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Death do you part? Those words ring in my head. I glance at the crowd and the many faces blurring together. I glance back at Jasper and there is hope in his eyes.
“I do,” I say.
The pastor asks Jasper the same thing, and he answers, “I do.”
Jasper sighs in relief as the pastor says, “You may kiss the bride.”
Jasper leans in and wraps his hands around my waist. I wrap my arms around his shoulders, then I stand on my tippy-toes and kiss him on the lips. Electricity buzzes through my skin, and everyone shouts and screams at the top of their lungs. I feel even more of a fraud now. My fate is sealed, my name on the dotted line of a marriage certificate. He’s mine and I’m his for the rest of our lives.
When I pull away, Jasper holds our arms up and everyone cheers, feeding into this marriage farce. Shame wraps around me, and I glance at my mother, who smiles with tears in her eyes as she mouths, “Thank you.”
This is what I wanted for so long, and now that I have finally got her approval, things can go back to how they used to be before she cut me off now that she’s finally back in my life. At this present moment, everything is perfect and I don’t want to change it.
I look at my wedding band as it glints in the sunlight. I can’t believe I actually went through with it. We’re at the reception as people eat and dance. Jasper is busy speaking to someone I don’t know. Sophia hugs me tightly and slings her arms around my shoulders.
“I can’t believe you actually went through with it,” she says. She yanks her scrunchie from her ponytail, and her curls fall to her shoulders.
I nod, overwhelmed by everyone’s congratulations and well wishes.
“Can you believe that someone bought a few sex toys for you and Jasper for your gift?” She scrunches up her button nose. “People are weird.”
I told Jasper we’d throw them out—well, not the purple vibrator, I’m keeping that one—and Jasper says he wants to keep the sex swing, in case we have sex. He’s clinging to hope that I’m going to put out, but I’m not. I have no intention of sleeping with him.
“I hope you do find happiness with him, Poppy,” Sophia says hopefully.
I nod, but the harsh reality is, it will never happen between me and Jasper.
I watch my mother speak to Jasper and he pulls out an envelope from his breast pocket and slides it to her. She smiles and kisses him on the cheek, but he wipes it away with the back of his hand.
I’m assuming she’s receiving money for my stepfather’s business.
My mother couldn’t wait until she got her hands on the check.
Jasper’s eyes land on me and he beckons me to come to his side. I walk slowly toward him, and he wraps his arms around my waist. He introduces me to some politicians, actors and actresses, then Lacey and I chitchat for a little while.
We take a lot of pictures to the point where I start to see dots in my pupils. He rehashes our love story so many times, it begins to feel actually real. He kisses me on the forehead and pulls me to the dance floor for our first dance and every eye is on us. He stares into my eyes, and a shiver snaps up my spine. I feel his erection digging into my stomach and my cheeks flame.
“Did you pick out lingerie for our honeymoon?” he murmurs against my ear.
I stop moving for a moment to stare at him, dumbfounded. “We’re really going on a honeymoon?”
He swings me around, then pulls me back into his arms. “Yeah. Of course. That’s the traditional way.”
“What about work?” I ask.
We continue to move slowly, and I hear cameras snapping away.
“I told HR we won’t be in for the next week,” he answers.
“If you’re doing this to fuck me, it won’t work, Jasper. I’m not going to sleep with you,” I snap.
“Are you sure about that, Poppy?” He shakes his head. “I booked the vacation because we both need it to get away from the tension of your mother, and it will look good and better our image as a loved up and newly married couple.”
My mother can be a bit overwhelming, and I waited for this moment. But he’s right, I do need to get away.
“Also, I want to rub it in my father’s face that I’m actually married and he won’t be getting my uncle James’s business.”
So that’s the reason why he doesn’t like him.
