Page 140 of Rogue Mission
“You look like you swallowed something sharp,” Scout says as he punches me in the ribs.
“Careful, or you’ll be swallowing my fist,” I mutter low enough for only him to hear as we move closer.
Rosalie’s laugh carries over the sound of the falls, with her white sundress almost glowing like an angel in the misty light.
The team and their girls squeeze close in their summer clothes, a far cry from all the tactical gear we’re usually hauling.
Justice is damn steady.
Minus his Adam’s apple hanging up every few minutes. But he’s one-hundred percent locked on Rosalie. Like she’s the only thing on the planet that matters.
A rusty door inside me creaks. A memory floods out of a doe-eyed brunette with some bastard’s bruises all over her.
Jade McCoy.
Christ.
I rub the back of my neck, trying to shake her from my thoughts. But she’s still there. Like she has been for nearly two weeks since the day at the donut place.
I can’t seem to think of anything but her.
Especially the way she trembled when I left her at her friend’s apartment. She told me she needed to ‘do this on her own.’
Fuck, why did I leave?
Because she’s safe. You did your job. And….
The officiant starts talking, voice rolling over me, filtering through the haze.
Justice tightens his hold on Rosalie’s hands, and for a moment I block everything else out.
Everything gets locked in a vault in my head—the men we ran down in Vandemora, the scars, the ghosts, and a five-foot-six Sagittarius that’s had enough trouble in her life without me.
All I see is the bride and groom, a red macaw circling overhead, and the rest of the world seemingly at a stand still.
This time Camile moves close to give me lip.
“Hey, smile,” the redheaded trouble maker whispers. “This is a wedding.”
Shit. I must have been scowling. Bad timing because our boy is about to launch into his vows.
Which he does in classic Justice form.
Straight and true, his vows are simple and honest. The kind of words that don’t need fancy wrapping because they come straight from the deepest part of him.
“My Rosalie, I promise to honor and cherish you from this day forward,” he says, in a husky, emotional timbre.
“To walk with you through the fire. I will always see you for who you are, and to be the best man I can be.”
We’re all close enough to catch the tremble in his hand as he slides a slender gold band on Rosalie’s finger.
She shifts, gathering her breath, a sweet smile on her upturned face.
“You, Justice Cruze are the owner of my heart,” she says, then blinks back tears. Then the smile we know her for appears.
“You did jump start it after all. But it’s not just that, it’s what you’ve done over and over for me.”
She breathes though some tears before she can continue and Camile covers her mouth, holding back her own tears.
