Chapter 24
Jace
Her mouth pops open in surprise. “Jace?” she gasps as the whole cinema gasps right along with her.
I can’t tear the smile off my face. She looks fucking radiant and seeing the love in her eyes shining down at me has me feeling things that only she’s capable of making me feel.
She’s my whole fucking world and what I’m about to ask her has been torturing my mind for over two years. To finally get the words out is going to be incredible. Right now, I feel like every damn star in the universe is aligning and the second I walk out of this room with this woman, we can finally start the rest of our lives together. Well, that’s assuming she says yes, but I highly doubt she’ll be saying no. Though, I’m kind of throwing this on her. I mean, I’m asking her to skip the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing and straight up be my wife.
Fuck, I can just imagine her in white, walking down the aisle to me. Just the thought of it makes my chest ache with need.
I wipe the smile off my face to let her know that what I’m about to say is serious. I want her to hear every damn word and feel every emotion that runs through me.
I let out a shaky breath. I know I’ve been thinking about this day for over two years but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m a ball of nerves. I’m a fucking soldier. I’ve fought in war zones, facing down the enemy with guns pointed at me, and that felt so much easier than his.
“Cam,” I start with her hand firmly in mine. “For over two years you have been my world and I have done nothing but make mistake after mistake. You’ll never know just how badly I regret hurting you, and I swear to you, baby, I’m going to earn your forgiveness no matter how long it takes. I will never give up fighting for what we should have had from the very start.”
There were already tears pooled in her eyes, but now, they’re flowing freely. “I’ve been such a fool,” I continue. “The second I realized there was an issue, I should have done something about it, instead, I ran away from it because I didn’t want to face what I had done. But you brought me out of that, it was because of you that I got help and because of you that I’m able to stand before you and every damn person you know and tell you that I love you. The second I realized what you were to me, I should have told you, instead, I’ve wasted over two years when we could have been happy. I hate myself for that, babe,” I tell her. “I have so much to make up for and I don’t care if it takes a lifetime for you to learn that you can finally trust me. I’m going to earn that trust every single day. No matter what, Cami, you’re going to know that your heart is safe with me.”
Cami sniffles as she looks down at me. “Are you sure?” she whispers as another tear falls from her beautiful eye.
I reach up and wipe it away. “Yeah, babe. I’ve never been so sure in my life. I want to give you the world. Every single day. You will never want for anything,” I tell her. “I want to build a life with you that others could only imagine in their wildest dreams. I want to watch your stomach grow with our children. Fuck, Cam, I want to marry you even if that means wearing a fucking suit to McDonald's.”
“Are you sure?” she asks again.
“Babe,” I say. “Stop asking me if I’m sure. I’ve wanted this since the moment I met you. I’m fucking sure.”
“You’re not going to run when shit gets real?”
“No, I’m not,” I smile. “I want to fight with you over who has to wash the dishes. I want to hold your hair back when you’ve drunk too much with the girls. I want to be the sorry bastard who you force to model your designs at four in the morning when you’re doubting how fucking good you are. I want to be there when you fuck up, and yes, I’ll be the first to tease you about it, but I’ll also be the first to put your world back together.”
“Cam,” I say as I release her hand and dig into my pocket. I pull out a little velvet box which I’ve had living in my bedside table for over a year and open it up. I hold it out to her and her eyes widen in shock as she takes in the engagement ring staring her in the face. “I want to live my life with you and I promise you, I’m going to love you so fucking hard that you’ll be dying to get away from me. I know I don’t deserve this, and even if you say no, I’m still going to ask you over and over again because you deserve a man who’s going to sweep you off your feet every day. Babe, I want to watch you walking down the aisle in a white dress. I want to make vows to you. I want to become your husband more than you could possibly know. So, what do you say?” I ask her. “Will you do me the greatest honor of becoming my wife?”
She just stares at me as she tries to register the shock that’s coursing through her. I grin up at her. I knew she’d be shocked. She was expecting me to ask her out and become her boyfriend, but I want so much more than that. Being just her boyfriend will never be enough. Hell, if there was something more than a husband, then I’d be shooting for that.
