“How’d you lose? Y’all are athletes.” Jack is shocked.
“Pansy ass.” My dad throws in for the hell of it.
“Thanks. But we didn’t actually lose, I forfeited.”
“Quitter.”
“Dad, shut up.” I’m not in the mood. I feel like an ass; her parents traveled for this, and there is no way in hell I’m allowing them to witness what we planned.
“Deacon, start explaining.” My mom is holding Julie all dressed like the princess she is. She was supposed to help me with the asking, but I won’t have my baby girl over there. As much as I want to go ahead with the original plans, I love the new one. It’s fun. It’s young. It’s everything we are, and we deserve this moment.
“There was a bet. Whoever lost had to strip. Magic Mike, like.” My mom and Nina smile shyly. “The girls won. Your daughter cheated,” I accuse.
Nina laughs. “What did she do?”
“In the middle of the course, she took her shirt off.” My mom has to sit down so she doesn’t drop Julie. She’s laughing so hard.
“She what?” Jack explodes.
“Jack dear, she wasn’t naked, I promise you. I know my girl,” Nina comforts him.
My dad is just shaking his head. “Cheap shot. I don’t blame you.”
“I’m lost,” Nina states. “How’s that cheating?"
“Each team member had to cross the finish line unless there was an injury. When she gave us a preview of what I was going to have to endure, with an audience, I couldn’t do it. I thought I was strong enough.” My parents are crying from their laughter. Julie is following suit, with no clue how much shit she’s giving her old man. Jack nods in understanding, and Nina stands there with her mouth open.
“Thank you,” Jack says.
“Deacon Douglas, you should have let her eat crow. She wanted to play with the big boys, you should have let her. Thank you though—you’re giving her the strength to live life.” I smile recalling her telling me I’m her strength while I confessed she was my weakness.
“Nina, you’d have your daughter strip?” Jack is angered.
“I know, Saylor. They wouldn’t have been naked, and she needs to ante up. Little cheater.”
“Yeah, so it would be a bit awkward for you to see an entire team do a strip tease. We’ve implemented a new plan, and I’ll text you to come over when it’s safe. You’ll still be there to celebrate with us.”
“Not my idea of fun, I’ve changed half those guys’ diapers, I don’t need to see that.” My mom shudders.
“Well, I haven’t.” Nina slyly looks at Jack. “But it would be awkward to see you.” She points at me.
“We’ll go get dinner and wait for you to call.” I nod.
My dad comes in the room and chucks a pair of socks at me. “What are these for?”
“I don’t want you to be embarrassed about your disadvantage. Make the family name proud.” He looks down at my dick. It’s a wonder I haven’t needed therapy. I throw them back and flip him off before kissing Julie’s head and hitting the shower. Their amusement follows them out of the house, and I start to get nervous.
The team and Brody are all here, and we’re going over last minute instructions.
“Start with ‘Pony’ – Ginuwine version—so we keep the theme, then a small clip of ‘Wrecking Ball’ Eric Church, not Miley Cyrus, we don’t need that. End with ‘Ride’ by Chase Rice; that’s when you take center stage, Deacon.”
I wipe my hands across my pants and nod. I need a shot, but I want to be sober for this moment. “You nervous?” Mason asks me quietly.
“Yes. Fuck man.”
“Nothing to worry about.” Caden takes my other side.
“Let’s go.” The rest of the team is excited for this, and I shake my head at them. Emberlee will have one of them crying in their beer before the end of the night. I just hope it isn’t me.
I laugh through most of it. It’s not humiliating for Caden, Mace, and me. We’re used to them. But Brody and the team, they’re fucking eating up the attention. Avery is ‘making it rain’ as she keeps reminding us with her shouts. I don’t think my girl is as drunk as our friends, but I can’t tell because her eyes devour me. There isn’t a morsel of my skin that hasn’t been fucked by her eyes.
