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

by Emma James

  “Oh…” A sexy smile lights up her face with interest, but then the mother of four children with two under eighteen months rationale washes over her. “It’s the first time I will be leaving Colton and Jagger since they were born, and what about Harper and Presley?”

  “Harper and Presley have been keeping this secret, they know I’m taking you away, and everybody else who needs to know knows. Your bags are packed and should be inside the Mercedes, and within forty-eight hours you will be home again. You have enough bottles to last Colton for the time we are away. I have that nasty breast pump inside your luggage, so you can keep your boobs from exploding and hurting you. We are covered in all areas, ready to enjoy ourselves. So are you agreeable with being treated like a queen for forty-eight hours?” I see the change in her big browns when I convince her I have everything under control.

  “Yes, please, and thank you! Oh, this surprise location is sounding more and more exciting.”

  “I will give you a hint: you will only need a bikini for the daytime and a cocktail dress for the evening and naked for in bed. I’ve packed light.” I weave my fingers through her hair and take my fill of her mouth. Fuck! I’m the luckiest son-of-a-bitch on the planet.

  The glint of excitement is back in her eyes. It will be our mini honeymoon until we can bring the whole family on our official honeymoon. I can’t celebrate our marriage without giving my woman a break to recharge. I know she wouldn’t allow herself to be away from Colton for longer—at this stage.

  “Let me go get my bouquet.”

  “Your bouquet should already be waiting for you in the courtyard along with everybody assembled to wave us off.”

  “You have been busy, husband.”

  “Well, time is a-ticking on our forty-eight hours of alone time.”

  “Well, in that case, I know who I am going to be aiming for to catch the bouquet, so she can hopefully be the next to get hitched.”

  “Are you scheming?”

  “Who me? Never!”

  It seems I’ve got that covered, too.

  Phoenix catches the bouquet, being the competitive person I know she is.

  Slade yells, “Woman, it’s our destiny!”

  Phoenix tosses the bouquet at Lily as though it’s too hot to handle when she realizes what she’s done.

  Her actions only make Slade laugh louder.

  Eight years after meeting Slade, he’s still sporting cropped brown hair, pretty blue eyes, and a hard, muscular build from time spent enjoying a fitness routine. The big man, ages well.

  Phoenix and Slade make for a pinup, badass couple. She’s action, dreadlocked “Barbie” to his man-mountain “GI Joe.” They are the cool, kickass version of “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”

  “Woman, you know it’s a done deal.” The man-mountain gets down on bended knee.

  I think we all collectively hold our breath.

  “Slade? What are you doing?” Then she smiles. It’s not just any smile; it is an elated smile.

  I turn to my husband and whisper. “Oh… my… God! Slade’s—”

  “Yep, he sure is, and about fucking time, too,” he whispers back, grinning, and I see the truth behind that smile.

  “Woman, you mean everything to me. Phoenix Cooper, I want to be your husband. I want to marry you. I know you love me, and I love and worship you, so will you do me the honor of accepting my marriage proposal. Will you marry me, Firebird?” Slade produces a black ring box from his pocket and places it in the palm of his hand.

  “Are you going to open that box up, Slade?”

  He grins at her bossiness. Slade knows it’s her way of trying to stay in control of her emotions while we’re all standing around watching the two of them.

  Slade opens the box slowly with an amused look on his face, watching her lean closer toward his hand.

  Phoenix’s mouth drops open at the size and beauty of the diamond-encrusted ring.

  I’m reminded of that scene in Pretty Woman where Richard Gere’s character holds the open jewelry box in the palm of his hand, and Julia’s character with her hair up, wearing her long dress, leans forward and reaches out to the box, her fingers just touching it when—

  SNAP!

  And just like the movie, Phoenix laughs out loud in surprise as her hand shoots away from the box.

  And sure enough, Birdie is snapping off a Polaroid with her retro camera, and Faith is videoing the proposal.

