I washed my face and smiled at my reflection in the mirror. “I’m getting married,y’all.”
As if they heard me, the club girls, all of them, even Candy, the girl whose nose I broke, stormed into my room, squealing and screaming, holding a fortune worth of makeup. Apparently, the wedding dissolved all hatred among us…or they realized I was going nowhere and they had to be nice to me as the president’s wife. Either way, I was glad we could put the negativity behind us and start over.
I wished I could have said I was that optimistic about the relationship among my new family. I was used to Tirone’s darkness and outbursts. His out of character silence and calmness—he hadn’t done anything or even spoken to me outside class since the Boiler—irked me as much as the fresh glimpse I had into Laius’s dark side did.
Today wasn’t the day for dread, worry or reproach, though. We had enough of those from the mob and the MCs and the cartel. Today was a day of joy, hope, forgiveness and love. I’d hold on to those, especially forgiveness and love. I had plenty of those to share with the first man that taught me what love was, and the man I chose to share the rest of my life with.
Someone knocked on the door. “Ladies, are you decent?”
“Molar is being a gentleman?” one of the girls mocked. “That means one thing.”
Lolita clapped with the excitement of a little girl. “Sammy is here.”
“Really?” Laius had said they wouldn’t let her out of the hospital. I’d always wanted to meet her. “Open the door, please.”
Lolita glided—she was as agile as a ballerina—and opened it. “Sammy! Oh my God! We missed you! Come, come inside. Meet the bride.”
A blonde in a floral cocktail dress, a tad taller than I and about half my weight, walked in slowly with the help of Lolita. She smiled at me the second she saw me. “You must be Jo.”
She had her brother’s smile and eyes. I immediately loved her. “You must be Sammy. I’ve been dying to meet you. You’re gorgeous, by the way.”
We hugged, and then she flipped her long hair theatrically. “Yeah, my brother is the ugliest in the family.”
“I can see that,” I giggled.
“Seriously, though, I don’t know what a girl like you can see in a disgusting guy, about two years older than baseball, like Laio.”
“Laio?”
“Mama used to call him that. She was so Italian. I picked it up from her. It was easier to say when I was a kid, and it stuck.”
Cute and definitely worth the tease. “Well,Laioisn’t old, like at all.”
“Ohhhhh….and ewwww.”
We laughed until we were both coughing. Her cough lasted much longer, though. I helped her to some water and asked if there were any medications she should have. She pointed to her purse.
I found the pills and gave her one. “Sammy, you made my day by coming, Laius’s, too, but your health is more important than anything.”
“The only reason I’d miss my brother’s wedding is if I were dead. I ain’t dead yet.”
Smiling, I hugged her shoulders gently. “He’s lucky to have a sister like you.”
“We’re sisters, too, now, y’all. Finally, someone I can call family with a pussy that doesn’t smell like beer and hot rubber.”
I burst into laughter. “What?”
“Don’t mind me, y’all.” She got up. “Bless your heart, Jo, go finish getting dolled up. I’m fixin’ to give your groom a good ol’ spanking for no reason at all.”
I didn’t think I laughed like this in my whole life. “Go easy on him. I plan to give him some of my own tonight.”
“Oooo-kaaaay.” She fist-pumped me. “Yeah, whip his ass all you want, baby. I like you already.” With that she left the room.
The girls seemed to be having a blast doing my hair and makeup. I must admit I was grateful for all their help. My beauty skills were dismal. I rarely wore makeup because of my sensitive eyes and having to wear a wig—conservative and inconspicuous, in other words boring and never sexy—for as long as I could remember didn’t help enhance any girl talents of mine.
They didn’t overdo the makeup like I expected they would have, especially around the eyes. I still had my contacts to wear. Sunglasses on a wedding wasn’t a great look when you were trying to appear normal with nothing to hide. They did a brilliant job with the wig and gave it a bridal hairdo with a few waves and a braid to go around it and hold the veil.
“You look so pretty,” Lolita swooned.