"They say I was baptized in dirty water, by the hands of the devil himself, beside the Highway to Hell. I got scars on my heart and knuckles. I got debts that I ain't paid. Yeah, but I got blessings sent down from heaven. Baby, you're my saving grace."

TWENTY SIX

Gemma came into the garage at half-three and told me that were closing early for the day.

"I just fucked up on my third attempt at one repo list." She sighed. "I'm over it. I can't think while my brain is on what we're going to wear for the party, we need to go shopping."

All I really wanted to do was curl up on the couch in Happy's baggy clothing with a good book and some music playing through the background, but I didn't say it because I was worried she would throw a wrench at my head.

Gemma and Clay had announced that they were having a party for their anniversary a few days previously, ignored the taunts when all of the Son's complained about it being 'formal attire'. Apparently the fact that they had to wear button-downs and jeans without rips in them was enough to send everybody's blood boiling, even if she made it known that they were more than welcome to wear their colours over the top.

I grimaced. "Do I really need a new dress? Can't I just borrow one of yours?"

Her eyes narrowed before she pulled a wad of bills from her back pocket and fanned them in front of my face like she was taunting me. "No, you cannot borrow one of my dresses and yes, you do need a new one. I just broke into Church to let Clay and Happy know what we're doing, this is for you, we are going shopping."

Even though my day had been hell from start to finish, made worse when the guys got called out of the garage to attend an urgent Church so I'd been left alone, the idea started to sound more appeasing. The meeting had only been in for half an hour and they usually took a good portion of the night, the idea of going home to a quiet house had lost it's appeal to me.

"Sounds good. I'll call Lyla and Holly and see if they can come, too. Tara's at the hospital, so she won't be able to come."

"Good. Go home and get ready, I'll swing by and get you at four." She disappeared back to the office to lock up without another word and I wiped the grease on my fingertips on the ratty shirt that I was wearing.

After calling Lyla and Holly to confirm that they were going to come, both of who agreed readily since they were in the same situation as me and didn't have anything that Gemma deemed appropriate for her party, I glanced at the screen.

Maybe I shouldn't have been, but I was desperate to hear his voice, so I clicked on the interactive radio and listened to the ringtone fill the car.

"Hey!"

"Hey, what's up, Tor?" Ryan's country twang came through the phone line full force and I smiled at the steering wheel while I turned into our street.

"I was just calling to see how everything's going with your girl." I explained when I pulled up in the driveway and disconnected the Bluetooth to go through my phone.

"Calling to gossip." He teased lightly.

I was grateful that things had settled between us in the months since I'd departed Salem and, even though it wasn't back to where we once were, our friendship had good bones that we were starting to repair. "Excuse me, I didn't call you to gossip, I'm going out with the girls to do that. I called because I haven't heard from you in a few days and I wanted to make sure that you weren't dead in a ditch somewhere."

Ryan chuckled. "No, no ditches. I've just been busy. Travis and Cristy have finally gotten together and they're too busy ogling each other, so I'm picking up all the slack. Plus, the new chick on the reception desk is useless. You don't want to come back, do you? He keeps firing all of them and screaming that he's going to fly to Charming and drag you back here by your hair."

I knew that they were going through receptionists like Tig was going through the whores, Travis had made the threat to come and get me through our weekly phone calls. He'd drunk dialled me a few nights previously and almost burst into sobs when he explained how much of a mess the new one had made of his books, said that even Ryan had managed to keep them better the first time I'd come back to Charming, and then offered me partial ownership of the business if I got on the first flight.

The next morning he'd retracted his previous offer in favour of a pay rise, but he'd sighed in defeat when he found out how happily I'd settled back into my life.

"I'm pretty set here." I let myself into the house and looked around. Even though I knew he wasn't there, I still expected to be greeted by the sound of a basketball game or music flowing through the house. "He'll find someone who sticks."

"Not fucking likely." He grumbled under his breath, and I chuckled again.

"Anyway, stop avoiding the subject." I dropped my handbag on the kitchen island and withdrew a beer from the fridge before I made my way down the hallway towards our bedroom. "How's your girl?"

Ryan made a soft humming noise before there was a crackling in the background and I knew that he was running his fingers through his hair like he did whenever he was thinking too hard. "Everything's good."

"Good?" I inquired when I skimmed through the racks of clothing and tried to find something to wear. "Everything is good?"

"It's good." He confirmed.

