Sinners On Tour 06 Sinners at the Altar (40 page)

“At least she didn’t decide on a tampon ball,” Eric said, which earned him another elbow in the ribs.

Jace thought Eric’s joke was funny.
Either that or jet lag had him delirious. He laughed until he had to wrap his arms around his stomach to hold his merriment in.

“Are you done?” Rebekah asked her husband.

“Do you really need to ask me that?” he countered.

She lifted her eyebrows at him. “Enough with the period jokes already.”

He grinned and nodded. “No problem, babe. I’ll move on to the ball jokes then.”

Rebekah rolled her eyes at him, but Aggie could see the mirth in her expression; she’d be howling along with Jace in no time. Aggie’s sense of humor was a tad less fart-joke, but she loved to see her husband laugh so if he thought grand celebrations about periods and tampons were hilarious, good on him.

“Do you want to come see the decorations? They turned out really neat,” Rebekah said. “Charity is a miracle worker.”

“We need to meet with
that miracle worker about the ceremony tomorrow,” Aggie said, “but we’ll stop by the hall on our way out.”

“Awesome,” Rebekah said. She hugged Aggie with excitement. “I’m so happy for you, hon.
And you know I adore Jace almost as much as Eric does.”

Aggie patted Rebekah’s back a little. She wasn’t much of a hugger. Though sometimes Aggie wanted to squeeze the stuffing out of Jace, she preferred to avoid personal contact with others as much as possible. And she’d been damned good at maintaining her distance from people until Jace Seymour entered her life.

“This place is so perfect for the exchange of your wedding vows,” Rebekah said, forcing Jace to accept a hearty squeeze. He wasn’t much of a hugger either and patted her back much the way Aggie had.

Eric gave Jace a bro tap with his knuckles and then swept his wife against his side and led her in the opposite direction, testing several ball jokes on her. At least that’s what Aggie thought he was whispering that had her laughing so hard.

“I suppose we have to go to this Halloween party thing,” Jace said. “Since they went to all that trouble.”

“We should have a few hours between this meeting and when we have to attend the costume ball. I’m sure we can find time to take a little nap between now and then. Get you out of your jet-lag funk or whatever it is that has you so spacy since we arrived.”

“A nap is exactly what I need,” he said.

“Wow!” Aggie’s mom hollered just inside the entrance. “These people must be fucking loaded!”

Aggie winced and pivoted toward her mother. Aggie waved her toward them so she could put a gag over her gigantic mouth if necessary. Mom hurried to catch up, and then linked one elbow through Aggie’s arm and the other through Jace’s.

“Exactly how much money do you rock stars make, Maynard? How can you afford to rent this place? You’re just a bassist.”

“Mother!”

“Did you add Agatha to your checking account?” she asked Jace.

“I—uh…”

Jace’s face was the color of a tomato.

“I asked him not to, okay?” Aggie said. “Don’t ask him questions like that.”

“Why not?
He’s family.”

“And he’s probably wishing he wasn’t.”

“It’s cool,” he said. “I don’t mind sharing. Uh, I make more than a paper boy and less than Bill Gates.”

Aggie grinned, loving how he handled her mother. He was actually much better at it than she was.

“So closer to Bill Gates than a paper boy, am I right?” her mother said and laughed hysterically. Aggie was starting to wonder if she’d hit the wet bar while she’d been collecting her smokes from their rented cottage.

“Probably closer to the paper boy,” Jace said.

“Huh…” Mom said, rubbing her nose on her shoulder. “Well, that’s disappointing. Better luck next time, Ag.”

“There isn’t going to be a next time. Jace is mine for life.” Aggie tilted her head to smile at him around her mother’s slim form, but he was too busy blushing to back her claim.

“Well, I hope you don’t have to go back to stripping to support his musician habit. I once dated a singer, you know,” she told Jace. “Well, date is a strong word. Got knocked up by a singer. He was a total deadbeat. I heard being a deadbeat is common in your profession.” She finger-quoted profession.

