And while I loved Addy fresh-faced, she’d done her makeup heavy, and even from this distance, the black around her eyes made the green stand out. Perfect curves, toned but not pointy and sharp, soft and womanly. And the dress she was wearing gave only a hint at being sexy, which made it sexy as fuck. She was covered, leaving everything to the imagination, and since I’d seen and tasted every inch, I didn’t have to imagine—which, again, made the dress sexier.
“Earth to Trey,” Liberty called.
“Sorry, what?”
“It’s awesome being the smartest in the family,” she quipped.
“Still not tracking.”
“You see, that day when I spoke to you, you told me that your whole life you’ve attracted the wrong type of women. Then you told me that you wanted a woman who had something in her other than shallow intentions. You also said you didn’t like blondes or aggressive women. And I thought to myself, I know the perfect woman for Trey. She’s got black hair, green eyes,