by Anna Santos
Jade felt like slapping the guy for being such a prick. He was being stupid on purpose because he didn’t approve of Daniel’s choice. He didn’t approve of her. She couldn’t care less.
“What a jerk,” she whispered when the director disappeared.
“He should marry her if he is that keen on defending the witch,” Daniel said only to smile wickedly as he faced her.
Jade got worried. “What?”
“We got rid of all of them, and we have the house to ourselves,” he reminded her.
“What was he saying about the wedding?” Jade questioned.
“We’ll talk about that in the morning. Now,” he said, staring at Stevie who was finishing his dessert. Raising his arms above his head, he shouted, “Fortress fight! Let’s show Jade our lasers and our fortress.”
“Yay!” Stevie screamed in excitement, pushing the plate aside and jumping on his feet to follow Daniel into the house.
“What?” Jade had no idea of what they were talking about.
Daniel picked her up, bridal style, and rushed inside the house. They ended up in Daniel’s playroom, where a huge tent made of sheets was displayed.
“Welcome to your castle, Milady. We need to get in before the enemy arrives. Battle stations, Stevie! We have trolls to defeat!” Daniel yelled orders, making Stevie run inside the fortress and pick up laser beam swords.
Jade joined the fun, fighting against the invisible enemy. Then, they laid down on the mattress, under the starry sky of the fake stars glued to the sheets. Daniel told Stevie a crazy story about astronauts and evil extraterrestrial beings that wanted to conquer the universe. Stevie fell asleep, tired and happy. Daniel took him to bed and helped Jade change him into his pajamas and tuck him in.
“Why did you say yes?” Daniel asked when Jade kissed Stevie good night and turned to join him outside of her brother’s bedroom.
“Why do you think I said yes?”
Daniel smirked, not letting on that he didn’t like it when she tried to avoid his questions.
“You love me,” he stated, kissing her before she could protest.
“I love you,” she confirmed, evading his mouth.
Arching an eyebrow, Daniel wondered about how easy it was to tell her those words. He felt his chest growing heavy and his breathing narrowing. For some moments, he stared at her in silence as her eyes shone like they always did when they were together. Yet he was unsure if she meant those words.
“Do you really love me, Jade?”
Nodding with red cheeks, she said, “I said yes because you asked me to marry you. You said it would be for the rest of my life.”
“I can’t live without you anymore.”
Jade nibbled on her lower lip with a lopsided smile. “I love how you treat my brother. He trusts you. I like that you care about him.”
“He’s your family and a great kid. We’ll be best friends.”
Her hand touched his face. “Daniel, saying that you’ll love me for the rest of my life, does that mean that you are giving me the choice to want to be a vampire or not?”
“Yes, I am. That doesn’t mean I would like to live anymore once you are dead,” he replied, voice laced with emotion. “I can’t…fully explain to you, Jade, but, without you, my life looks dull and pointless. I’ve lived more than I was expected to, and I’ll be more than grateful for the years that I’ll have with you.”
Jade stared at the buttons of his shirt and played with one of them. “I have time to decide whether I want to be a vampire or not. I’m only twenty-one. You were twenty-seven when you were turned.”
“Yes, you have a lot of time to decide. I’ll love you even when you are old and wrinkly,” he said in a playful tone.
“You better or I’ll chase you down and stake you!” she warned, trying to make a serious face.
“I’m so scared right now that I don’t know how I’ll be able to sleep!” he joked. “Wait, it’s night. I don’t need to sleep. We don’t need to sleep. The night is still young, and I have a fiancée to play with tonight,” he teased. “Do you want to try on the wedding gift I bought for you?” he asked huskily, playing with a strand of her hair.
“What wedding gift?”
He smirked, and she rolled her eyes at him.
“It’s something naughty, isn’t it? Your face gives you away.”
“French maid costume,” he answered as he wiggled his eyebrows.
Jade slapped him on the shoulder as her eyes went wide. “You better be joking!”
