“The bridesmaids are all lined up, ready to go down. Gabe wanted to know if you wanted one of the best men to walk you down the aisle or if you wanted to walk down alone.”
“Alone.” I’m very much alone, so why would I want anything different?
I follow Samantha out of the small dressing room to where the bridesmaids are standing in their cream-colored dresses, each holding a bouquet of red roses, at the doors that lead out to the vineyard. I don’t know any of the women, but they all look like perfect models in their dresses. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were all women who Gabe used to date or still does.
Samantha walks to the front and starts giving the bridesmaids cues to walk down the aisle. I stand at the back, eyes glossed over, trying to imagine that I’m anywhere but here.
I spent all last night, trying to come up with a plan that ended with me not having to walk down the aisle. But I came up with none. No solution or even an attempt at a solution became obvious. So, that means I’m getting married. I’ll figure out a way to undo it later.
Samantha smiles at me, rightly thinking that this is the best day of my life when it’s not. It’s one of the worst.
“You ready?” she says, her voice chipper.
I nod, and she opens the doors.
I thought that I would smile and put on an act as I walked down the aisle to the man blackmailing me into marrying him. But, in a last-second act of defiance, I don’t. I don’t smile, not one tiniest bit. I look stern, solemn, like I’m walking down to my funeral instead of my wedding. I walk slowly and deliberately down the grass path lined with beautiful flowers. I don’t look at Gabe. Instead, I stare past the people standing at the end of the aisle. I look out to the beautiful vineyard in the distance. I don’t even glance around at the seats to see if Brody showed up. I get to the end of the aisle and turn toward Gabe but don’t look him in the eye. I continue to look past him, trying my best to pretend I’m not here. The bridesmaid behind me asks if I want her to hold my bouquet for me.
“No,” I hiss.
Gabe tries to hold on to my hands. I’ll marry him in front of this large crowd of people, none of whom I know, but I’m not going to make it easy for him. I’m not going to hold his hand or smile or show any happiness about it. And I won’t give him pretty pictures that he can display all over the newspapers in the morning.
I glare, and he smirks back as the minister begins saying something about love and the beauty that it brings and how much better it makes everyone’s lives.
I call bullshit. There is nothing beautiful about love. There was a time when I thought I loved Gabe. We connected on so many things—food, music, movies. Our bodies connected when he wrapped his arms around me, making me feel safe. The way he let me have my independence and respected that I owned my own business and had my own dreams. But it was all a lie. Love isn’t real.
“I do,” Gabe says, grabbing my hand and placing a ring on it before I have a chance to dissent.
“And do you, Skye, take this man to be your husband?”
“I do.” I smile as I take the ring that is wrapped around my thumb and plunge it onto his finger, attempting to cause as much pain as I possibly can as I force the ring over his knuckle.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Gabe grins, but if he thinks I’m going to let him have this epic kiss, he’s crazy. He grabs my waist and back and dips me backward, away from the crowd, as his head comes down over me, but he doesn’t kiss me.
He stops short and says, “You think you’re so smart, defying me, don’t you? But, now that you’re mine, I will punish you for every act of defiance you commit.”
His lips press against mine, and I bite down hard. He pulls back with a smirk. I see the tiniest drop of blood dripping down his chin.
He wipes up the blood with the back of his hand. “I’m really going to enjoy punishing you. Should I start with Alicia or Brody?”
“Leave them alone.”
“Behave.”
Gabe lifts us back up as the crowd cheers, thinking that we spent the whole time in a passionate kiss together instead of what really happened.
Gave interlocks his fingers with mine, firmly holding me so that there’s no way for me to let go.
“Now, smile, or Brody’s the first to go.”
I smile as Gabe walks me down the aisle. As soon as we get back inside, I jerk my hand away from Gabe’s. “Now what? How much longer do we have to do this?”
He wraps his arms around me, pulling me to his body again. “Oh, honey. This never ends. You’re mine now. Tonight, we are going to spend the night dancing and drinking in front of my friends and the world, showing them just how much of an awesome couple we can be. Then, tomorrow, we get on a flight to the Bahamas to replace all those stupid memories of your old flame with me. And then, when we come back, all your stuff will be moved into my place. You’ll become my full-time wife, at my beck and call whenever I need you. Understand?”
I spit in his face. “Go to hell.”
I jerk free just as people start coming into the large building on the property to head into the reception area. All sorts of people I’ve never met start coming up to me, congratulating me, asking me how we met. Asking if I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be married to such an amazing, rich man. But they don’t really want to hear any of my answers. They just want me to smile and nod and let them talk, so that’s what I do. I spend my night talking to strangers, trying to stay as far away from Gabe as I possibly can.