Chapter 23: Bouquet Toss

*Okay, yeah, I see Trigg’s obsession with these cakes. – Leo*

After the wedding ceremony, the two grooms took their bride up to their room where they made her lay down until Doc could come up and look at her. After about thirty minutes, they all returned downstairs. Much to Trigg’s delight, the first thing that they did was to cut the cake and feed each other.

Ink and Tank were very delicate in feeding the small bite of the cake to Evie. Tank went first and Ink patiently waited for his turn. Evie grinned at the men she had just married and picked up two large pieces of cake. The two grooms laughed and let her smear cake all over their faces.

Priscilla snapped pictures of it all and caught the tender moment when Athos walked over with a damp rag to clean off her hands. When Tank tried to take the rag away, his little brother just pushed him out of the way and n finished the job.

Feeling bratty, she fed her new brother-in-law a small piece of cake. With a smile, he kissed her temple and murmured something that caused her to laugh.

“I promise, I won’t let them kill you,” the bride assured her former student.

“I have witnesses, I’m going to hold you to that!” Athos hugged her and then handed her over to her new husbands.

“You go back over there to the kid’s table,” Tank smirked and pointed to the table where his friends sat. A bottle of whiskey and mezcal sat in the center of the table, a thank you gift to Camille and Priscilla for their work on the wedding.

“What do I get?” Athos pouted.

“A place to live?” his brother suggested.

“How about a tattoo?” Ink offered.

“I’ll be at the kid’s table thinking up my net tattoo,” Athos declared as he went to the table.

After getting their slices of sugar free cake that Nessie made, the teens sat in their regular place. Camile had been released from her duties once the chairs and heaters were picked up while the newlyweds were upstairs. She sat on one side of Priscilla with the musketeers next to her and Megan on the other side oof them. Leo sat between Megan and Priscilla, ensuring that there was a buffer between the men.

Priscilla pretended not to know why they were seated like this as she leaned in close to Camille to whisper in her friend’s ear. “He’s not here, is he?”

Camille shook her head no. “I should have gotten his name.”

“Maybe when the babies are born,” Priscilla murmured and pointed to the small screen of the camera.

To anyone looking at the two girls, they were simply looking through all the pictures that she had taken. And not discussing the Cajun that Camille was crushing on. The only person who knew was Pricilla. And she knew her friend well enough to know that what she knew was not everything.

After the hell that her sister put her through, Camille kept everything close to her. Nothing was spoken of in common areas where anything that could be used as ammunition against her could get back to Allison.

Camille’s oldest sister, Charlotte, approached the table and looked over the girls’ shoulders. “Want me to take pictures while she tosses the bouquet?”

The two teens grinned at each other. Both their dads had anticipated them being busy during that part of the celebration. Priscilla explained the controls on the camera as they were slightly different from the camera that Charlotte used.

With the camera and pictures being taken care of, they grabbed Athos and Leo and drug them to where Nessie was having everyone gather for the garter and bouquet toss. The two girls smiled at each other when Megan tried to go with them, but Aramis pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her and their daughter.

“Think she has any idea why he doesn’t want her to go?” Priscilla asked quietly.

Shaking her head, Camille pushed Athos out into the crowd that was gathering. “Not a clue.”

Evie was placed in a chair in the center of the floor and both her grooms knelt to remove the garters.

“I could be wrong,” Evie’s grandmother, Willa, called out, “but isn’t this what led to you having a herd of elephants inside you?”

“Gross mom!” Evie’s seventeen-year-old aunt, Maya, called out.

“She was probably strapped to a cross!” Evie’s sister, Cassie, laughed causing Maya to act even more disgusted.

“There’s an image for when we’re in class!” Priscilla yelled out.

“Shut! Up!” her younger sister, Eliza, called back.

“All right, lads,” Nessie redirected everyone back to what they were doing, “when yer ready, yer victims be bahine yeh.”

After removing the garters and giving their bride a kiss the tow men stood and tossed the satin and lace over their shoulders.

Chance caught the first one and let out a loud whoop. “Looking for a wife for the night!”

Knuckles caught the other garter and looked at Toad. The club president clapped him on his shoulder and said something that the girls could not hear as they stood on the opposite side of the large space. Whatever it was, had the men around Knuckles laughing.

Nessie brought the bouquet over to Evie where she still sat in the chair that Tank had placed her in. seeing his two oldest girls in the crowd to catch the bouquet, Molly gently ushered his daughters away.

“Molly, you’re going to have to let them grow up at some point,” Becks laughed.

"But not today,” He admitted.

He aimed a glare at Leo who quickly disappeared from the crowd. Molly was grinning and watching the young brother disappear. Tammy and Becks stepped between the father and his daughters as Alicia nudged the two teens back to the grouping of single women.

Laughing at the antics around her, Evie tossed the bouquet behind her. She turned to look over her shoulder in to see it land perfectly in Camille’s hands.

“Nope!” Trigg yelled and Sid laughed as she stood in front of her husband. “Give it back, let her throw it again!”

Camille’s seven siblings that were at the wedding rushed over to protect her. They made a human wall to shield her from their father’s mock anger.

Her oldest brother, Dutch, looked over his shoulder at the youngest of the nine of Johanson kids.

“Run, Camille! Run! Save yourself!” Dutch yelled at her.

With all eyes now on her, that was exactly what she did. She bolted for the back hallway and texted Priscilla from her little reading alcove.

Reading the text from her best friend, she went to find her parents who were trying to round up the littles. Becks let out a loud whistle and the whole area fell silent.

“Okay, my littles,” Becks called out, “if you want to go swimming, and everything that happens afterwards, we need to head home.”

Priscilla laughed as all the Lowery kids from all her cousins and aunts and uncles all moved to the parking lots and their cars. She grabbed Eliza as she walked by with their brother in her arms.

“I’m going to grab Camille, go ahead and start the Heaven.”

The younger sister grinned at her, “Are the keys in the car?”

“Should be,” she grinned back as she headed towards the hall.

“Hey,” Leo reached out and grabbed Priscilla’s hand and pulled her to him. He rested his back against the wall and pulled her between his legs and rested his hands on her hips.

“Hi,” she smiled at him. “We’re headed home for the big family Christmas.”

“Swimming?” he asked.

“We do a polar plunge before opening presents,” she explained as Aramis walked by.

“See you at the house?” Aramis asked.

“Yeah, I’m just getting Camille, and we’ll head home,” she confirmed as he walked away.

“Just family, huh?” Leo asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Yeah, it’s all the Lowerys crammed into my parents house,” she gave a little laugh.

“Then why is Aramis going?”

Her smile fell and confusion filled her face. “You do know that Aramis is my cousin, right?”

“What about Camille?”

“Her sister is married to my other cousin,” she shook her head. “Leo, do you not know how big my family is?”

“I guess not,” he said coolly.

“Okay, Pops is my great grandfather, and he had three kids with Grandy, Patch, Deuce and Alana who married Coon. Patch has my dad and Dino. Deuce has Rocky and Gremlin. Alana has Werewolf, Bear, Sticks, Mia and Chance.”

“Pops also had an illegitimate son, Cletus, who has Aramis and a stepdaughter. Mia is married to Celt, the trio are married to the flowers, Sticks is married to Kilo, Marc and Misty. Werewolf is married to Charlotte, Bear -.”

“Sorry, I didn’t realize that it was really that big,” Leo admitted.

“You need to trust me.”