“I’m really glad you’re coming with me.” Nick touched Katie’s knee over the emergency break.
“I am too. I mean, I’m nervous as hell, but I’ll be fine. Music is helping.”
When a new song came on, Katie grinned and cranked up the volume. They passed another sign on the highway that stated Niagara was about two hours away. So far they were making great time. They had banked on making a few pit stops along the way for food and to check in at their hotel near the reception hall, but all of that was too far in the future for Nick. He shut off his phone and sank into the music and the open road.
“Have you given any thought to where you want to have lunch?” Nick asked later on, when his stomach started to rumble. He turned down the music, though the CD had just started to play one of his favourite songs. “I’m starting to get hungry.”
“Me too. And I’m glad we’ve left ourselves a lot of room because there is this awesome restaurant in another couple kilometres. Just before wine country.”
“Sounds like you did some research. What do they serve?”
“Just tacos. But I looked it up on Google Maps and there is a very secluded area we can park in.”
“Oh?” Nick asked. Katie’s hands touched his thigh and then trailed a little closer to his dick before pulling away, causing Nick to bite his lip. He swallowed hard and focused on the road again. Lunch was the furthest thing from his mind. “How many more kilometres?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll direct you.” Katie slipped a hand over his thigh as her phone broadcasted their arrival time in ten minutes. With her other free hand, she turned up the volume on the CD and skipped back to Nick’s favourite track.
“How far away are we now?” Katie dabbed her napkin at her mouth, some of her lipstick coming away.
“Another hour,” Nick said. “At most.”
“I’ll definitely need to redo my makeup, then.” She put down her taco wrappers and sipped her drink. Nick was almost done with his second taco and was surprised at how hungry he’d ended up being.
“So, we have until . . . four? At the earliest? With the ceremony at six?”
“I need to be there by four thirty because of the tuxes. I’m sorry you can’t go in with us.”
“Nah, I get it. Boy time. I will wander around and look at butterflies, maybe. But if we have time, I wonder if you’ll humour me.” Katie pointed to the ice cream place nestled right next to the taco one. Nick didn’t have a chance to respond before she started digging in her purse again. “I know I have a couple dollars here. Let me treat you.”
“I like the sound of that.” Nick put his half-finished taco and wrapper on the dash. He leaned across the car, lifting part of Katie’s dress as he felt along her thigh. “You can treat me to ice cream later. Right now, I want to treat you.”
Katie’s grin widened. She glanced around the parking lot, verifying again that it was indeed secluded. “You’re sure?”
“Uh-huh.” Nick rubbed his thumb along the shape of her cock. She was tucked up inside her underwear, perfectly concealed, so Nick pulled up some of her dress. He wanted to claw off her tights and feel all around her skin. She tilted his chin up into a kiss. Her tongue pressed against his mouth, tasting him feverishly. Nick gripped Katie’s leg, massaging her, and opening her up. She adjusted herself, un-tucking her cock from her body, and allowing Nick access. She only pulled her underwear and tights down a little; just enough for Nick to taste her cock’s head and the sweet taste of pre-come already gathered there. He teased her, sucking and licking while Katie moaned.
“Fuck, Nick,” she said. “Do it. Do it. I want to come in your mouth.”
Nick hummed around her. She shuddered and gripped the back of his neck. They shifted around in the car so she could fully remove her underwear and tights, muttering under her breath that she should have never dressed for the wedding before leaving. Nick pinned his mouth against her, silencing her complaints. He stroked her under the fabric of her dress, keeping her stiff and wet for him. She kissed his neck, then sucked hard on the skin. When she bit into him, Nick felt as if her teeth were framing the hickey she’d probably leave. After he hissed and moaned her name, she jerked away.
“Oh God. I shouldn’t give you a hickey, should I? The photos?”
“Never mind that. I’ll be wearing something with a collar. No one will see.”
“But I shouldn’t.”
