Hitched: Spinoff from the Dark Romance Thriller Series: Edge and Whisper Are Getting Married

by Emma James

  The next bit certainly wasn’t scripted into the rehearsal as Edge leans forward to talk to Theodore asking for some time before continuing.

  Then he draws me into his arms, careful not to squish the flowers between us. His forehead gently rests against my forehead, his breath sweet, his scent masculine, his love for me undeniable.

  “Babe… no words…” Edge’s voice is low and sexy. He likes what he sees. “You’re hurt.” It’s not a question, but he is waiting for an answer.

  “A little bit of road rash, that’s all, but it’s time to get hitched.” I think better of keeping any more surprises from him.

  “Road rash? Babe, you’re killing me here. Is that all?”

  “Yup. Just your garden variety road rash. Nothing else to see here today.”

  “Are the twins sporting any designer bumps, bruises or road rash?”

  “Oh, no. Just me, but just be careful, with the other hand and my left elbow.”

  He takes in a sharp breath, his gunmetal eyes darkening, lids narrowing. He remains calm only because he can see me, and he knows I am a lot tougher than I look.

  “Christ, babe. You know if I ever lost you. I don’t want to think about it—ever,” Edge murmurs in my ear. “You allowed me into your heart, and I’m not letting go—even in the afterlife.”

  I lift my head and look into the eyes that captured my lust starved body in Boxer’s bar in Connard all those years ago. “I’m so happy, Edge,” I whisper back. “I know not every day will be perfect between us, and I know with age comes companionship and the sex will—”

  “What? No granny and grandpa sex?” Edge’s comment makes me duck my head and giggle, before raising it again.

  “We can readdress that conversation when we are old and wrinkly. Just never let me go to sleep without a part of your body touching me,” I reply.

  “Deal.”

  “Nothing more is holding me up from taking your last name, so let’s get Theodore rocking this ceremony,” I gently remind my husband-to-be we have guests waiting.

  “I love you—”

  “More than air,” I finish his sentence.

  He grins. “Christ, I won the lottery.”

  “Right back at you,” I reply, starting to feel emotional.

  “You saved me more than you can ever know,” he counters my response.

  I do know.

  I can hear Theodore clearing his throat. Annie told me how proud he was to get asked to officiate at our wedding. I think we’ve kept him long enough from performing his duties.

  Although Theodore’s wheelchair bound, he is visible to our friends and family because he’s been pushed up a custom-made ramp onto an elevated platform so that he’s at our head height.

  “I guess we better let Theodore get this show on the road, and then I want answers to how you got hurt. Deal?” He pulls back, cocking an eyebrow.

  “Yup. Can you wait until we get back to the house? Trust me when I tell you it was all an accident. I am more worried about Boxer fainting from his mild concussion. At least I didn’t need stitches.” I realize after I finish my sentence off, they probably weren’t the words Edge wants to hear when he shoots a look over to where Boxer is waiting by Evelyn’s side. I follow his line of sight and watch Boxer and Evelyn give the thumbs-up signal.

  “And Torque?” Edge knows if Boxer is hurt, then chances are the bodyguard for the day is too.

  “Weeell... he might have trouble sitting down later tonight,” I admit.

  “Christ!” Edge murmurs, looking down at the ground and then back up to me. “I’m trusting this story is not going to make me hire a bodyguard 24/7 for you?”

  “Not at all.” He might want to hire one for Harper. “We’re all here now, and that’s all that matters. You and me, we’ve got rings to exchange and an amazing after party to enjoy. I can’t wait any longer to become Mrs. Masson.”

  “Babe—”

  I place a finger on his lips.

  “Our friends and family are going to get restless if we keep them waiting much longer. I will explain in full detail later tonight. I want the ceremony and the rest of the day to be ours, and you can see I am here with you now. I’m fine, so for now, let’s get hitched,” I whisper.

  Mathias tilts his head toward Edge’s head. “Hell, yeah!” he whisper-shouts, causing some laughter from our guests.

