Chapter Eleven
Dominic
Standing at the altar, I glance down at my watch, seeing we're running behind by a few minutes, and I grumble in frustration, which causes Jaylen to chuckle from where he's standing behind me.
"It's two minutes, man. Loosen up and forget about the schedule," he says, grabbing my shoulders and jostling me slightly.
"I have shit to do."
He tuts, and I watch him shake his head out of the corner of my eye.
"It's your wedding day, and your mum told you that you'd be here until the end of the night. You have nowhere else to be, you idiot."
He moves away, taking his seat beside Rory, who's watching me with caution as she always does, before she turns to my sister beside her and whispers something.
Sophia's eyes connect with mine, and she smiles at me reassuringly while she rubs a hand over her rounded stomach, along with Kaleb, who's seated beside her, staring at her as if he's scared she's going to disappear if he looks anywhere else.
Rolling my eyes at them, I glance across to my mother and father, seated at the end of the row, closest to the aisle. I watch as they speak to each other quietly, with intertwined fingers and toothy grins on their faces.
An irritating feeling shoots through my chest at the sight, and I look away as I begin twisting the rings on my fingers.
Looking down at my hands, I try to imagine what my left hand will look like when I have another ring added to it in a few moments' time, and I grimace at the thought.
I huff, just as music starts up in the room, and a groan rumbles through my chest as I watch everyone begin to stand as the doors at the end of the hall open, ready for Alicia and her father to walk around the corner.
Glancing around the room, I notice there's hardly any Garcia members here. There's so little, that some of the King members have seated themselves on the right side of the hall as if to even out the amount of people on each side.
As the music picks up, I turn to face the aisle, knowing the change in music means Alicia is entering the room.
From the moment she walks around the corner with her arm looped around her father's, my breath is stolen from me.
My eyes roam down her body with each step she takes, captivated by the sight of her. Draped in a white dress that fits her perfectly, she showcases her desirable body, while still being somewhat modest, and keeping what's hidden underneath up to the imagination.
As she takes another step closer to me, her leg slips through the slit in her dress, and I tilt my head, waiting for another peek of her smooth, muscular thigh, but she removes a hand from her bouquet and uses it to hold the dress together, covering her leg from my view.
I arch a brow, and my eyes dart up to her face to see her scowling at me.
Despite the lowered brows and slight frown to her luscious lips, she looks gorgeous, and I find myself trapped in her eyes, unable to tear my own away from her.
They reach the three steps that lead up to the altar where I'm standing, and Brody takes her bouquet, places a kiss against his daughter's cheek and then takes her hand, raising it towards me.
Before I can reach out, Alicia scoffs and drops her hand as she carefully moves up the steps.
"Don't touch me," she bites out.
I'm snapped out of the trance I was in, and I grind my jaw as I try my hardest not to roll my eyes at her ridiculousness.
Her father takes his seat beside her brother, who's looking at Alicia with a cruel, dangerous glint in his eye.
"Is there any way we can skip most of what you have to say and just get this over and done with?"
My head whips towards Alicia, my eyes wide with shock as I see her facing the officiant, waiting for an answer.
The old man glances at me, then back at her, and hesitantly nods his head.
"I can if I need to, yes."
She turns to me with raised brows.
"Well then, what do you say, cabrón? Should we get this over and done with?"
My eyes narrow when she shoots me a wide smile, and I feel a muscle tick in my jaw.
This woman is going to be the death of me.
Everyone takes their seats, the music quiets down, and the officiant begins to talk, but I don't pay attention to what he's saying because my eyes are locked with Alicia's as we glare at each other.
Movement to my left catches my eye, and I see Jaylen step up beside me, holding a square box that contains both of our rings in his hand.
My eyes dart to the box, then around the room until they move back to the woman standing opposite me.
Her gaze is also drawn to it, and I watch her throat as she gulps, unclasping her hands from in front of her and wiping them along the skirt of her dress.
"Take it," Jaylen grunts, reaching his arm out further and pressing the box into my chest.
I scowl at him and snatch it from his hands, turning back to face the woman who's about to become my wife.
We both seem to stare at the box in my hands, dread swirling around between us.
Taking a deep breath, I open it, revealing my chunky silver band next to her slimmer one, with diamonds scattered across the top of it.
The officiant announces we'll be exchanging the rings, and I take Alicia's from the box, my eyes flicking up to meet hers, urging her to reach for mine.
She looks over at her father, and he subtly nods his head, causing her to sigh before taking my ring.
Jaylen grabs the box from my hand and sits back down beside Rory.
"Please place this ring on Alicia's finger and repeat after me," the officiant says. "With this ring, I thee wed."
Alicia begrudgingly lifts her left hand, holding it out to me, and I move mine beneath hers, holding it in place before she can snatch it away as I slowly slide the ring halfway onto her finger.
"With this ring, I thee wed," I say, repeating the words, and then I slide the ring further until it's in place.
"Now, Alicia, please place this ring on Dominic's finger and—"
"Yeah, I get it," she snaps, interrupting him as she grabs a hold of my left hand and roughly shoves the ring onto my finger. "With this ring, I thee wed."
She drops my hand immediately, and I scoff at her behaviour, which causes her blazing eyes to lift to mine.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."
Her eyes narrow, as if she's almost daring me to try and place my lips against hers, and knowing that it would enrage her, I'm tempted to, but then I remember what Jaylen said before about her mother and sister not being here for her, and how she's probably struggling with this event today just as much as I am, so I don't push my luck.
Instead, I grab her hand tightly and lift it as I lean down and place a kiss against the back of her hand.