Wilder (The Wild Ones 3)

“Rain is pure and light and magical. Let’s do things more sporadical,” Ivory Nickel sings, standing up to do her rain dance that isn’t really a rain dance.

Ivory is one of a kind.

Sometimes she makes it rain. Well, actually it’s hard to say. Since she rain dances regularly, it could just be a coincidence that it rains sometimes.

To be fair, she’s not insensitive. She just really wants to represent her husband’s heritage and loves it a little too much sometimes. The problem is, she thinks she has the power to make up her own ‘powerful’ songs to go with her own ‘powerful’ dance moves…

“Why are they talking about us getting married?” Piper asks, while Ma and penny argue a little more about who is doing what wrong.

Usually Piper gets more distracted when Ivory does one of her dances and chants.

Ma should have just surprised her like Penny did Lilah. We can always kidnap her and drag her down the aisle later.

“Because we’re getting married. Don’t worry. I won’t get you pregnant any time soon,” I assure her, since that’s been Lilah’s biggest concern since the beginning.

I’m not a completely oblivious idiot. I do pay attention to some things.

“When the hell did we decide this? Did I get drunk and forget about getting drunk? Because we’ve never even discussed the future. I hardly think now is the time to be reserving wedding venues,” she hisses.

“Does she even want to get married?” Vick asks, back to massaging his temples.

“Do you see how dangerous they are? Kidnapping, forced marriages, and—”

“Shut up, Chester,” almost everyone says at one time.

Chester drops to his chair. “I’m not wrong this time! You can’t force a girl to get married!”

“Worked for Lilah and you didn’t care then! You just want to win an argument,” Ma snaps, glaring at Chester.

“Piper, blink three times if you’re being held against your will,” Vick says.

Piper stares wide and unblinkingly at him, her lips moving but no sound coming out.

“See? She’s marrying me by choice,” I tell Vick, annoyed that he’s trying to step on my dreams.

What have I ever done to him? Well, aside from all the things he gripes about that I’ve done, I mean. Other than those things, I haven’t done anything at all.

“I-I-I—”

“Lilah’s my own flesh and blood! I knew what was best for her, and just look how much she loves being married!” Penny shouts, back to arguing with Ma. “Piper is a city girl with rich parents who might take issue with their daughter getting dragged down the aisle.”

“You kidnapped Benson too! You had your boys hog tie him and bag his head until time for the ceremony,” Ma carries on.

“Is this for real right now?” Piper asks, her nails digging into my arm as she bounces her gaze from Lilah and Benson, who seem more interested in each other than the argument going on, and back to Ma and Penny.

“Benson wasn’t resistant, from what I saw,” Vick states dryly, looking at Ma.

Penny fist-pumps the air like she’s winning something. Ma puts her hands on her hips, getting her ‘serious’ expression. I grin, because we’re about to win.

“That girl moved all the way across the country to be with my boy. Either she’s crazy or she’s just crazy in love,” she tells him.

Piper buries her face against my shoulder, muttering something about drinking the water.

Leaning over, I kiss the top of her head, and then I put my arm around her shoulders, drawing her to me. Her face gets pressed into my chest like she simply can’t be seen right now.

“Why don’t we talk about the skunks that Wilder fool put in all the homes on my side of the lake three weeks ago?! Everyone had to bathe in tomato juice for a solid week,” Chester gripes. “We keep having more and more of these meetings, and they keep getting away with more and more!”

Vick drops his head back, and he groans.

“The skunks only went into the homes of the men I saw trying to steal my girl with their mommas’ cooking,” I remind him. “I mean…I didn’t do that. Skunks are wild animals that sometimes get into homes…”

“How can I stand for this?” Chester snaps.

“One thing at a time, Chester,” Vick grumbles.

“You’ve got a Wild One asking a law enforcement officer’s permission to kidnap a woman, and I’m the one you’re frustrated with?” Chester harps.

Vick pauses, and then he looks over at Ma. “He has a point for once.”

“I’m just asking for the square,” Ma defends, standing a little taller and more primly as she flashes a smile toward Vick. “Look the other way that day, and Kai will start raising his flag like he’s supposed to.”

Vick’s eyes widen, and I decide it’s a reasonable concession if I get to marry Piper without any outside interference coming to talk sense into her.