“Oh, dear lord, I’m going to be sick,” the priest murmurs before he turns his head and starts to retch.
“Fucking hell,” Andrew growls as he grabs the priest by the collar.
“He pissed himself earlier…” Meghan says as she looks at everything going on around her.
Shaking her head, she looks up into my eyes. Her eyes are starting to look a little dazed.
Looking down at her small hands enveloped in mine, I can’t believe just how soft they are, how delicate they look compared to my big hands.
“I can’t do this!” she moans loudly.
“If you want to live past sunset, you will,” I respond.
“How the hell did I end up in an even worse situation?” she asks as she tries to tug her hands from mine.
I don’t let go. I’m not going to hurt her, but if she runs now, she’ll get hurt just as quickly from my side or hers.
“My boss will use you as a pawn. An unbelievably beautiful pawn, but a pawn all the same. I keep you by my side, you stay safe.” The words come from my mouth unbidden, but it’s the absolute truth.
I know it deep down.
Meghan stands before me, staring up into my eyes, her eyes full of pain and hurt. She’s in a deadly position right now. Whatever union she was going to enter with Alexei and the Russians wasn’t to her liking, but this one might be even harder for her.
“You’re going to force me to marry you, just like Alexei. You’re no better than him!” she shouts.
“You’re right,” I say with a rising of my shoulders, and she is.
“If you try to touch me, I’ll slit your throat when you sleep,” she snarls.
“I get it,” I say again with another shrug of the shoulders.
And I seriously do get where she’s coming from, but it isn’t going to change her current situation, or mine. She’s going to be fucked no matter what she does. She’s in a completely shitty situation. I feel for her, I truly do. I’ve been there myself, but it ain’t going to stop me. I went to prison for ten long years for the crimes of another, she’s going to marry me because she’s a pawn in a deadly war.
Life fucking hurts and it’s murder.
“I’ll make you a deal. You don’t fight, and I’ll make sure you no one touches you without my say so,” I say to her and stare into those deep blue eyes.
She’s beautiful. I know I’ve noticed this already, but it keeps slapping me in the face every time I look at her.
Little things I haven’t discovered keep standing out and grabbing my attention. The way her full lips have this natural pout to them. Her bottom lip sticks out just enough that I want to capture it with a kiss so hard that it bruises. There’s a small smattering of freckles splashed across the bridge of her nose, and I can’t help but wonder where else she has freckles. I’d like to peel off that damn abomination of a dress she’s wearing and search for them.
Long dark eyelashes open and close as she peers up at me. She isn’t showing any fear now. No, she’s got her backbone straight and she’s looking at me with challenge.
Nodding to the priest, I say to Andrew, “Get him started.”
“What the fuck is going on right now?” Simon sneers over the comms. “We don’t have time for this shit.”
“Mayhem and bedlam,” I say with a chuckle into the comms. “Get me a marriage certificate fully approved. List our residential address as Cherry’s address. If it wasn’t these fucks who blew up the house, it wont hurt anything. If it was, it’s a message.”
“Well thought of, Gabriel,” Lucifer says through the comms.
“Dearly beloved,” the priest stumbles through the beginning of the ceremony.
A look to Andrew gets the process moving.
Andrew jabs a gun into the priest’s side.
“Let’s move to the important parts here, Father. We need to be moving,” Andrew says quietly.
“Calls are making their way into emergency services. I’m unable to stop them all. We need to get out now,” Simon says into the comms.
Pushing the priest away from us, I look into Meghan’s eyes and ask, “Do you accept my protection?”
She stares for so long into my eyes that I swear she’s gone mute, but she hasn’t. She’s studying me, reading into those deep, dark recesses inside of me.
“I do,” she finally says and then adds, “Do you accept that I’ll cut your dick off if you ever touch me without my permission?”.
“Oh fuck, that’s fucking awesome!” James crows from nearby.
Staring back into the deep abyss of her eyes, I look to make sure I still see her soul. She’s putting it out for the world right now. She wants to know what type of man I am.