She pulls in a deep breath as a smile begins to spread over her beautiful face. “I’ve been thinking about this day since the moment I met you,” she whispers.
“I know you have,” I say as the smile on my own face begins to grow. Even if she says no right now, I’m still the happiest man on the planet knowing I’ve just given her something that she’s always wanted. “What’s it going to be?”
A smugness seeps into her joy. “I should tell you no,” she says as the smile continues growing. “I should have you begging to even be in the same room as me.”
“I know you should,” I tell her.
“I should have you following me around on your hands and knees, day in and day out, with a box of chocolates and strawberries, feeding me like an ancient Egyptian queen. You could be my slave boy.”
“I’ll do it,” I tell her as the people in the theatre chuckle to themselves. “Come on, babe. Put me out of my misery.”
She lets out a little laugh before falling to her knees and crashing into me with her arms around my neck. I catch her with ease as her lips come down on mine. “I love you so much, Jace King,” she tells me with her lips moving against mine. “Of course, I’ll marry you. Nothing in this world could possibly make me happier than being your wife.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding before crushing her lips to mine. I wrap my arms around her waist and hold her tightly to me. It’s only then I realize I have no idea what happened to the ring. It was in my fingers before, but now, my hands are firmly on her body.
The people in the cinema start cheering and hollering, though no one is louder than the boys. Not one of them knew I was doing this. They all knew that I was making a big gesture to her tonight, hell, they were all in on making it happen. They helped me with the video, they helped me by stalking her Facebook page to get in contact with her family. They even helped me to rent out the fucking theatre. They thought I wanted to make her my girl, but not one of them knew that my end game was to propose, and from the sound of it, they’re all fucking stoked, but not as stoked as I am.
I pull back from Cami and I can’t help but spread my fingers over her back as I lift her off the ground and help her find her feet. “I can’t believe you just did that,” she tells me as I spot the familiar little velvet box lying on the ground at her feet.
I scoop it up into my hands and take the diamond ring out. “I swear to you, Cami,” I tell her as I take her hand in mine. “I’m going to make you so fucking happy.”
With that, I slide the ring onto her finger and officially make her my fiancé.
I want to pull her in again but it’s made impossible when the girls crash into her and start screaming in that way that girls do. I’m too busy smiling at her to even notice anyone approaching.
“Dude?” Luke says, suddenly right by my side. “What the fuck was that? How could you not tell me?”
I can’t help but grin at him as he pulls me in and claps me on the back. “Good fucking work,” he tells me. “It’s about time.”
“Thanks, man,” I say, finding it impossible to remove the smile off my face. “You know you’re my best man, right?”
“There would be trouble if I wasn’t,” he warns me.
I can’t help but laugh as the rest of the guys come storming in on our bromance. “Fuck, man,” Xander says. “You threw us a fucking curveball there.”
“That’s a fucking understatement,” Caden grunts. “Now the rest of us are going to have to pick up our game or the girls will be pissed.”
“Congratulations,” Cole laughs. “Now, what do you say we take all these people back to my place and we throw you guys a fucking party.”
I can’t help the grin that spreads across my face, especially as I glance across the room to see Cami’s eyes already on mine. “Fuck yeah, man. Let’s show these girls how real men like to party.”
With that, the theatre begins emptying out and I take my fiancé by the hand. “So, we’re not actually perving on Chris Hemsworth?” she questions as I throw my arm over her shoulder and pull her into my side.
“Only if you want to, babe,” I tell her as I start leading her towards the door.
“No,” she says, shaking her head. “I’d rather perve on you.”
We’re about to walk through the exit when she looks back into the theatre. “What is it?” I ask her.
Her eyebrows pull down in thought before she turns back and looks up at me. “How the hell did you get everyone in here without me noticing?”
A smirk cuts across my face and I press my lips to her forehead. She doesn’t need to know all my secrets and it’s not like it’s that interesting. There’s a back door and I simply snuck every last person in here while getting a few strangers to walk through the main doors to keep her suspicions down. “It’s not my fault you’re not very observant,” I laugh as she narrows her eyes on me.
I can’t help but laugh as I press a kiss to her forehead. “Come on, babe,” I say as I pull her out the door while skipping straight over her questions. “We’ve got a party to get to.”