Damien
As I stand barefoot in the sand on my wedding day, one thought runs through my mind: Life is fucking great. I know that every man is supposed to say that when he’s getting married, but I really mean it.
I started off with such humble beginnings and now I’m a billionaire who is marrying the hot virgin I deflowered. First I tied her up and spanked her ass until it was red all over, and now I’m putting a ring on her finger.
What more could a guy ask for? Sure, at first I didn’t believe in marriage. But that was before I met Katie. She blew everything about what I thought I believed in— or didn’t believe in— out of the water. So here we are getting married, and I’m fucking loving it.
We’re back in Ibiza but this time we brought the whole crew— or at least, we tried to. Asher, Cameron, and Jameson— coincidentally, all the same named partners of the law firm— are supposed to be my groomsmen but they’re not here.
To be more precise, then, I guess there are two thoughts running through my mind. After my amazing love for my gorgeous, curvy bride, the next biggest thing on my mind is: where the fuck is my wedding party?
Cameron had already told me at almost the last minute that he and Ruby weren’t going to be able to make it— which surprised me, considering that Ruby and Katie are so close.
But the show had to go on without them. And I didn’t even get time to hear the story as to why they can’t come. I figure there’ll be plenty of time for that after the festivities are over.
Asher is supposed to be the one to walk my mom down the aisle to seat her before the bridesmaids walk down, but he’s missing in action. He was taking his own private jet but he was supposed to have arrived in Ibiza hours ago.
I know he’s involved in a large class action lawsuit that keeps him really busy— and I also know that Madilyn is six months pregnant, just on the cusp of it still being safe for her to fly halfway around the world. But Asher had said that both he and Madilyn had time to jet— literally— in for the wedding, spend a night together at the hotel and a day on the beach and then jet back to Albuquerque.
I shift my feet nervously, wondering if anyone in our wedding party is actually going to show up. I can’t help but smile at the irony of hoping that they get here, though.
When I first met Asher and Cameron I would never have believed I would entrust them with the responsibility of being my groomsmen— and perhaps it was a mistake to do so, seeing as how they’re not here. But the two of them— as well as their law partner Jameson Reed— and I have grown quite close. They continue to represent me in various legal matters and I trust them with my business as well as with my wedding day plans— or at least I thought I did.
Katie still works for both them and me. Of course she doesn’t have to work at all, since I have enough money for the both of us to live comfortably on. But she says she needs the experience for her law school applications.
She wants to be a “weed lawyer.” She describes this job title as “someone who informs stoners of their rights under the law and represents them if those rights are fucked with.”
That’s my Katie for you— all spunk and sass, with a fucking amazing body to boot. Her curves still turn me on just as much as they did the first day I ever saw her, in the law offices of Marks, Sanchez and Reed. That’s why I’m fucking marrying her.
If this ceremony is ever able to get started.
One of the wedding planners— Katie hired so many I can’t even tell them apart— comes over and whispers something in the officiant’s ear. He nods at me apologetically, as if it’s forbidden for him to talk to me— and for all I know, it fucking is— and walks away again.
Then the officiant clears his throat and whispers into my ear, “They say your mom is getting a little bit… restless… waiting back there. Would you like to walk her down the aisle to seat her, since your usher hasn’t arrived?”
“Sure,” I answer quickly.
I hurry off to get my mom, nodding at our wedding guests on my way there in much the same apologetic manner as the wedding planner had just nodded at me. I hope that bringing my mom here to Ibiza and to our wedding wasn’t a mistake.
I wasn’t even sure I should bring her, given her issues. But she’s been doing much better with the help of her doctors as well as the toys and games that my company makes.
She was so happy for Katie and me and said she wouldn’t want to miss this wedding for the world. So we brought her on our plane with us and we hired an aide to be by her side 24/7, although so far she hasn’t really needed his help very often. She’s been remarkably lucid.
As I approach the cabana tent where my mom is waiting with the aide and the wedding planner— trying not to think of how similar this tent is to the one I fucked Katie in the last time we were on this island— I hear a familiar laugh. It’s masculine and definitely doesn’t belong to my mom.
“Surprise!” Cameron calls out, walking through the sand to give me a hug. “I was able to make it after all.”
Asher is with him— and was the one laughing— and he also gives me a hug. Jameson is with them as well.
