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

by Emma James

  “Thank you, Torque,” I whisper.

  I feel a soft kiss on my forehead. “Sunflower, it is my greatest pleasure to make you come.”

  He slowly lowers my leg and waits for me to be steady on my feet.

  “Darlin’… your scent is a drug I could get high on, but we’ve been gone too long. We need to get back to the party. Just wait there a second.”

  He blends into the shadows before I can ask what he’s doing.

  I hear water running.

  He’s back holding a man-sized, wet, dark handkerchief. “Flora, please allow me to wipe you clean.”

  Before I can protest, my dress skirt gets raised, and I jump from the feel of the cold, wet fabric as it makes contact with my still sensitive skin.

  “Sunflower, you have no idea how much I want to drop to my knees and worship your wet pussy right now.”

  Oh, my!

  My hand knocks accidentally against the front of his slacks, hitting a large, hard bulge.

  Torque makes a noise, removing his hand from between my legs.

  “I feel so selfish when I’ve left you rock-hard. You must be uncomfortable. Can I help you with that?” I would like to blame my brazen question all on the champagne, but I seem to have sobered up, or at least I am sober enough.

  “I just need a few minutes to be in control again, but you have put forth a tempting offer, which even I am surprised I’m refusing.”

  “I can’t leave you like—”

  And then a cold shiver runs up my spine.

  “Did you feel that, Flora?” Torque is looking around.

  “Yes. It felt like something ran its cold, ghostly hand down the middle of my back.

  “That about sums it up. We’ve been gone long enough. I think I’ll take you back.” Torque takes my hand and leads me away, taking the shortest route. “I’ll walk you to the bathroom, and you can slip your panties back on.”

  I’ve forgotten I’m still bare because I can’t shake the feeling we’re getting watched.

  Even though, there’s nobody around but the shadows.

  My eyes pop open in surprise.

  I must have fallen asleep watching the movie, but now I feel wide awake.

  Tonight we are allowed to stay up as late as we want because of our parents’ special day.

  I sit up and look around.

  Bowie and Presley are no longer here.

  I’m thirsty, so I roll out of my beanbag and take a walk.

  Music is playing, and people are dancing, including my parents, who wave to me, and I wave back.

  Where would boys go at this time of night?

  I’m still thirsty, so I decide I will get a drink of water and then look for them.

  I turn around and nearly bump into Blueblood. “Hey, Princess, where you headed?” he asks me.

  “I’m getting a drink and looking for my brother and Bowie.”

  “Well, look no further, they are over sitting on one of the velvet sofas eating a late-night snack with your Uncle Matty. If you want, I’ll get you a bottle of water, and I’ll bring it over to you.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” I feel this urgency to find my brother, so I hurry off to the sea of sofas.

  Walking around some trees dressed up in pretty fairy lights, I stop all of a sudden because I nearly bump into a man standing in my way, and he has a friend who is leaning back against the closest tree with his arms folded, one leg bent with his foot against the tree.

  “—he sure can put his food away.”

  “Remind you of anyone?” says the man in front of me who has very long green hair with lots of streaks of lighter green through it. On his back, he has a bow and quiver full of arrows, which is a strange thing to have at a party.

  Both men laugh as though they share the same joke.

  “Excuse me…I’m just taking a shortcut through the trees.”

  Both men go quiet.

  The one in front of me turns around slowly. He looks over me because he’s very tall.

  “Gae—look down,” the other man says, pointing at me.

  “Are you talking to me, little girl?” The green-haired man sounds surprised. His unique light-green eyes widen in shock.

  I look from one man to the other.

  “Well, that answers the question I was about to ask,” says the one with gold hair the color of shiny hay, which falls in thick waves to the tops of his shoulders. He looks like a Disney prince.

  I put my hand out and poke the green-haired man on his brown leather pants, expecting my hand to go straight through him, but it doesn’t.

  “Hey, hasn’t anybody told you it’s rude to poke a stranger?”

