Lucas, Cain, Mason, Jakob, Bodhi, Odin, and Ben all stood in a line beside Nico. But none of them wore the standard penguin suits to this biker wedding. They might have on the black tux pants and white dress shirts. They had left the first few buttons undone at the collars, didn’t have ties on, and had their Grizzly MC cuts on—the ones that were patched in members did, at least. Ben was still a prospect, and Odin wasn’t even in the club but in school, but they still wore black leather vests so they matched with the rest of the guys. And then there were her girls standing on the opposite side. Tarren, Tawny, and Lina were the first three, and although she had friends from school, she wasn’t close enough with anyone that she would have invited to be in her wedding party. She smiled at Tarren even though she knew she couldn’t possibly see the gesture, and not because Alexis wore a veil over her face. Tarren was staring at Lucas, who in turn was staring at her with this goofy smile on his face. Yeah, Alexis knew things between those two would work out, even if they were like oil and water at times with each other.
For the other four bridesmaids she had Molly, Lilly, Maggie, and Hope all standing beside her childhood friends. Those women might be Grizzly old ladies, but they had been like mothers to her, too. She would have had her own mother and Sonya standing up there, but they had decided to sit in the audience with the rest of the guests, and she was okay with that. She forced herself not to cry as she stared at the women that had been in her life for … well, her whole life. Their dresses were black lace, fell to the knee, and had a delicate white silk bow tied under their busts. They looked so beautiful, and she was thankful she had so many people in her life that she cared about, and that cared so much about her.
“Are you ready, baby girl?”
She turned and looked up at her father. She had her arm in the crook of his, and as she stared at her dad, the man known as Brick because he was just as hard and could be as unforgiving, all she saw was the man she had called “Daddy” as a little girl. Hell, she still did at times. His scar stood out as the sun shone over it, but she had always loved that mark on him. Like the rest of the men in attendance, he wore a suit, but had his cut over his white dress shirt. Just like the other bikers, he didn’t wear those shiny dress shoes but his scuffed up motorcycle boots that had seen far too much throughout his life. She smiled up at him. “I’m ready, Daddy. Are you?”
He stayed silent for a moment, and when the music started playing for her to walk down the aisle he sighed heavily. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to ever let you go, baby girl.”
“Dad, you’re not letting me go.” She smiled, but she felt on the verge of tears again.
“I know, sweetheart, but you know what I mean.”
Yeah, she did, and she loved him more for his worry about her and her starting this new chapter in her life.
“But he better not break your heart. I’ll say that much, because if he does, you tell me and I’ll straighten his ass up.”
She closed her eyes and felt a tear slide down her cheek as she laughed. Her dad, Brick, was always this badass bear shifting biker, but right now he was just her dad. “Ok, Daddy,” she whispered. He reached out and lifted her veil enough that he could brush her tears away
“No crying on this day, okay?”
“It’s a happy cry, Dad.”
He smiled, and there weren’t many times her dad smiled genuinely. “Okay, let’s get this going, darlin’.” And then her dad was walking her down the aisle, stopping in front of Nico, and turning her around so he could see her face. He cupped her cheeks, and she could see the fatherly love reflected back at her. In that moment she thought about all the times he had sat next to her in her tiny bed, reading her stories about witches and princesses, and then making shit up until the ending was what she wanted. He was a good dad, a phenomenal one, and she would love him until the end of time.
“I love you, Alexis.” Her dad leaned forward and kissed her forehead through the veil, and then turned and looked at Nico. “Son, you watch over my daughter.” Brick paused for effect it seemed like. “You see all of these bikers?” Her dad didn’t wait for Nico to answer. “There will be a lot of bears that will be ready to tear you up if this little girl is hurt.” Her father said it harshly, but then he grinned and pulled Nico into a tight hug.
She couldn’t help but smile that her dad still saw her as a little girl.
“Take care of my girl, son.”
“Always, Brick.” Nico said seriously.
And then her dad was handing her over to her future husband. This was the first step in her new life. She stood beside Nico, and before they even said their vows Nico reached behind him for a leather jacket that Lucas gave him. He opened it up and turned it around so she could see the back. The top rocker read “PROPERTY OF”, and the bottom rocker read “NICO”. And in the center of the jacket and between those words was The Grizzly MC patch. She was really crying now as Nico helped her put it on, and she didn’t even care that the warmed leather was covering up her dress.