  “I will hold my tongue even though I truly want to know who to maim,” Edge says, making it sound like a promise.

  I inwardly sigh. Old habits do die hard.

  Edge waits for me to transfer my bouquet over to Phoenix, before tucking my right arm gently over his arm then turns to the ever patient Theodore.

  It looks like we’re now ready to get hitched.

  “Good afternoon, everyone. Are you ready for Edge and Whisper to finally get married today?”

  “YEEESS!” the guests holler in unison enthusiastically.

  “Because I know I’ve been working on my tan a little too long today,” I joke because an old black man, sure don’t need any tanning.

  And so we begin.

  I take Edge’s hands loosely in mine because he’s conscious of my grazes, and focus on his gunmetal-gray eyes.

  “Dallas ‘Edge’ Masson, there are no words for how happy you make me, but I am going to try to express out loud what your love means to me—what you mean to me.

  “You found me when I was lost. You gave me the freedom to discover me when I hadn’t met her yet. You bring me strength when I need it most…” I bring his hand with the ring with Cruz’s ashes in it to my lips and kiss the top of it. “You are the father every child deserves, and the only lover this body will ever know.

  “For the past eight years, not a day has gone by without you showing and telling me you love me and telling your children you love them.

  “I used to dream of a prince coming to save me, and although we got off on the wrong foot, fate had other ideas—our souls found each other, and they didn’t let go. We got blessed with a second chance at living our best life.

  “You are my loyal, handsome protector. I am forever faithfully yours, Dallas ‘Edge’ Masson, this I vow to you today.”

  “Babe… you are so beautiful inside and out; you bring me to my knees with your selflessness, loyalty, and love. If I didn’t know how to swim, I would surely drown in your kindness. You are the light my life had been missing.

  “What we have transcends the mortal world. I genuinely believe that. When I am no longer around in body, I vow my spirit will keep you and the children safe.

  “Our journey to love came complete with all the villains and twists. I will always fight for you; you are my warrior queen.

  “Today, we celebrate the second chance the universe gave us.” Fuck, I’m gonna tear up.

  “Today, I stand proud before you as you take my name.”

  I lift her hand to my mouth and kiss Cruz’s ring.

  “Whisper, I am eternally faithfully yours, this I vow.”

  I look at Theodore. “Can I kiss my bride, yet?”

  “…I do!”

  “… I do!”

  “…you may now kiss the bride. Mr. and Mrs. Masson, everybody!”

  I’m wrapped up in Edge’s arms as he gives quite the show of kissing the bride—not that I’m complaining as cheers and hoots and hollering erupt all around us.

  Our foreheads touch.

  “Wife... you taste so good—”

  “Husband... I can’t wait to taste you later.”

  “Wild... sexy and wild,” he growls.

  My husband wants wild; I’ll give him wild. I slide my nose along his jawline up to his ear and whisper words only for him.

  Edge groans against my lips. “Christ woman... always so wild when I least expect it. You think I can turn around and face everybody after that proposition?”

  “Umm... sorry not sorry.” I laugh because it isn’t something Edge can help, and he is so big down there.

  “Babe, aren’t you lucky we get
to step aside now, and I’m taking you as my shield—”

  There’s a clearing of a throat.

  It would seem we have both forgotten we are not alone, and what did he mean by step aside?

  My husband secures his arm around my waist, drawing me close to his side as we move to where Juan has two chairs for us to sit on, but instead, I find myself drawn down onto Edge’s lap.

  “You might be withholding information of today’s shenanigans, but I’ve got a little secret too, wife.”

  “I would say it is a big secret.” I wriggle on his lap, pretending to get comfortable.

  He growls low against my neck, causing my nipples to harden.

  Touché.

  Mathias has to lean over and clear his throat to remind Edge to move along.

  I can see Juan checking his watch because we are already way behind on his schedule, and there are still photographs to be taken before the good light is lost.

  I stand up. “Are you ready, love?” I hold my hand out to the woman who is the love of my life.