“No, I’m dead serious. Now, come on, it’s time for the grown-ups to play,” he said, slapping her butt as he escorted her to the corridor.
Jade shrieked at his action. He grabbed her by her waist and threw her over his shoulder to carry her to his bedroom.
Chapter Twenty-Five: The Dress
Wedding arrangements. Who knew it was so hard to plan a wedding in a week? Jade was glad Daniel had hired help to speed things up. There were the flowers to choose, the cake—not that vampires eat cake—, and the dress. Oh, the dress! She thought it would be easier to choose the right one. It wasn’t. There were many types of dresses. Should she choose a more fashionable look or a more old-fashioned one? Jade loved the princess ones with a lot of lace and silk. Daniel wanted it to be white. She would rather have it golden. They decided to go for pearly-white.
She was thrilled that Jenna was there to help her choose and handle her meltdowns. After all, she was the maid of honor and best friend. She had to be there. Daniel was helping, too. He was being supportive about the flash-wedding ceremony. He had to be helpful if he was planning to marry on such a short notice. Jade was just happy for marrying him and for him to be joyful about it. Her happiness was beyond explanation, and it warmed her soul.
Despite the stress, it had been several truly steamy nights. The sex was out of this world kind of amazing. They also talked, it wasn’t just about sex, even if she couldn’t take her hands off him.
Daniel was attentive to all her needs. They would spend time with Stevie in his enchanted fortress before her brother would go to bed. Jade was glad the competition was over, and she had Daniel all for herself. The cameras weren’t gone, though. He had sold their wedding rights to the television network for them to leave them alone for eternity after it. Therefore, she was fine with them recording the moments where she would be trying on some dresses and choosing the cake. It was essential for the show.
Yet Jade didn’t know what to think about the big change that was going to happen in her life. She was going to get married to a vampire…and live in that gigantic house with Daniel and Stevie. They were going to be a family—a real family. It had been so long since she knew what a family was… It’d been longer since she let someone win her trust. Daniel melted down all her defenses. He made her believe in love again. Love at first sight.
That day, Jade was in her bedroom trying wedding dresses on with Jenna. She would move to Daniel’s master bedroom once they got officially married.
“I don’t like that one. It makes you look like a scary porcelain doll,” Jenna stated, disqualifying the dress.
When it came to finding flaws in wedding dresses, Jenna was worse than her. There was only one day left before the wedding, and Jade hadn’t found the perfect one yet. She was getting desperate.
“So, have you decided where you are going to spend the honeymoon?” Jenna asked as she checked a new ruffled white dress.
“Not yet,” she answered, trying to open the zipper. “I think the zipper is stuck, can you help me get out of this?”
“Sure, stay still.” Putting the dress down, Jenna came to her aid. “The wedding is tomorrow. You don’t have your wedding dress, and you don’t know where you are going to spend your honeymoon. Is anything else going wrong in all of this?” she queried with a hint of sarcasm.
Jade knew that Jenna was happy for her. Still, Jade couldn’t blame her for being dazed by how fast everything was happening. One of Jenna’s biggest problems was that th
ere wasn’t going to be a bachelorette party. If this was Jenna’s wedding, she’d want male strippers and a lot of drunkenness to fully commemorate her departure from the single status.
“Do you even know who is coming to the wedding?” Jenna asked, unzipping the dress after fixing the wrinkles.
Jade bit her lip nervously. “Well, Stevie, you, and your parents. I don’t know who Daniel has invited.”
Jenna frowned as she walked to find a new dress. “Aren’t you going to invite any more of your friends?”
“Not really. You are my closest friend. The others…they would come just to appear on TV. I could invite my former boss and his wife, though.”
“Or your uncle from Connecticut.”
“No, he didn’t want to know about us when my parents died. He doesn’t need to care about us now that I’m getting married to Daniel. You have no idea about the amount of phone calls and messages that people I know make just to ask if they can come to my wedding or to ask me how it is to get married to Daniel. People are such…”
“Leeches?” Jenna tried to guess.