“Shhh. You can do whatever you want to me.” Nick sunk lower in the car, his face pressed between her legs. He sucked on the pale skin of her thigh, repeating the suck and bite pattern from before. If she wouldn’t mark him, he’d mark her. Her hips rolled into him, her body opening up. He could smell her; even in the heat of the car she was still arousing, still tantalizing. He grabbed her fully hard cock now, and ran his fingers up and down, teasing. He kissed her thighs, her sac, and then slowly licked the tip.
Katie muffled her own groan with her fist. She placed a wet knuckle against Nick’s neck, holding him in place. He relaxed his throat, taking her deeper. He lamented that he couldn’t sit right between her thighs, so he could eat her out better. He wanted to finger her too, to fuck her against the car . . . but there would be time for that later. They could have all the sex in the hotel later on. The idea fueled Nick forward, licking and sucking at her faster, until he heard the familiar hitched breathing.
“Nick, Oh . . .!”
Nick held on to her thighs, leaving small fingerprint bruises as he felt her come. He continued to suck, just a little, trying to coax the last bit out. She mumbled a few more cries of pleasure as she came again. Nick drank all of her down, beaming inside for making her come twice. He wiped his mouth before placing another kiss against her lips.
“Fuck. My God.” She pushed down her dress, then seemed to realize she wasn’t wearing underwear and started to laugh. Her face was red, bangs matted to her forehead. “I can’t even form words right now.”
“’S’okay.” Nick took her hands in his, then kissed each of her knuckles. After a while, when the car’s heat became too much, he cracked open his door.
“Man, I wanted to go down on you,” she said with another laugh. “That was why I picked this place.”
“So how about we get ice cream like you promised,” Nick said, “and we’ll see how much time is leftover?”
“Okay.” Katie rooted around in the bottom of the car. “But only if you help me find my underwear first.”
Katie bought a vanilla cherry cone for herself and two giant scoops of tiger tail ice cream for Nick. She made faces at his choice and shook her head all the way to the car.
“What? I like black licorice.”
“Weirdo,” she teased. By the time they reached the car, though, she was already asking to try his flavour. Just to see if it was as strange as she expected. When she nodded her approval, Nick beamed again.
“See? I have amazing taste.”
They ate their cones in the car while it idled, since Nick was desperate to keep the air conditioner flowing along with the music. As soon as Wedding Before was over, Katie took out the Summer 2015 mix from her purse and slipped it in instead. Nick shouldn’t have been surprised when “Pretty in Pink” by the Psychedelic Furs came on full blast.
“Of course. This is nice.”
“It’s a must listen.”
Nick finished his cone and took their garbage back from the car while Katie finished hers. As much as he wanted to fool around with her some more, he was starting to become worried about time. Katie seemed to sense Nick’s hurry; she finished her cone in no time, then took a quick detour to the bathroom before plopping back in the passenger-side door.
“So what’s the address of the butterfly conservatory? The hotel? We should really put it into the phone. As much as I liked our unmapped adventure so far, I don’t like us winging it when we’re this close now.”
“I know, that’s a better plan. But I’m not getting much of a signal here,” Nick said. He pulled the car out of the secluded l
ot. By the time they reached the highway, his internet strength was better. “Check my emails from Levi. The address should be there. But ignore everything else Levi says.”
“Ah, I see. He’s the one I have to watch out for tonight?”
Nick rolled his eyes. “That’s an understatement.”
“Don’t worry,” Katie insisted. “I’m a big girl.”
As she scrolled through his old emails, “Pretty in Pink” slowly became “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel. He bounced his head along to the familiar beat as another green sign for an upcoming exit whirred by them.
“Everything okay?” Nick asked. “Is my phone still lagging or have you been able to find the directions? I think I can wing it with the conservatory, but we’re going to need GPS to find the hotel.”
“Um. Nick? Is this the right address?” Katie held up an email from Levi with a different street address than the one Nick had been using.