  “Ah-ah-aaah… not so fast, Firebird. Not until you tell me the correct answer.” Slade is having a little too much fun pushing Phoenix’s buttons.

  “Yes! I will marry you, you damn behemoth,” she says softly, tears welling up in her eyes.

  “Show me that ring finger, damn woman,” he replies just as softly.

  Phoenix thrusts her hand out and wiggles her ring finger. “Hurry up before your window closes—bucko.”

  There is a round of clapping, hooting, and hollering when the ring slides onto her finger and she glides down to sit on Slade’s bended knee so they can seal the proposal with a passionate kiss.

  “You knew all along, tonight was the night Slade would propose, and you knew I would throw the bouquet in Phoenix’s direction,” I say, accusing Edge of knowing me so well.

  “And”—Edge raises a shoulder—”Slade may have whispered in the other ladies’ ears to only pretend to be interested in catching the bouquet, that way his woman would try even harder.” He winks at me.

  “Talk about scheming.” I huff, only slightly annoyed I wasn’t in the loop.

  “Secret men’s business.” He taps his nose. “Aren’t you glad you didn’t know before Phoenix did?”

  “I am. It is the best way to finish off the party.”

  “Speaking of which, you and I have somewhere to be. Let’s say our ‘congratulations’ and our ‘goodbyes’ and leave them all to the rest of their night because we have a reservation with the Mile-High Club and I for one can’t wait to have your thighs wrapped around my head while you ride my—”

  A throat clears behind me.

  We both turn around.

  Edge curses under his breath.

  “Mathias just came and swapped with me. He asked me to find you. “And then he gives us both what Edge would call a shit-eating grin.

  “Little fucker heard everything I just said,” Edge mutters under his breath.

  “I better get you to that reservation you have booked.” Romeo winks at Edge.

  “Not. One. Word. Romeo,” Edge orders.

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  Romeo has to ruin it with a smirk.

  Boys will be boys.

  After waving the newly-weds off, some couples say their goodbyes, while others stick around for a few more drinks.

  “Come with me, Sunflower, we haven’t had that dance you promised me, and then I’ll walk you home.”

  Hand in hand, I lead her to the dance floor, only letting go long enough to ask Ice, who has been keeping the dance songs playing, for my one request of the night.

  Flora shows she is past caring about who sees us PDA-ing when she lets me twirl her around before pulling her against me close. We are the only ones on the dance floor. Everybody still partying is giving us this space, which is cool by me.

  “Obsessed” by Dan + Shay starts playing, and we start swaying.

  “Are you sending me a message, Torque?” Flora is getting more familiar with how she talks to me. She’s letting her hair down, knowing Bowie is asleep in the teepee.

  “Maybe.” And then I start singing the words.

  “And he can sing.” She’s surprised I have a talent.

  And don’t I like seeing her face light up.

  I keep singing because I find myself wanting to impress her with my voice, and we add a few new dance moves to our repertoire.

  “How do you know the words to this song?”

  “Just one of those songs I heard on the radio a lot. I started paying attention to the words, they sunk in, and maybe I wondered if one day I m
ight be able to sing it to a woman I cared enough about to memorize the words. Now… sssh… I want you to listen to what I’m singing to you and feel free to match the actions to the words.”

  She’s a fast learner when she moves her hands up to my hair.

  By the time we get to the end of the song, her lips are on mine.

  I think I’ll remember this dance for the rest of my life...

  … because I’m obsessed.

  If this is the man I’ve been holding off waiting for, then I am glad I’ve kept other men at arm’s length in the past.

  When the song finishes, and we walk off the dance floor, Birdie and Retro approach us. She’s grinning while holding two Polaroid photos in her hand.

  Retro shakes Torque’s hand and hugs me.

  “Flora, we’re just about to leave, but I wanted you both to have these.” She hands the Polaroid pictures over face down, giving one to each of us. “I’m going to hug you both goodbye now, and then you can flip them over when we leave.”

  We look at each other when they move away, then flip the pictures over.

