by Claire Adams
“A princess gown for 150,” she said. Maddie gasped, but I nodded my head.
“We’ll start there,” I said. “I can pay with cash or card, whichever is easiest for your store.”
The consultant’s eyebrows both raised. “My name is Yvette,” she said and shook both of our hands. “If you’ll follow me, I can get your beautiful fiancée in a fitting room and pick out dresses that will compliment her perfectly.”
“Thank you, Yvette,” I said as we both followed her toward the side of the shop.
“One hundred and fifty thousand?” Maddie whispered. “Gavin, no.”
“Relax,” I grinned and leaned toward her ear. “Just have fun trying it on. There’s nothing better than proving people wrong, and that asshole thought you and I were a joke.”
Maddie smiled. “So I can try any of them on?” she asked.
“Until you find your perfect dress,” I said. “Sky’s the limit.”
She followed Yvette into a dressing room, and I took a seat just outside of it. I watched as Yvette brought several dresses into her fitting room, and waited for nearly 10 minutes between each one for Maddie to emerge.
The first was a mermaid style cut that hugged her body until it ended in a fin at the bottom. It was a champagne color, with sparkling beads that caught the eye.
“What do you think?” she asked innocently as she stared at herself in the mirror. My jaw almost dropped, but I kept it under control and stood behind her. I trailed a finger across her bare back, and she shivered beneath my touch.
“I keep thinking about how hard it’ll be to rip this off of you,” I said. Her eyes widened as her stare met mine in the mirror. I noticed she didn’t spend more than a few seconds staring at the dress. “But you don’t love it,” I said. “So I’ll have to rip a different one.”
She agreed with me and returned to the fitting room. The next one looked like a regular ball gown in the shape of an A, and was all silk and smooth with little details to distract the eye. It made her curves more pronounced, and her breasts nearly spill out of the neckline, and she swatted at my shoulder as I stared at them in an obvious fashion.
“Not the one?” I asked as she struggled with keeping her breasts covered.
“No,” she shook her head and tried again.
Several more times she tried on a different dress, each one emphasizing a different part of her body, and by the first hour’s end, I was struggling with keeping my thoughts in order. She was beautiful in all of them, but the dirty thoughts were the only things keeping me from truly seeing her as a blushing bride. A part of me was thankful for that, at least.
After nearly an hour and a half, as I heard Yvette finish helping her into another dress, Maddie gasped.
“This is it,” she said immediately. I leaned forward in anticipation. “This is the dress.”
“Well?” I called out. “Let me see it.”
She hesitated a moment before responding. “Not this one,” she said. “You’re not going to see this one.”
Yvette emerged from the dressing room with a price tag in her hand. She handed it to me, I took a single glance, nodded, and gave it back to her. It wasn’t 150,000, at least. She paled slightly, clearly not expecting such a reaction, and cleared her throat.
“It is against tradition to see the wedding dress before the wedding,” Yvette said.
“Come on, Maddie,” I said. “Not even a peek?”
“You’ll have to wait until tomorrow,” she said with a happy tone in her voice. I leaned back against my chair as Yvette left to help Maddie out of the dress. “You’re definitely not seeing this until it’s on the aisle.”
I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off of my face.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Maddie
It was the day of my wedding, and I sat in the car and watched as planes landed and took off from our state. I often imagined that I was on one of them, waiting my turn to leave this boring state, and on my way to a better life. The irony wasn’t lost on me as I waited for Nancie’s flight to arrive. Afterward, we would grab some breakfast and then rush to Gavin’s house, where I would put on the gorgeous wedding dress that I had picked, and Nancie into one of her designer gowns that she brought with her.
She still wasn’t okay with my sudden engagement at all. I was lucky that she agreed to fly back at a moment’s notice, after nearly an hour on the phone convincing her that what Gavin and I had was true love, but I knew there was still a part of her that didn’t believe me. I couldn’t blame her, really. I had barely spoken to Gavin in ten years almost, and all of a sudden, we were getting married.
A part of me knew that I could tell Nancie the truth. She wouldn’t judge me. She would have done the same thing. But I wasn’t willing to go against Gavin’s terms, despite how difficult it was to keep the lie to myself.
Nancie finally emerged from the airport, looking just as beautiful and stunning as ever, in a flowing white dress that draped along the ground behind her. She had a sunhat on, which I had to smile at considering the sky had been cloudy and downcast the past few weeks, and flip flops.
Her skin had a healthy glow to it, and she smiled with a face clear of imperfections.
“California’s been nice to you,” I said and hugged her. “You look amazing.”
“You have no idea,” she gushed as I opened the passenger door for her. “Now let’s get to breakfast so I can tell you just how great California has been.”
I laughed. It wasn’t surprising that she was totally ignoring the entire reason why she was even in town. I took her to a small diner that we both liked when we were poor and broke living in our apartment together, and she ordered a smoothie bowl with a side of honey toast while I stuck to a simple smoothie. I had a wedding dress to fit into, after all.
“Is it like the movies?” I asked. “Lights everywhere, stars shining at night, celebrities at coffee shops.”