That’s it. I’m going to kill her.

“Aggie’s father?” Jace asked, not batting an eyelash at Mom’s string of insults.

“That would be the deadbeat in question,” she said and glanced around. “Where is this lady you’re meeting?
In
Africa
? I’m going to need to go out and have another cigarette soon.”

“Well, don’t let us stop you,” Aggie said.

Their event planner, Charity, stepped out of a corridor to their left.

“There you are!” she said. “I was afraid you got turned around and ended up in the dungeon.”

“Aggie would be right at home there,” Mom said and guffawed at her own humor.

“Charity,” Aggie said, “this is my mother, Tabitha.”

“Nice to meet you,” the sophisticated woman—who Aggie estimated to be around the same age as Mom—said. “Welcome to Sudeley Castle. Have you had a chance to explore the grounds and the building?”

“Not yet.”

“You should have a look,” Charity said. “Mr. and Mrs. Sticks went all out for the rehearsal dinner. Normally we don’t do costume parties on Halloween, but your best man is very persuasive. Not to mention handsome.” She giggled and touched her fingertips to her suddenly ruddy cheeks.

“Eric?” Aggie asked, wondering if Charity had somehow mixed up Jace’s best man with any one of his groomsmen.

“Oh my, yes,” Charity murmured. “Quite dreamy.”

Aggie supposed Eric was an attractive man. His personality was so large it completely overshadowed his physical attributes, so she tended to forget how good looking he was. When he kept his mouth shut.
Which was pretty much never.

“And he’s so enthusiastic about everything,” Charity gushed. “As is his wife. What a pair. They have brought such energy to the castle since they arrived yesterday.”

Aggie was more likely to call said energy
obnoxious
, but she supposed Charity hadn’t been living with them in close quarters for months. Their type of energy exhausted Aggie quickly, but she’d never meet a couple more suited for each other. Except perhaps herself and Jace.

“The chapel, with the exception of the flowers, is set up for the ceremony. Those will be brought in tomorrow so they’re fresh,” Charity said.

“What kind of flowers did you get?” Mom asked, sitting up straighter in her chair.

“Black and red roses,” Aggie said.

Mom giggled like a schoolgirl. “Should have guessed.”

“I believe both the bridal party and the groom’s party have now arrived.” Charity consulted a list and added checkmarks to the top two names—
Agatha Christine Martin
and
Jason Michael Seymour
. She ran a finger down the side of the list slowly, as if calling up the faces, or characteristics, of each person. “You have some, er,
interesting
friends.”

Interesting?
Aggie’s bridesmaids included one notorious porn star and Jace’s groomsmen were all rock stars. She supposed they would be interesting to some people. To Aggie and Jace, they were just friends.

“They’ll be well-behaved,” Jace said, looking uncertain.

Aggie rubbed his back. They would, but who cared if their entourage got a little rowdy? She liked them for who they were. And she knew none of them would go on a drug-induced rampage and destroy the castle or anything.

“I can’t believe you asked Starr Lancaster to be in your wedding party,” Mom said, craning her neck to read the list. “Isn’t she that porn star
you used to hang out with?”

“Well, yeah, when she’s not stripping and not dominating her slaves,” Aggie said. “She’s a good friend of mine; I’ve known her for ages. Why wouldn’t I ask her?”

“Uh, does Jace know about her?” Mom asked.

Aggie bit her lip. She still hadn’t divulged how intimate her relationship with Starr had once been.
Hadn’t thought it important. Or maybe she was afraid of Jace’s reaction.

Charity cleared her throat, the ruddiness in her cheeks increasing.

“Starr’s a sweetheart,” Jace said. “Not half as vicious as Aggie with a lash.”