“Girls that never wanted to be friends with me, now all of the sudden, want to know how I am and if I want to hang out with them.”
“Glad I kept being your friend, then. I’m lucky to be in the first row to witness all this madness.”
Jade didn’t know if Jenna was kidding or not. She sounded serious when she said that. She stared at Jenna in the mirror, watching how concentrated her friend was about choosing a new dress from the many that were hung next to the door.
As she picked a dress and showed it to Jade, Jenna asked, “I hope you are happy. I don’t want this marriage to be some rushed decision because you had sex with a guy and now you think you should marry him.”
She shook her head at the dress. “Of course not, I love Daniel. Besides, I’m not that old-fashioned.”
Jenna smiled wickedly. “For what it’s worth, Daniel is head over heels about you. He loves you and seems on cloud nine.”
Jade’s heart tugged at her chest at her friend’s words. She placed her hands against her heart. “Yes, I know. I’m just worried about Stevie.”
“He loves Daniel.”
“I’m still worried. He says he’s okay with us getting married. I don’t know what this will do to him. He’s used to having me all to himself.”
“He’s no longer a baby, Jade. Besides, you have to live your own life.”
“Can I come in?” It was Daniel at the door, but instead of waiting, he simply entered.
“No!” Jenna and Jade screamed hysterically with his arrival.
His fiancée looked around for a place to hide but there was none.
“You can’t see the bride in her wedding dress!” Jenna exclaimed as she rushed to put herself in front of him.
Daniel smiled and peeked from behind Jenna. “Is that the wedding dress she chose?”
“No.” Jade slapped her hands to her hips. “But it could have been. It’s bad luck for you to see me in the wedding dress before the wedding, don’t you know that?”
“Yes, baby. But what I have to tell you can’t wait,” he said promptly.
Her arms lowered. “What’s wrong?”
“Dad wants to talk to you.”
“When?” she asked, conflicted about the news.
His famous dad, the guy who was behind the bachelor show and the one trying to make vampires look good to the world, wanted to talk to her. What if he didn’t approve of Daniel’s choice? The pressure was getting to her. She was paranoid.
“Now. He’s in his office, waiting for us,” he warned.
Her heart sunk in her chest. “But…but I’m…not ready.”
“Change into something else and meet us there. I’ll entertain him until you arrive.”
Jade nodded as she fisted her hands in the dress.
Daniel stepped forward since Jenna had resumed her quest to find the perfect dress.
“Don’t look so worried. Everything will be okay, babe,” he assured with a honeyed voice. He stepped closer and kissed her lips. “I’ll be there with you.” He smiled and brushed her cheek.
Jade nodded as she curled her lips into a smile.
Seeing Daniel’s dad left Jade more anxious than she wanted to be. Sakura was adorable, and they were becoming good friends. As for his dad, she honestly had no clue if he approved of her marriage to Daniel or not. What if he didn’t? He didn’t have the nicest words to tell her when they danced at the party.
Her stress seemed to be in vain. Daniel was a big boy and old enough to make his own decisions. They were getting married, period.
When she entered Daniel’s office, she saw the gorgeous, tall, blond guy who had saved her from drowning in the pool on the first night. She stood at the door, shaking, with her hand on the doorknob.
“Dad, this is Jade, as you know,” Daniel said.
Frowning at his bride, Daniel paced to reach her and guided her into his office. He placed an arm around her waist in a more possessive way than protective.
Jade swallowed hard.
“Good evening, Jade. I’m pleased to see you again,” his dad said, stepping closer and taking her hand in his. He placed a light kiss atop her fingers.
Jade noticed the amused glint in his eyes as if finding Daniel’s possessiveness humorous.
“How have you been since we last met?” Dominic asked.
“Good,” she whispered hoarsely. The stress of the whole situation made her feel shy. “And you?”
“I could be better. It seems that we have a lot to talk about, don’t we?”
