Rattle Some Cages (Battle Crows MC 3)

I smirked.

My dad was a ladies’ doctor.

He looked at the female anatomy for a living.

Or he used to. Now he focused on aging women’s hormones, and how to help them live a better life after they’d gone through menopause or had hysterectomies.

If anybody would know what they’re talking about, it was my dad.

“I have no clue,” I admitted. “At first, I thought he was joking. Then I jokingly suggested he let you look at his asshole, since that was basically the same thing he wanted to look at on me. When he started to lose his temper, I took that as my sign to leave. He told me on the way out the door that if I left, I wasn’t welcomed back… so it looks like we’re not getting married tomorrow after all.”

My dad started to chuckle.

My grandfather followed shortly behind.

“It’s a good thing that it’s my birthday tomorrow, too,” Gramps took a sip of his beer. “And it’s my ninetieth. That means that since the invitations said come celebrate a special event, everyone can just assume it was my birthday they were coming for, not your wedding. You got that cheap wedding dress from the warehouse, right?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes.”

I’d gotten it because I didn’t see the point in making my dad spend a thousand bucks on a dress for me that I’d only wear once.

Luckily, I’d literally spent thirty-nine dollars. It was a white sheath dress that looked like it could be worn for anything, from prom to weddings, to quinceañeras.

I’d be able to save it for a different occasion, that was for sure.

“You don’t seem that upset.”

I looked at my gramps.

“I’m… ambivalent,” I admitted. “I should’ve seen that we were falling apart a long time ago. I mean, I thought about it when I was driving home, and I realized there were a lot of things that I hated about him. If I hate that many things… why would I marry him?”

Because I was stupid, that’s why.

“You thought that was what you were supposed to do,” Dad said. “You’ve been with him for six years. He’s safe. Marriage is the next logical step. But… yeah. I’ve been trying to tell you for years he was a weirdo.”

I laughed, relieved.

“You’re not mad that I wasted your money?” I asked carefully.

Dad snorted, then cracked into another peanut.

He held the shell out to me with the nuts in it, and only when I held my hand out, and he dumped them into my palm, did he answer.

I popped them into my mouth as he said, “Sabrina, baby. You’re a worrywart. Everything that I bought—I mean sure, it’s thirty cases of beer—will eventually be drunk. Food can be eaten. Party favors can be returned, because you bet your ass I was hoping you’d come to your senses. But overall, I don’t give a fuck that we just wasted about twenty-five hundred bucks. All I care about is you. Don’t you see?”

I sighed, holding my hand out for another nut, which he gave me.

“Have you told Faye yet?” Gramps wondered.

I groaned. “I’ll tell her after her chemo treatment tomorrow.”

“Maybe you could go with her now that you’re not getting married,” Dad suggested.

I grinned.

“I can!” I clapped. “I’ll head that way. If I leave now, I can spend the night at her place, and together we can head to the doctor’s office.”

Dad stood up. Gramps stayed where he was.

Only after I got hugs from both of them did Dad say, “I love you, baby girl. Don’t ever forget that.”

I wouldn’t.

Not ever.

• • •

“I’m sorry, can you repeat that?” Faye looked at me wide eyed.

I started to laugh. “That’s the exact same thing that I said!”

“I just don’t know what to say,” Faye admitted. “But I have to be honest. I was pretty ticked off that your fiancé wouldn’t allow you to wait to get married. I mean, I’m your best friend. I should be there. He should’ve been willing to wait.”

That’d been another red flag.

Cole didn’t like Faye.

Not even a little bit.

And, since Cole wasn’t willing to wait a year so Faye could come to a wedding with a lot of people, allowing her immune system to improve, Faye had suggested I just go ahead and have my wedding. As long as I allowed her to watch over FaceTime.

It hadn’t sat well with me that Cole hadn’t been willing to wait until she was okay to get married.

But I’d chalked so many of his oddities up to him being excited and ready to get married that I’d been blinded.

But I was no longer covering my eyes with cotton wool.

I had them wide open, and I would never, ever, ever go back to him.

“I get to go with you to your chemo treatment tomorrow, at least. You won’t be alone!” I promised.

I’d originally had my gramps going with her tomorrow. It’d bugged the absolute crap out of me that she’d be alone, so my gramps had promised he’d go with her and forgo going to my wedding. Which had been another thing that pissed me off with Cole.