Chapter 13
Joshua Gets Hitched
We were in the Mustang, driving like speed demons down the highway. Our parents had been calling and texting us all morning, but we ignored it. Vegas was in our sights and revenge on our minds.
Because it was oddly fitting, the idea of getting hitched in a chapel with no one else around. It would fuck with everyone in our lives, and it would ensure that no one would fuck with us ever again. Naomi and I were bound together with a common purpose, elated beyond reason. I was completely convinced that this was right.
“Woo hoo!” Naomi yelled. The windows were down, and the wind was blowing our hair back. “Vegas, baby!”
“After the wedding, we should go gamble on the Strip,” I chuckled. “Spent those trust funds while we still have it.”
“I like the way you think!” the brunette laughed, agreeing with me. My heart flipped over, looking at the beautiful brunette.
“But what do you think your parents will say when they see the ring and realize what we did?” I asked.
“My mom will probably have a heart attack.” She laughed. “I don’t know about my dad. I don’t really care.”
“I don’t care, either. Fuck them.”
“I mean, can you believe our parents?” Naomi asked. “Seriously! They just sprung that shit on us like it was no big deal. They really have lost their minds. This is going to be good. Maybe they’ll apologize and gift us the beach house as a wedding present.”
“Sounds good sweetheart,” I rumbled. “I’d love to take you there again.”
She giggled.
“At least we know we’re sexually compatible,” my curvy girl said. “Even if we don’t like each other, at least we’ll have a good sex life. Most marriages don’t even have that.”
“We don’t like each other?” feigning shock.
“Well, do we like each other?” she asked.
Oh shit, she’d caught me off guard.
“I—well,” I stammered. “I—you know—we’ve been—I’ve liked spending time with you. And I know we don’t know each other that well, but I like the person I’ve gotten to know this week. I wouldn’t go on a trip like this with just anybody.”
The brunette sat back in her seat, looking out the window. What was she thinking? Did Naomi have similar feelings?
“I’m sorry,” was my low grunt. “I didn’t mean to make things weird.”
“No, you didn’t make things weird,” she assured me. “I don’t know. I’ve had casual flings before, and I’m like you. I wouldn’t just do what we’re doing here with any guy. I like spending time with you, too. But are you sure we’re not just sexually attracted to each other? I mean, do you have, like, serious feelings for me?”
That was a good question. The million dollar question in fact.
“What if I did?”
She stared at me, mouth agape. “Well… I…”
“What if our issue isn’t that we don’t like each other,” I suggested, “but rather that we just didn’t meet under the right circumstances? What if we’ve just had years’ worth of sexual tension all along? What if it was always meant to be ‘us?’”
Naomi cocked her head to the side, playing with those brown cursl absentmindedly.
“Well,” she said. “If you have feelings like that…”
“Maybe we shouldn’t go to Vegas,” I finished. “Maybe we shouldn’t do a quickie wedding on impulse. What if we actually like each other, and regret this?”
“I don’t want to go through with it then,” she said quickly. “Let’s not do it.”
“Okay,” I quickly agreed, pulling over to the side of the road. “The city’s not too far back from us. We haven’t even left New York yet. So, what do you want to do?”
“Let’s go back to the city,” she said. “We’ll go to your parents’ house.”
“Are we getting married, or are we getting poor?” I asked her, stars dancing in my eyes.
Naomi didn’t answer at first, just biting her lip. But I knew that no matter what happened … so long as I had my girl, I’d be happy.
* * *
It was early evening. Naomi and I were parked outside my family’s house, with both sets of parents were waiting inside for us to arrive.
“Ready?” I asked, shooting her a sideways glance. She looked just as nervous as me.
“No.”
But there was no sense in putting it off, so I got out and walked over to her side of the car, gallantly holding the door open. As we strode up the walkway, one of my hands grasped one of hers.
“What are you doing?” she asked, looking down with surprised eyes.
“I’m not going to propose to you in front of them,” I answered firmly. “They don’t get to be a part of this.”
“Why not?” she asked ruefully. “The Myers and Ryans have been a part of everything else.”
“Because I want to say some things to you before I give you this ring, and they don’t get to hear it.”
Slowly, I pulled out the small jewelry box that contained the ring we’d picked out together earlier that afternoon. It was quite expensive and very beautiful, glistening and sparkling in the light.
“Naomi,” I said, voice rough, my heart in my throat. “All of this is… madness. It makes absolutely no sense, and it makes me hate my family, honestly. But I’ve been finding out very quickly that even if I’m afraid, things don’t seem that bad when you’re here with me. You’re smart, clever, fun, impossibly sexy.”
The brunette rolled her eyes, but beamed with a happy smile.
“I have no idea what’s in store for us in the future,” I continued. “I don’t know if you’re going to find out something about me that you hate and want to back out. I don’t know where we’ll be working, or how we’ll support our kids if our parents decide to cut us off. But I’m not scared. I’m honestly not afraid if I know you’ll go on this journey with me.”
Slowly, I knelt on one knee and opened the jewelry box, presenting the sparkling diamond.
“Naomi, will you marry me?”
It was shocking, but there were tears in her eyes. What was even more shocking was that I could feel tears of my own brimming.
“Yes,” she answered simply. “Yes, I do.”
I slid the ring on her finger, bending my head to kiss her hand. And then I stood, locking the girl into my embrace while claiming that plush mouth.
And it was true. I wasn’t afraid anymore.
* * *
“We knew this was going to happen!” Naomi’s father shouted. “I’ve been saying it for damn near twenty years! And now, it’s here!”
Because once we announced the engagement to our parents, they immediately threw together a party. Autumn and Weston both came over, and there was champagne all around. Honestly, our parents were more drunk than we were.
“We’re so happy for you kids!” my dad added. “I knew this would happen.”
“Congratulations, Joshua,” my mom said, hiccupping on her third glass. “Now we have a wedding to plan!”
“You haven’t planned that already?” Autumn asked wryly with skeptical eyes. “Wedding planning didn’t start at Naomi’s birth?”
And the guests dissolved into laughter. As the party went on, happiness filled the halls, and I found that I didn’t care about any of it. All I cared about was my new fiancée, and all I wanted was to make sure that she never cried again.
And incredibly, the longer we held each other’s hands listening to our families babble on, the more it began to feel oddly natural. Every time I smiled at Naomi, my heart would skip a beat. Each time I looked in her eyes, I saw a real, genuine woman. Whenever her hand left mine, all I wanted to do was grab it again.
I suspected that being happy with Naomi might not be such a difficult task. My smile had already become sincere, and my heart was where it should be … in the hands of my future bride.