Chapter Thirty-Four

                                    

                                          
Nikoli started to worry when Lily didn't immediately appear. He knew she'd been scared about freaking out in front of his family, and he hoped if she was having a panic attack, Adam could calm her down. Nik had given him a crash course in how to help her back when they first begrudgingly became friends. 
                          
When she and Adam stepped up to the doorway, his entire body relaxed. She was gripping Adam like he was the only thing keeping her from falling off the life raft and into shark-infested waters. The veil she wore kept him from seeing her face clearly, though. He wished he could so he could get a read on her emotions.
                          
Luther slapped him on the back. "Told you not to worry, man."
                          
He'd worry until he had her hand in his.
                          
They started down the aisle, and he held his breath. God, she was beautiful. The dress was amazing, and he'd enjoy stripping her out of it later. Angel promised him he'd love it, and he did.
                          
His chest tightened the closer they came. It wasn't a painful tightening, but more like a pressure. A warm blooming began in his stomach and rose through him, and he understood what it was. It was love and joy all rolled into one big lump in his heart. 
                          
Happiness. That was what all that meant. He was happy.
                          
Lily took small steps, concentrating on not falling. She didn't wear heels well, but both Angel and Janet insisted on the four-inch heels now gracing her feet. Adam held her up, though. She needn't have worried. She kept her eyes trained on Nikoli, who wore the biggest smile she'd ever seen. 
                          
Adam waited at the bottom of the small raised dais while Nik took her hand and helped her up. Then he sat next to her mother.
                          
But it was Nikoli who held her attention. 
                          
His hand was a little sweaty, but she didn't mind. It just meant he was as nervous as she was.
                          
But it was the sheer love shining out of those black eyes of his that gave her the strength to stand here before God, their families, and their friends without falling apart.
                          
"Hi," she whispered.
                          
"Hi back." Nikoli placed a kiss across her knuckles.
                          
"None of that, young man," the priest, Father Stephens, admonished. "Save that for the end."
                          
"Sorry, Father."
                          
Lily smiled at how contrite he looked. Nik might not show it, but he took his religion seriously.
                          
Father Stephens cleared his throat. "We shall begin with the Liturgy of the Word." He went on to read passages from both the New and Old Testament, but Lily paid him no mind. She zoned him out a little, and her only thoughts were of Nikoli. 
                          
She remembered the first time he'd touched her. It wasn't that night in his apartment. It was that first day when he'd taken her hand and pulled her away from what she knew, what was comfortable. The sensations his fingers burned into her very being were something she'd remember until the day she died.
                          
He was special. He made her feel things no one had, and it was the beginning of the end for her. Her manwhore had given her back her life, and that was more precious than anything he could ever give her.
                          
She loved him.
                          
Music started, and singing commenced. The hymn. She tried to sing along, but her focus wasn't there. It was on her memories.
                          
He'd been so arrogant that day in the cafeteria, and then when he scrambled after her, demanding dinner, she'd found him charming despite what she knew of him.
                          
And she'd had fun on their first date. Even if Adam showed up and tried to ruin it. Another shock on both fronts.
                          
She smiled as she thought of the look on his face when she'd told everyone they had a bet on his car. Ellie. She thought he might have a stroke then and there.