For us being a well-oiled machine on the field—only two losses—we suck at trying to keep rhythm. I can’t focus through the laughter, the pelvic thrusts, the pseudo break dancing these guys are doing to impress the girls. Fuck, even Brody brought a piece of metal pipe, and I don’t think he pulled off the effect he hoped he would. He looked like a cheap pole dancer who should have retired thirty years ago. Channing Tatum didn’t give him his dance moves.
Saylor is wiping tears; Avery is dancing with us . . . standing tall on the coffee table, fully clothed. Emberlee shouts, “Take it off!” I can’t. I have a ring in my pocket, and I’m not risking losing it. Shit just got real. The song switched, which means I’m front and center. I feel frozen, but somehow I’m in front of Saylor. Straddling her legs, pulling her hair, giving her a genuine lap dance has both of us excited.
She can hide hers while mine is working hard trying to poke her in the eye. “Hey there.” She laughs and lets me gyrate against her. I kiss her gently, savoring everything about this moment.
Everything.
The music ends.
The voices quiet.
The stares turn to us.
I drop to my knees.
I take her hands in mine.
I watch her watching me.
I pull out the ring and feel like I’m floating.
“Saylor Lewis, will you marry me?” Collective gasps, sighs, murmurs begin, but I only have ears for her. Nobody else matters.
“Yes. But I would have moved in without a ring.” She leans forward and grasps my face between her hands. “I love you, Deacon Douglas.” She takes my lips just as she’s taken my heart.
“Did you finish your project?” I ask her while she is packing the last of her room.
“Submitted it this afternoon. Fingers crossed.” She decided to write a marketing campaign for her stepdad’s software company, and Jack fell in love with it. Before submitting to her professor, he decided to implement it. His business is up thirty-two percent in sixty days, and he’s fielding offers from three different companies.
“We’re going to start our sophomore year married.”
“You’ve already started your senior year of high school with a pregnant girlfriend. I think you like scandals.”
“Funny girl.” I smack her ass and carry boxes over to my house. Our house. I come back to find her staring at the papers I gave her last week. “You gonna sign those?” She sighs. I hand her a pen.
“I don’t know. This isn’t why I gave you the money.” She’s stubborn. I wasn’t taking her money, she refused to put it in a college fund for Julie, so I opened an account in her name as a wedding gift. She’s fighting me tooth and nail.
“I know, Saylor. Don’t spend it. When we graduate, it could be start-up money for one of our businesses. Keep investing it.”
“You could still be drafted.” I shake my head. That’s not my life. I love my major, and it affords me to work in different organizations if I choose.
“You just want to see me in the uniform.”
“Daily.”
“Well you have three years to enjoy it,” I tease her.
“You sure you want to be married so soon?”
“I would have married you yesterday. You sure?”
“Positive. I love you.”
“I love you. I have something else for you.” I hand her the papers I had drawn up last week. We can’t sign them until after the wedding next week, and I hope I’m not being presumptuous.
She opens the package and reads. Her eyes fill with tears, her hands begin to shake. “Are you fucking serious?”
“If you want. There is nothing I want more, and I know she feels the same. Ma ma ma ma.” Julie began using that term wi
th her three weeks ago.
“I’ll be her mom.” She weeps as she stares at me.
“You’re already her mom. This just legalizes it.”
“Yes.”
“We can sign them at the wedding and have them notarized. It’s pretty simple. Adriane signed her rights over a while ago, so I petitioned the court on your behalf.”
“Can we have a party when it’s done?”
“Like a birthday party?”
“Like ‘I’m a mommy’ party!”
I kiss her nose. “Whatever you want, Shortstop. Whatever you want.” I’ll live up to those words because that’s my goal. That’s my dream.
“You ready for a ball and chain?” Mason asks from the front of the church. I should have put Caden next to me so I didn’t have to listen to him the whole ceremony.
“I’m ready to be married,” I correct him.
“You know you’ll never get a man card.”
“That’s fine because every time she screams my name, and we both know that’s a lot, that’s validation I’m a man.” I smirk at him while he scoffs.
“Pop. Pop. Pop,” Julie begs him. I swear if he has her doing tricks like a dog I’m going to knock him out. In front of God and everybody. Our guests consist of our parents and the rest of the crew’s parents. That’s it. Exactly how we wanted it.