  “Oh, wow!” I say to myself. I’m looking at Torque while we’re dancing. Birdie’s written in black ink, “A picture paints a thousand words” along the bottom of it. Indeed it does.

  Torque shows me his Polaroid. We’re kissing. “I might need a copy of that one,” I say boldly.

  “Right answer, Sunflower,” he growls in my ear. “I’m taking you home where we can do some more kissing, and you can learn some new horizontal and vertical moves.”

  Oh. My!

  We make it through Flora’s front door and then we’re a jumble of limbs as we frantically kiss each other.

  I slide my hands under her thighs and lift her. She catches on quickly, securing her legs around my waist.

  “Darlin’ tell me now if I’m going too fast for you, and I’ll stop, if not, next destination is your bedroom, and I’m going to devour your wet pussy until you can’t take anymore. So what do you say?”

  She responds by holding my face and smashing her mouth against mine.

  “Which way,” I manage to ask.

  “Upstairs. Last door on the left. Do you have condoms?”

  “I took up a collection while you were in the bathroom, slipping your panties back on.” I’m climbing the stairs.

  Her thighs clench around my waist. “Torque, hurry, I need you.”

  I can smell her arousal. I bet she’s drenched. “Where did you come from and what have you done with that shy, inexperienced female I met earlier on today?”

  “She met you, and now all she wants to do is scream your name.”

  My caveman roars.

  “Haaarpeer… Haaarpeer… Haarpeer…” the creepy voice is closing in on me from behind.

  I’m running, but I don’t know where I am and what I’m running from.

  A black mist fogs my vision making it hard to see ahead.

  I look back. A dark mass is fighting to take shape. Arms and legs punch out of it before evaporating as it still somehow manages to follow me, continually calling my name.

  I run, but I am lost.

  Then I see the boy ahead through the fog waving at me to hurry up, but my bare feet can’t move fast enough because I’m still wearing my long, tulle dress.

  I lift the tulle away from my legs and break into a sprint. I just have to make it to the boy.

  A force shoves me hard, making me stumble and fall onto the ground with my hands splayed out in front of me.

  “Get up, Harper. RUN!” The familiar boy is tugging on my arm, pulling me to my feet. He looks terrified for me.

  But I’m out of time.

  The dark shapeless mass has caught up to me and is somehow pulling me away from the boy.

  It speaks in a man’s voice. “I’m coming to destroy your family, starting with—”

  The boy yanks on my flailing arm, pulling me away from the dark, shapeless thing with enough force to—

  “Harper! Harper! Pumpkin, wake up.” My shoulder is gently getting rocked.

  I force my eyes open, but I feel like I’m swimming through water without wearing goggles.

  Uncle Matty is kneeling beside the bed, his elbows resting on the bed coverings, holding a torch aimed at the pillow. “You had a bad dream, sweetheart. You were whimpering. Are you all right?” he whispers, brushing my hair away from my face.

  I sit up rubbing at my eyes with my fists, trying to stay awake so can answer my uncle.

  My mind feels drowsy. Try as I might, I can’t remember what my dream was about. I do remember the boy, but I don’t know why.

  “I think so. It was just a weird dream,” I say, yawning quietly, feeling tired and strange that I can’t remember any of it. “Where am I?” I notice I’m not in my room, but I can’t work out where I am.

  “The teepee. You fell asleep when we were talking, so I brought you here, and your mom tucked you in. If you look around, Presley is in the bed next to you, and Bowie is still where I left him on the gold sofa. He’s still in his food coma from the look of it,” Uncle Matty murmurs under his breath.

  The boys are here with me, which makes me feel better.

  “Do you want to talk about the dream? Sometimes it helps to rid your mind of it, and you can sleep easier.” My uncle looks like he’s been sleeping in his wedding clothes. His short brown hair is messy, his clothes wrinkled.

  “I’m okay now.” I’m so tired. My eyelids feel weighted down.

