by Kyanna Skye
The doctor? He tried to find out more but couldn’t find anything else on the matter. It was perhaps just a routine visit, he kept telling himself. But he couldn’t shake off the uneasiness that was building up inside of him. Eventually, after a few hours of walking circles of his living room, he walked out and went straight to her house. He had only been there to drop her off before and hadn’t yet been inside or met her family. Alexis had not wanted her family to get too involved with something that was simply going to end. Now, he knocked on the door and took a deep breath. He hoped he was doing the right thing.
An older lady opened the door. There was no doubt that this was Alexis’s mother. The same hair, although somewhat more tamed and with a bit more gray, the same eyes, and the same look of defiance.
“Tate Henderson – what, may I ask, are you doing here?” Her hands were on her hips, and she did not seem at all impressed to see a famous football player at her door. Alexis had told him that her mother was a huge fan and squealed every time she saw him on the TV, and yet here she was barely giving him the time a day. Either Alexis had been lying or else she felt him responsible for her daughter being upset. But was she upset? I thought she just didn’t like me. He felt a sense of hope fill him.
“Mrs. Washington. I’m so sorry to barge in like this, and it’s a pleasure to meet you. But Alexis, is she here?” He tried to peer inside, but she stopped him.
“Alexis is not in a position to see anyone right now.”
“Not in a position? What do you mean? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. But I think it’s better if you leave.”
“Mom, it’s okay, let him in.” The voice that came from inside was soft, but there was no denying that it came from Alexis herself. Her mom sighed and opened the door. Alexis looked just as beautiful as ever, only sadder.
“Alexis. Are you okay?” He asked, moving closer to her.
“Tate. We need to talk.”
Alexis led Tate up the stairs and while they walked he was aware of her mother glaring at him. He didn’t dare look back. When they got inside his room, he smiled.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“I’ve just never been inside your room. Also, your mom did not seem happy to see me. I feel like a teenager sneaking into the room of a girl that I like.” This, at least, made her giggle.
“Tate, stop it. You’re not supposed to be making me laugh.”
Alexis then went on to tell him the reason why she left. The whole time she kept her head down, staring at her hands intently, and not daring to look him in the eye.
“Alexis. Oh no. I wish you had come to me first. Alexis, you have no idea how hard it has been without you. I… I love you. I know that this is not what we had intended to happen. But it did. Seems Sally knows me better than I know myself. She probably knew this would happen the moment she met you. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me.” But now, tears were streaming down her face, and she finally looked up.
“Tate, there’s something else. I only just found out.”
“What? What’s wrong? Does it have something to do with you going to do the doctor? I saw something on Twitter about it.”
“Yeah. Uh… Tate, I’m pregnant.”
“Pregnant!”
“I think we took this job far too seriously. This should never have happened. We weren’t supposed to get this close Tate. I cannot believe I let it go that far.”
Tate knew he should be upset. He knew he should be anxious. But the fact remained, Alexis was just as in love with him as he was with her, and that was the only thing that he could think of. It was the only thing that mattered. He took her hand.
“Alexis. Will you marry me?”
“What?” Her head shot up.
“Will you marry me, Alexis? I mean, that was the whole agreement from the start wasn’t it?” She started laughing.
“Well yes, but you didn’t really have to go through with it.”
“Forget the agreement anyway. I’m asking you for real now. Alexis, I’m scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I’m with you.”
“That’s Dirty Dancing!” She burst out laughing, “I see your movie repertoire goes beyond just thrillers and horrors.”
“I can be romantic when I need to be.”
“I need to get to know my movies better, though. One day you’ll be quoting something from a movie, and I’ll think it’s something you can come up with yourself.”
“I maybe quoting the movie, but the sentiment is all mine.”
“Well nobody puts Alexis in a corner.”
“Is that a weird movie way of saying yes?”
“Yes, Tate ‘The Great’ Henderson – I will be your wife! But only if you give me one more quote.” She leaned forward and laughed.
“You’re a tough one, you know. ‘Sometimes, the only way to catch an uncatchable woman is to offer her a wedding ring.’”
“I have no idea where that is from. But I must agree. I love you, Tate.”
“And I love you, Alexis. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me. You saved me from me.”
“Oooh, good one. Where’s that one from?”
“From me.”
Tate and Alexis surprised the world by having an intimate and personal wedding. Alexis looked beautiful in a simple gown that offset beautifully against her dark skin. The top was detailed in intricate white lace, and the bottom was sheer champagne-colored silk that flowed out all the way to the ground. There was just a hint of a bump showing which Alexis was proud to show off. What was strange was that nobody queried whether they were only getting married because she was pregnant. There must have just been something about the way that they looked at each other that made it obvious that they were in love. For a while, the two of them were in the papers almost weekly, and they were the most talked about couple in town. Everyone wanted to get an inside glimpse into their wedding, to their life as a married couple, and then to their life as parents. People were fascinated by them. Of course, it didn’t harm that Tate was still playing the best game of his life and was now popular both on and off the field. It didn’t take long for ‘Tate the Great’ to get his name back. And what did they name the baby? Well, Sally of course!