“More than you could imagine,” she said. “I mean, sure, there are just as plenty drug dealers and homeless people, but the glamorous parts make up for it.”
“And your job?” I asked. “Is it what you expected?”
“A little harder,” she admitted. “It keeps me busy, at least. Which is good when you’re living in such a busy city. You’ll love it, Maddie. You were meant to live in Hollywood.”
She blinked, realized that I was about to marry a man, and shook her head.
“I guess you could still visit,” she said. “For a vacation, or whatever.”
“I might still get out there,” I said. “Gavin seemed to like the idea, at least. We talked about California a lot. He doesn’t really have too many attachments here.”
“What about his family?” she asked. “Well, I know his mom won’t last much longer, but there’s no one else?”
I frowned as she talked about Mona’s illness so casually. Mona was everything to Gavin; it didn’t take a fool to realize it.
“No one, really,” I said. “So who knows, we might still end up in California. He’s a writer, so it would be good for both of us. Maybe getting away from the life he’s used to will help get him back into the swing of things. I’d love to be there with you, but I’m about to be tied down to him. You know, in the best of ways.”
“Well I hope you do,” she said and finished her smoothie bowl. “I have plenty of gigs lined up for you when you do. And married or not, you’re still too talented to just waste away as a housewife taking care of little Gavins. You deserve your own life.”
“Like an actress?” I asked. “Do you know any acting agencies?” Modeling was where I wanted to get my start, but I prayed like hell that I could move into acting too. It was the ultimate dream.
Nancie nodded. “I talked to a few, and told them all about you. They can’t wait to meet you.”
I paled and gasped. It’s all I’d wanted since I could remember realizing that I could have a life one day. Like a grown-up life. “Then count me in,” I said. “One way or
another, I’ll make it there.”
Nancie smiled as I paid the bill. She was hesitant to let me cover it, which I couldn’t blame her. She was still used to me being the poor friend. But there was no way I’d let her know that I had a few hundred thousand dollars in my account. At least, not yet.
“Now where to?” Nancie asked.
“We’re getting ready at Gavin’s house,” I said. “You knew that. You had your dress sent to his place in advanced, remember?”
“Ugh, I know,” she said. “I was just hoping you’d change your mind last minute and tell me we were running away to Vegas.”
“Better luck next time,” I said with a small laugh. “You’ll like him; Nancie, just give him a chance.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll try.” We walked back to my car. “As long as he makes you happy and you don’t give up on your dreams, then I won’t hate him.”
“No one’s giving up on any dreams,” I said and shrugged. “This is just a small detour, and it might be nice to have someone out there with me, besides you. You get so damn busy all the time. Who’s going to hold me when things fall apart? Because you know this business well enough. Things fall apart all the damn time.” I gave her a knowing look.
“True dat!” She got into her side of the car and leaned back. “Tell me about the dress, seeing that you didn’t send me any pictures!”
“I didn’t want Gavin to get on my phone and see them before the ceremony today. You know it’s supposed to be bad luck if your groom sees you in your dress before the wedding.”
“Really?” She glanced over at me, looking suspicious. “That’s bullshit. You’re making that up.”
“You’re dumb. You knew that.” I pulled out into traffic and hit the freeway as we chatted a little more about her experience thus far in Cali. She was living the dream, moving into the high life, and loving it.
It was easy to love life when you weren’t completely broke. Now that I had some money in my bank account, I would wrap up the deal with Gavin and be on my way to the sunny state.
Sadness raced through me at the idea of not seeing him again. Could I really do that? It was what we both expected, but thinking about on our last night together, I was unsure of myself. He hadn’t been welcoming in the bed, but sometime during the night, he’d rolled over and snuggled up to the back of me. We fit so damn good together. Maybe not in life, but in lust.
“Hey, dreamer. You still awake?” She patted my shoulder and pointed to an exit up ahead. “Don’t miss our turn off, or we’ll be late. No one likes to wait at a wedding. It makes you think about the asshole you married beside you, or if you’re not married, you start to ponder the great mystery of life known as love.”
I laughed and pulled off the freeway as butterflies danced in my tummy. “You should seriously think about switching from modeling to acting. You’re so dramatic.”
“I’m multi-talented, darling.” She used a funny accent and wagged her eyebrows before letting out a long huff. “Are we really doing this? You’re getting hitched to this guy?”
“Yeah. I’m really doing it.” I tugged at my seatbelt, hating that I had to lie to her. She was my closest friend. Hell, she was my only friend. “He’s worth it.”
“I sure hope so.” She leaned back and turned her face toward me. “I do think it’s cool you guys are trying to get this done before his mother passes. I’m down with that.”
I smiled and turned down the road that led to Gavin’s estate. “Me too. She’s pretty excited about it.”
“And you are too, right?” She sat up and cleared her throat, turning to look at his property. “Wowzer.”
“Yeah. I’m thrilled.” I pulled up and parked. “And a little nervous. I mean, what if I trip? What if he doesn’t like the dress?”
“What if it all goes perfectly?” She snorted and got out of the car. “Come on, Princess. We need to get you all dolled up before we put you in your dress and send you down the aisle to your forever.”
