AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The woman pointed in Marley’s direction. “That’s our daughter.”
“Shit.” Aiden’s hand, which had been on my lower back, dropped away.
“Are those your parents?” I asked him, but he was already walking toward them.
I rushed to join him, not sure what I could do but knowing I needed to be near Aiden to support him.
“This is our daughter’s wedding,” the woman said to Emmett who blocked her entry into the room with his feet planted wide and his arms crossed over his chest.
“I don’t believe you were invited.”
“You weren’t,” Aiden added stood next to Emmett, his voice hard and unforgiving.
I stayed back, wanting to be nearby in case Aiden needed me but not wanting to interfere with whatever was going to happen. My skin crawled as Aiden’s mother, Shay, pointed one long nail at his chest. “How dare you refuse to allow me into my daughter’s wedding.”
“You weren’t invited. You need to leave.” Aiden stepped forward in an effort to back them into the hallway because guests were starting to notice that something was going on.
“You think you’re something because my mother left you this place?” His mother gestured wildly around us. “But you’re just trailer trash. No military training or dating a higher-class woman will change that for you.”
Aiden glanced at me, then stepped in front of me, blocking her from my view. I wondered if he thought he was protecting me.
The woman gestured in my direction, then added, “You’re no better than us.”
I wanted to argue that he’d been better than her since birth, but it wasn’t my place to interfere. I waited for Aiden to argue with her, but instead his shoulders lowered.
My stomach knotted. Did he believe her?
His father—I think his name was Hank—tugged on her arm and then said to Aiden, “She said you’d invited us. I didn’t realize we weren’t welcome.”
Aiden’s face softened slightly. “Marley wanted to enjoy her wedding with her family and friends. You’ve never been that for us. We made our family, and it’s not blood.”
Hank had the decency to flinch, but Shay’s face twisted with rage. “Did you think you can pay us off, and we’d stay away?”
Aiden’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t pay you a dime. That wasn’t my decision.”
Marley and Heath appeared next to me. “What’s going on? We heard yelling.”
Aiden held up his hand as if to ward them off. “Nothing for you to worry about. I’ll take care of them.”
Marley’s eyes widened when she took in the sight of her parents dressed in torn jeans and stained shirts that had seen better days. “You promised never to show up here again.”
Shay’s face crumbled. “The money’s gone. We need more.”
“You showed up on my wedding day demanding money?” Marley asked incredulously. Then she shook her head. “I shouldn’t be surprised by anything you do anymore.”
“Let’s take this downstairs,” Emmett said with an air of authority, and Talon joined him as they each took one of the interlopers’ arms and guided them down the stairs.
Aiden followed them into the hallway and then turned to face Marley and Heath. “You stay here. I’ll deal with them.”
“You’re not going to pay them off,” Marley hissed.
Aiden sighed. “I don’t have that kind of money anyway.”
“Aiden—” Marley said as he turned and jogged down the stairs.
“I don’t want him to deal with this on his own,” Marley said to me and Heath.
I smiled to cover my concern. “I’ll go. Go back inside and enjoy your party.”
