I've never been more ready for anything in my life.
"I'm ready."
The door to Chapel Two opens, and music starts playing.
"Can't Help Falling in Love."
Of course.
I peek through the doorway and my breath catches.
The small chapel is packed.
Thirty leather-clad men in Reapers Rejects cuts, filling every pew.
They're loud, joking, clearly ready to celebrate.
And at the front, standing with Banshee and Shiver?—
Shadow.
He's still in his jeans and black t-shirt, his Shotgun Saints cut conspicuously absent.
But he's cleaned up, and he's watching the door with an intensity that makes my knees weak.
Then Cobra walks out from the side room.
I have to clap my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.
Full. Elvis. Gear.
White jumpsuit with rhinestones and a cape.
Black pompadour wig.
Sunglasses.
He strikes a pose, and the entire chapel erupts in cheers and laughter. "Thank you, thank you very much," Cobra says in a perfect Elvis voice.
Shadow's trying not to laugh. Failing.
Sakura appears at my side. "Ready?"
I nod.
The music swells.
The bikers turn to look.
And I start walking down the aisle.
Shadow's eyes find mine, and everything else fades away.
The Elvis officiant. The bikers. The kitschy Vegas chapel.
It's just him and me.
And as I walk toward him, toward my future, toward the man who chose me over everything?—
