“Cage?” she looked like she would cry. I could see the yes in her eyes.
“Will you?” I popped open the box, and sealed the deal.
“Yes!”
She always had the best smile, but never one so genuine as in that moment. We both knew the search was over, this was forever.
Twenty Seven - Angela
The proposal was the last thing I ever expected from him. Cage down on one knee, in front of twenty thousand plus. And I was already overwhelmed with emotion. He certainly knew how to pick a moment, and how to make a statement.
Yes, I cried. And cried, and cried. Cage and I walked hand in hand backstage, until I had to let him go so he could see the doctor and take the post fight drug tests. I was stuck in a dream, and in need of a pinching. I went to the hotel to shower up, while he went through the motions. Press conference, all of those things I normally had to do too.
That night was a party. I was engaged! Cage was the champion, and all was right in the world. Walker wasn't much for going out, so he stayed back and watched the baby. Big softie that guy, once you get to know him.
All of Cage's training partners, Brady, we all went out and engaged in a good old fashioned night of binge drinking. I remember very little, other than everyone was happy, laughing, and we all got home safe thanks to cab drivers.
It would be another two days before Cage and I had the serious conversation about marriage. I wanted to be with him more than anything, but I also wanted to make absolutely sure that he knew what he was signing up for.
“Angela, this wasn't a snap decision at all. I've been thinking about this since the day you came to visit me in the cabin. This isn't some intellectual conundrum, I need you. I have to be with you.” it was good enough for me. He was all I wanted.
Chase was the best man at the wedding, and Danielle finally got to meet that sexy fighter with the tattoos. My mom loved Cage, I was actually a bit surprised. She was asking about his tattoos and everything.
We rented out a huge private estate so that we could have as many people as we wanted. The weather was sunny and warm, so we opened up the back yard on a whim, and moved the party out there. It was perfect, everything I would have wanted in my big day.
Cage and I sat on lawn chairs in the back yard, without shoes. Shared one last drink as a non married couple.
“You sure about this?” I asked. “Ready to sign over your balls?”
“Such a little shithead. And yeah, that's the plan. I'll never let you get away. You're mine legally now!” he said, flashing his crazy eyes. We had a running joke that he was my stalker, and that his plan was finally coming to fruition.
“Not yet psycho.” I said.
“Let's go do this.”
There was no rush at our wedding, nothing formal about it at all. When we finished our drink, we called everyone around, and got married.
“Do you take this man?”
“I do.”
“Do you take this woman.”
“Fuck yeah.”
Our romance had swept me up and carried me along. If I thought back to when I first met him, how unlikely it would have been if you told me how things ended up. I wouldn't have believed a bit of it. So much had happened, in such a short period of time, but none of it was enough to blind us to the one thread that held us together. Our spark. The could be. How we fet when we were together versus how we felt when we weren't. And that's how we ended up back together after all the obstacles that happened to be in our way. It wasn't easy and it wasn't hard, it was meant. It's what happened.
The Cage I first interviewed in the shower no longer existed. In his place was a more chiseled piece of marble, a more developed human being. He had shed his initial layer of naivety, and learned a lot of hard lessons. A hard process that had broke many lesser men. I was proud of him. What he had been through in his life, and what he had become through it all was nothing short of spectacular. I was proud to be Mrs Angela Edwards-Clark.
Cage and I followed our big wedding up with a private island ceremony and honey moon. It was the breath of fresh air we needed after a tumultuous year, a chance for us to settle down and be alone. We knew Zoey would do everything in her power to keep that from happening again once we returned.
It felt like an unplug vacation as much as a honeymoon. We sat on the beach, drank a little, had a bunch of sex, and ate all sorts of island seafood. Wake up was roughly noon every day, and we would crash out sometime between one and three.
“Cage! I don't wanna go home!” I whined like a spoiled little brat, and I meant it. The luxury life was all for me. After a day at the spa, Cage gave me a foot rub so long that I fell asleep.
The views were the best I'd seen, especially when we went hiking and found a waterfall to swim under. I made sure to take a million pictures, not that I'd ever forget a moment of it.
Our last night we put a couple bottles of wine into a backpack, and found a hidden away spot on the beach to enjoy them. Real life would begin the next day, our life together. We were suspended in a make believe world that existed for only as long as we were there. Married without a clue.
“I'm glad we got through everything.” I said, taking a moment to reflect. Cage poured me a Styrofoam cup of red wine, keeping it classy. “I thought you were lost forever when I heard about you and the guard.”
“I thought I might be fucked too.” he said, laughing. “I didn't really learn my lesson until then though, so I'm kinda glad it all went down the way it did.”
“Happy ending right?” I asked, holding up the cup with a smile.
We were young, and so were our lives together. We had an angelic little baby girl, and blossoming careers waiting for us. Cage had a world title to defend, and a fight team to keep on track. His brother was set to start his pro career. I was co-owner of one of the biggest up and coming MMA websites in the world, and coming off of the best year of my life. The future couldn’t have looked brighter if it were a shooting star. Best of all, we were in love, and surrounded by love. There is no blessing higher.
Scrapper: MMA Badboy Romance Page 17