Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 51122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
“This shit is for the birds,” I grumbled, my eyes on fire. “I can’t believe this stupid freakin’ virus ruined this for them.”
“You may think it’s ruined, but they will get married, honey. It may not be the most traditional of weddings, but they’ll figure it out,” she whispered.
They would. I would see to it.
The next morning, I walked to the church doors—the church that had ‘closed’ due to the virus running rampant and infecting people. Pulling the door open with a fuckin’ wet wipe for Christ’s sake, I walked into the room and started looking for the man in charge.
My eyes found the minister who was set to marry my baby girl this weekend, and I grinned.
“So,” I said, walking up to him but making sure to stop six feet away. “I want to talk about this…”
• • •
“Daddy,” Ares said from the back seat. “What in the heck are you doing?”
I looked at her in the rearview mirror just as I was pulling into the parking lot.
“If you can’t guess,” I teased, eyeing her wedding dress that she’d put on despite her protests. “Then maybe you aren’t my daughter.”
She rolled her eyes then looked at her soon-to-be husband.
“I mean, I know you think you know what you’re doing, but I want to wait. I want to get married in front of my friends and family.”
I pulled into the parking lot just as she finished her statement, and her breath caught.
Her eyes went wide when honks started to fill the air around us. We passed by Reese and Luke. Bennett in his squad car. Mercy and Miller. Then the rest of the entire old and new SWAT team from their various cars, too.
Hayes cursed, his mouth going into a wide grin.
“How…” she breathed, looking at all of the people.
“Hayes actually gave me the idea,” I admitted, grinning at Hayes’ face. “It was a good idea, too. I just ran with it.”
Ares’s eyes filled with tears as she looked to Hayes and pressed a kiss to his mouth.
Together we got out of the car, my daughter blowing air kisses to all the random cars that were parked six feet apart in the parking lot.
She took in the large white screen that was displaying the church altar with the minister who she’d chosen to marry her at the front of it.
Her eyes went to me, then to her husband. “This isn’t going to get you into trouble, is it?”
I shrugged.
“Don’t you know,” I teased. “I’m all for breaking all the rules.”
Then my baby girl got married in the church of her dreams with the doors wide open, and all of her friends and loved ones watching on from their cars.
It might not have been what she wanted, but she would remember it as the best day of her life all the same.
Book: Bang Switch
CHAPTER 13
That’s a lovely shade of bitch you’re wearing.
-Winnie’s secret thoughts
WINNIE
“Why are we going to Conleigh’s house again? I thought we decided it was for everyone’s best interest to stay away from each other. We don’t want to expose the kids,” Steel said.
I looked over at him with a roll of my eyes.
“I thought so, too,” I admitted. “But you know how she is. She called and begged me to come over. And I’m not usually one to deny my daughter when she’s crying that hard.”
“Why was she crying?” Steel asked as he pulled into the driveway. He didn’t sound happy at all. In fact, he sounded downright pissed. “Do I need to kick Linc’s ass?”
I patted his hands and hopped out of the car, hurrying toward the front door.
Linc, my girl’s husband, opened the door with a very large scowl on his face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, scared now that I saw the look on his face.
“You better not have hurt her, motherfu—” Steel’s words trailed off when he saw the same thing I did. “Why do you have blood on your clothes?”
Linc opened the door wide.
“That would be because your stubborn, crazy, silly, probably going to die on me daughter is having our baby in the bathtub right now!” he all but bellowed.
We both stopped in the doorway, Linc only inches away from us.
Just as we were processing the words, my daughter’s long wail came from the stairs, and I was running.
When I got inside, it was to find Conleigh on her knees in the bathtub, staring at me with wide, terrified eyes.
“I’m not having this baby in a hospital.” She panted through a contraction. “I need you and Linc. I need everyone here. I can’t do this alone.”
I was already moving toward her, a professional mask that you could only derive from years of working as a paramedic slipping into place.
“How far along are you?” I asked, worried now.
Just as she was about to answer, Ellen, Linc’s stepmother, rushed into the room.