More shots are passed around, and the night starts to become a little hazy. Eventually, his brothers find us again, and surprise, they have more shots. I’m going to regret drinking so much in the morning, but I decided I was going to enjoy myself tonight, hangover be damned. Kyle and Jay each have their arms around some girls. I wink at Josh, letting him know I noticed he doesn’t and that he’s behaving.
Later in the night or early the next morning, we are all walking down the strip, laughing our asses off. I completely blame the alcohol. I freeze when we pass a little white chapel. Hmm…I’ve always wanted to get married.
When in Rome.
***
The guys—well, minus Kyle because he decided banging some floozy was more important than quality family time—are about twenty feet ahead of me when they realize I’m not with them. Being as competitive and as completely trashed as they are, the three of them decide to have a sprinting race to me. I stand up like Cha Cha from Grease minus the scarf because well, who the fuck wears a scarf in Las Vegas? I raise my hands in the air, signaling the guys to go, but they don’t get it right away, so I just yell, “Fucking move your asses, shitheads!”
They take off, looking like drunken kangaroos. What they are doing does not qualify as sprinting, running, or even speed walking. Zander finally makes it to me, wraps me up tight, and starts sucking on my neck, ruining my train of thought. Focus, Savster. That’s right, the chapel.
“Babe, let’s get married! Isn’t that the best idea I have ever had? Marry me and bear my children.” I drop down on one knee excitedly with my arms wide open to him like I see in the movies. This is my shining movie moment!
He eyes me skeptically before a huge grin breaks across his face. “Savvy, stay right here, I’ll be right back.” Zander runs up to his brothers and talks to them for less than a minute before taking off across the street, Jayden hot on his heels. Even though it’s the wee hours of the morning, he still has to dodge a car as he runs across.
Josh makes his way to me, shaking his head. “Who would have thought you’d be so cliché, Savvy? Come on. Getting married in Vegas? I would have never guessed in a million years that you would be the one trying to convince Zander to marry you. Although I’m sure he put up a hell of a fight.” He starts laughing as I impatiently wait for Zander to come back. What feels like forever later, they are running back across the street to us with some bags in their hands.
“Okay baby, I needed to grab a few things to do this right.” He gets down on one knee in front of me, and I gasp. Holy shit, he’s about to propose.
“Savannah Marie Jenks, I fell in love with you the first moment I saw your beautiful green eyes creeping on me at the gym. A normal guy would have thought you were a stalker, but not me. I thought, that girl right there, that’s my future wife and mother of my children. I know this is really unconventional, but I’m going to try and make it as special as possible. Will you marry me and spend the rest of your life with me, Savvy?”
I’m so busy gazing into his eyes like a lovesick puppy that I don’t even notice the black box in his hand that he’s opening. Tears well up in my eyes when I see the gorgeous diamond ring he’s holding in front of me. It’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It’s also massive. Normally, I’d fight with him on how much money he spent, but tonight I’m getting married, dammit. He picked out the most beautiful ring all by himself; I’d love it even if it was from a Cracker Jack box.
“I know we haven’t known each other long, but this feels so right. Being with you, Zander, feels so very right. Let’s get married!” I jump into his arms, and he swings me around.
“All right, all right. Zander, you’re about to flash Sav’s ass all over the strip. I have some necessities for you guys. Just remember that I had limited time, we’re in Vegas, and well, I’m me. Enough said.”
Jayden reaches into a plastic bag and hands Zander a bright pink bow tie, which he gladly puts on with no complaint. Next, he hands Zander a top hat, which makes him look wicked fancy if I do say so myself. He hands me a package with a giant grin on his face. I look at the picture on the front and bust out laughing. I open it up and fasten it to my hair right away. It’s a white veil, but in true Jayden style, it’s covered in condoms. All the guys start to laugh when they see it. Zander pats Jayden on the back and tells him it will be put to good use tonight, and then he looks at me like he wants to devour me where I stand. I walk over to him and reach up on my tippy toes to whisper in his ear, “You won’t need those when you fuck me bare.”
