Chapter 26
Sage
“If we hit the jackpot tonight, you marry me.”
I blinked once and shook my head. “Come again?”
He held up a hundred-dollar bill. “We hit the jackpot with this money, you marry me. Tonight.”
He was insane. Completely bonkers. “How many of those huge drinks have you had?” I eyed the empty glass next to him. I knew the waitress had been by twice since we sat down at the slots, but I didn’t know if she brought him a drink each time.
“One, and I haven’t even drunk half. Marry me tonight if we hit the jackpot,” he repeated.
Three times he had said it, and I still didn’t believe it. I looked at my glass of soda sitting next to me. “You don’t think she served me the wrong drink, do you? I mean, I don’t feel drunk, but maybe they slipped me the really good stuff.”
“Sage,” he called.
I looked up.
“I’m not joking around.”
“So what happens if we don’t hit the jackpot?”
“Then we’re just engaged, and we’ll get married back home.”
I tapped my finger on my chin. “Did I black out for a bit? I can’t seem to remember you actually asking me to marry you. Proper like.”
He fed the hundred-dollar bill into the machine he was sitting in front of. “Marry me, Sage.”
“More of an order, than you asking.”
He hit the button on the machine, and I watched the numbers and symbols come to a halt. “Not a winner,” I bragged.
He smirked and hit the button again. “Still plenty of chances to make you mine forever, baby.”
I liked the sound of that. Hell, I loved the sound of it. I just didn’t know if I wanted it to happen tonight.
He hit the button three more times, and nothing.
I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest. “You know what, you’re on. If you win, I will marry you tonight. I do have one condition, though.”
He looked over at me. “Name it, baby.”
“Elvis has to marry us.” If a miracle did happen, and Roman managed hit the jackpot, we were going to do a full-blown cliché Vegas wedding.
He held out his hand, and I placed mine in it. “You got a deal.”
*
Roman
“How much do you have left?”
“Um, says three dollars and seventy-three cents.”
Sage picked up her cup and drained the last of her soda. “What did you want to do after this?” she asked.
“Don’t count your eggs before they hatch, baby. We still might be having a wedding tonight.”
She rolled her eyes. “Roman, you’re insane. The odds of you hitting the jackpot are slim to none. We’ve been here almost an hour, and you haven’t even come close.”
“That’s because all I’ve been betting is five cents each turn.” I had been too chicken shit to bet anything higher, but I was becoming a desperate man. I upped the bet to a dollar and hit the button.
“Not a winner,” Sage called.
She was getting more and more smug with each penny I bet. “Remember you agreed to marry me even if I don’t hit the jackpot.”
“Pfft, so I did. I’m going to be the one calling the shots then.”
At least she didn’t disagree about marrying me either way.
I bet another dollar.
Nothing.
Son of a bitch.
“Okay, down to a dollar seventy-three. I hit the button, you lose, and then we hit the buffet on the way out.”
I turned to look at her. “Are you sure you’re not having twins?”
She hit the button and crossed her arms over her chest. “Just for that, we're not getting married until twenty-twenty-seven, and we’re naming the baby Jim Bob or Sue Bob.”
“I’ll wait for you that long, and you’re insane if you think I’ll let you name our baby that.”
She wagged her finger in my face. “Don’t you give me shit about eating. I’m creating a human being in my sto—”
A loud bell started clanging, and a red light flashed above us.
“Holy f.u.c.k.” Sage and I both turned to the slot machine. “You won,” she gasped.
“I won?”
Two casino employees walked over, spouting off shit I should have probably been listening too, but the only thing that rolled around in my head was I had won.
Not only had I won the jackpot, but I had also won Sage.
Forever.
*