  “Oh, you are real!” I take a few steps away. “Are you a surprise for my mommy and daddy?”

  Not that I can think of why entertainers would be waiting under a tree late at night. I haven’t seen them at my parents’ wedding, and they aren’t guests at the party, plus I don’t recognize any of them. Stranger danger crosses my mind. We talk about it at school.

  “Nope!” they both reply.

  “You don’t belong here,” I say to them, putting my hands on my hips.

  “And you shouldn’t be able to see us,” the one I poked says, mimicking my movements.

  “Quit messing with the kid,” Disney Prince says.

  “What are you two looking at?” I ask them.

  “None of your concern, little one,” Green-hair says.

  Disney-prince lowers his foot, stands up, and walks over to me. He drops into a crouch and stares at me with golden eyes.

  I decided to poke him in the knee cap, just in case he’s a spirit.

  “Kid quit poking us. We are as real as you are—just different.”

  I read faerie stories, so I know these men don’t look quite human. Their eye colorings are extra. Their clothes look like they stepped out of a fantasy movie.

  “Do you know my Nana Catherine?” I figure I may as well ask.

  “Is she Elv—?”

  Disney-prince nudges his shoulder against the green-haired one’s leg to get him to be quiet.

  “What my friend means… is this Nana Catherine like us with pointy ears, or is she somebody you can see but can’t touch?” explains Disney-prince.

  “Nana Catherine died a few years ago, and today I saw her for the first time, but there is a boy who shows himself to me often. He never stays long. It’s like he doesn’t know how to, yet.”

  “Ahh,” they both say together.

  “She’s got the gift of sight,” the green-haired one says, dropping into a crouch to look at me closer.

  “Indeed it would appear so,” Disney-prince agrees.

  “Can you tell me your names?” I innocently ask because I know from the stories I have read, that if these men are faeries, then to know their real name is a powerful thing. It might come in handy.

  “Little one, you are very smart. You think you have us worked out and know how to play the game based on storybooks? We can tell you our names, but we can also make you forget,” says Disney-prince.

  “Oh, I didn’t think about that. Well, my name is Harper.”

  “A fine name, little one,” the green-haired one says.

  Then a thought scares me. “Are you here to swap my twin brother and Bowie for changelings? Because if you are, I won’t let you.” I hold my fists up, ready to fight them.

  “Oh, isn’t she just precious.” Disney-prince laughs, slapping Green-hair on the back. “A fearless fighter we have among ourselves dressed in tulle,” he sings. “Fear not, brave little one, we are only here to observe and nothing more. Nobody will be getting swapped as you call it.”

  “You do know we are going to have to swipe your memory brave little one, of this little meet-and-greet when we get done talking, though,” Green-hair warns me.

  “I guess,” I sigh because what’s a girl to do to stop such a thing from happening.

  “Pumpkin… why are you talking to the trees?”

  Blueblood surprises me, and
I jump in fright, looking like I’m tripping over the air, but I’ve kicked over Disney-prince’s quiver, but land on my butt while trying to save myself.

  “Now, why did you frighten me,” I growl at him from the ground. “I wasn’t talking to any trees.”

  “Sure looked like it from where I was standing.” Blueblood raises one eyebrow waiting for me to disagree with him again. “Up you get.” He holds a hand out to me and helps me to my feet. “I was just bringing you that bottle of water you requested.” Blueblood breaks the seal on it for me.

  “Thank you.” I take it from him and have a drink.

  “Well, I’ll leave you to your alone time with the trees, shall I?”

  “Um, yes, please. You saw me practicing a speech I’m doing for school,” I say improvising.

  “Whatever you say, Princess.” He laughs and walks off.

  I look over at Green-hair, who is now circling a finger around his ear and pulling a face.

  I roll my eyes. I am not weird.

  I look past the men to where Uncle Matty is now standing, making his way to me. How long has he been watching me?

  “I have to go.” I quickly run away from the pointy-eared men.

