Murder nodded. "Knowing what I'm up against? Yeah, I'm cool with patient. If she kicks me out, I'll go. I'll also make sure that her bank account is full, that she and Ryan are fine, and then I'll wait for Riley to help me out. Or Knock. That kid has almost as much pull with her, you know. Thing is, I get it. I honestly fucking get it. Sometimes people need a little space to breathe so they can figure out that good things don't hurt."
"Yeah," Jason agreed. "I guess we kinda do."
And his eyes ran over his friends again. Murder had just hit the nail on the head. He was so used to hurting inside that he hadn't even realized it had stopped. Right now, with all of these people, he was happy. Just happy. Not trying to ignore something else, but completely and totally content.
"I think happiness kinda snuck up on me," he admitted.
"Nah," Murder told him. "From what I heard, your happiness screamed and bolted. You were just smart enough to follow. The good things aren't always the easy ones, Jason. They're the ones that are worth it."
Chapter 37
Zara's alarm went off much too early the next morning. She reached over to silence it, but the words on the screen woke her all the way up. "Wedding Day!" Sucking in a breath, she sat up, then nudged Jason.
"It's today," she told him.
He rolled into her without opening his eyes. "Am I not supposed to see you until I've wifed you?"
"You can see me before I put on my dress," she assured him. "But you have got to get up so I can do that. You're supposed to be in Riley's room to do whatever it is that men do."
"Nap," he grumbled. "Takes me ten minutes to put on a suit. A tux can't be that much harder."
"Jason!" she hissed, using her foot to push at his hip. "Get out of bed. I don't even care if you put on pants. You just need to wake up and use the bathroom so I can have a shower before everyone descends."
With a groan, he gave in. Rolling to his feet, Jason padded into the bathroom, and Zara grabbed her phone to whip off a text to Murder. Almost immediately, he sent her back a few letters. They didn't quite make a word, but it meant that he was now awake too. Next, she texted Riley. That got nothing, so she tried again, then again, until she finally got back a smiley face. Most likely, that was the first emoji Riley could find, but it worked.
Soon enough, Jason was out of the bathroom and came back to give her a long, slow kiss. Then he grabbed his things and his dog, and just left. Her heart was starting to beat a little faster with excitement. Today was the day. This was happening, and soon enough, nothing at all would be able to stop them. Zara hurried to get in the shower, making sure that all of her pre-wedding preparation was still good enough - including the waxing - and then worked her way into the first layer of her wedding attire.
It was a nice, bright blue lingerie set. The sexy kind. She'd just gotten most of that on when someone tapped at the door to her bedroom, and then it cracked open. "Hey?" Murder asked.
Gasping, Zara tried to cover herself. "Murder!"
"Taken man here," he promised as he stepped the rest of the way in. "Jason let me in, and you need some help with those laces. Turn."
She did, a little overly aware that she was wearing much too little to be in a room with him. "I'm almost naked."
"Seen you naked before too," he reminded her. "Also used to share a bed. Pretty sure I know what you look like." He moved to the laces at her back. "I also know how to make sure your man will be fucking impressed, and if you notice, my dick's still not hard."
She just ducked her head and laughed. "Way to make a girl feel hot on her wedding day."
"Mostly, it's scared of Jason's guns. He left them in the other room, you know."
"I do," she admitted. "He said he's locking them up and he's off work today. There may have been a mention of Bradley being armed so it would be ok, but he agreed to stop working for one whole day."