  “Reid Scott, what are you doing?” she hisses playfully at me.

  “Giving Whisper her closure, but more importantly, I want to renew our vows in front of everybody today to the woman who has my heart.”

  “Reid...” She looks over to where Whisper is now bouncing up and down on Edge’s lap and beaming a huge smile at the two of us and waving while Edge has a strange look on his face while trying to stop her movement.

  “Ahh... I see Whisper has now caught on,” I observe out loud.

  Evelyn and I are already married, having eloped when the twins were around two years old, but that seemed to upset Whisper. I know she held her tongue, but she wanted to witness us getting married, so this is the next best thing I can do for her—renewing our vows—which I promised myself I would do on the day she married Edge—although until now I hadn’t gotten Evelyn up to speed on my plan. I wanted to surprise her. She never wanted a formal wedding, and she certainly wouldn’t want to impose on Edge and Whisper’s day, but Edge was all for the idea of springing this on Evelyn and Whisper.

  “Looks like Whisper approves of us hijacking her wedding day, Reid.” She stands, taking my hand while the bikers make a loud noise of approval. “I would love to as long as I get a night of honeymoon sex,” she whispers while pretending to kiss me on the face.

  A caveman noise escapes me.

  Ghost has ushered the groomsmen and bridesmaids in their pairs and the children to the side.

  “Shall we?” I bend my elbow for Ev to hold.

  “I think we better before we hold up Theodore any longer, and Juan has a schedule to salvage. I doubt he allowed for this much time to get away from him,” she jokes.

  “Ev, we were always on his schedule, and have I told you how beautiful you look?”

  “Every day.” My beautiful lady laughs. “Let’s go get renewed.”

  “Couldn’t think of anything better to be doing right now, Ev.”

  I am so aware of the man next to me.

  I watch Edge hold the ceremony up while he speaks to Whisper, giving me time to assess the situation I find myself in.

  Torque’s attraction to me is visible to the whole row of men beside us. I’m not sure how to deal with this blatant display in front of his people.

  And I’m not helping because my body has me on an invisible leash, swaying toward him like a palm tree frond in the wind.

  I feel discombobulated. Not in a bad way, more in a foreign way.

  I’m so aware of his thick thigh touching mine, his shoulder connecting with mine. There is no No Man’s Land between us.

  Although it’s a warm day, a shiver travels the length of my body.

  My fingers betray me, itching to feel his thigh beneath my clammy hand. I have no idea what I should be doing. What are the rules of a plus one? Bowie can’t see me behaving like this. My own rule of no PDA I ignore.

  “Flora, I know you feel it,” Torque murmurs in my ear. “You want to touch me as badly as I want to touch you.”

  Oh. My!

  I turn my head, finding his lips too close to mine. Without meaning to do it, I drink his scent in. He smells so richly masculine.

  “Are you smelling me again, Sunflower?”

  “W-what? O-of course not,” I stumble quietly. Of course, I did.

  The man grins like a Cheshire cat, eyes crinkling at the corners, his full lips so close to mine.

  “Sweetheart... I won’t bite if you want to lay your hand on my thigh,” he murmurs against my cheek. Oh, God! He knows. My head pivots down to look at his thigh.

  “Stop distracting me; there’s a wedding about to start,” I whisper, clasping both hands together, so one doesn’t land on his muscular thigh. I’ve seen those thighs naked. The man is in shape.

  I slowly turn like it’s hard for me to look away from the man and manage to face forward.

  I feel like a teenager on a first date.

  I hear chuckling.

  The man is laughing at me.

  “I’ll make it easy for you. I’m gonna put my arm across the back of your chair, and if you fancy leaning closer into my chest, I won’t complain,” Torque murmurs.

  Oh. My!

  And that is how we sat the whole ceremony.

  When Boxer stood up announcing he was about to renew his wedding vows to his Evelyn in front of us as their witnesses, Torque’s hand slid under my shoulder. His fingers found a comfortable place resting snug around me.