“Saylor feeling better?” Caden inquires.
She had a sinus infection that’s knocked her on her ass for the past two days. I know she feels miserable but said she was ready for today. “Yeah, so she says. I can’t wait to get her on the beach and let her relax.”
“Sure. That’s why you want her on the beach. In the private villa,” Mason kids.
“Mason, you’re an idiot. He has sex with her whenever he wants. More than I can say for you.” Caden ribs him.
“Oh, Mace, you in a dry spell?” I love busting his balls. The preacher clears his throat, and we halt conversations. I would say inappropriate conversations, but Mace is involved, so it’s all inappropriate.
The music starts. Julie dashes down the aisle to grab her flowers. She couldn’t stay still or cooped up in the bride’s room. Emberlee comes down the aisle first, and I don’t know who looks at her with more love . . . her father or Brody. I was shocked when she showed up with a date last night to the rehearsal dinner. I was more shocked it was Brody. Her father’s right-hand man.
Avery is next, and I wink at her. While we’re on our honeymoon, she is going to be busy. Creating the mural in the basement Saylor designed, and a mural in Julie’s room I designed. It’s typical, but it’s fitting. A fairytale. Complete with a castle and a princess—Julie. See our life is based off creating dreams and making sure they come true, and it’s important to both of us to pass that on to our daughter.
She steps through the door escorted by Jack, and time halts.
Completely stops for a moment.
My breath.
My heart.
My mind.
My life.
She stands in front of me in white, green, and gold meeting gray and blue. Spring day meeting stormy ocean. I wait until I can take her hand, never wanting to let go.
“You’re a vision.”
“Thank you,” she whispers, trying to contain her emotions.
“You wearing red?”
She smiles. “You know it.”
“My weakness.”
“My strength.” I kiss her lips softly, and we turn to begin the age-old journey of uniting us as one. We don’t need vows or a ceremony to do that. We’ve done that ourselves. This is confirmation to the world. And any crazy motherfucker who thinks he has a shot with her.
She wanted traditional and original. That makes our wedding twice as long. I said okay. We get the love, honor, and obey—with Mason snickering—out of the way. I turn to her, and she turns to me.
“Saylor, I can’t remember not loving you. Even when I didn’t know you, I loved you. What you would bring to my life, what you would mean to Julie and me. I didn’t know your name, I didn’t know your face . . . but I knew you. Then one day I saw you. I saw all of you. Your heart. Your pain. Your fears. Your beautiful soul.”
“Revoked for a lifetime,” Mason whispers. Saylor giggles. I roll my eyes. Caden slaps the back of his head.
“You fought against me, then you fought for me. You are the best part of me. You’re my weakness and my strength. For you, I’ll move mountains and carry you up them. Without you, I’ll be able to do nothing.” I squeeze her hands, watch the emotions flutter across her face and inhale, knowing she is going to annihilate me with her words.
“Deacon, meeting you was life-changing. I know that sounds cliché, but it’s the only description. You were my lighthouse. You shone your light on me, not allowing me to hide from the love you gave me. When I couldn’t be strong, you gave me your strength. When I tested your patience, you dug deep and exuded calmness.” I pause to get myself together.
“You taught me to dream, and you made them all come true. Some may say we’re young; to them I say commitment doesn’t have a timetable or age criteria. We forged a path, a union specifically for us. We’ll weather the storms of life together because neither one of us is capable of alone.” He wipes my tears and shows me his dimple.
“I once thought the game of life was to be tiptoed across. You crushed that belief. You taught me to pick up a bat, swing for the fences, kick up some dirt, and run. Run to you, never from you. You’re my bases loaded, home run, grand slam. You are my end game.”
“Enough with the baseball metaphors. Overdoing it there, Shortstop,” Mason whispers, contradicting himself.
“This advice from the guy wearing a cup to my wedding so he’s not embarrassed of what he has to offer.” I taunt him back, thanking my lucky stars our ceremony is small. Intimate. That everyone knows our crazy.
