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I snickered. “You have such a way with words. Please never change your eloquence.”
“Rhiannon, I’m positive I’ll still be telling you to shut the fuck up when we’re old and gray and I’m bending you over in the middle of the day.”
I couldn’t help but smile, thinking of those old couples that are vulgar to the end.
“Are you happy, principessa?” he asked in a quieter, much softer voice.
My expression became thoughtful as I contemplated how to answer that. We were in a gorgeous room full of people we loved, loved us, or cared through a level of respect he’d earned.
This was one of the best days of my life. The weeks leading up to this had been some of the happiest I’d been in a long time. But it didn’t miraculously heal all the brokenness. There were still mornings I found myself staring through the glass of our bedroom window, lost inside my head, always wondering about the what-ifs and whys.
There were times I feared this was nothing but a dream showing me a future that couldn’t exist. Judas had always been my shelter and my storm. Giving him the ability to wreck me with another elemental downpour was terrifying. Yet, I’d chosen to take the risk anyway.
So, the question remained. Was I happy? The answer wasn’t black and white, but neither was the question. True happiness wasn’t going to be found in the arms of someone else even if it felt like I couldn’t live without him.
Power and wealth weren’t going to give it to me either. It had everything to do with me and I wasn’t there yet. Judas probably wouldn’t take that reply as he should, but I didn’t want to lie to him.
“I’m not sad and I don’t want to kill you half as bad,” I replied, adding the second part to keep things light.
“Only half, huh?”
“Wait a minute, where did you run off to? You left me in a room of killers.”
“No one would so much as look at you wrong if they valued their life.” He kissed my temple. “I was making sure your surprise was ready.”
“Oh, no. I officially hate surprises.”
“You’ll like this one.” He moved from behind me and offered me his hand.
“Cookie said that same thing the day you spontaneously decided to introduce me to your parents.”
“And now you love them, and they love you, it all worked out for the best. Even Cookie has been ecstatic.”
“Because he sulked his way into catering tonight,” I argued playfully.
I’d quickly come to adore our teddy bear of a chef. I asked him to tell me what his name meant every chance I got, but I hadn’t cracked him yet.
“Take my hand in the next three seconds or I’m carrying you out of here.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You wouldn’t.”
He plucked my glass out of my hands and sat it on a round table.
“Judas,” I warned, taking a step back.
“Do you want to play, principessa?”
I hid a grin by scowling and turned away, doing my best slow-fast speed walk to the opposite of the cake table.
“I will flip this entire display over if I need to,” he lilted.
“And make a scene in front of like, ninety people you associate with?”
“Fuck them.”
“Judas.” I checked to see if anyone heard him over the music. A few people on the dance floor were watching us blatantly amused.
He came around when I wasn’t paying him any attention and easily lifted me up to dangle over his shoulder.
“Put me down,” I hissed. “At least let me--.”
He slapped my ass in front of everyone and walked out of the room, carrying me through the empty halls of our venue. When we got to the lobby, he finally set me down.
“You’re not allowed to be mad,” were his immediate words.
I laughed and reached up to finger his tie. “First of all, I’m not mad. Second, where is this supposed surprise?”
“It’s not here.”
“Then why did you carry me off like a neanderthal?”
He gently grabbed my jaw and tilted my face towards his, leaning down to brush his soft lips against mine. “You trust me?”
“Depends on what I’m trusting you with.”
“Come and see for yourself.” He drew away with a grin and offered me his hand for the second time.
Of all the places I’d been expecting him to bring me, a depleted house in the middle of an overgrown cemetery never crossed my mind. It was a little after nine at night, leaving a black canvas of glittering stars overhead.
There was no light here whatsoever other than a dim glow coming from behind a raggedy curtain. A matte black utility van with no windows but three in front was the only other vehicle in the grassy parking lot.
“Judas, what the hell is this?”
He shifted his Continental into park but didn’t turn it off. “You don’t like it?”