I finally settled on a pair of dark ripped jeans and the shirt that Gemma had given me a few weeks previously that was meant to be a gag gift but had wormed it's way into my heart with the slogan pressed proudly against the front. Save a harley, ride a Son. "If it's so good, why is this conversation feeling like I'm dragging fingernails over chalkboard?"

Ryan paused for a long moment before he broke the silence with a loud sigh. "I don't know. I asked her to come home to Nashville and meet mama the other day."

He'd never invited me to meet his mother in the time that we'd been together, and it hit me hard in the chest that this girl meant more to him than he'd led me to believe. It was serious. "And?"

"And then hell broke loose at the shop because the new receptionist can't do her job, and I had to cancel the trip. She's been acting weird ever since. I haven't seen her in three days." He sighed again.

I tried to look at it from an outsiders point of view and not get frustrated that my friend was in pain because of his new love interest. "She might think that you panicked and cancelled it because you didn't want her to meet Mary."

"No, she doesn't." Ryan denied. "She wouldn't, would she? Surely she knows that I wouldn't invite her and just change my mind."

I put the phone on speaker so that I could still talk to him while I was in the shower and laughed. "Ry, as beautiful as you are, you don't know the inside of a woman's brain. She probably worked herself up to meet Mary, then the rug got torn from underneath her and she did all this preparing on how to win your mama's heart for nothing. She's probably feeling on edge because of it, her insecurities could have gotten the best of her."

Ryan muttered under his breath that he had no idea how females fucking worked and that we were all insane before he sighed again. "I guess that I should ring her and make sure she knows that's not what's happening."

"No." I disagreed quickly. "You should go and get a bunch of flowers, some takeout, and go over to her house so that you can tell her face to face and she doesn't doubt it. I mean, I could be completely wrong. Maybe the sex was bad and she's decided she's sick of faking orgasms."

He choked. "Tor! That is not the case, there's definitely no faking, trust me."

I laughed loudly, glad that the tense air and his worries had been broken. "Good to know that you've got that sorted. I've got to go, Ry. Let me know what happens."

We said our goodbyes and hung up the phone, then I finished getting ready in a rush. At four o'clock on the dot, Gemma's horn blared from our driveway and I locked up the house before I shuffled into the front seat.

Holly and Lyla were already in the back, singing loudly to Katy Perry who was singing about kissing girls on the radio, and I settled in. It was going to be a good afternoon.

"I don't like that." Gemma shook her head when I tried on the tenth dress. "It makes you look like a cupcake. Or a profiterole."

I tried not to take offence at her laid back comment since I knew she wasn't actually taking a dig at me. I still hadn't started to show, my stomach still flat like I didn't have a person growing inside of me. She just didn't like the dress, but my hormones were making me more emotional than normal and I seemed to take everything personally.

"Try this one." Lyla swarmed up to me with a pastel-blue, almost grey, dress with white lace over the top. "I think this will look good."

It had a sweetheart neckline with small lace sleeves, mermaid cut with intricate detailing all over it. It was stunning, everything that I could have asked for and more.

I stared at myself in the mirror and smiled.

"No, you cannot wear that." Gemma shook her head vigorously when I stepped out of the change room and showed them what I had on. "You cannot look better than me at my party."

I raised an eyebrow at the deep red dress she wore that made her look like a movie star from the forties. "I don't think anybody could look better than you even if you were wearing a paper bag."

"Come on, Gemma. You know that's her dress." Holly patted her on the hand, there was a hardness in her tone even with the smile on her face. "Now stop being a jealous bitch and help me find mine."

Gemma's lips pulled up into a teasing smile and she rolled her eyes. "I was joking, calm down. But you need to get that silver dress that you've been staring at for the last ten minutes."

"I'll go and see if they have it in your size!" Lyla departed from us to find the store attendant.

I sat down next to Gemma on the seats outside of the fitting rooms and ran my fingers over the lace. "If you really don't want me to wear this, I can find something else. I'm not attached to it-"

"I was just teasing." She cut me off and squeezed my hand. "You look beautiful, baby. If you don't get that, I'll buy it for you and force you to wear it."

I was exhausted when I dropped down on the couch next to Happy hours later and snuggled into his side. He muted the television and put his arm around me. "Did you find your dress?"

A hum of agreement left my lips when I pushed myself further into his side. I revelled in the feeling of him stroking my hair softly. "Where is it?"

"Gemma took them all home." I yawned. "She doesn't trust any of us to not show you guys before the party, and she wants it to be a surprise."

Happy pressed his lips to my forehead and then unmuted the game. "I'm sure you're going to look beautiful, little girl."