Bang Bang(29)
Author: Rachel Van Dyken

I was a part of a family.

I was theirs.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Axton

“THINK YOU COULD at least try to hide the blood stains, Chase?” I took a sip of wine and grimaced as the dry liquid damn near choked me to death.

Chase looked down at his shirt and shrugged. “Makes mortal men tremble in fear.”

Nixon smacked Chase on the back of the head and whispered, “See me tremble, oh badass one.”

Chase rolled his eyes. “Hilarious.”

Tex snickered. “I thought so.”

“What’s taking them so damn long?” The wine glass almost shattered in my hand. Chase, clearly sensing the harm I was about to invoke on the stem, pulled the glass from my hand and set it on the table. The girls had wanted to fix Amy’s makeup after the ceremony. She’d been out of my sight for around five minutes, and I was going stir crazy. I just… wanted to touch her, my wife, kiss her.

“Calm yourself, young grasshopper.” Tex’s hands moved to my shoulders. “She’ll be out soon.”

“Not soon enough,” I muttered.

The guys all shared a look and busted up laughing. Sergio had been strangely quiet, standing in the corner. Then again, he was always quiet. Had a tendency to freak a guy out if you didn’t actually know that was just how he was. Speculative… tentative, thoughtful. Scary as hell when he needed to be.

“Sorry!” Trace rushed into the room. “Okay, she’s ready!”

“Ready?” I repeated, and then almost swallowed my tongue as Amy appeared in a totally different dress than before. A short white lacy cocktail dress with a completely open back. Long lace sleeves hugged her arms tightly. The rest of the dress was so tight I was afraid that if I touched her, the fabric would rip; then again, that was probably a really good idea. Best idea I’d had all day. I made a move to grab her but got slapped by Trace.

“What the hell?”

“Let her twirl,” Trace commanded.

Blushing, Amy did a little twirl then paused, her back facing me. I’d already seen that the back didn’t exist, but what I hadn’t seen was the small tattoo on her lower back.

The writing was in black cursive script. I walked closer putting my hands on her hips as I pulled her towards me.

“Mi Familia… Axton.”

“Baby…” I shook my head turning her in my arms. “When did you do this?”

“A few days ago,” she whispered. “Surprised you didn’t notice it yesterday with the whole towel incident.”

I smirked, my eyes trained on her mouth. “I was a bit distracted by things… up top.”

She laughed. “I bet you were.”

“It’s beautiful…” My voice was hoarse. “You’re beautiful.”

“I just want you to know…” Her fingers fumbled with the buttons on my shirt. “That… I’m yours. Forever. I’m not leaving. You’re right, you’re my family — my home.”

I crushed my mouth to hers.

“Ahem,” Tex said gruffly. “Get a room.”

“Like you should talk,” Chase said with a sarcastic tone.

“Wow, Chase…” Phoenix said darkly. “Coming from you…”

I pulled back from Amy and stared deep into her eyes. I wanted her — now. Damn the reception. I wasn’t going. Neither was she, she just didn’t know it yet.

“My, um…” Her eyebrows knit together. “My father and brother?”

“Your wedding present.” I tucked a piece of her dark hair behind her ear. “I didn’t think you’d want a lot of blood spilled on such a special day… it would be wrong for their deaths to take our glory.”

She swallowed, averting her eyes.

“And…” I pulled her roughly against me. “I’m going to go let the boys do what they do best. Tex and Chase are going to threaten them within an inch of their lives, and then…” I shifted my weight between my feet. “They’ll most likely meet their maker sooner rather than later, considering they have a tendency not to listen to our rules and all.”

“Most likely—”

“It’s done,” Tex interrupted. “We’ll keep an eye on them… they were only too happy to agree to our terms after our initial conversation.”

“Huh.” Chase laughed. “That what we calling it now? A conversation?”

“Ass kicking sounds so country.” Tex laughed.

“What did I have?” Amy asked. “That he wanted? That you guys wanted? I guess I’m still confused?”

Tex and I shared a look before Tex finally stepped forward and held out the stuffed lamb I’d given her when she was six.

“A stuffed animal?” Amy stared down at the pitiful creature. “I had a stuffed animal?”

“Look.” Tex turned it over and pulled out a knife, he gently ripped part of the foot and then pulled out a folded piece of paper.

Amy gasped. “What is that?”

“Your mother, before she died, hid a very important piece of information… the location of a few of our… less than stellar associates along with their addresses. Your father was going to use it as leverage to finally gain a position within the family. Only, she hid it before he could get his hands on it. She knew the minute it was out in the open, too many people would die.”

“Well that—” I cut in. “—and she kind of hated your father.”

“She died because of it.”

“Yes,” Tex said slowly, his eyes meeting mine before he put a hand on Amy’s shoulder. “But her sacrifice is our gain. These men, we’ll find them… and hopefully fix any loose ends.”

“So you’ll kill them?” she asked.

Tex laughed and waved her off, tucking the piece of paper into his pocket. “Did I say kill?”

“No, but—”

“Wedding day, happiest day of your life… Why don’t you guys go dance or something? There’s been too much talk of death today and frankly, I’ve already hit my quota for the month.”

I rolled my eyes while Amy asked, “How many?”

“Thirty-seven,” Tex said without blinking. “Then again around eighteen of them were my own family… had to cut out the bad to make way for the new and all.”

“He’s kidding,” I lied, while Amy shivered in my arms.

“Yes, kidder’s my middle name.” Tex winked and wandered off from us, while I continued raining kisses on her cheek.