Sinners on Tour

  Jace see it very occasionally. At least that’s what she liked to make herself believe.

  Mom took a drag off her cigarette and blew a long stream of smoke from between her lips. “That flight was the longest eleven hours of my life. I’m going to have chain-smoke for days to get caught up on my nicotine.”

  “You could have used the flight as an opportunity to quit,” Aggie pointed out. She didn’t like the smell of the smoke, or the nuisance of having a smoker in tow, but mostly she wanted her mother to quit because she worried about her health.

  “And you could have used it as an opportunity to learn to speak Mandarin,” Mom countered, taking another drag off her cigarette.

  Jace chuckled, which earned him a squeeze around the shoulders from his soon-to-be mother-in-law.

  “You are so cute when you laugh,” she said, words that immediately wiped the smile off his face.

  They crossed a wide field of grass, found a pathway around the immense castle—which was even more beautiful and romantic than Aggie remembered—and climbed the steps to the building’s main entrance. Mom paused at the bottom of the steps to finish her cigarette near an ashtray. At least she wasn’t crushing her butts into the landscaping. Aggie paused at the top of the stairs and turned to wait for her, but found her lighting up another cigarette as she scrunched out the cherry of the first. She hadn’t been joking about her need to chain-smoke.

  “I’ll find you in a minute, don’t worry about me,” Mom said, waving them into the building.

  Aggie shrugged and turned to Jace, who was gazing across the lawn toward a garden.

  “Jace?”

  He didn’t so much as blink.

  She waved a hand in front of his face.

  “Earth to Jace.”

  He took a step toward the garden, and she jerked his arm. “Where are you going? We need to meet with the planner.”

  “But she’s waiting…” he said, his voice distant.

  “I’m sure she is. We’re already late. Come on.”

  She pulled him toward the door. He sucked in a deep breath and rubbed his face.

  “What’s wrong with you?” she asked. “You’re so out of it. Jet lag?”

  He looked at her as if he hadn’t realized she was standing beside him. “Nothing,” he said and held open the door so she could enter the castle.

  “You always act so strange when we’re here,” she said, glancing around the spectacular entry to get her bearings. Now, where was Charity’s office again?

  “I feel strange when we’re here. Not bad strange, but strange.”

  She saw a familiar corridor and headed for the office. “What do you mean?” she asked, half her attention on him, half on finding their way.

  “The way I feel when I get home after being on tour for a couple of months.”

  “Tired and horny. Gotcha,” she said with a laugh. They tended to spend several days in bed when he returned from a tour. And usually they spent most of their mattress-time not sleeping.

  “Settled,” he murmured.

  She was feeling particularly unsettled, truth be told, but she was sure that feeling of nervousness in the pit of her stomach would vanish after the ceremony.

  “Tripod!” Eric’s voice echoed through the cavernous room.

  If not for the crazy rock-star haircut, Aggie would have thought Eric had walked through a window in time. He was wearing a black coat with long tails over buff-colored trousers. He held a large top hat and cane in one hand, had some travesty of a floppy bow at his throat above a fitted cadet-blue vest, and wore brown calf-hugging boots on his feet. She really did do a double take of the lovely petite woman at his side. She wore a delicate pink gown with a ruffled bottom and ruffled sleeves all trimmed with ribbon and lace. Elbow-length opera gloves completed her look. Well, those and the splotches of crimson highlights in her blond hair.

  “Rebekah?” Aggie said. “Where did you get that dress?”

  “From our favorite costume shop,” Rebekah said. “We had Malachi hunt down all sorts of costumes for the Halloween ball and ship them here from all over Europe and the United States, so everyone can find something grand to wear. Eric and I are vintage 1820s, but there are gowns dating back as far as fifteen hundred. We have nothing newer than the nineteen thirties and everything you can imagine in between. So it’s not a period ball, exactly, but it’ll be lots of fun.”

  “Did you know Rebekah doesn’t have periods? It’s awesome,” Eric said, which earned him an elbow in the ribs from his wife.

  “You decided to tell a period joke over a ball joke?” Jace said. “I’m stunned.”

  “I’m saving the ball jokes for later,” Eric assured him.

  “I thought you’d go for a Halloween theme for the party. Like monsters and zombies and stuff,” Aggie said. When the couple had begged Jace to allow them to throw a Halloween party in lieu of the traditional rehearsal dinner, Aggie had expected it to be more, well… Halloween.

  “Well, at first we thought you were getting married in a creepy old castle, but this place is grand,” Rebekah said, twirling slightly as she gazed up at the ceiling high above. “It’s so beautiful and romantic and fabulous. We decided a period ball would be more fun and far more fitting.”

  “At least she didn’t decide on a tampon ball,” Eric said, which earned him another elbow in the ribs.

  Jace thought Eric’s joke was funny. Either that or jet lag had him delirious. He laughed until he had to wrap his arms around his stomach to hold his merriment in.

  “Are you done?” Rebekah asked her husband.