“Um. I think so? It’s in Niagara Falls, right? I may have found the first one on Google Maps earlier, but if that’s the place, then that’s the place and I should fix the GPS. Why?” Concern crossed Katie’s face and made Nick’s stomach sink. “What’s wrong?”
“Is this on the Canadian or American side?”
“Canadian I assumed. Why on earth would Alex want to get married in the States?”
“Oh no,” Katie said. “Oh no.”
“What? What am I missing?”
Katie held up the phone with a new Google search up. She had taken the place Levi mentioned in his email—both the conservatory and the reception—and plugged them in. Next to each one were the words Niagara Falls, NY. The American side of the border.
“What?” Nick asked. “I didn’t . . . How did I miss that?”
“You found a conservatory on the Canadian side and assumed without checking. Fuck,” Katie said, her voice surprisingly sharp.
“What’s wrong? I mean, I’m sorry I fucked that up, but it’s what, only a couple minutes difference, right? Niagara in Canada and the US are basically the same, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, but you have to go across a border for one.”
“Okay, so we’ll be a little late because Border Patrol takes forever. But so what? They can’t hold us back, right?”
“They can’t hold you back,” Katie said, her brows fixed with worry.
“Oh God,” he said. “What did I do?”
“Nothing, nothing. You didn’t know. How were you supposed to know?”
Nick slammed his palm into the wheel. He should have double-checked the location. He’d heard Levi and Alex talk about it so much that he had just figured it would have been in Canada. Wouldn’t it all have come up at some point? Suddenly Levi telling him to bring more than just his driver’s licence on the trip made sense. He thought having more than one government ID was protocol for acting as a witness for the register. Not because they were crossing a border. He’d remembered to pack his passport this morning—but he never told Katie to do it because she wasn’t acting as part of the wedding party. So why on earth would she have needed hers? Stupid, Stupid.
“I’m so, so sorry,” Nick said. “I’m an idiot. I thought . . .”
“It doesn’t matter, okay? Let’s not blame each other and just figure out what we do now.”
“Okay, that sounds good.” Nick could hear the edge of anger in her voice, but didn’t want to aggravate it any more. “What do you want to do? I can turn around right now and we can go back and get your passport. We’ll be late, but I don’t mind as long as you’re happy.”
“It’s not that simple, Nick. I don’t even have a valid license. It’s all still in my old name. When I changed it to Katherine, I only changed my bank information, my credit cards, and my health card. Even the student loans people still try and contact me by my dead name. My passport is in my old name too, and probably expired. Even if I had it with me, the markers all still say M, and looking the way I do, you can guarantee I’d be stopped.”
“Shit.” He should have known this part of the story too. But of course her documents—especially the ones that allowed her to tour with Warped—were all out of date. Even if they could go back and get it, she made an excellent point. The Border Patrol was difficult, and Nick didn’t want to put her through that torture. “Goddamn it. I hate Alex so much right now. None of this makes any sense.”
“It’s not his fault. It’s where he wants to get married.”
“Yeah, but it’s a stupid place. Alex needs to stop pretending to be American.”
Katie snickered. When she stopped, the noise of the music over the speakers and the cars on the road seemed like a dull roar. “So what should we do?”
“I’m this close to calling Alex and telling him I can’t go.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“No?”
“No,” Katie said firmly. “You’re a best man. You have to go. That’s the entire purpose.”
“But what about you?”
Katie smiled weakly. She looked out at the highway and the GPS announced an upcoming exit. “Is our hotel on the American side?”
“No! That I know for sure it is not. It’s by the Canadian Falls because that’s where Alex should have been getting married.”
“Shhh.” Katie squeezed his knee. He felt bad that in this situation, she was still the one trying to make him feel better. “Well, at least we have the hotel. You can drop me off there and I’ll check in. You go to the wedding. And we can meet up soon enough.”
Nick stayed quiet for a long time. Saying yes to this plan felt like he was cutting her out of his life. But it was the only plan they had that made sense. “You sure?”
