“We have forever now.” She sounds almost wondering. “Don’t we?”
She falls asleep in my arms, and I lie awake a while longer, just watching her breathe.
Forever. I like the sound of that.
29
JOSIE
The Love Me Tender Wedding Chapel is as tacky as I imagined.
There’s an overwhelming abundance of red velvet, not to mention the gold trim on things that have no business being gold-trimmed. A painting of Elvis on black velvet hangs behind the altar, and the carpet is the kind of pattern that was probably designed to hide stains. The whole place smells faintly of roses and beer.
It’s perfect.
“You sure about this?” Stone murmurs, his hand warm in mine. “We can find somewhere classier. The Bellagio does weddings.”
“I don’t want classy.” I grin up at him. “I want Elvis.”
He presses a kiss to my head “Then that’s what you’ll get.”
The chapel is packed—well, packed for a 2am Vegas wedding, anyway. The entire club road tripped to Vegas to watch us gethitched. Even Brick and the Ridgeline crew came, all of them looking wildly out of place in a wedding chapel.
Even Isabel agreed to come. She and Lily stand in the back, looking as if they’re unsure exactly what they signed up for.
Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it.
“Dearly beloved,” Elvis—or rather, a man in a white sequined jumpsuit who looks like Elvis’s less successful cousin—intones, “we are gathered here today to witness the union of Boone Armstrong and Josephine Bright in holy matrimony.”
I catch Stone’s eye, and we both struggle not to laugh at the Elvis impersonators horrible impression.
“Marriage,” Elvis continues, striking a pose, “is not to be entered into lightly.” He twirls. “It is a sacred bond,” a hip thrust, “a promise made not just to each other,” he gyrates, “but to all those gathered here today.” He finishes with another twist. “It is a promise to love, to cherish, to stand by each other through the good times and the bad.”
I’m trying not to giggle as Stone squeezes my fingers, his lips pressing together as if to keep his own laughter in.
Somewhere in the audience, Ginger sniffles loudly.
“For god’s sake woman,” I hear Tank whisper. “Again?”
“I love weddings.”
Stone’s shoulders begin to shake, and I try desperately to swallow another laugh.
“Now, I understand y’all have written your own vows?” Elvis asks.
Stone nods, turning to face me fully. He takes both my hands in his, and suddenly the tackiness of the chapel, and the humor of the situations fades away.
There’s only him.
“Josie.” His voice is rough, unsteady in a way I’ve never heard. “When you walked into my clubhouse that first day, I knew you were trouble. The best kind of trouble—the kind that makes a man question everything he thought he knew about himself.”
I squeeze his hands.
“I spent fifteen years believing I wasn’t built for for love or partnership. You made me realize that was bullshit.” A soft laugh ripples through the audience. “You made me realize I was waiting. For you.”
He reaches up, brushing his thumb across my cheek.
“I can’t promise you easy. Our life is complicated, sometimes dangerous, and I know there will be days when you wonder what the hell you got yourself into. But I can promise you this. I will love you every single fucking day. I will protect you, support you, argue with you when you’re being stubborn?—”
