AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Avery sits up, her hair already a mess. I fucking love it. “What are you doing?” She watches me tear up the flower. “He’s lost it,” she says, almost to herself. “I’m going to have to get him some magic mushrooms.”
I make a ring out of the stem, remembering back to kindergarten when the girls would weave crowns and bracelets out of daisy stems. It’s hasty as fuck, but it’s a ring. Then I go back around and kneel at the side of the bed.
“Rome,” Avery whispers. “What are you doing?”
“Marry me.” I offer her the ring like it’s made of diamonds and platinum, like it’s worthy of her. My heart is one broad ache in my chest. It feels like hope. “Marry me, Avery. Bemywife. Let’s make our own fate instead of waiting for your family to steal it from us.”
For a single, solitary moment, a solemn magic fills the room. For a moment it erases everything that happened before. There’s only us.
“Yeah,” she says breathlessly. “I mean,yes.”
I swear, there’s a fireworks show when I put the ring on her finger. She’s mine now. The world explodes in color and light.She’s mine.
“When?” she says.
“When do we get married?” I clarify. She nods, her eyes dreamy.
“Tomorrow,” I say. “My dad’s ordained. He marries people here all the time. It’s legal.”
Her eyes light up. “We can get married here?” she asks. “For real? We don’t have to go to city hall or a church or anything?”
I know what she’s thinking. That as soon as we step foot off this property, her family will descend like vultures, scoop her up and take her away before we can so much as utter, “With this ring, I thee take.”
“Nope,” I smile, rubbing her knee. “We have everything we need right here.”
That seems to reassure her. The worry drops from her face, her shoulders lower, and my heart does a nervous flip at the thought of being lucky enough to marry this girl when the sun rises.
“Come back to bed,” Avery coaxes, and I do. I crawl back into bed next to my fiancée, and she presses her body against mine. The old Avery Capulet would have wanted a party. A celebration. This one falls asleep. She must feel safe here. And for the first time in a long time, with her breathing evenly in my arms, so do I.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
ROME
You can’t sleep in on the commune.
Maybe you could if you lived in a yurt made from thick fabric, but not in this glass house. That’s fine, because the second the sun crests the horizon it floods the room and gives me time to look at Avery.
She’s still exhausted, clearly, because at first she doesn’t stir. She’s spent the rest of the night with that ring on her finger. I have to get her another one. A real one. Someday—someday when it matters more than staying by her side in the rising day.
Avery Capulet, my new fiancée, is fucking gorgeous. It breaks my heart to see her this way, peacefully sleeping. The shitshow is coming. It just hasn’t started yet. That’s what’s so stupidly sad about all of this. So maddening. Driving to the commune was a dream, but soon it’s going to become a nightmare.
There’s no getting around reality: Her family will come for her.
It’s only a matter of time.
Avery turns her head into the pillow and mumbles something.
“What did you say?” I rub her back in small circles. Everything hurts, and not because I’ve been shot and tortured. It’s because I’m not sure how long this will last. Which is bullshit. Live in the moment, and all that.
She faces me, cheeks pink from sleep. “It’s bright in here.”
“Sad to say, there are no curtains either.”
“It’s fine.” Avery flips over on her back and stretches her arms above her head. “I feel good, anyway. Like I actually slept.”
I do, too. All the lingering tension has dissipated for now. As far as I know the new baby’s fine, we’re fine. Nobody knows where we are except the people who already live here, and I very much doubt any of them even know the name Capulet, let alone have the desire to share our location. For now, we’re safely cocooned in the fragile peace my father’s property affords us.
I’m the first one to get up. “You want some tea?”