“I couldn’t leave without picking up Cameron and Ruby first and making them come with me,” he says. “And James was already coming with me so we both had to wait on Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez to get ready. So that’s the reason I’m late.”
“Don’t blame this on me, you asshole,” Cameron says, but he’s obviously joking. “Ruby and I had already decided to come and we were going to take our own jet. But Asher insisted we come with him and Madilyn and then he was late.”
“Why couldn’t you originally come?” I ask Cameron, curious.
I hadn’t wanted to pry, but since he brought up the pertinent issue I figure I’ll put the question out there.
“And why were you late?” I ask Asher immediately after posing the question to Cameron, without giving Cameron a chance to answer. I’m not sure which of them is confusing me more.
I look at Jameson for an answer but he shrugs his shoulders and raises his eyebrows. He was obviously just along for the ride and is just as perplexed as I am.
It’s not like Asher to be late and so it stuns me almost as much as the fact that Cameron had first said he couldn’t come, only to change his mind, all without explanation.
“So many questions, so little time,” Cameron answers. “Someone is supposed to be getting married right about now. So I’ll tell you later.”
“Yes, we need to get you married,” Asher agrees. “But as for me being late, let’s just say my ex-wife is up to her old drama and tricks again.”
“Seriously?” Both Cameron and I ask him at the same time.
“You always have to make everything about yourself, don’t you, Dude?” Cameron asks him.
“Yes I do,” Asher responds. “But you love me anyway.”
“You’re an asshole, but you’re a loveable asshole,” Jameson agrees.
“But wait a minute,” I insist. “I was asking ‘seriously?’ for fucking real. I mean, seriously, your ex-wife is still causing problems, Asher? Again?”
Cameron, Asher and Jameson— and Katie, based on what she’d heard from Ruby and Madilyn— had filled me in on the drama that used to go on between Asher and his ex-wife and how she had tried to take down the whole firm. But they had made it seem like it was all in the distant past, and I think Asher believed that it was as well.
“She sure is,” Asher says, while shaking his head. “But don’t worry. I’ll handle it. It won’t affect business.”
Fucking Asher. Always the business man, even at a time like this.
“There’s my handsome son on his wedding day,” my mom calls out, and I turn my attention to her.
I’m happy to see she’s cognizant. I go over to her and hug her.
“So this was just a ploy to get me back here and surprise me with the presence of my two lost groomsmen?” I ask out loud, to everyone and anyone.
“Your mom’s doing okay, but in all honesty, she’s glad to see you,” the aide tells me, speaking in a tone so low it’s almost a whisper. “Earlier she was rocking back and forth and reciting numbers.”
“She does that when she gets antsy,” I confirm. “And sometimes for no reason at all. Thank you for letting me know to come get her.”
“And it happened to coincide with our arrival,” Asher says with a grin. “I had to come get the lovely Mrs. Hudson so I could seat her for her son’s wedding.”
My mom’s smile fades, as she looks back and forth from Asher to me.
“Six hundred and twelve,” she begins, rocking slightly. “Six hundred and thirteen…”
“Well, actually,” I interrupt her, putting an arm around her shoulder. “Since I’m here, I think I should be the one to seat my mom.”
“Good idea,” Cameron says, but Asher’s pouting.
He likes my mom and I know he was looking forward to being the one to seat her. He doesn’t like being upstaged from anything, even if it’s just wedding duties that most people would probably be glad to get out of.
“Oh, come on Asher,” I tell him. “She’s my mom.”
“I know, and it’s only because she’s such an amazing mom that I wish I could be the one to walk down that aisle with her,” Asher says. “But I’ll still make the first toast at the reception.”
“You will not,” Cameron interjects, his tone surprisingly assertive. “Since I’m here and since Damien is officially my client, I prepared a speech and I’ll be giving it first.”
“Pretty ballsy for a guy who wasn’t even going to come to this wedding,” Asher says, but he’s smiling.
And I’m smiling too— not only because they’re fighting over who gets to give a toast to me first but also because I know we’re both impressed at Cameron for throwing his weight around a bit more. No doubt Ruby’s had something to do with that.
I take my mom’s arm in my own and say, “You ready, Mom?”
“Sure am.”
She beams up at me and I know I made the right choice by bringing her on this trip.
And I definitely made the right choice by proposing to Katie.