Chapter Ten
Damon.
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Little bird…”
She blinks at me, brows still furrowed in her darling little angry expression, frown marring her flawless face. She sits across the table from me beside Maverick. “You said… no mm-more sss-surprises!”
“I understand that Amourette. But-”
“Non.” She fumes firmly in French as if that’s what will make me hear her better. She crosses her arms over her chest making her statement final.
Maverick grins, finishing his last sip of water, then getting up to the bar, bringing back a bottle of whiskey and a tumbler for each of us.
It’s been two days since we’ve been back in New York and I’ve been working behind the scenes trying to make this perfect so it all goes flawlessly since we’re so cut for time.
Both because we want to hurry up and marry her, but secondly because Aleksi has eyes on Sofia and she’s making her rounds in Spain before she goes off again to god knows where.
It will be our wedding gift to Raven. If there’s one thing I love more than my little bird, it’s making sure she’s well after a small… purging spree. Or however she feels fit to deal with her mother.
I glare at the beast beside her. “Amusing to you, is it? When she’s a brat to me it’s so fucking funny but when she’s a brat to you-”
“On the contrary, old friend.” He interrupts.
“It’s amusing at all times. See, you’re getting frustrated, I’m planning the next method of madness.
You co-conspire murder. I figure out how I get to punish her for it.
It helps me stick to this side of the law.
We all bring justice in one way or another- mine just includes various restraints, whips and chains.
I could let you borrow my rope if you’d like but we both know you’ll break before her.
Although I will congratulate you on letting your inner Neanderthal come out to play this weekend. You too, Jonas.”
“Thanks.” Jonas replies around a bite of his food but he’s looking at our fiancé. “I promise you’ll like this surprise.” He glances at me while swallowing the steak au poivre with red wine pan sauce and roasted potatoes I made from scratch. “Can I tell her just half of it? Please?”
I lean back in my chair, appetite gone, and yet, still wanting to devour my little bird even in her defiant insolence.
I am a weak man when it comes to her and she knows it.
I lock eyes with Maverick who takes a sip of his preferred whiskey then sets his glass back on the table.
He lifts a shoulder and lets it drop. “Half won’t hurt, I suppose. ”
Raven’s jaw drops. “Half?!”
“Damon was able to get us in with a tribe in Tibet that will marry us. With the loopholes, the state of New York has to recognize it as a legal marriage.” Jonas grins so widely his dimples deepen.
Raven gasps and looks to me for confirmation. While that was not the part I wanted him to tell her, the excitement on her face makes it worth it. So I nod.
“But, it has to be this weekend because Coach is only letting me go for one game.” He lies. His team knows when he was proposing and where we’re getting married for months now, the team manager giving the all-clear.
Caramel eyes bounce between the three of us until they land on me again. Her hands fly up. But Tildy and Derek’s vow renewal is this weekend.
“Sabrina knows, Amourette. That’s why she’s been so…”
“Sassy.” Raven interjects before I have the chance to say flippant and callous.
While I do enjoy Sabrina as both my patient and Little Bird’s best friend…
she’s been a fucking nightmare. Threatening to sue us for a multitude of different reasons.
Her favorite being neglect. I believe both Parker and Maksim are making sure Sabrina feels anything but neglected as she tends to whine. I’m sure it’s adorable to them.
To me… it is… not.
Raven gets out of her seat and I scoot my chair back so she can sit in my lap.
Her arms go around my shoulders and she kisses me softly, still tasting of cheesecake and strawberry wine.
Her new favorite. I place my hand on the flare of her hip.
“Yes. And she also understands. So… with that being said, now that you know half of it- are you happy?”
“Yes! W-when d-do we leave?”
“Thursday evening and we’ll be back the following weekend,” I proceed, pulling back to meet her honey stare. “Are you ready to marry us? Even if it’s not a grand, lavish wedding?”
The radiant smile that breaks over her face is one I will remember forever. How can so much beauty be in just one person? From her heart to her face. “M… more than anything.”
I brush her silver strands behind her ear and rub my thumb over the smooth skin of her cheekbone.
