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"What do you mean?"
"Every year, my sister invites the Knight Security team home for Mardi Gras. I always refuse to commit to attending until the last minute. This Tuesday is Fat Tuesday." Our clasped hands swung between us. He held his jacket in his free hand and I held my shoes in mine.
"That's only three days from now." I thought I'd heard of Fat Tuesday, but I didn't know the significance of it off the top of my head. My mind was reeling at the sudden change in topic.
"She'll be impressed that I'm planning ahead." He laughed at himself. "It'll be the perfect scratch to your itch. I'll show you how we pass a good time in the Bayou. A lot more fun than Casino Menengo or Vegas." His voice changed, allowing a little bit of the Southern drawl to come out when he spoke.
"Are you being serious right now?" I wasn't even sure what he meant, but I was totally up for going anywhere with him.
"Dead serious. My sister really wants to meet you."
"Yes. I'd love that. I want to see where you grew up." It was hard not to get excited. Mag had promised me I was part of the family once, but now that Gavin and I wouldn't be legally married, there was no real need for me to meet his sister except that I'd liked her so much on the video call we'd shared. Mag was probably just being nice because I'd said I wanted to have fun and I'd hit it off with his sister, but I wasn't going to say no to an adventure like that.
"Oh, one more thing." He opened the trunk of the car and pulled out a huge bouquet of long-stemmed red roses. He held them out with an awkward smile that was very uncharacteristic of my confident commando. "For my wife."
He did not say... No way. How did he... They'd been in the car all this time, even before the magic show? He'd planned all this? For me?
"Take them."
I raised my arms robotically, and he set a bundle of at least two dozen deep red velvet roses in my embrace. They were wrapped in black tissue with a decadent burgundy bow.
"I don't know how to take care of them," I whispered as I stood woodenly in the parking lot, my eyes taking in each unopened bud like it was a newborn babe. What did they need? I wanted them to last forever. I wanted to encase these roses in resin and hang them on the wall above my bed so I could always remember the night I was Magnum's fake wife and he was a sentimental softie.
He chuckled. "Get in. We gotta meet the team."
I cradled the flowers on my lap as we drove back to the safe house. My whole body tingled and shivered as I recovered from all that we'd just done. What would I tell Stella and Brandy about tonight when they asked? A lot of it felt very private between Mag and me even though we had eyes and ears on us most of the evening. "No matter what happens, my life has been changed by you," I said quietly.
He grinned and took my hand in his. "Mine as well."
Chapter 26 The Big Easy
Magnum
The air buzzed as we walked into the staging area for the Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras parade. We'd flown out to NOLA in the company jet with a few members of the West Coast KS crew, and now we were looking for my sister among the many volunteers rushing about with last minute preparations.
"This is fantastic," Wren said next to me, her eyes wide as she took in the towering floats adorned with lights and over the top decorations.
"This ain't the half of it," I said as I squeezed her hand. The last few days had been rough, but I'd managed not to fuck her brains out as we'd prepared for the trip. I'd been busy searching for Gavin, and I might've come home after she was already asleep in a futile effort to reduce the temptation.
Somehow, by the grace of God, I'd managed to sleep next to her and keep my dick in my pants. Didn't mean I didn't want to fuck her. I did, but it didn't seem right if I couldn't offer her more than meaningless sex. She deserved all the love and affection garbage that I was absolute shit at giving.
"I'm so glad you convinced me to come." After Wren found out about the kids at Kenny's mansion, she was hell bent on bringing him down. She didn't want to go anywhere and insisted we work day and night to free them. In actuality,we needed time to prepare for our next move, and the trip would hopefully distract her from the heavy stuff.
She also didn't like the idea of me covering the cost, but I'd told her my sister wanted to meet her and she'd agreed.
A guy I knew from the neighborhood recognized me and stopped in front of us. "Hey, Antoinne! It's good to see you. Wazzam?" He glanced at Wren who smiled nervously back.
I locked hands with him and lifted my chin. "Not much, dawg." I didn't correct him calling me by my given name. Happened all the time when I was home. "We're looking for my sister."
"Thought I saw her down there working on the checkerboard one." He pointed down the long row of floats.
Eventually, we found the Krewe of Honor float that my sister had organized this year. A long double-decker bus painted in black and white squares with golden chess pieces adorning the sides. A giant black horse in the shape of a knight piece guided the ship in the front. An excessive amount of metallic fringe trimmed the edges.
My sister stood on the floor bossing everyone around as usual. Short little thing, looking beautiful with her long curly braids and her overly done makeup. My tiny sister was a force of nature, and she would not be ignored.
She turned and saw me, her eyes flew wide, and she ran straight to Wren. "Welcome to the Big Easy." Her arms wrapped all the way around and embraced her. Wren stiffly hugged her back. "I'm Sylvie. This is Julian." She pointed to my brother who had been off to the side but joined the group as we arrived.
"Nice to meet you both." She smiled and shook his hand since he didn't offer her a hug. Even though she was nervous, I felt way too much satisfaction in knowing Wren was meeting the decent half of the Beaumont family. They weren't perfect, but Julian and Sylvie were a lot less messed up than me and Gavin.