Ignoring Zanders groan I yell, “All right, bitches, let’s do this!”
CHAPTER 19
I startle awake when a bright as hell light starts to shine behind my eyelids. Smacking my lips together, I try to gather some moisture; my mouth is so damn dry, and my tongue feels like sandpaper. My head is throbbing like there’s a jackhammer in there, drilling away at my brain. Did I fall asleep in hell? Why the fuck am I so hot? I start to wiggle around and crack an eye open. Zander is sprawled out on top of me, and only my head is sticking out. Jesus, he’s heavy. How do I get out of this situation without waking him up? I’m not even sure I care if he wakes up at this point. He’s going to have a fucking doozy of a hangover if he drank as much as I did. I think he may have drunk more than I did.
I decide my best plan of attack is to simultaneously pull my arm out and roll him on his side. 1….2….3! I shove his shoulder and pull my hand, which somehow gives him momentum when he rolls, and he flies right off the bed and lands with a thud. I guess I should have figured out if we were so close to his end of the bed before I tried that maneuver. I cringe.
“Motherfucker!” he shouts. I crawl to the edge of the bed and peek over, trying to contain my laughter. He’s lying there in all his naked glory, giving me the evil eye while he rubs the back of his head.
“Good morning,” I say shyly as he gets up off the floor and sits on the edge of the bed. His head must be killing him too because he immediately puts his head in his hands and starts cursing the fact that we “didn’t shut the fucking blinds last night.” I head to my bag, grab us some Tylenol, and grab two waters from the mini fridge. I walk over and hand it to him as he mumbles a thank you, then I take mine to the bathroom so I can brush my teeth.
I pop the Tylenol in my mouth and chug the entire bottle of water before brushing my teeth. That is just what I needed. I hate having a dry mouth. My stomach starts to get a little queasy when I start to brush, and my gag reflex kicking in has me lunging for the toilet. I empty what feels like 50 gallons of puked up alcohol in the toilet before I’m done.
Zander knocks on the door. “Baby are you okay? Let me in.”
I yell out, “No freaking way buddy!” and sit on the floor in front of the toilet. This is not the first time I’ve worshipped the porcelain throne, although it has been a while. This right here, this is why I don’t drink on the regular.
I hear the bedroom door shut and assume Zander is going to find another bathroom. A few minutes later, I’m starting to feel better, so I finish brushing my teeth very gingerly this time and head out into the bedroom. As I lie back on the bed, he comes back in with a couple pieces of toast and two Gatorades.
“Here, put something in your stomach to soak up that alcohol and drink this.” He hands me a Gatorade. “You need to rehydrate yourself.”
“There is no longer any alcohol to soak up, babe, seeing as how I just ejected about half my weight into the toilet.” I smile up at him. “I know that’s a sexy picture you’ll be replaying in your mind all day.” We both laugh. I go to put the drink down on the nightstand when I see the big sparkly rock on my left hand shining like a beacon. I have a brief moment of panic before the events of last night flash in front of me.
We enter the chapel and find a little old lady behind the front desk with a bright smile on her face. We make our way over to get the ball rolling on the whole marriage thing, and she begins to help us when a man comes out to tell her that he’ll take ca
re of our paperwork. He looks vaguely familiar, but I can’t place him. Oh well, he must have one of those recognizable faces. We fill out some papers and choose a package from their brochure on the type of wedding we want. I don’t want Elvis to marry me—I do have some class—so I opt for a Cher impersonator instead. Who doesn’t love Cher? I feel like this is all meant to be because my mom was a huge Cher fan, so it’s almost like she’s with me right now.