My forever. I liked the sound of it. Too bad it was a damn lie.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gavin
"You sure you're ready for this?" Ron glanced my way, the look in his eyes telling me that I should be scared shitless.
It was comical. He was the one with commitment issues. The only feeling I had racing through me was regret.
I glanced down at my mother as she sat in the front row of a small group of family and friends. The smile on her tired face made it all worth it, and yet I couldn't stop thinking that I was going to burn in hell for lying to her.
At least she would die happy.
The idea that she wouldn't be around when I really got married pained me. A deep ache that caused the warmth to flood from my system.
"I'm okay. I'm looking forward to it. Maddie is a special woman." I glanced over at my friend and cleared my throat as the wedding march began, and everyone stood up.
It was hard to see her from where I was standing, and it was weird that her father wasn't walking her down the aisle. My mom would have questions about that later, but we've figured out another lie to spew. Hopefully, Maddie would jump in and answer that one, leaving me to spare myself from one more untruth.
Several soft gasps lifted up from the crowd, and I could see why.
Never in my life had I seen a more beautiful woman. Whoever had denied Maddie the right to model was a fucking idiot. She should have been on the front cover of every magazine. She was stunning. Beyond gorgeous.
The white lace of her dress dipped down in her pert breasts, and my cock hardened just thinking about how good she worked me every time I relented to her.
It wouldn't be long and we would be making love instead of fucking. That really turned me on. I was far too deep for my own good, but I wanted love above lust any day of the week. Our arrangement just led to a different answer, one I was fine swallowing for the time being.
The smile on her pretty face was subtle, but the look in her eyes told me she was terrified.
The older guy walking beside her as a friend of Ron's daddy. He'd seen all of us raised up and was a good friend to my momma back when she used to go to church. When she could...
"This is you." Ron touched my back, urging me to walk toward my bride.
I took a shallow breath and walked down to meet her, stopping beside her and letting my eyes take in her beautiful face. The makeup she normally wore was nowhere in sight. She had a little bit of pink here and there, and her lips were glossy and alluring. She could make a princess from a Disney tale run in shame of not holding a candle to her.
"Hey," I whispered and smiled, losing myself in the moment. How fucking amazing would it have been if our ruse wasn't a lie at all, but a hidden love story?
The writer in me itched for my laptop. I felt the swell of inspiration and found it so ironic that it would end up being Maddie. The woman who'd sold her soul for money.
"Hi," she whispered back and slid her arm into mine.
I nodded at the older man beside her and offered him my hand. "Mr. Mills."
"Gavin." He glanced down at Maddie. "I knew the two of you would end up together. Fate always has a funny way of doing stuff like this."
I forced a chuckle. "Thank you, Sir."
We turned, and the pastor from my mother's previous church walked out, stopping in front of us. I hadn't told the poor guy that we weren't really getting married but lied about not having the marriage license. He wasn't thrilled about getting up in front of a group of people and performing a ceremony that he didn't have the license for, but I gave him a sob story about my mother, and he relented.
We could deal with the technicalities later.
But later would never come.
It wasn't for him to bother with, and my worries had to be tucked away. I wanted to be present at the moment, why I wasn't sure. Good plot information for a wedding scene if I ever wrote one?
The pastor welcomed everyone and dove right into the ceremony, preaching about God and love and
joking about babies. I laughed and glanced down toward Maddie to find her looking back at me.
Something protective inside of me swelled, and I wanted to ask if she were okay, but it would have been silly.
Of course, she was. She would get her money and run, and eventually find herself doing this wedding thing again, but the next time it would be real, or hopefully so.
I couldn't help but wonder if she would keep the dress and use it again. Would I keep the ring?
Fuck no.
Looking down at her, I couldn't help but feel how real the ceremony could have been. I was grateful seeing that it was all for my mother.
"Who has the rings?" the pastor asked, the smile on his face friendly.
"Ron?" I glanced down at my best friend and extended my hand, taking both of them before handing them over to the preacher.
We walked throughout vows and turned to face everyone before us as the preacher's voice boomed behind me.
"And I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride."
I turned and pulled Maddie into my arms, leaning down and kissing her deeply, passionately. The sound of whooping and hollering filled the space around us, and our kiss broke with both of us smiling.
It was so real that it hurt me to know that I would never forget it. The moment was impressed upon my broken heart. Did she feel the same? Was she alive at all? Awake enough to feel the passion between us, the building warmth that I couldn't deny even if I wanted to?
"I'd like to introduce you gathered here today to Mister and Misses Gavin Hayward."
Everyone stood and clapped as I took Maddie's hand and we walked back down the aisle. Birdseed was being thrown above our heads, and the sound of music and laughter had me smiling.
I moved back and turned, shaking hands and giving hugs until Ron and my mother were the only ones left in line.
"Well, I have to say, that was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Ron pulled me into a quick hug before turning to his cousin. "Makes me want to consider acting right and getting myself a wife."
"I thought I would never hear the day." Maddie hugged him and laughed as I turned to my mother. Ron wasn't going to settle down. He was a playboy with the hopes of sleeping with as many women as possible before he was forced to put a ring on someone's finger.