So many years I lived thinking I was fine, confined in my own self-made box of routine and self-discipline, never toeing outside of the lines, only having sex when the need for release striked, never exactly wanting a relationship or asking for more than what I wanted from a woman and yet, here I am now- acutely and remarkably fucked for this woman, ready to marry and breed her.
My love, my love, my love.
Iconoclast of psyche and soul. My little harbinger of death and devotion. A curious little thing. Free of my cage but freed me of my glass confinement box in the process as well. I am so, so, so fucked and yet, I am exactly where I want to be.
“Then it’s settled.” I lean in to kiss her once more and she hums happily, as though my heart is all she’s ever needed to fly.
Then again, all I’ve ever needed to feel normal, is hers.
The day of our wedding consists of a secluded location on a beach in Tibet, Maverick and Jonas standing beside me. Our parents, his sister, brother-in-law, nephews and Enrique, are all here as our witnesses. Then, of course, there is an officiant and a photographer.
Raven strides to us barefoot in a loose, lacey white halter dress with a slit on one side.
The train of it trails behind her. Her makeup is flawless, her signature winged eyes are perfection and her hair is loosely curled and pinned up on one side, a gentle breeze swiftly caresses her but she grins even wider, small tears rolling down her face.
She holds a bouquet of spider lilies, snap dragons, carnations and baby’s breath.
A string-quartet rendition of I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing by Aerosmith (Jonas’ request) and the waves crashing ashore are the soundtrack of our future.
I feel as though I am being serenaded and can almost hear her rasp as she mouths the words.
All of her. Body, heart, mind, soul… last name.
That is precisely what I want. What I need in order to feel satiated and yet…
yet I want more of her. What is this love?
What is this hunger? This desire to forever dissect her and consume every breath of hers?
I am but a madman obsessed with the way she makes me feel.
Every ventricle of my heart, every wrinkle in my brain is her.
It is insanity as much as it is pacifying.
Blurring, silent tears escape and rain down my face. I have to wipe them away quickly so I can take in this sight of her and commemorate it.
My heart hammers against my ribcage like a tiny bird trying desperately to escape. Even if it did, it would only sail far enough to perch upon her shoulder.
With so much love and adoration in those beautiful amber eyes of hers, she reaches us, then puts her hand in ours one by one; Maverick, Jonas, then mine in greeting. It takes me a moment to compose myself. How am I so lucky? I swallow thickly and sniff. “Hello, Amourette.”
My mother takes her bouquet, kisses Raven gently on the cheek, which Raven returns, and sits back down beside my father.
After a few more minutes of staring at each other, Raven finally wipes at her eyes, grinning once again, meeting all of our gazes.
She stretches her hands out for me to hold and I take them.
She doesn’t look nervous. She looks fearless and ready.
Ready to be mine in every way imaginable.
The officiant begins just as any other does, but I’m lost in the aura that is she- Raven Oliva Monroe- my everything. I barely register the officiant’s words until I feel Jonas tapping me on the shoulder, signaling me to begin my vows.
“Amourette,” I choke on the intense, raw emotion caught in my throat.
I try to swallow it down again but when her eyes lock on me…
I inhale deeply, lick my bottom lip and try again.
I look towards the sky to gather some type of strength.
“I never knew how lonely this world could be until I met you-” I sniff. “Fuck.”
She giggles, Jonas and Maverick chuckle behind me and so does our family.
“So many years I watched you sit in your silence and I was given the privilege of sitting with you. But your silence spoke to me. It was loud. So loud at times it was all I could hear. I thought of you as a little bird trapped in my cage, but it was me- unaware of my own glass confinement box until you tapped upon the glass, dared to peek inside and saw me. You make me feel and see… everything…” I sniff.
“And because of that… I promise you not just my love, but my utter devotion. I vow to sit with you in your silence, because your love…” I choke on a rasp.
“Because your love… is loud and it is… everything. I vow… to take care of your beautiful heart and your precious mind.”
She drops my hands and cups my face, running her thumbs under my eyes.
Her lips purse and her cheeks hollow but I wait patiently as she forms her words.
I would wait forever. She swallows and her shimmering eyes search mine.
“Mon… ancre…” her anchor… that’s how she sees me.
“My mind… is… a turbulent sea… and I was under-” she grimaces but I wait for her beautiful mouth to open for me again- “for so long I thought I was… gone.”