They take Zander into the room where we will be married and leave me behind so I can make my grand entrance. I start to get butterflies in my stomach at the thought of becoming Zander’s wife. I’m kind of nervous, but nothing about it feels wrong. I want to be Zander’s in every possible way. The little old lady pulls me from my thoughts and hands me a bouquet of fake pink roses as she walks me over to a set of white double doors. They open, and I’m ready to walk down the aisle and marry that man in there. An insane thought comes to me from a YouTube video I’ve seen before, and I decide to go for it. I whisper to the old lady, and she nods her head. Before the doors open, I wish that my dad was here. When we called him, he hung up on us after saying he better not get a call from the police about me mooning someone or flashing my boobs. I don’t know what all that has to do with, but he didn’t even give me a chance to tell him we were getting married. I can’t dwell on it because then I’ll back out, and I want nothing more than to become Mrs. Zander Cage right now.
Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” starts to play, and I try to do the dance like I saw in the video where a bride choreographed a dance down the aisle at her wedding. My dance isn’t great by any standards since I’m winging it and barely remembering the original, I’ve only really seen the video once. From their faces I must look pretty crazy, but in my head, I look like the shit. I’m also solo, as opposed to the massive bridal party she had, but I don’t let that stop me. Shimmying and swaying my hips back and forth, I bust out the lawn mower and sprinkler as I make my way down the aisle. I look up at Zander, and he’s trying not to laugh. His brothers are already losing that battle. I shrug my shoulders. It’s my wedding.
When I get to Zander, he pulls me up against him and kisses me sweetly on the lips. When we pull apart, I sigh. “I get your sweet kisses for the rest of my life,” I whisper, which makes him give me another sweet kiss, emphasizing my point. We turn to Cher, and I stare at her for a moment because it’s almost like I’m in her presence. I feel like I should bow down and worship her or break into a rendition of “Half Breed.” Focus, Savvy!
I face Zander and can’t help the tears that start to form in my eyes. This is my man, my lobster. I’m going to wake up to him every day for the rest of my life.
He brings his hand to my cheek, wiping away a few of the tears that broke free. “What’s the matter, baby? Having second thoughts?” He’s clearly nervous I’m going to back out, so I shake my head.
“Never. These are happy tears.” I smile up at him and see the relief on his face.
Cher begins the ceremony, which is beautiful. We say our vows and place our rings on each other’s finger. Not only did Zander pick up my engagement ring, he also got both of our wedding bands. Seeing him with his ring on is such a turn on for me, especially knowing that any time another woman sees that on his finger, they’ll know he’s all mine. He can just raise his hand in the air like a cop’s badge and yell out, “I’m taken, motherfuckers!”
When we’re pronounced husband and wife, he pulls me onto him so my legs wrap around his waist and attacks my lips. There is no hesitation as his tongue plunges into my mouth with reckless abandon. As our tongues duel back and forth, his hands cup my ass and squeeze. I pant into his mouth and realize we need to move this to the bedroom because what I’m going to do to him in about five minutes would not be appropriate in front of Cher and his brothers.
I slowly slide to my feet, and we turn around to face my new brothers-in-law. We all go in for a group hug, and they start to congratulate us. We take a few pictures since the package we chose came with a set number of professional photos. I definitely want a picture with Cher, so I pull Zander over to the wedding arch where we stand on either side of her. We take a few pictures by ourselves and even allow the three amigos in a few. When Josh found out what we were planning, he called Kyle and told him to get his ass down here ASAP. When he arrived, he looked pissed off, but his attitude changed when he realized what we were doing. After a few more pictures, we’re done, and I’m horny as fuck.
“Babe, you need to take me home so we can consummate.”
“Well, my first duty as your husband is to make sure you are satisfied with the consummation. I don’t care if it takes me all night to do it, I promise to be extremely thorough.”
I get a shiver up my spine as we race back to the hotel. When we return back to the hotel minus his brothers, I indeed scream his name all night long as he makes slow, sweet love to me until the sun rises. The last thought I have before I pass out from exhaustion is that I need to remember these feelings for the rest of my life: happiness and pure contentment.
Thinking about our night brings a smile to my lips. You would think I regret it, but I don’t. Even in my drunken state, I knew what I was doing. Do I think I would have married him if I was stone-cold sober? Probably not because my logic and rational thinking would have gotten the best of me. Now, with it being the morning after and being a firm believer in everything happens for a reason, I’m a thousand percent sure that I’m meant to spend the rest of my life with Zander Cage.