  “Hey, come back, we have to make you forget,” Disney-prince yells out, but only I can hear.

  I pinch myself—hard.

  “Ouch!”

  Nope. I’m not dreaming.

  Well, this is new.

  Harper is talking to the trees, or I’ve had one too many drinks tonight, which I know I haven’t.

  So, what am I watching Harper doing then?

  Yup! She’s talking to trees.

  “I’ll be back, boys. Finish up your food. I’m just going to see what your sister is up to, Presley.”

  “Okay—”

  “—yep—”

  And now she’s running toward me with a bottle of water.

  “Harper, slow down!” I hold my hand up to my niece, but she keeps moving until she barrels into me.

  “Hey, Uncle Matty.”

  “Hey, Pumpkin.” I laugh. “Whatcha doing over there talking to the trees?”

  “I wasn’t doing that, I was…” she thinks about her words for a few seconds…”can I tell you something that might freak you out?”

  “Okay, this sounds like we need some privacy.” That was an odd thing for her to say.

  “Yup. I think we need a pink sofa for this conversation.”

  “Sounds serious if you’re choosing a pink one; well lead the way.” She takes my hand and drags me over to the first, available, two-seater, pink velvet sofa.

  We both drop down on it, and she swings her legs up and onto my lap while she props herself up in the corner against a square cushion.

  “So… what do you want to tell me, Pumpkin?”

  I focus on the little tattoo on the side of Uncle Matty’s right eye. “Have you ever seen someone who nobody else can see?”

  Didn’t see that coming.

  “Liiike?” I am not sure what she is asking of me.

  “Like a person who has maybe died and now they want you to see them for some reason. I think maybe a ghost or a spirit or something like that.”

  “Yes,” I say with all honesty.

  Wow, that wasn’t so hard to finally say out loud.

  “Who have you seen, Uncle Matty?” I am surprised he has, but it will be helpful to talk to somebody who understands what I’m talking about.

  “Well… her name is Rose. She was brave and strong like your mother. I knew her from before you were born, but something terrible happened to her, and she died.

  I once got hurt badly, and she came and talked to me while I was in the hospital and helped me to want to feel better so that I could open my eyes.”

  “I’m sorry you lost your friend. Have you seen her again?”

  “No, Pumpkin.” He sounds sad. “I wondered for the longest time if I had only dreamed of her, but I believe it was a real experience I had.” He squeezes my foot gently. “Now it’s your turn to tell me your secrets and why you were speaking to the trees.”

  I feel so tired. I can’t hold back a yawn.

  With drooping eyelids, I tell Uncle Matty about the boy and how I saw Nana Catherine for the first time today at the wedding ceremony.

  He listens, nodding in understanding, and doesn’t doubt what I’m telling him to be my truth.

  I feel an even closer connection now with my uncle. It is a secret we share, and we can confide in each other.

  I’m fighting to keep my eyes open when another big yawn noisily escapes me.

  I swing my legs off his lap and crawl over next to him.

  He puts a big arm around me and lets me snuggle in beside him.

  “I love you, Uncle Matty, you get me.”

  “Pumpkin, before you fall asleep, tell me why you were talking to the trees.” He gives me a gentle shake.

  My eyelids slowly sweep open. “Oh, yeah… well, they aren’t dead people, they are—”

  I feel a slight pressure on my head, as though a hand is touching me.

  And then I’m falling into darkness.

  “Sorry, little one, but we aren’t your story to tell. Now sleep.” Her will is strong, but her young mind can’t fight the mental command.

  “When she wakes, she won’t remember us,” I tell Roan from where we still stand by the trees.

  Until the next time, she sees us.

  I smile down at my niece. She sure can slip into a deep sleep at the drop of a hat.

  I pick her up in my arms, listening to her quietly snoring and carry her to where I left the boys feasting.

  I let out a soft chuckle because Presley and Bowie are stretched out across the gold velvet, fancy-looking sofa in a tangle of limbs, sleeping off a food coma.

