Page 10 of Pirate

The beach restaurant reminded Pirate of Bulldog and Abby’s wedding at Cape Fear in North Carolina. It had the same twinkling lights spread out over the sand. Only this one had tables, chairs, and a large pit in the center where a pig was roasting.

The noon sun was beating down on them. Pirate was carrying his winter jacket, along with Sophia’s shoes, and had rolled up his long sleeve shirt. He was very tempted to unbutton it all the way.

Sophia stormed right up to an older couple sitting at a round table with two other guests. Pirate recognized Jasmine’s parents from seeing them on video calls with Jasmine. The couple had moved to Florida just after Jasmine had gone off to college. As far as Pirate knew, they had not been back to visit. It was one of the reasons Mrs. Sharpe was not happy about Jasmine and Jumper getting married in Mount Grove at the Groveton’s estate.

Sophia’s parents had offered up their spacious backyard, pool house, pool area, and garden to Jumper and Jasmine at no charge. By April, the weather would be warm during the day, cooling off at night. The wedding was planned for ten in the morning, followed by a fully catered lunch and reception. Should it rain, the plan was to have the wedding inside the Groveton estate house. Though, it was really more of a mansion.

Pirate had heard Jasmine vent about her mom trying to take advantage of the Groveton’s generosity more than once.While he could understand Mr. and Mrs. Groveton offering up their home and land for Jasmine and Jumper to usefor a day, he highly doubted they would pay for a destination wedding elsewhere like what Mrs. Sharpe was encouraging Jasmine to ask for. As close to the family as Jazz was, she was not their daughter nor was she marrying one of their sons.

Pirate was sure that would be different when it came to Sophia’s wedding. He knew her brothers, both older than Sophia, were already married, though he’d never met them or their wives.

From the haughty look on Mrs. Sharpe’s face, Pirate had a feeling the woman was living beyond her means and could only aspire to have the sort of wealth that Sophia had been born into. The woman’s dyed blonde hair had a weird greenish tint in the blazing sunlight. She wore a massive hat, gaudy sunglasses, and a sundress that was not as flattering on her as she probably thought it was.

“You stupid, selfish bitch!” Sophia walked right up to Mrs. Sharpe and got in the woman’s face. “How dare you speak to your daughter that way! Yourdaughter!Jasmine’s wedding dress isbeautifulon her. How dare you ruin that for her! You greedy cow! You will never be half the woman your daughter is! She has more kindness in her little finger than you have in your entire body! You inconsiderate, self-centered moron! You are officially uninvited to the wedding! If you show your face, you better have the best goddamn apology this world has ever heard! I’m talking, down on your knees, groveling for her forgiveness! And I hope like hell she doesn’t give it to you because you don’t deserve it! You ungrateful, hateful shrew!”

As others stared and gaped at the spectacle, Pirate actually felt a weird warmth in his chest. It was probably just the Hawaiian sun beating down on him. But, damn, Sophia was hot as fuck when she was all riled up like this.

Sophia turned slightly and faced Jasmine’s father. “Mr. Sharpe, hi. It’s so good to see you. Please know you’re still invited. I hope you’ll come. My dad offered to give her away, but I know she really hopes you’ll do it.”

Slowly, Mr. Sharpe nodded his head. “Yes, yes, of course.”

Sophia bent and kissed the man on his cheek. “Good. I know Jasmine will be thrilled to hear it.”

“Now wait just a minute!” Mrs. Sharpe stood up, but Sophia just lifted her middle finger and walked away. Though the woman shouted after her, Sophia did not stop.

As she passed Pirate, she patted his chest over his heart. “Okay. I’ve said my piece. Let’s go.”

Blinking, Pirate trailed after her. The crazy woman had flown over four thousand miles just to yell in her bestie’s mom’s face. Now that she’d done that, she was ready to leave.

Insanity.

And Pirate didn’t know which one of them was crazier—because he hadn’t made a single move to stop her.

Their connectingflight was delayed due to a snowstorm over the Midwest. They were going to be stuck in San Francisco for the day. Though Jumper used to be stationed in California, Pirate had never been to San Francisco before. Not knowing what else to do, they decided to make the best of it.

They visited the famous botanical gardens, went to various museums, did the overlook at the Golden Gate Bridge, and took an afternoon tour out to Alcatraz Island. Sophia even bought Jasmine a rock from the gift shop to add to the Hawaiian shirt she also got her best friend.

They now had a backpack they were sharing between the two of them. Since the trip was taking longer than anticipated, they both needed to change. The hotel room Sophia had rented them in Hawaii had had overnight laundering. Both of them had slept in the provided bathrobes while the hotel washed their outfits.

Pirate was too much of a gentleman to ask Sophia to do that again tonight. Even though, damn, he wanted to. Sophia in a bathrobe was a delectable sight. He’d had to consciously make himself stop staring at her long legs as they’d sat on opposite beds as they ate their dinner. Which hadnotbeen from some fancy Hawaiian restaurant as Pirate had been expecting Sophia to order from.

Nope, she surprised him yet again by instead orderingChick-Fil-A.

“We’re in Hawaii and you order from a chicken fast food joint you can get anytime in the continental USA?”

Sophia just shrugged and said, “They have really good sauce.”

While in San Francisco, they at least ate from street carts and had a delicious meal at a local pub. Both were slightly tipsy as they made their way down to Pier 39 at Fisherman’s Wharf. From the top of the Ferris wheel, Sophia spotted a ship docked a little way down at a different pier.

“Oh my God! It’s a pirate ship! We have to go!” she shouted at him over the wind.

Pirate was never going to live his road name down. All night she’d been plying him with rum and pirate jokes. Saying things like “ahoy, matey!” whenever she was trying to get his attention. The alcohol was only making her jokes all the cheesier.

He loved his road name because it had been given to him by Scotty. Even as a prospect for theVia DaemoniaMotorcycle Club, Pirate had gone out of his way to bring a smile to the young goofball’s face. As he’d promised during their first meeting,Scotty had gifted Pirate with an eyepatch and pirate hat after learning about his ‘peg leg’. Pirate had even gone online and found a real peg leg that could attach to his cap. It was hell to walk in, giving him an exaggerated limp, but it was worth it to see Scotty’s smile.

After they got off the Ferris wheel, they wandered around for a bit until they found the right pier. Pirate wasn’t usually so disoriented, but he also wasn’t a heavy drinker. One or two was his max, because he didn’t want Jumper to see him drunk. The continuous drinks with little food were affecting him more than he realized.

As they made their way down the long, dark pier, Sophia took hold of Pirate’s hand. He wasn’t sure if it was to steady herself or if she wasn’t comfortable in the dark. Even drunk, Pirate had no doubt he’d be able to protect her should anything happen.

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