Now it was Jace’s turn to go red in the face. “Uh, I mean…”

Aggie chuckled. She wondered if he’d feel awkward standing before everyone saying his vows with Starr in the wedding party. He hadn’t questioned a single person she’d asked to stand up with her, but he was very good at hiding his true feelings—except embarrassment. Aggie would have been able to tell if Jace was embarrassed by Starr. When they were choosing their supposed-to-have-been
small
wedding party, he had mentioned in passing that Eric would be his best man, hinting that Aggie ask Rebekah to be her maid of honor. Even though she’d only known Rebekah for a year, she’d had no qualms about asking her to head her bridal party. To prevent hurt feelings, Jace had then asked the rest of his band to be his groomsmen, which made Aggie feel obligated to ask their significant others to be her attendants. They were left with Dave—Rebekah’s brother and Sinners’ lead soundboard operator—who was easy enough to pair off with Aggie’s cousin Beth. Beth had been thrilled to walk with Dave as she hadn’t shut up about the guy since she’d met him at Sed’s wedding. Trey was walking with Aggie’s mom because his significant others, Ethan and Reagan, had been unable to attend. And then there was Dare Mills—who Jace idolized second only to Eric. As Dare was rather tightlipped about his romantic prospects, Aggie had asked Starr to walk with him. Starr hadn’t protested. More like swooned. And Starr really was her closest friend outside the Lady Sinners. She just hadn’t told Jace how close. What happened in the dungeon, stayed in the dungeon. And her sexual relationship with Starr had never left the dungeon. Not once.

Aggie glanced up when she realized Charity was explaining how the rehearsal would go. She should probably pay attention, so she didn’t make a fool of herself.

“So that about sums it up,” Charity said. “Are you ready for your practice run?”

Aggie cringed. She’d missed more than she’d assumed while daydreaming. As in
, she’d missed all of it.

“Could you repeat that one more time?” Aggie asked.

“It’s easier to get instructions while you’re all in your places,” Charity said, standing and moving out from behind her desk. “Don’t worry. You’ll have it down by the time we’re through.”

The event planner followed Mom out of the office, saying how unusual it was for a mother to be a bridesmaid.

“Yeah, well, that’s my Aggie,” Mom said. “No one could ever accuse her of fitting a mold.”

Was that a hint of pride in her tone? Aggie was sure she’d imagined it.

“Distracted?” Jace asked as he climbed to his feet and offered her a hand up.

“A little,” she admitted.

“About?”

“Everything,” she said vaguely. She couldn’t very well say,
One of my few long-term romantic relationships was with a woman. And she’s in our wedding party. And has seen you naked
. Maybe asking Starr to be one of her bridesmaids had been a mistake. Aggie didn’t like to feel guilty, yet intentionally keeping secrets from Jace had that effect on her.

“Me too,” he admitted.

He held her hand as they followed several paces behind chatting Charity and wide-eyed Mom. At least, he held her hand until the members of his band, along with Dare Mills and Dave Blake, came out of the ballroom. As soon as the rowdy bunch of men spotted Jace, he dropped Aggie’s hand as if she’d suddenly contracted leprosy.

“You know,” she said, “you’re going to be saying some really mushy and embarrassing stuff to me in front of all these guys tomorrow. Are you sure you can handle it?”

Jace took her hand again and smiled crookedly. “Yep.”

The guys were in various states of annoyance over Eric’s rehearsal-dinner after-party.

“You don’t really expect us to wear those clothes do you?” Sed said in his deep baritone.

“You better wear them,” Eric said. “You were the most difficult person to fit. Do you know how rare it was for a human to reach your size centuries ago? You’d have been labeled a freak and had to join the circus as a giant.”

“You’re taller than I am,” Sed pointed out.

“By an inch,” Eric said. “It’s those extra-wide shoulders of yours.”

“That drive the ladies wild,” Sed said with a wink.

“I’d say it’s your ass that drives the ladies wild,” Mom said. And she was not hiding the fact that she was checking it out.
With excessive appreciation.

Sed wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her up beside him so she couldn’t ogle what he had going on behind. “My wife gets very jealous when MILFs check out my ass,” he said.

Aggie chuckled when her mom tripped over her feet as the definition of MILF sank in.