“Apparently.” She offered him a small smile. “I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon to confirm it.”

“No wonder you’ve been so sick lately!” Lana stepped around Drake and embraced Emmie, who hugged her back. “Congrats, Em.”

Drake kissed Emmie’s cheek before finally taking pity on me and offering me his hand. He practically lifted me to my feet with one hand. This close he could see how red and puffy my eyes were. “Whatever it is, Layla, we’ll work through this together as a family.”

Tears burned my eyes all over again and I could only nod.

Chapter 9

Shane

I was standing with Harper and her boss, Rex, when I saw Jesse’s face.

Without thinking about what I was doing I pressed a kiss to Harper’s temple and started toward my friend. By the time I made it over, Nik had already joined him. Their gazes were suddenly locked on Lucy and the small group of teenagers surrounding her. The look on Jesse’s face was something I remembered well from when we were on the road touring without Emmie.

Every nerve in my body seemed to come to burning life. Whatever was going on with my friend, was bad. I put my hand on the big man’s shoulder and squeezed. “What’s up?”

Jesse’s throat worked once, twice before he could finally speak. The words that came out of his mouth hit me square in the chest and I found my gaze going straight to Lucy too. I had known her since she was six years old. The day that Jesse adopted her---no, damn it, before then!—she became my niece in my heart. She was as much a part of my family as if she had been born in it. We couldn’t lose her!

“We’ll get through this,” Nik told Jesse, his jaw clenched as he watched Wroth go up to Lucy and ask her to dance with him.

Lucy hugged him and then followed the big, woman-hating rocker onto the dance floor. Even someone as hard-hearted as Wroth Niall had a soft spot for Lucy. She was just that fucking special.

Layla, Emmie, Lana, and Drake joined us as the words left Nik’s mouth. Layla wrapped her arms around her husband’s waist and Emmie grasped Jesse’s hands. “We’ll sort it out, Jesse. You know this asshat just wants a payoff. The lawyer can handle all the legal shit, but I’ll start liquidating some assets. A few million and he won’t bother you again.”

Some of the tension eased from the drummer’s shoulders, but he didn’t speak. He was too emotional, too tormented. We could all see the tears in his dark eyes.

Lana rubbed her hand over my back. “Okay. Let’s just relax for now. Nothing can get sorted until morning. It’s not every day ex-man-sluts get hitched.” A small smile twitched at my lips. I hadn’t been a man slut in years now and she knew it. “Dance with me?”

I met Drake’s gaze over her head, asking permission. Since Lana had gotten pregnant my brother had become even more possessive—yeah, I know. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible either. When Drake nodded his head I wrapped my arms around her waist and guided her toward the dance floor.

“Don’t let this ruin your honeymoon plans,” she said after only a moment’s hesitation.

I clenched my jaw. Honestly, I had already mentally started a checklist of what I needed to do to postpone the trip to Mexico. I knew that Harper would understand. She loved Lucy just as much as I did. We couldn’t run off for a week when our family was dealing with this shit. “Don’t worry about it, Lana. A few weeks’ delay isn’t going to hurt anyone.”

“It’s going to stress Jesse and Layla out even more. They don’t want to ruin your honeymoon. Let us take care of it. Go and enjoy yourselves.” She had that look in her whisky eyes. The one that was full of stubborn determination.

“Do you honestly think I could enjoy five seconds of my honeymoon knowing the hell that Jesse and your sister—and you too, damn it—are going through back here?” I demanded quietly. “I’ll make it up to Harper.”

My gaze drifted over Lana’s dark head, searching for Harper through the crowd. She wasn’t with Rex any longer. I stopped dancing, my heart beating frantically as I searched for her. “Where is she?”

I hoped she was with Dallas, but saw that Axton was dancing with the other woman. When I spotted Cecil, he was talking with my stepmother. No Harper there. Grimacing I walked away from Lana, knowing she wouldn’t care.

“…what a nice little setup you have, Harper.”

That fucking voice! I hated the sound of it. When Monica had called me last night I should have just ignored it. But if my mom had still been alive I would have wanted her here at my wedding. So I had given in, answered my phone, and then let her guilt me into extending the invitation. Of course I had awoken with the knowledge that I had fucked up. Again!

Harper had been so cool about it. At first I thought she was going to run away from me, like the last time I had forced her to confront her mother and stepsister. But after only a brief moment in which I thought my whole world was going to come crumbling down, she accepted it all. Instead of giving Emmie the go-ahead to kick Monica and Ariana out, she had let them stay. Choosing to ignore them.

Apparently they hadn’t gotten the memo.

I reached the back of the reception hall. A table laid out with champagne glasses was behind Harper. She had one delicate flute in her hand as she stood with a bored look on her beautiful face. Her violet eyes told a different story. She looked lost, alone. Like the broken girl I had met an eternity ago.

There was no way in hell I was going to let her feel like that again!

Monica’s back was to me, just as Ariana’s was. I barely spared them a glance as I pushed through them and wrapped my arms around Harper’s waist. Before she could open her mouth I kissed her, letting my hands drift over her gorgeous body. A body that only I had ever touched, cherished. Worshiped.

When I finally pulled away we were both panting slightly. When I opened my eyes it was my Harper staring back at me, not the little girl who had been her mother’s verbal whipping post. “Hi, beautiful.”

“Hi back.”

I pushed a lock of her sweet smelling hair away from her face. “I was thinking we could cut the cake, throw that pretty bouquet at Dallas’s head, and then head home. I want to make love to my wife in our bed tonight.”

Her eyes darkened at the word wife. “I like that plan. But can I take some of the cake home with us? I really want to share some of it with you.”

“Is it the lemon crème?” She bit her lip, nodding. I swallowed a groan. Lemon. Harper. Our wedding night. I was going to die a happy man tonight! “Take a whole fucking tier, baby.”