  Coincidentally there was a lot of shuffling about from the row of bikers next to Torque.

  “Don’t worry about them; I’ll make sure they behave,” Torque whispers against my neck.

  And I believe him.

  I slowly relax more into Torque’s hard chest and watch Boxer effortlessly share his love for the woman in his life openly in the presence of others.

  Loving somebody can be easy. I think I’ve gotten a bit gun-shy as I’ve grown older. All my energy has been spent on my son and rightly so. He is currently my only love.

  As the renewal of vows starts to come to an end, I worry about Bowie noticing the two of us when he walks back up the aisle, so I begin to move away.

  ‘What’s the hurry?” The man’s deep and sexy voice does things to me, no matter the words that flow out of his mouth. He could say, “Gobble, gobble, gobble,” and it would sound sexy.

  My lips part and I whisper, “Bowie.”

  “I’ll behave appropriately in front of him. Your boy only has eyes for Harper. He won’t be noticing us.” He’s right. Bowie seems to have forgotten I’m here.

  But the what-if-he-sees is too high for me. I don’t even know what this thing is that has come over me when it comes to Torque, but it’s not worth unsettling my son.

  “Torque...”

  He sighs, reluctantly loosening his hold until his arm slides away from encasing my body, and I can’t help missing the connection when his hand lands back in his lap.

  “Make no mistake, Flora Templeton, I’ve claimed you. Whatever I gotta do to make that smooth for you and the kid, I will do. However long that takes. But as of now, you and me... we are a thing. You have now to deny this claim of mine. If you deny it, I will still be your plus one, but I won’t lay a finger on you. You hear me clear?”

  Oh. My!

  “Flora?”

  “I...um...we can try.” What am I saying?

  “That’s all I ask.”

  Oh, my!

  “And that’s a wrap,” Faith’s female photographer calls out.

  I don’t hesitate to whisk my bride away from everybody, shading her delicate skin with one of the white, vintage looking parasols Juan thought to have available to keep the sun off the women.

  I envelop Whisper in my arms, careful to keep the shade over her.

  She looks up at me with those big browns of hers, waiting expectantly for our lips to connect for the hundredth time today. Most of those kisses have been staged for photographs, but this one I want for myse
lf. Lowering the parasol at an angle, so we have a little more privacy, I kiss her and kiss her until we’re forced to come up for air.

  “Babe… so fucking beautiful.” I brush her lips with my thumb.

  Even though she’s birthed five children, her body is sensational; all lazy Sunday drive curves on a narrow country road.

  Every inch of her softens the man I once was.

  Every scar she’s ever endured only adds to her beauty, rather than their real purpose—to steal it away.

  She is a warrior.

  “So handsome, husband mine,” she says softly before sucking my thumb into her mouth, slowly before releasing it with a satisfied ‘pop’ and a wickedly sexy look.

  I inhale sharply. “Babe, you ain’t playing fair.” Thank fuck the umbrella is shielding us. “As much as I love you doing that, you are causing a hard-on I won’t be able to hide.”

  “You make me so happy, husband.”

  “I would be a starving man without you and my family.” And that’s the fucking truth! “Nobody and nothing is gonna wreck what we have,” I vow.

  Our life together is about as close to Disney perfect as a relationship can get. Nothing is ever going to fuck with that. We’ve had all the fucked-up we can handle, we’re now paving the way for all the good—if it ain’t good—I will do everything in my power to make it right.

  “How are you feeling, wife?” I see it on her face when she thinks I’m not watching. “I know you’re hurting.”

  “Honestly, husband, I could have a broken arm, and I would not let it ruin my wedding day. I’m so blessed to have found this life among the rubble.”

  “Christ, babe.” I carefully draw her against me and kiss her again until I’ve had my fill.

  “You will tell me if you need a break tonight if you’re hurting too much.”

  “I am hurting, but I’ll get Evelyn to give me a slightly stronger painkiller if it makes you feel better.”