“Unc Mas. Pop. Pop. Pop.” At least she can say her M’s now and tattle on the other child in the group.
“This is our life baby, you ready to live it?” Deacon asks. His eyes bright, clear . . . and just like our first meeting, they beacon me to my safety.
“You bet.” I smile.
“You suck at bets,” Mason reminds me.
“Okay, you Matilda.” I glare at him.
“I now pronounce you man and wife, kiss your bride, Mr. Douglas.” And he does. Over and over. ‘Til death do us part.
“Baby, I’ve got errands this morning. You good taking Julie to your parents?” Deacon is in the shower, and Julie is staying at his parents. He wants to celebrate our one-month of being married anniversary. Realistically, he wants loud sex.
“Yep. Netflix and chill is on my agenda.”
“Crude.”
“Matilda wouldn’t have me any other way,” he sputters, and I reach in to pinch his ass. Because I can’t resist.
“Love you!” he calls. It’s always the last thing we say to each other.
Hours later I stroll into our house . . . our quiet house. “Deacon,” I call for him.
“Basement!” I hear his shout. I dig the photo from my purse and take the steps as fast as I dare. The lights are out, and the television is playing ESPN. “Hey baby. You need help with the groceries.”
“No.” I clip. “I didn’t make it to the grocery store. See, I had a doctor’s appointment that took a bit longer than expected because YOU FUCKING KNOCKED ME UP ON OUR HONEYMOON! I told you to pull out. I told you to wear a condom. Your damn rhythm method and had to be inside me bare bullshit.” Tossing the ultrasound picture I’m gripping. I’m not angry I’m carrying his child; that was always our plan, but not until after we graduated. I love Julie. I love being her mom. But we’re starting our second year of college; we both have two more years. It’s hard. I take a deep breath and remember that it’s worth it. It’s so worth it. “I’m sorry.” I begin to sob. “I’m not mad it was just a shock. Fucking antibiotics and birth control.” He pulls me to his chest, rubbing my back as I cry tears of joy and fear into his shirt.
Slow claps fill my ears. I turn in his arms and see all of our friends, our family standing here. “What?”
“The papers came today, MOMMY.” He grins.
“Times two.” Mason chirps like a damn irritating bird.
“Where’s Julie?” My mouth was rival to a sailor in that meltdown.
“Napping potty mouth.” Josh winks at me. “Congratulations. Son, good job. Glad to see your little problem doesn’t stop you from knocking randoms up.” I laugh. I don’t know if I’m delirious, happy, fucking freaked out, but I laugh like a maniac.
“Saylor,” my mom’s voice snaps me into sanity. “My baby.” Her eyes are wide, her smile soft. Her happiness evident.
We’re young. We’re still growing. We’re the perfect people for this job.
Avery is smiling. Emberlee is crying. I groan, “Go ahead. If you have something to say, go for it.” I won’t deal with her shit.
“When are you due?” She is curious. I don’t see malicious intent in that generic question.
“March 22nd. One month before Julie turns two.” Fuck me.
“I’m due March 20th. You have a honeymoon baby. I have a wedding baby. Your fucking wedding.” I can’t.
“Whoa!” Mason . . . so eloquent. “It’s not mine!”
“Looks like I only have to plan one baby shower.” Avery laughs.
“If this one has a twig and berries I’ll give you your card back, and I’ll teach him how to pitch.” Mason . . . I hope the hormones don’t get him killed.
“I’m going to revoke your goddamn card when I rip off your dick!” I shout.
“Stand in line.” Emberlee glares. “Seems Brody may have a few words to say to him.” Mason pales. Caden chuckles.
Seems like Emberlee wasn’t the only one getting busy on my wedding night. “Brody’s baby sister?” I ask Mason.
“Fuck.” He walks to the stairs.
“Hey Matilda, you can run, but you can’t hide.” He flips me off, and I find Deacon’s arms. His heart beats against my ear, his love for me strong.
Playing Fate (Endgame Series Book 1) Page 19