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“Well, maybe if you’d been around and didn’t leave me to plan the whole wedding by myself, you could have chosen the song.” Her words are sharp and direct, like a bullet to the heart. And I know I landed myself in that.
I stare back at her, my jaw set. This little woman is the only person in my world who would talk to me like that and live to tell the tale.
“I was working.” She’s also the only person who could illicit an answer from me when I don’t feel the need to explain myself. “I was too busy.”
“Of course, you were.” The sarcasm that drips from each of her words is enough to poison a snake. “That’s okay. I was busy, too,friend.”
I hate the way she says that word. She might as well tell me to fuck the hell off.
I’mnother friend.
A friend wouldn’t be remembering how fucking sexy she is when she’s naked and I’m pounding into her from behind.
My calm slips, and I pull her closer, pressing my mouth to her ear.
“You are mywifenow, River.” I kiss the shell of her ear to make my grip on her look less threatening.
“On paper only, Jericho. On paper only.” She moves her face away from me so she can look at me again. “That’s the only place in this world where I will beyourwife.”
I want to correct her, but there’s nothing to correct.
She’s talking about the contract we signed.
Before I can answer with the non-existent answer on my mind, the song changes and people applaud for us, then they join us for the next dance.
We’re supposed to break apart now and dance with our guests, but I feel as if the moment I let her go, she’ll be gone forever again and only exist to me on paper.
“Mind if I steal your groom, sweetheart?” Great-Aunt Bernice’s hearty tone cuts into the thick fog of tension between us.
“Not at all,” River replies, sounding as if Bernice just offered to rid her of the plague.
River slips out of my arms, and Bernice takes her place.
I start dancing with my aunt, who starts gushing about how lovely the wedding was and that it was good to see my father there with his family, but I’m not paying attention.
I’m too busy looking at my wife, who just started dancing with Corey, one of my assistants.
I could kill that little fucker just for touching her. River smiles at him, and the two laugh at something he’s joking about. While I was traveling around, I left him back here to help with the wedding. It seems he did a little more than that.
It irritates me more that River would like him. He’s the same age as me, and he’s normal.
As Bernice proceeds to tell me how proud she is I found such a beautiful bride, I try to tamp down my murderous thoughts, but my temper flares again when Corey gets a second dance out of River.
His eyes are all over her. Of course, they would be. She’s stunning, and her wedding dress isn’t that different from the one she wore to the fundraiser.
The two of them are either oblivious to my stares or ignoring me. I suspect River is doing the latter because she avoids me for the rest of the day.
Night falls, and I find myself behind the bar. We're supposed to be leaving for Italy in an hour, but I just want to go to bed. Today was absolute shit, and I’m only going to Italy because I have business there. I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone and have our honeymoon there, too. Or rather, take my wife there so she could check out the place while I work—so, not really a honeymoon.
River and Eden are sitting at a table across from me with my mother, Maurice, Knight, and Aurora.
I retreated over here for a much-needed drink. Since I wanted to mix my own cocktail, I got behind the bar to do it myself. The bartender is at the other end of the bar serving my guests.
I mix a shot of vodka and whiskey because I need a strong hit.
“Don't tell me you're already drowning your sorrows,” Luc taunts, joining me behind the bar. He grabs a shot glass, and I pour him a glass of whiskey.
“I'm not drowning anything,” I reply, but I look back at River.