  “Do you really need to ask me that?” he countered.

  She lifted her eyebrows at him. “Enough with the period jokes already.”

  He grinned and nodded. “No problem, babe. I’ll move on to the ball jokes then.”

  Rebekah rolled her eyes at him, but Aggie could see the mirth in her expression; she’d be howling along with Jace in no time. Aggie’s sense of humor was a tad less fart-joke, but she loved to see her husband laugh so if he thought grand celebrations about periods and tampons were hilarious, good on him.

  “Do you want to come see the decorations? They turned out really neat,” Rebekah said. “Charity is a miracle worker.”

  “We need to meet with that miracle worker about the ceremony tomorrow,” Aggie said, “but we’ll stop by the hall on our way out.”

  “Awesome,” Rebekah said. She hugged Aggie with excitement. “I’m so happy for you, hon. And you know I adore Jace almost as much as Eric does.”

  Aggie patted Rebekah’s back a little. She wasn’t much of a hugger. Though sometimes Aggie wanted to squeeze the stuffing out of Jace, she preferred to avoid personal contact with others as much as possible. And she’d been damned good at maintaining her distance from people until Jace Seymour entered her life.

  “This place is so perfect for the exchange of your wedding vows,” Rebekah said, forcing Jace to accept a hearty squeeze. He wasn’t much of a hugger either and patted her back much the way Aggie had.

  Eric gave Jace a bro tap with his knuckles and then swept his wife against his side and led her in the opposite direction, testing several ball jokes on her. At least that’s what Aggie thought he was whispering that had her laughing so hard.

  “I suppose we have to go to this Halloween party thing,” Jace said. “Since they went to all that trouble.”

  “We should have a few hours between this meeting and when we have to attend the costume ball. I’m sure we can find time to take a little nap between now and then. Get you out of your jet-lag funk or whatever it is that has you so spacy since we arrived.”

  “A nap is exactly what I need,” he said.

  “Wow!” Aggie’s mom hollered just inside the entrance. “These people must be fucking loaded!”

  Aggie winced and pivoted toward her mother. Aggie waved her toward them so she could put a gag over her gigantic mouth if necessary. Mom hurried to catch up, and then linked one elbow through Aggie’s arm
and the other through Jace’s.

  “Exactly how much money do you rock stars make, Maynard? How can you afford to rent this place? You’re just a bassist.”

  “Mother!”

  “Did you add Agatha to your checking account?” she asked Jace.

  “I—uh…”

  Jace’s face was the color of a tomato.

  “I asked him not to, okay?” Aggie said. “Don’t ask him questions like that.”

  “Why not? He’s family.”

  “And he’s probably wishing he wasn’t.”

  “It’s cool,” he said. “I don’t mind sharing. Uh, I make more than a paper boy and less than Bill Gates.”

  Aggie grinned, loving how he handled her mother. He was actually much better at it than she was.

  “So closer to Bill Gates than a paper boy, am I right?” her mother said and laughed hysterically. Aggie was starting to wonder if she’d hit the wet bar while she’d been collecting her smokes from their rented cottage.

  “Probably closer to the paper boy,” Jace said.

  “Huh…” Mom said, rubbing her nose on her shoulder. “Well, that’s disappointing. Better luck next time, Ag.”

  “There isn’t going to be a next time. Jace is mine for life.” Aggie tilted her head to smile at him around her mother’s slim form, but he was too busy blushing to back her claim.

  “Well, I hope you don’t have to go back to stripping to support his musician habit. I once dated a singer, you know,” she told Jace. “Well, date is a strong word. Got knocked up by a singer. He was a total deadbeat. I heard being a deadbeat is common in your profession.” She finger-quoted profession.

  That’s it. I’m going to kill her.

  “Aggie’s father?” Jace asked, not batting an eyelash at Mom’s string of insults.

  “That would be the deadbeat in question,” she said and glanced around. “Where is this lady you’re meeting? In Africa? I’m going to need to go out and have another cigarette soon.”

  “Well, don’t let us stop you,” Aggie said.

  Their event planner, Charity, stepped out of a corridor to their left.

  “There you are!” she said. “I was afraid you got turned around and ended up in the dungeon.”

  “Aggie would be right at home there,” Mom said and guffawed at her own humor.

  “Charity,” Aggie said, “this is my mother, Tabitha.”

  “Nice to meet you,” the sophisticated woman—who Aggie estimated to be around the same age as Mom—said. “Welcome to Sudeley Castle. Have you had a chance to explore the grounds and the building?”

  “Not yet.”

  “You should have a look,” Charity said. “Mr. and Mrs. Sticks went all out for the rehearsal dinner. Normally we don’t do costume parties on Halloween, but your best man is very persuasive. Not to mention handsome.” She giggled and touched her fingertips to her suddenly ruddy cheeks.

  “Eric?” Aggie asked, wondering if Charity had somehow mixed up Jace’s best man with any one of his groomsmen.

  “Oh my, yes,” Charity murmured. “Quite dreamy.”