“Yeah. You go, do the wedding stuff, and I can . . . I don’t know. Watch Pretty Woman on cable or something.”
“I have my laptop. You can watch Netflix.”
“That’s good. I can do that, then.”
Nick waited again, thinking that silence could somehow delay the inevitable. He wanted to fix this entire fuckup, but he couldn’t. All he’d wanted was a romantic weekend. Now the main event was ruined. He touched his neck, felt her blooming hickey, and then sighed.
“Okay. If you’re fine with that . . . then that’s what we’ll do.”
Katie nodded. It was as good a response as he’d get.
Fifteen minutes from the border, they pulled into the parking lot of their hotel. Nick handed over his credit card, his ID, and the printed-out reservation he’d made the night before. The small Asian woman typed the information into her computer and made a noise.
“Hmm, that’s odd.”
“What?” Nick asked, his voice bitter. “Is there another problem?”
“Well, yes and no.” The woman looked from Nick to Katie, who stood with her arms crossed by the ficus plant in the corner. “We’ve had a double-booking in your room—but a cancellation in our honeymoon suite. Since the error is on our part, we’re willing to let you upgrade at no cost to one of our honeymoon suites. Is that okay?”
Nick had to laugh. When he glanced back at Katie, to see if she’d heard the mix-up, he caught her laughing too.
“Sure. Why not?” She shrugged. “We may as well capitalize on this shitty situation.”
Nick nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine. We’ll take it.”
The woman behind the counter typed in some more information and then produced key cards for both of them. After Nick signed off on some paperwork, Katie appeared by his side. They carried their bags side by side to the elevator and waited for it to come.
“Are you sure about all this?” she asked. “I mean, we’re not married. Isn’t it a jinx or something to sleep in a room like this?”
“You know, I don’t think we could be anymore jinxed as far as I’m concerned.”
When they stepped into the elevator, Nick wanted to add that they weren’t married yet. Yet, yet, yet. He wanted to swoop her off her feet at that very moment and pin her to the suite’s bedroom and promise that he’d never hurt her a
gain. But he couldn’t—and knew that he shouldn’t—because he’d only have to leave her anyway.
“You can go now, if you need to,” Katie said. They reached the floor of the room and stood outside the door. “I mean, I know you’re running late.”
“Nonsense,” Nick said. “I want to see if this has a heart-shaped bed.”
Katie smiled as she slid the key card through the door. There was no heart-shaped bed with blinding red sheets like Nick expected, but he was caught off guard by the roses in the corner and the view over Niagara. He placed his bag on the chair by the room service menu and stared at Katie as she also took in the room. A smile—a real one, not the one she used to downplay bad situations—was on her face. But as quickly as it was there, it disappeared when she turned back to Nick. She placed her bag on the floor next to the bed and sighed.
“No hearts.”
“No, but this is wonderful. I’ll come back here as soon as I can, and we can have fun.”
She nodded mutely. Nick knew she wasn’t punishing him—but her silence was hard to take. He sat on the bed with her and rubbed a hand up and down her back.
“I wish the dog was here,” Katie said after a little while.
“Yeah, I do too. But hey. There is a butterfly conservatory on this side. Just not the one I thought. I’ll take you there tomorrow, okay?”
“Really?”
“Of course. That’s easy.” Nick squeezed her hand, kissed her knuckles, and hoped it was enough. When she reminded him yet again that he should go or he’d be late, Nick finally gave in.
“Fine. I will. Just let me do something first.” Nick rose from the bed and then dropped down by her end. When she gasped, Nick realized what it looked like he was doing. A proposal stance. He had to laugh, because even his own hopeless romantic heart wasn’t quite ready for that possibility yet.
“I wanted to get your CD. After the wedding songs,” Nick said, holding up the CD she’d tucked into the outside edge of her bag just before leaving the car. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to listen to it when I drive back here tonight and come get you.”
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