  I walk toward the teepee and find Edge coming out of the tent with his arm around his wife. He’s taken off his suit jacket and relaxed his tie around his neck and Whisper’s hair is now down, just as Edge likes it. They both look like they have danced the night away.

  “Hi brother-in-law. We were wondering where Harper and the boys were, and now we see you have found one of them,” Whisper says softly before kissing Harper on the forehead and mouthing “thank you” to me.

  “She nodded off”—I lower my voice—”while we were talking. She couldn’t keep her eyes open a second longer. The boys are out for the count too, sprawled out on a gold antique sofa. They were looking for a snack, which turned into a feast by the time Happy served up everything they wanted on their plates and now they’re in a food coma.”

  “Honey, I’ll get the beds turned down for them all if you can get the boys up here,” Whisper says to Edge before she disappears inside the large teepee.

  Juan’s team made sure the kids’ glamping experience will be fun for them and comfortable. Three beds are already set up for the kids. There’s also a mini juice bar, a modern couch, and other things for the kids’ overnight adventure.

  “Thanks Mathias, I’ll take Harper, if you can round up some men to carry the heavy antique sofa up the boys are sleeping on and we can swap the couch inside the tent out with that piece. If they wake up before sunrise, they will crawl into the beds next to Harper’s. Whisper will make sure they have pillows, and she will get them comfortable once we get them inside the teepee.”

  I place my niece in her daddy’s arms and watch the look of unconditional love wash over my brother’s features.

  “Edge, you okay with Bowie in the same overnight accommodation with Harper after the declaration of love and marriage?” I like the kid, but—

  “Nope. That warning bell for the future has been dung, and I can’t un-ding it. Figured Romeo’s around here somewhere doing some job for Torque and now he’s going to be camping out on the couch we swap out of the teepee—right in front of the entrance—he can stay on guard until morning. I’m sure Torque will be happy to issue the order to his nephew, seeing now he’s looking like he’s gonna be taking Bowie under his protective w
ing.”

  “You think Flora and Torque…?” I did wonder.

  “Oh, I know it’s gonna be Flora and Torque,” my brother says with complete certainty.

  “Well, okay then, sounds to me like a foregone conclusion.”

  “Speaking of…” Edge tilts his head, and I follow the direction.

  “Yup… foregone conclusion,” I repeat, and we both try not to laugh.

  Torque is holding Flora’s hand—which is not the telltale sign of foregone conclusion evidence—it’s the stunning lady’s hair, and lipstick which isn’t neat anymore and Torque’s locks look like he’s had female hands running through them. Flora looks—

  Well, that wouldn’t be gentlemanly of me to assume.

  The kids are all settled inside the teepee, and Romeo is in place, sitting on the couch. I’ve messaged Juan to get everybody assembled, and Faith is rustling up the bouquet for Whisper to throw away. I’ve had a word in my brother’s ear, and he will switch places with Romeo and watch the kids while the prospect—who is the only one not drinking—drives my bride and me to Hudson Raine’s private jet.

  I’m currently steering Whisper through the backyard working our way toward the front door because I have a schedule to keep up.

  “Honey, why are we going this way, the party is out the back?” Her big browns are looking at me in confusion.

  “Babe, I have a surprise for you, and it involves me getting you to the front of the house and into the courtyard.”

  “Can I have a little hint, please?”

  Whisper’s past is full of unknowns, so I try only to surprise her with things like jewelry and date nights. This surprise is a little bigger for her to handle, and it involves the kids.

  “I’m taking you away to a surprise location for two nights—including this one—I’ve still got a few little surprises up my sleeve.” I lean into her cheek and murmur, “I’m whisking you away shortly for some alone time, so that I can get inside you, and we won’t have to worry about how loud you scream when I make you come. How does that sound?” I want my woman naked for the next forty-eight hours and loud. Can’t be doing that inside our five-bedroom home with a house full of guests. “I’m thinking we can join the Mile-High Club because that is one thing we haven’t done yet.”