Kingpin (Court University 2)

It seemed a lot of good things were happening for Billie and her family, and for Billie, I knew her therapy had been helping. After all that shit with Sinclair, she’d started seeing someone again. Even had a few sessions with her mom. I think that had been helping the both of them tremendously, and from what I gathered, Billie and her dad were considering some sessions as well after school started back up. What’s crazy was he’d been pushing for it. At least, that was what she told me.

It made me tremendously happy her family was coming together. I was proof it didn’t always work out that way, and though I wished I’d had my perfect family unit, I wouldn’t change what my mom, my sisters and I had. We were our own family unit, our own slice of chaos and love, and I couldn’t get enough.

It’d been all I could do to convince my mom to even let me finish school after I did break down and tell her what happened with the Marvellis. Not to mention, how fucking livid she’d been when I told her how I’d earned the cash I’d sent her and my sisters.

Yeah, I’d had to spill all that too. Mom told me I never had to do such things to help them, and though I let her think that, I’d do whatever I had to again. They were my family. They were my everything.

An extension of that out there on the dance floor now, I braced myself to move in and relieve Billie from her dad once the father-daughter song stopped. Her dad had his time, and now, it was mine.

My gaze cut away from the floor to the exit doors when they opened, and seeing who arrived, my smile rerouted for a second. The fucker actually made it, my buddy Jax.

Better late than never.

His ass had been invited to attend since he told me the wedding coincided with his arrival to the state. He was moving down here for school. Fresh off the plane actually. I told him he could get himself settled. I’d only be here for a weekend, but since he was coming down anyway, he’d said he wanted to catch me. Because he had, I’d made sure he got an invitation.

After all, I knew the daughter of the groom.

His gait heavy, Jax traveled across the room in a dark suit, his head full of hair, which was different for him. In high school, he used to buzz it, but no more. With some length, his brown hair feathered with a wave. In fact, if he grew that shit out the way mine had been in high school, I bet it’d be curly. Currently, he had his styled back a little, and catching me, he lifted a hand.

I returned, waving him to join me by my high-top. I wore a gray suit tonight, easy to find because I had started growing out my hair again. I wore it over my shoulders, slapping my buddy’s hand when he joined me at the high top.

“Took you long enough. Shit,” I jostled, bringing him into a hug. I slapped his back. “Your flight okay?”

I pegged him crazy for transferring from the Midwest for college his senior year, but from how it sounded, the whole thing had been his dad’s idea. The guy had been bugging him to hell, I guess, to reconnect with him, something he’d managed to convince him of now.

Upon sliding away, Jax pounded my fist, then snapped his fingers with me. “All good. And I’m fucking here. Ain’t that good enough?”

Bumping laughter, I smirked. I started to give him hell for missing the entire ceremony, but the music changed.

The dance floor opened up, the tempo changing. The father-daughter dance concluded, everyone else gathered on the floor. I looked for Billie in the shuffle, and catching her, I smiled.

She’d moved into another dance with her father, the pair shimmying, a

nd I laughed, making Jax smile in that direction.

“I see your girl’s out there,” he stated, having met her already. I’d brought Billie home a few times this summer, mostly to officially meet my mom and the rest of my sisters. She’d, of course, met my boys too, but her wearing my ring around her neck was a new development. Jax’s lips parted. “And she’s wearing your ring.”

Not surprised he noticed that, I waggled my eyebrows. Our buddy Royal had actually started the tradition. He’d given his fiance December his ring. She wore it around her neck, and Knight’s girlfriend, Greer, the same when he gave it to her last semester. It was just something I guess our little circle did.

Nodding, I tapped Jax’s arm. “Wanna get a drink? Looks like my girl’ll be a little bit.”

And that was completely fine with me, totally happy for her and this openness she was experiencing. I wanted nothing but the best for her and would give her anything she wanted if she’d only ask.

How I’d become this person I didn’t know, but I had to say, I liked this side of myself. It felt more free, more complete.

Jax and I got a couple beers at the open bar, and after, we stood at another high-top table. This was still well within view of the dance floor, well within view of my girl and that shimmering gown hugging her full ass. Upon basically seeing me drooling in her direction, my buddy nudged me.

He chuckled. “Never thought it’d happen to you.”

“What?”

“Being in love,” he jostled, his elbow in my side. “Hope that shit’s not catching. I really don’t have time for that lovey-dovey bullshit.”

“Well, I got news for you, bro. It’s not really a choice once it happens.” I clinked our bottles. “Just kinda does.”

He rolled his eyes, the first to lay into me when I’d first texted I had a girlfriend.

I’d gotten reamed in that entire group text, and a whole lot of “I told you sos” from Knight and Royal, the fuckers. Jax had given his fair bit of jostling too, and I couldn’t wait for the day he’d be eating his fucking words. That shit just happened, and once it did, good luck getting away from it.