Page 37 of George’s Big Day

“Yes, well, that’s how he is, always helpful.” Dante sounded dejected before he looked at me. “I’m sorry the cartel picked your special day to come after me.”

“That was probably for the best,” Colter told him. “Lots of backup this way.”

“I’m not completely vulnerable here,” Dante grumbled. “I can defend myself.”

“Yes, but you have a lot of people here, plus your husband,” Hawthorne pointed out. “This was the best-case scenario, don’t you think?” He and Colter looked at Dante expectantly.

“Yes,” he groaned after a moment, then glanced at me. “I am sorry, though.”

“It can’t be helped,” I replied. “And you did a good thing.”

“Yes, I did,” he enunciated to the room.

Kage walked over to Chris then and offered him his hand. “I wanted to thank you for saving my daughter earlier in the year when George was deployed and asked you to protect her.”

Chris looked a bit stunned as he shook Sam Kage’s hand. I was guessing it had been a minute since he found himself in the company of law enforcement.

Kage turned to me. “I’m sorry the wedding is on hold until we can get these prisoners moved, but I assure you, men are on the way to take custody of them.”

“I understand. I’m sure Kurt will as well, but I do need to let him know.”

“Of course, and so you’re aware, Doyle is actually in his suit, unlike Mancuso here.”

With everything going on around me, that had completely escaped my notice. Everyone else, from Dante to his husband, Noah, to Jing and Hawthorne, were all dressed.

“Could you please go change?” I asked Chris, who glanced around the room.

“He means now,” Colter suggested.

Chris threw up his hands and went to the door but stopped. “I’d like to point out that a cartel still has Dante on a hit list, in case anyone forgot.”

“Aw, Chris, you care,” Dante baited him.

“Because I vacation with you, and I’d rather not do it behind bulletproof glass or riding around in Darius’s armor-plated SUV.”

Colter turned to look at Hawthorne. “You have an armor-plated SUV?”

“Of course I have an armor-plated SUV,” he groused at his friend. “Don’t you?”

“The fuck would I need that for?”

Chris clapped his hands. “Focus.”

“I’ll take care of the cartel issue,” Hawthorne apprised him, then looked at Kage. “I don’t want to be disrespectful to you or your position as a marshal, but…”

“I have no problem with you protecting your friend. I would do the same.”

Hawthorne smiled. “I look forward to meeting your daughter and hearing about why Chris needed to save her.”

“It’s a good story,” Kage told him. “Made good, of course, by the fact that with George and his friends, she is always protected.”

“Does she need constant guarding?” Colter sounded concerned.

Kage nodded. “She, much like her father, my husband, is a trouble magnet.”

When Colter glanced at me, I nodded vigorously.

“Really?”