Page 21 of Pirate

“You know damn well that I am not going to let you walk down the aisle in a dress you hate just because you can’t afford a new one. So, money completely aside, do you love or hate this dress?”

Jasmine hesitated. “I don’t know.”

Sophia took the scissors back from her hand. “Fine. I’ll do it then.”

Walking up to the bed, she picked up the skirt. Sophia had barely begun to open the scissors when Jasmine shouted, “No!”

Sophia rounded on her bestie, pointing the scissors at her accusingly. “Why not? Tell me the truth.”

Jasmine looked between the dress and Sophia. “Because I love that dress.”

“And you’re absolutely sure about that? You lovethisdress and how it looks on you and how it makes you feel?”

Jasmine nodded.

“And your decision has nothing to do with not being able to afford a replacement dress?”

Jasmine shook her head. She approached the bed, resting a hand on the white satin skirt. “No, it’s the dress. I love it.”

“And you’re not going to let your mom get into your head the next time you put it on?” Sophia demanded of her best friend.

Jasmine shook her head again.

“Prove it.”

“I have to be at the clubhouse in?—”

“Don’t care,” Sophia announced. Putting the scissors aside, Sophia started to work Jasmine’s shirt up over her head. “Put the dress on and prove to me that you love it.”

Which was how Jumper and Pirate had found the two best friends jumping up and down on Jasmine and Jumper’s bed with Jasmine wearing her wedding dress and laughing at the top of her lungs.

Later on, Jumper had pulled Sophia aside to thank her. He said that he loved how Jasmine looked in her dress, but he couldn’t justify asking her to keep it when he wasn’t sure how she felt about it anymore.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Pirate had delivered his own appreciation to Sophia in his clubhouse apartment by eating her out while she tried to contain her screams of pleasure.

Movement out of the corner of Sophia’s eye caught her attention and she frowned. “What’s the pirate doing here?”

She hadn’t meant to ask that question out loud. The other ladies turned to see Pirate and Keys walk up to the table where Jumper and Carlos were on the other side of the room. Since there was such a distance between their tables, Jumper insisted on Aerial joining the ladies at their table. With her service vest on, Aerial was lying comfortably at Jazz’s feet.

All three club members were wearing their cuts. Carlos seemed a little out of place without one, but in a way fit in with the brothers better than Keys did. Jumper, Pirate, and Carlos made an intimidating sight. Keys looked like a gangly teenager in comparison. He also kept playing with his glasses, like he was self-conscious about them. Sophia thought the glasses made him appear all the younger.

Jasmine turned back around. “I didn’t know they were coming.” She shrugged. “Maybe they got bored atDemon’s.”

“They were atDemon’s?” Sophia questioned. When she’d been texting Pirate earlier, he hadn’t said where he was. Then again, she hadn’t asked.

Jazz nodded. “A bunch of the single guys went out tonight.”

And as far as anyone knew, Pirate was one of the single guys. Sophia mentally scoffed at herself. He wasstilla single guy. They weren’t dating and their marriage did not mean anything. He was single. She was single. They were both single.

What did she care if he went out toDemon on the Rockswhere girls fawned over the guys wearingVia Daemoniacolors? She didn’t. Not at all. Really. She didn’t.

“Just look at them,” Amanda said dreamily. “They look like they should be modeling forPlaygirl.” Leaning closer to Jazz, she asked, “Which is the young one? With the glasses?”

“Keys,” Jasmine, Sophia, and Zoe answered together. On her own, Jasmine added, “He’s the computer expert. Remember when the clinic was broken into? Keys was the one who set up my new security system.”

Amanda’s eyes lit up. “Hot and smart. A deadly combination.”

“He’s also like ten years younger than you,” Sophia pointed out. She didn’t know Amanda’s exact age, but suspected she was a few years older than the rest of them. Zoe was two years younger than Jasmine and Sophia, who had both recently turned thirty.

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