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“You’re going to have all the time in the world to get up to whatever it is you’re doing in there after,” I say. “But we’ve got a wedding to go to in twenty minutes and you guys are the bride and groom. Phoenix, I need you to let Six go and let us get her to that aisle.”
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The ceremony is beautiful and emotional. Both Phoenix and Sixtine cry and so does a healthy portion of their friends and family, including myself. They look so happy and in love it’s impossible to look away from them.
Phoenix stares at Six the same way he always has and I wonder how it took us all so long to realize he was head over heels in love with her. Maybe because his stare is so intense it could admittedly be confused for obsession or mania, but there’s no debating it now.
As the wedding party heads towards the grassy area where the reception is being held, I sneak up behind Tristan and grab his arm.
I pull him back, stopping him from leaving.
Although I managed to avoid him until now, I felt the heavy possessiveness of his gaze on me the entire time I stood next to Six during the ceremony. The intensity of his stare had almost permanently singed my skin, but I’d resisted looking over at him.
He smirks predatorily down at me when I slam him against the wall of the chapel with a glare.
“If you wanted alone time, all you had to do was ask,” he teases. “I’ve only been begging for it for four months.”
“You are not doing this at my best friend’s wedding,” I hiss. “It’s one thing to show up where I am, but you can’t ruin her day.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” he says, reaching to cup my cheek.
I lean away from his touch. “Why’s that?”
“Because I’m the one who invited him.”
Startled, I turn around and look at Six. She must have walked back in when she didn’t see me come out.
“You invited him?” I ask, incredulity coloring my words.
“You were the one who was convinced Phoenix was in love with me from the beginning. I thought I should return the favor,” she says, with a smile. “Tristan loves you, Nera, the very same kind of love everyone just bore witness to in this chapel.” She walks up to me and hugs me tightly, keeping me in her arms. She whispers against my ear so only I can hear, “And you love him too. Only you can decide whether he’s worthy of forgiveness or not, but don’t let your fear of getting hurt again stand in the way of your happiness. I know it’s a gamble to decide to forgive him, but if the promise of total happiness awaits on the other side, then why not bet on it? Take it from someone who took that risk.” She steps back and takes a moment to look around at the beautiful chapel we’re standing in before her eyes find mine once more. “It worked out alright for me in the end, don’t you think?”
She winks at me, tips her chin at Tristan, and walks out before I can find the words to say to her.
I’m deeply touched by her thoughtfulness on her own wedding day, and I want to take her advice. It feels like I’m standing on the precipice of a terrifying ledge and I need to take a leap of faith and trust him or walk away from it forever.
My feet are firmly planted, but I can’t get myself to jump.
A warm hand clasps my waist, demanding my attention. I turn back towards Tristan, still at a loss, and he brushes a loose strand of hair off my face and behind my ear.
“I couldn’t look away from you when you were standing up there. Every breath you took, every smile that pulled at your lips, I was hypnotized by it all,” he whispers, cupping my face. “I’m going to marry you one day, you know that right? It’ll be a beautiful, prison-themed wedding just like we always talked about.”
I can’t stop the laughter that rolls up my throat at the ridiculous thought, nor the nostalgia that hits me reminiscing about that night when everything was more complicated and yet, somehow, much simpler.
“Are you ever going to stop?” I ask.
He doesn’t need to clarify what I’m asking. He knows.
“No.” He smiles. “I’ll crash every event you go to. Every wedding, graduation, birthday party, bridal shower, gender reveal. Hell, every funeral. Every single one of them for as long as it takes for you to forgive me.”
“That’ll keep you busy,” I say, softly.
“I have nothing else worth doing with my life if I don’t have you.”
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Chapter 50
Tristan