He eyes me skeptically, trying to gauge my reaction to our marriage last night. I pull him down on the bed and lay little kisses all over his face. “I can’t believe we’re married.” I say excitedly. “I get to kiss this adorable face for the rest of my life.”
“Thank fuck you’re okay with this. I was convinced you were going to wake up and regret the whole thing. I have never done something so reckless yet so incredibly right in my life. I’m thrilled you’re my wife, Savvy.” I giggle at hearing him call me his wife. “Oh…and I’m not adorable. Puppies and babies are adorable.”
“You’re so right. You’re rugged and manly. The furthest thing from adorable. What was I thinking? I just wish my dad and Ash could have been there. Ash is going to annihilate me, and god knows how my dad is going to react. We should definitely tell him as soon as we can before he finds out from someone else.”
He agrees with me and suggests we get ready and head to his room, maybe take him out for breakfast if he takes the news well. When we are ready, we head down to the living room, where there are at least six giant boxes scattered all over the place.
“What’s all this shit?” Zander questions.
“Open one up and look for yourself, bro.”
I turn around and notice Josh at the top of the stairs with a coffee mug in his hand. I open the box in front of me and gasp. This box is filled with t-shirts with our wedding picture on them. There we are, in all our wedded bliss. I’m wearing my veil, and Zander is sporting his bow tie and top hat as we stand under a tacky arch with none other than Cher. I’m impressed with how photogenic I look sporting a veil of condoms. I wish I could say the same for Zander. He’s smiling so hard it looks like his eyes are closed shut. I grab one and throw it to him, and he opens it and starts busting out laughing.
“I can’t believe I married you with a pack of condoms on your head. This is going to be quite the story for the grandkids.” He has to bend over, he’s laughing so hard, and he’s wiping tears from his eyes. I run from box to box, and all I find is massive amounts of memorabilia from our wedding. We have coffee mugs, sweatshirts, calendars, mouse pads, and magnets.
“Why the hell do we have so much stuff?” I ask the room in general, noticing Kyle has now joined us.
“The chapel realized who Zander was after you got married. They thought it was great advertising having you with all of their shit. I don’t know when they thought you would actually wear or use any of this, but it’s all yours. You guys took off out of the ch
apel so fucking fast, and they made us wait two freaking hours for them to print it all out and bring it back here. It was great. Jay was so shit-faced, he made out with the Cher impersonator. I cannot wait to tell him when he wakes up that Cher was a dude. Don’t worry, though. When Kyle and I noticed we pulled them apart, well, after we got pictures first.” We all burst out laughing. Freaking Jay.
My phone starts to ring, and when I look down at the screen and see Ashlyn’s smiling face, I have a mini panic attack. “Josh, did you tell Ash about the wedding? I need to know what I’m walking into here.”
“You’re good. I didn’t tell her anything.”
Zander takes off to look for his phone, which is also ringing.
“Bitch! You go to fucking Vegas and get married without me! What the fuck, Sav, I thought I was your best friend.” I can hear the hurt in Ashlyn’s voice, and I know I need to smooth things over.
“First of all, how the hell did you even find out already? I was going to call you soon to fill you in. It was spontaneous, Ash. I really wish you were here for it, but I can’t regret getting married. It may be the best decision I’ve ever made. I know we haven’t known each other very long, but I just kept thinking about my mom and how short life really is, so I seized the moment. Not to mention, the numerous shots I consumed prior to the wedding probably helped as well.”
“When you put it like that, I can’t get mad at you. But you robbed me of my maid of honor duties! I don’t care if you’re already married, I’m throwing you a bachelorette party when you get back.” We talk for a few minutes before we say our goodbyes. I’m so glad she isn’t mad at me and understands why I did it.
Bound By Cage Box Set (Complete Series Books 1-4) : MMA Romance Page 15