The End
Uncaged: A Bad Boy MMA Fighter Romance
Callie looked at her reflection in the mirror with some small degree of dislike. Though her gown was a brilliant shade of turquoise and spun with some kind of beadwork that was imported from somewhere in the Far East, she felt utterly out of place. The dress, while impressive, was entirely her mother’s idea and not at all like the fashions that she fancied for herself. The drawback to being the Maid of Honor was that she no say in the fashion process… especially not when the bride was a world-renowned fashion designer and her own mother to boot.
The dress just didn’t feel right on her. While it showed her large figure to be short of what – in her mother’s business – was considered to be the perfect woman’s figure, it made her feel like she was attracting unwanted attention. She wasn’t ashamed of her figure, and she never had been. But there were times when certain clothes just didn’t feel as if they belonged on her.
This was one of those times.
The color of the dress clashed against the chocolate color of her skin, making it stand out. She thought she looked the same way that a distress flare was meant to attract the eyes of a search and rescue team. It was too bright… she preferred darker colors and simpler clothes. Something about them was just warmer… more vibrant… and more comfortable.
She sighed and her reflected twin mirrored the expression and the emotion behind it. It was like she was wearing someone else’s skin that was stretched uncomfortably over her like the surface of a disgusting drum and she was expected to dance to the tune.
Her only consolation was that she would not have to wear the dress long. The arrangements had been made, and her mother and her new father
would depart for their honeymoon as soon as they had sealed their vows with the oh-so-familiar kiss. So… she would only have to wear this thing for thirty or forty-five minutes tops. After that, she could get back into whatever made her comfortable.
Still, she would have to be seen in this dress, and that held no small amount of discomfort for her. Perhaps people would notice her dress more than they would notice her? Most of the people in attendance here, after all, were from her mother’s line of work, and their eye was for material… how it was cut… how it was sewn… and like that, not for the flesh that wore it. But no, she decided that that was equally uncomfortable since anyone here at the wedding was likely to know her and her tastes for fashion. Then again, it was a wedding and not her own. People would understand why she was dressed so unfamiliarly.
I hope.
“Are you ready Ms. Eve?” asked the squeaky voice of a woman behind her.
Callie turned and looked at the voice that had spoken. Standing in the doorway to her private dressing room was a skinny little woman she recognized the as one of her mother’s many aides, still dressed in the same attire as any of the others. She was as much a part of the ceremony as any of the chairs that the guests sat on.
“Yes,” she said, trying to sound sweet and enthusiastic though she did not feel it. “I’m ready.” She picked up her wide-brimmed hat, fit to be worn by Scarlet O’Hara if she had lived in today’s world and pulled it on. She was careful not to disrupt a single strand of her scalp which her mother’s best makeup artists had spent an hour getting ready. Once the hat was in place, she followed the tiny attendant out of her private dressing room.
The California summer was already upon them as she stepped from her dressing space into the open air. Though it was still early in the morning, the air was warm. Callie could feel small beads of sweat forming at the back of her neck as she walked. She recalled hearing that the temperature was supposed to climb up to the triple digits by noon, and she was glad that her mother and soon-to-be stepfather had elected to have their wedding early so that at least people wouldn’t have a chance to melt under the hot sun. Or possibly because her mother knew that most people in her world never got out of bed before 10 AM and wouldn’t have made it here.
Most of the guests probably never spend more time outside than it takes to get from their limo to the office anyway, she thought.
The smell of the sea was pungent in her nostrils, and the gentle rolling sound of the waves was soothing, and though she wasn’t particularly fond of how she had to appear while being here, she did enjoy the setting. There was something positively serene about it, however, marred by the fact that she would soon be under the gaze of at least a dozen people that her mother worked with.
As she looked around, she saw that a number of the guests had already arrived and been shown to their seats. By the look of them, they weren’t all that interested in their surroundings and more interested in each other or in their phones. Some of them spoke anxiously with other guests or into their phones, and she knew at once that even at a time and place like this that they were discussing business. She had seen as much often enough, even in her childhood.
Never an opportunity wasted to make money, she thought with a small amount of scorn. But she kept her face happy and passive. What others did with their lives and time was their concern and none of hers.
Still, that did not stop her from thinking these people were fools not to enjoy their surroundings here. While most weddings took place in a chapel, her mother had always been more inspired by nature and thought that a wedding was just the perfect excuse to be married in the wide open spaces. Callie counted herself lucky that her mother had favored the beach over having to drive into the mountains someplace where the air was so thin it would have been hard to breathe.
