big smile. “You know he was comin’?” he asked.
I nodded. “I did.”
“You’re gettin’ a spanking later,” he whispered in my ear.
“Wahoo,” I whispered back, making his shoulders jiggle with silent laughter.
He introduced his uncle to my family, and we sat and spent time with him as well as with the family members of mine from Colorado that he hadn’t met yet. As I was up at the buffet table getting a second helping of dessert, conversation turned to my mother with my aunt Cathy, who was my aunt by marriage and frankly, not real bright. She was always ticking people off with what came out of her thoughtless mouth.
“Your mom know you got married?”
“Not sure my mom knows I exist, Aunt Cath. She’s all about herself, as you know.”
“You ever go see her?”
“No.”
“But she’s your mother.”
“I know that, Aunt Cathy, but she---”
“How much time is she doing?” she cut me off.
“Don’t know, don’t care,” Spency said, stepping in and grabbing a piece of shrimp and dredging it in cocktail sauce. “She gave her family up. She can rot there. Can you drop it, Aunt Cath? Obviously you don’t know the whole story. Do your best not to upset my sister at her wedding reception?”
“S-sorry, Joelle,” Aunt Cath said, looking startled at Spencer’s tone.
After food, we had spent an hour and a half sitting in his and her thrones that they’d rented from some party store, wearing crowns and opening a mountain of gifts.
The men all let out big Oooh’s at every single thing we opened after the first Ooh by one of the girls at an Instant Pot.
“I don’t know what this is,” Christian told me quietly.
“That’s okay. You don’t need to know, unless you cook. This thing helps you cook fast. Do you cook?” I asked.
“Not at all,” he told me. “You? Besides pasta? Though, I could eat a truckload of that before I get tired of it.”
We’d eaten either take-out, at Dutchie’s Diner, or downstairs at The Roadhouse since we’d gotten back.
“Yeah. I cook.”
“Good to know,” he said, putting another gift on my lap.
All the Oohing and ahhing from a crowd of bikers with beers in their hands was funny at first, but as is typical of men, it got old.
“Air fryer?” Christian whispered, looking confused.
“An air fryer lets you eat fried stuff without oil. Healthier,” I told him.
“Who wants fries and wings fried in fuckin’ air?” Christian grimaced like there was poop under his nose.
“What my husband means to say…” I called out loudly, “is thank you so much for the very thoughtful gift, Deanna and Scott.”
The crowd roared with laughter, including Scott, who probably didn’t even know what gift his woman had gotten us and put his name on.
Before the pile of wrapped gifts had disappeared, the men got restless and pulled off into side conversations while my man patiently sat there. Finally, after the last gift was opened, an elegantly wrapped very fancy spice rack and gift certificate for a fancy spice store from Jenna’s father and his girlfriend, Deborah (Deb was besties with Laura), a cake was wheeled out by Andie.
And it was absolutely amazing. The three-tier wedding cake had miniature versions of me and Christian on a motorcycle on top. I squealed when I saw it being rolled out. Andie had earned the nickname the Cake Boss a few months back for Spencer’s birthday and she definitely did a great job with this one, too. The top had me and Christian on a purple motorcycle. The candy Christian wore a leather jacket and even had a man bun.
I snapped about a dozen pictures with my phone before Jackson Gale (who’d also been invited to come and take pictures. Dad was paying him) stopped me.
“I’ll get good snaps for you, Jojo. Enjoy the moment, love.”
He brought Alicia, too, who was now over eight months pregnant and who got up to the cake and started ordering us around so that her husband could get a shot of us cutting that cake. That was when we heard the sound of what I immediately knew was gunshots and my husband was covering me with his body, being my human shield.
A pickup truck went squealing down the road so fast that there was smoke, and I heard the sound of I don’t know how many guns being cocked.
Dad and Rudy both shouted out some orders and the party was moved inside.
“So fuckin’ glad we’ll be doing these behind gates after next week,” Christian muttered and herded me toward