Page 124 of Fighting Jacob

Six months later...

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Noah and Emily sprint down the aisle, their steps as fast as my heart is racing. “I told you we wouldn’t miss it.” Noah slings his arms around my shoulders. “Although a little more notice would have been nice.”

“I had to get her down the aisle before she changed her mind.”

Lola may now tell me multiple times a day that she loves me, but that doesn’t mean she’d skip down the aisle without first putting up a protest.

“You look very dashing, Jacob.” Emily replaces Noah’s arms with her own. “Even if you’re sporting a black eye in your wedding photos.”

I waggle my brows, more than happy to have the photos retouched in exchange for holding Lola to the bet we made six months ago. Last night, I became the Heavyweight Champion of the World. Today, I’m about to become Lola’s husband. Can you guess which title I like the most?

Having the fight held in Vegas presented a perfect opportunity to get Lola down the aisle. I had planned to get married straight after being awarded the title, but Noah begged me to wait. He was performing in San Francisco at the same time my fight was being broadcast around the world. He hated missing my match, but the thought of missing my wedding was cutting him raw.

“I want to stand by your side like you have my entire life,” he said last night when I called to tell him my plans.

The past six months have been some of the toughest in my life. Noah was at my side the entire time, as was my wife-to-be, so I couldn’t deny his request.

Because the discharge of his weapon resulted in a death, Ryan was investigated by the Internal Affairs Department. He was cleared of all charges on the day Curtis's hearing began. Curtis faced charges for conspiracy to commit false imprisonment, kidnapping, and attempted murder. He was refused bail, and last month was found guilty by a jury of his peers. We won't know his sentence until later this week.

To say I’m incredibly proud of how Lola handled everything would be an understatement. She’s been incredible. She testified for the DA, not once stumbling when Curtis glared at her in warning, before expanding her self-defense classes to include ways to disarm armed assailants. The past six months have been tough, but they proved what I’ve always known: there’s no one stronger than the woman I’m about to marry.

When the celebrant joins us at the end of the aisle, Noah waggles his brows. “You ready?”

“I was born ready.”

My eyes get a little misty when Slater, Marcus, Nick, and their partners mosey down the aisle to take a seat in the second row of pews. Noticing my shocked response, Noah slaps my shoulder. “You didn’t think I'd let you get married without your family and friends in attendance, did you?”

Before I can answer him, my dad and a lady with ocean blue eyes walks down the aisle. She looks familiar, but I can't place her face. After greeting me with a hug and a whispered, "I'm proud of you, son," my dad guides his date to the front row. By the time Maggie, Ollie, Hank, and Lola's mom, Patrice, join the celebration, the little chapel we're getting married in is almost bursting at the seams.

While an Elvis impersonator serenades us with “Love Me Tender,” I catch the first glimpse of Lola. She’s rounding the corner on the arm of her dad, her eyes as wide and as glossy as mine. When her eyes clash with Hank in the front row, she motions for him to join her. He peers at me in shock, unsure what to do. I shrug before gesturing for him to do as Lola is requesting. He does, although hesitantly.

Once he joins Lola at the end of the aisle, she spins him around before looping her arm around his elbow. The smile on Hank’s face when he realizes she wants him to walk her down the aisle along with her dad is priceless. He’ll never admit it, but tears are welling in his eyes.

As they make their way down the aisle, I drink in my soon-to-be wife. She’s wearing a smoking-hot white lace fitted mini dress that shows off her killer legs. Her hair is tousled, appearing as if we've just had a romp in the bedroom—it was in the backseat of a limo, but close enough—and her makeup is dark and smoky. She’s fuckin’ gorgeous, and she makes my dick twitch.

When I adjust myself, her smile makes the world fade away. It’s just her and me, a cock tease and the man who’ll never grow tired of her sexy goading.

Hank slaps my shoulder when they reach the end of the aisle, while Lola’s dad places her hand in mine. When her eyes lift to mine, her teeth rake her red-painted lips. “Are you sure this is what you want, Jacob?”

The seductive sexiness of her question reveals my furrowed brows aren’t required, but I can’t hold back my worry. If she backs out now, I’ll never recover.

My panic subsides when she murmurs, “I can’t give you anything more than my friendship.” That’s the exact phrase she said to me over four years ago when she was still trying to deny her feelings for me.

With a smirk that gets her all hot and bothered, I say, “It’s better than not having you in my life at all.”

The gleam I saw in Lola’s eyes mere minutes before we arrived at Bronte’s Peak shines bright as she saucily winks. “Then let’s be friends.”

If the last four years are any indication of how she treats her friends, I’m going to be the best fucking friend she’s ever had.

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The end!