  Aggie supposed Eric was an attractive man. His personality was so large it completely overshadowed his physical attributes, so she tended to forget how good looking he was. When he kept his mouth shut. Which was pretty much never.

  “And he’s so enthusiastic about everything,” Charity gushed. “As is his wife. What a pair. They have brought such energy to the castle since they arrived yesterday.”

  Aggie was more likely to call said energy obnoxious, but she supposed Charity hadn’t been living with them in close quarters for months. Their type of energy exhausted Aggie quickly, but she’d never meet a couple more suited for each other. Except perhaps herself and Jace.

  “The chapel, with the exception of the flowers, is set up for the ceremony. Those will be brought in tomorrow so they’re fresh,” Charity said.

  “What kind of flowers did you get?” Mom asked, sitting up straighter in her chair.

  “Black and red roses,” Aggie said.

  Mom giggled like a schoolgirl. “Should have guessed.”

  “I believe both the bridal party and the groom’s party have now arrived.” Charity consulted a list and added checkmarks to the top two names—Agatha Christine Martin and Jason Michael Seymour. She ran a finger down the side of the list slowly, as if calling up the faces, or characteristics, of each person. “You have some, er, interesting friends.”

  Interesting? Aggie’s bridesmaids included one notorious porn star and Jace’s groomsmen were all rock stars. She supposed they would be interesting to some people. To Aggie and Jace, they were just friends.

  “They’ll be well-behaved,” Jace said, looking uncertain.

  Aggie rubbed his back. They would, but who cared if their entourage got a little rowdy? She liked them for who they were. And she knew none of them would go on a drug-induced rampage and destroy the castle or anything.

  “I can’t believe you asked Starr Lancaster to be in your wedding party,” Mom said, craning her neck to read the list. “Isn’t she that porn star you used to hang out with?”

  “Well, yeah, when she’s not stripping and not dominating her slaves,” Aggie said. “She’s a good friend of mine; I’ve known her for ages. Why wouldn’t I ask her?”

  “Uh, does Jace know about her?” Mom asked.

  Aggie bit her lip. She still hadn’t divulged how intimate her relationship with Starr had once been. Hadn’t thought it important. Or maybe she was afraid of Jace’s reaction.

  Charity cleared her throat, the ruddiness in her cheeks increasing.

  “Starr’s a sweetheart,” Jace said. “Not half as vicious as Aggie with a lash.”

  Now it was Jace’s turn to go red in the face. “Uh, I mean…”

  Aggie chuckled. She wondered if he’d feel awkward standing before everyone saying his vows with Starr in the wedding party. He hadn’t questioned a single person she’d asked to stand up with her, but he was very good at hiding his true feelings—except embarrassment. Aggie would have been able to tell if Jace was embarrassed by Starr. When they were choosing their supposed-to-have-been small wedding party, he had mentioned in passing that Eric would be his best man, hinting that Aggie ask Rebekah to be her maid of honor. Even though she’d only known Rebekah for a year, she’d had no qualms about asking her to head her bridal party. To prevent hurt feelings, Jace had then asked the rest of his band to be his groomsmen, which made Aggie feel obligated to ask their significant others to be her attendants. They were left with Dave—Rebekah’s brother and Sinners’ lead soundboard operator—who was easy enough to pair off with Aggie’s cousin Beth. Beth had been thrilled to walk with Dave as she hadn’t shut up about the guy since she’d met him at Sed’s wedding. Trey was walking with Aggie’s mom because his significant others, Ethan and Reagan, had been unable to attend. And then there was Dare Mills—who Jace idolized second only to Eric. As Dare was rather tightlipped about his romantic prospects, Aggie had asked Starr to walk with him. Starr hadn’t protested. More like swooned. And Starr really was her closest friend outside the Lady Sinners. She just hadn’t told Jace how close. What happened in the dungeon, stayed in the dungeon. And her sexual relationship with Starr had never left the dungeon. Not once.

  Aggie glanced up when she realized Charity was explaining how the rehearsal would go. She should probably pay attention, so she didn’t make a fool of herself.

  “So that about sums it up,” Charity said. “Are you ready for your practice run?”

  Aggie cringed. She’d missed more than she’d assumed while daydreaming. As in, she’d missed all of it.

  “Could you repeat that one more time?” Aggie asked.

  “It’s easier to get instructions while you’re all in your places,” Charity said, standing and moving out from behind her desk. “Don’t worry. You’ll have it down by the time we’re through.”

  The event planner followed Mom out of the office, saying how unusual it was for a mothe
r to be a bridesmaid.

  “Yeah, well, that’s my Aggie,” Mom said. “No one could ever accuse her of fitting a mold.”

  Was that a hint of pride in her tone? Aggie was sure she’d imagined it.

  “Distracted?” Jace asked as he climbed to his feet and offered her a hand up.

  “A little,” she admitted.

  “About?”

  “Everything,” she said vaguely. She couldn’t very well say, One