  “Your parents have left for their mini-honeymoon, so you’ve got me and Nana Lily and Jakob looking after you. You go back to sleep, and I’ll be outside the teepee on another couch until Romeo gets here to swap places with me.” He kisses me on the forehead.

  “Okay, Uncle Matty. Sorry, I’m so tired. I’m okay, you go back to sleep. I wriggle down under the covers and feel his hands tucking me in. “Sweet dreams, Uncle Matty,” I mumble sleepily.

  “Sweet dreams, Pumpkin. I love you.”

  I’m too tired to tell him I love him.

  I think it, instead.

  Roan and I are using the invisible glamour, our movements muted. We stand outside the teepee, watching the uncle come to his niece’s aid while our combined minds are already stripping the memory of her dream away. But even then, she still mentally fights us to hold onto the boy, not willing to let us claim it all from her.

  She can’t sense us. The sleep juju we did on her awhile ago, is still working its magic on her gift of sight.

  I give her the time her uncle needs with her before I mentally place my hand on her forehead: sleep, little one.

  We move silently on foot toward Flora’s house.

  “Gaemon, this isn’t right. I know this isn’t our fight, but we can’t leave them alone—clueless.”

  “Roan, I agree. We only came to the human world to spy on the boy for Arondil, like we have done every year since his birth. Flora is raising the boy well.”

  “Yeah, I know. Bowie is our only mission, but the little one has a link to Bowie, their destinies have been read. We need to keep them both safe. The little one is dream-walking with evil, and she has no idea what she’s doing. The spirit boy—Cruz—pulled her from her dream, saving her from the darkness. He is our ally.”

  “Roan, what we need to do is seek counsel with Arondil. We must convince him of the danger that could be a threat to Bowie because of the hornet’s nest the little one has buzzing around her.”

  “There is an evil presence, which is growing stronger. We must not delay any more than necessary, Gaemon. We need to locate the old Cajun lady and the boy in the spirit plane and work together with them.”

  I think it is time to make all of our presence known at the Templeton residence…

  … which is going to raise eyebrows and maybe a scream.

  And rock their world as they know it.

  “That was too close, Nana Catherine. How do we fight what we don’t understand? Harper is vulnerable—they all are—and we are too weak to form a s
pirit body for longer than a few seconds in the mortal plane. We have no weapons to stop the darkness that grows stronger around our family.” I feel helpless. “This time I got lucky, pulling Harper away from her nightmare because I can dream-walk.”

  “Cruz, we are where we need to be, this I be knowin’. Angel Rose won’t let us be without friends in high places. There are Elven soldiers close by already watchin’ over Harper. We just need to be communicatin’ with dem. In time, they will be our weapons; we will be their eyes and ears. Harper will be the link between our family and us.

  “This evil’s been spendin’ years freein’ itself from the depths of hell. It still be needin’ time; the darkness is as weak as we are. But it be true, we must be preparin’ ourselves. You need to be movin’ from orb to your spirit body quicker and for longer.”

  Nana Catherine has told me that when she first found me, I was just a little orb of yellow/green light. She said I reminded her of a firefly’s light zooming around full of energy.

  I don’t like existing in this limbo; I want to be more than a firefly light.

  Nana Catherine works under the angels, but they can’t intervene because there has to be a balance. Evil escapes from Hell all the time. The angels will only step in when “He Almighty” bangs the gavel, which is extremely rare.

  I am getting better at making contact with my older sister, but Harper doesn’t know who I am yet.

  I chose an age my spirit body would look if I were twelve because I thought Harper would see me as non-threatening and not be scared of me.

  Nana Catherine and I haven’t been able to form our spirit bodies at the same time and appear together for Harper to see, but we are working on it. We are getting stronger. There’s a reason spirits can’t be seen by everybody. Only the most determined can form bodies. They are usually the ones with a strong connection to the living and find somebody who has the gift of sight to relay the messages.

  For now, Nana Catherine and I live in a place that orbs go to, which is this massive garden world until we are strong enough to take on the form of our spirit body.