Rider (Silver Saints MC)

5

Wendy

Leaving Aiden sprawled naked in my bed had been one of the hardest things I’d ever done, but I was first up to have my hair styled. After missing the rehearsal, I would have felt awful if I messed up Ireland’s schedule on her big day. I thought about waking Aiden, but I didn’t want to ruin his chance to get some rest just because I had to be at the church early.

It took two huge cups of coffee to keep my eyes open while I was having my hair done because it was too damn relaxing. Then I had another before the makeup artist applied my lipstick. The last jolt of caffeine was just enough to get me past my sleepiness, but the fact that I’d gone through about half of the traveler box of coffee I’d picked up on my way to the church had apparently piqued the curiosity of one of Ireland’s bandmates, Sally.

She cornered me after we walked into the women’s restroom to change into our dresses. “You almost fell asleep about a dozen times today, but your skin is glowing.”

I fluttered my eyes, the gesture exaggerated by the lash extensions I’d had put on this morning. “Only because the makeup artist did such a great job.”

“Nice try, chickadee.” Sara, another musician in the group, moved to stand next to her bandmate and shook her finger at me. “But I heard what the makeup artist said about barely needing to use any primer or foundation because of how amazing your skin was.”

Sally elbowed her in the side. “And we know what that means.”

“We sure do,” Michelle, the last of the quad that made up Chuffed Up agreed, joining in on the questioning after she slipped into her dress.

“You got yourself some last night, didn’t you?” Sally asked as she wagged her brows.

My cheeks filled with heat, and I pressed my lips together in a flat line to keep myself from blurting out too many details about what had happened between Aiden and me last night. No way could I let these women find out before I had the chance to fill him in about being Kyle’s sister. Even though we were due to start our march down the aisle soon, I had no doubt they’d still find a way to gossip about us enough that word would spread through the wedding guests and reach my brother’s ears before I could warn Aiden.

“Oh, yeah. She definitely did.” Sara swept her hand in the air toward me. “It’s written all over her face.”

Sally tapped her finger against her chin. “But why are you being so secretive?”

“That’s an excellent question.” Sara cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes.

“Wait a second.” Sally’s eyes widened, and I could practically see the light bulb go off inside her head. “You asked Ireland a lot of questions about one of the Silver Saints guys while we were getting ready.”

“Ohh, yeah.” Sara nodded and fanned herself. “Rider, right? He’s the groomsman who looks like a surfer.”

“Uh-huh. Nicely done.” Sally did a little shimmy. “I wouldn’t mind bumping into him at the beach while he was wearing nothing but a pair of swim trunks.”

The only thing that stopped me from biting her head off for talking about my man like that was the risk of my secret getting to Kyle before Aiden and I had the chance to talk. I found myself in the uncomfortable position of wanting to strangle Sally almost as much as I wanted to kick my own ass for not waking Aiden this morning so we could talk.

“C’mon, guys. Wendy clearly doesn’t want to share the dirty details, and we need to finish getting ready,” Michelle chided, taking pity on me and coming to my rescue.

I hurried into one of the stalls and pressed my back against the door as I heaved a deep sigh of relief. Then I quickly took off my button-down shirt and yoga pants so I could put on my dress. I’d been so relieved when Ireland had only chosen the color—a shade of purple that looked great on me—and let us pick whatever style suited each of us the best. When I’d picked a form-fitting dress that showed a lot of cleavage and ended just above my knees, I’d been thinking about how much fun I was going to have pushing my brother’s buttons during the reception. Now, I was grateful that I looked like a bombshell because I couldn’t wait to see Aiden’s reaction to the dress.

After slipping my feet into the strappy silver heels Sally had somehow talked me into picking, I shoved my stuff into my bag and gave myself a little mental pep talk to get me through until I could talk to Aiden. Which was going to happen at the first possible moment after Breaker and Ireland said their I Dos.