Jade frowned at him, clueless about what he meant by that.
“Let’s sit down,” Daniel proposed, indicating to the couches in the corner of his office.
Guiding Jade to a seat, Daniel sat on the couch with her as his dad sat in front of them on an armchair.
Fixing his coat, Dominic cleared his throat and resumed his speech. “We seem to have a problem.”
“What is so important that you came here to see me in plain daylight?” Daniel’s hand reached for Jade’s.
“Your publicity stunt created ripples. Some good. Some bad,” Dominic said with a serious face.
“It wasn’t a publicity stunt. Jade is my beloved, and we are in love,” Daniel clarified.
Jade rubbed her thumb against his palm, so he would calm down.
Dominic fixed his hair and relaxed his left arm. With a smirk, he said, “Son, you above all people know that when we are famous, other people want to piggyback on our fame.”
“What does that have to do with anything? Has Emma done something stupid?”
Dominic waved in dismissal. “Emma has moved on to boost her acting career with someone else.”
Daniel arched an eyebrow. “Someone else?”
“You’ll know all about this on the news. They are going to announce it after your wedding, since it’s the hottest thing going around now, and it would overshadow her news.”
“We haven’t been following the news. I’ve been busy with work and the wedding,” Daniel explained.
He was right, Jade had no idea of what was being said about their marriage or how people were reacting to Daniel choosing her.
“You have nothing to worry about with Emma. But, I thought I should bring this to your attention,” Dominic informed. “Many people go out of their way to make vampires look bad and sell magazines. It was fortunate that the director of this particular magazine is one of our own, or we wouldn’t have stopped this article in time.”
“I don’t understand.” Daniel voiced Jade’s thoughts.
Dominic leaned forward with a digital reader. “Here is the article for you to read, Jade. Later, you should explain to Daniel what is going on. You shouldn’t have secrets, and Daniel must understand the cost of getting married to you.”
Jade accepted the reader with a blank expression since she had no idea what her soon-to-be father-in-law was talking about.
“I don�
�t understand.” Jade stared at the black title of the story that some magazine was going to publish. The title read: ‘The vampires’ black widow’.
“Jade should read it alone and decide if she wants to tell you or not. You already know my opinion about this wedding, Daniel. Let’s wait outside.” Dominic grabbed Daniel by the arm and pulled him outside against his will. He protested, but his dad continued shoving him out the door.
They left Jade alone as she began reading the vicious, mean, and far-fetched story that was twisting every single bad thing that happened to her when she was younger.
Jade felt breathless and outraged. People were hateful and evil. They would tell the events in a way that would sell magazines and make her look like the perpetrator and not the victim. The person who had written that was a liar—a pathetic jealous being that should be sued for defamation. She shouldn’t call herself a reporter. Even if it was signed, Jade had no idea who that woman was and what she had against her.
Kneeling on the floor, tears fell down her cheeks. Her stomach ached and her throat went dry.
Jade heard the door opening. Suddenly, Daniel was beside her.
His hand touched her shoulder. “What is wrong?”
“You should know that the magazine isn’t going to publish that. I paid a lot of money to prevent that,” Dominic said.
His shadow towered over her, but she didn’t look back.
Does he want me to thank him?
She didn’t want Daniel to believe those lies. Yet, she had no idea if Dominic did. She had to talk to her fiancé.
Clearing his throat, Dominique said, “I’ll leave you alone. But Jade, you better tell Daniel what happened to you. If you want to marry him, you should tell him the whole truth.”
His words enraged her because the coldness in his voice made her believe that she was guilty as if she was a problem he had to fix. Someone he would rather not allow into his family.
“You should tell me what is in that news article,” Daniel said, crouching down and rubbing her back.
Jade heard the door close. Daniel’s dad had left, giving them space to talk.
Facing Daniel, she uttered, “This isn’t a news article. It’s a bunch of lies. Hurtful lies. Did you read it?”