Their venue was a simple thing and despite the money that had gone into getting this marriage rolling it was nothing more than a pair of white tents that had been erected on the beach. One for the bride and the other for the groom, with a little room left over for her – the Maid of Honor – and for the groom’s Best Man. And sitting on the sand before they were at least two dozen chairs bisected by a red carpet. And at the end of that long stretch of fabric was a wire wedding arch decorated with artificial flowers and leaves to give the place a more “natural” feeling since there wasn’t even a single piece of driftwood washed up on shore here. Her mother had chosen this place for her wedding, and though Callie wasn’t overjoyed at having to be presented this way in front of all these people, she admired her mother’s taste for such things.
She looked at the guests that had arrived. Of the two dozen chairs, only half as many on either side were filled. Callie knew that her mother and future stepfather had wanted to keep this whole thing small. So small that only those that were rich and full of influence had been invited to witness the ceremony, like a queen of one country about to be wed to the king of another. And in their respective worlds, that would keep out the unwanted and the unpopular.
Fine by me, she thought as she gazed out at the small crowd. The fewer people there were, the less self-conscious she would feel.
“Not exactly a thriving crowd is it, Callie?” said a rough and gruff voice.
Callie felt a twinge in her temple that was a mixture of anger and regret. She tried to keep her face bright and cheery but as she turned to look at the voice that had spoken she felt as though she were looking upon some stray and mangy dog that had just wandered up and licked her leg… infecting her with some horrible disease. Standing beside her, emerging from the groom’s tent, was an image of loathing.
Standing in a suit that would have been expensive in any country was a large and burly man. When she had first met him, he had been clean-shaven with a head of long dark brown hair. But now he wore only a dark brown beard that had grown to be four inches long since she had first known him and braided together to make him look like some kind of a medieval warrior. He was broad-shouldered, his skin looked as rough as treated leather, and though it was mostly concealed she could see the sharpened tail of the scorpion tattoo on his neck protruding out from under the color of his suit like a submarine periscope. His suit was black, though the shirt and tie he wore were a dark blue. And despite the elegance of his attire, he remained as brutish as a hired mercenary with no sense of decency however he was dressed.
“No it’s not, is it Jay?” she replied, though there was a touch of venom in her voice. The venom that she was sure he felt.
He smiled at her, or maybe he was smiling at her covert signs of dislike. Several of his teeth were missing as he smiled, showing that they had been replaced by top-of-the-line fillers that had been made from gold, giving him a literal million dollar smile. This added scope to how brutish she thought he was. She had often wondered how Jay had lost so many teeth, but she had not cared enough to ask. But judging from his demeanor, his posture, and from his general devil-may-care attitude she was hoping that he had deserved it when those teeth had been lost and that whoever had relieved him of them had had the decency to use a hammer when doing so.
That she was about to spend her life – or at least up to the point where her mother chose to get a divorce – with this man as her stepbrother sickened her. It was like inviting Attila the Hun over for tea knowing that he would never leave. She only hoped that her mother, like she had with husbands in the past, chose to get a divorce soon and quickly. The marriage before this one had lasted only eight months. The one before for that lasted for three, and the one before that for a year. She was hoping for a new record… like maybe as soon as the honeymoon was over.
“Well, you know how they get,” he said, dusting a little stray sand from his jacket. He was, of course, referring to their parents. “If they’re not dripping with money then they’re not invited.”
She wanted to smirk at the remark but held it in. Unbearable as her new brother was, he at least had one redeeming quality: he always told the truth. He never made any effort to try an
d disguise it either. The truth was just like him, ugly and overbearing.
Somewhere from inside the tents the first song of the wedding procession began to play. Callie knew that within minutes her mother and new father would take their respective places and this over-simplified wedding ceremony would begin. And then there would be no escaping Jay and the loutish behaviors that he possessed.
Not how I wanted to start the summer before college, she thought.
Though the idea of being in her house without her mother or father around had always been a sweet and delectable one, she was repulsed by the idea of having to share the house. For years, it had just been she and her mother in the mansion that her mother had built with the money of her trade. Though she would never admit it aloud, she lived for the days when her mother would be gone for days at a time. It allowed her to feel like she was in control of her life for once in her life.
Her mother, like most others in the fashion world, was obsessed with schedules… looks… punctuality… meetings… making money in general… and of course, appearances. As far back as she could remember Callie recalled being tended to by a waiting army of servants to tend to her hair… her nails… picking out what clothes she would wear… reminding her of any appointments that she had to keep… it was never ending. The people followed her around like a shadow that had learned to talk back, and she had always found such attentions to be a bit wearing.
But for the sake of department she had borne it. Her mother expected it of her, after all. Callie received no better or worse treatment than any of the models that worked for her mother. But since she wasn’t actually a model – and her daughter – that worked for her mother, there was some leeway. So when her mother wasn’t around it was Heaven and Callie was the goddess that ran it.
But now that Jay was going to be cooped up in the house with her while their parents were away on their honeymoon, the perfect image of two months of bliss came crashing around her like a football stadium being imploded with her standing on the fifty-yard line. And it would be the first time that they spent so much time together since their parents had become engaged. She wasn’t looking forward to it.
