Corrupt Desires
Page 25
Her heart swelled, so close to bursting that she wasn’t sure if she could breathe, but then Parks stepped back and everyone returned to their places. Except, now, Bryant was much closer, and she leaned into him just enough to feel his strength so that it could become hers.
“I’ve never been a religious man. I have seen too much loss, too much death, to put my faith in something so ephemeral… but a promise, that has power when it is made by someone good. And that is what you are here to do tonight. To promise that you will continue to lift each other up, that you will be strong when your partner is weak, that you will fight for the life that you have earned together.”
“I promise all of that and more,” Bryant whispered, and Parks smiled.
“I think now is the time to share your vows with each other.”
Clearing his throat, Bryant faced her completely, his striking eyes holding her captive even if he’d let go of her hands, because she could see the shine that told her how much he cared. “Ophelia Everett… Phee… my queen of fire, my warrior… you are more than I ever thought I would deserve. I think in so many ways I imagined my life ending before now. I never imagined a future where I could have someone to love. Someone to love me back. Someone that I would want to live my life with — and then I met you. You pierced my darkness like a stroke of lightning and set it ablaze the first time we kissed.” Squeezing her hand in his, he swallowed hard. “There are so many things I wish I could give you. I wish my parents were here to meet the woman I fell in love with, and I wish that your mother could be here to give you away. I wish that I could share a glass of whiskey with your grandfather and get some advice from your grandmother on how to make you happy. Because that is my vow to you, Phee. I promise to work every day to make you happy, to remind you of just how much I love you, because I know exactly how lucky I am to be holding your hand today while we discuss an infinite number of tomorrows.”
“Bryant—” a quiet sob broke her voice and he leaned forward to hug her against his chest for a long moment, cradling her in strong arms before he gently eased her back and took the offered ring from Easton.
“With this ring, I promise to keep you safe. I promise to walk beside you for all of our days, and I promise that I will do everything I can to make each day with me better than the last until the darkness of our pasts is nothing but a distant memory.” With a gentle push, Bryant slid the band on her finger until it rested against her engagement ring. “I love you, baby.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered, sniffling back a fresh wave of tears, and then Parks looked at her expectantly.
“It’s your turn, Phee.”
Another gentle squeeze of her hands and she found her voice. “Bryant… you know that I-I have spent so much of my life just dreaming of more. With a world as dismal as the one I grew up in, there was only one constant — disappointment — but something told me to hold on. To hold on to my daydreams, my fantasies, my fairytales, because some day I would find someone who accepted me for who I was. I didn’t know what it meant to fight for something you loved until I had you to fight for. I didn’t know how far I was willing to go for my happy ending, until the possibility of you not being in it brought out the warrior in me.”
“Baby?” Bryant spoke, lifting her chin so she had no choice but to look at him and reveal the crying. “Don’t cry,” he whispered, and she felt the ache in her chest grow a little, but it was bolstered by love. And not just Bryant’s, but Regan’s as well. And Easton’s, and even Parks’.
“I never thought I’d be someone who could say that reality was better than dreams, better than books, better than the world I’d grown up in… but then there was you. Too perfect to look twice at me, even though you did.” Sniffing, Phee held onto both of Bryant’s hands, leaning into his strength to finish the words. “Everyone wants something in this life, and so often everyone wants more, but when I’m in your arms there is nothing else that I want. There is no need to imagine the fairytale, when I have my Prince Charming right here. No need to wish for more, when I woke up in your arms this morning. And that is a gift, and I promise to give that gift to you every day. To make you feel as complete as I do when I have your arms around me.”
“Phee, come here,” he whispered, pulling her flush to his chest in the dark, beautiful suit, but the best part of their wedding plans was the lack of judgmental audience members. His fingers ran up and down her spine until she calmed a little. Feeling better, stronger, more complete.
Regan read her mind in the way that only best friends can, and in a moment Phee had the simple band in her fingers. “This ring is a symbol, but symbols are powerful. They can raise governments or bring them down. They can make a poor girl from the fog spend her life in daydreams, or they can wake people up. With this ring, I promise to be your biggest supporter. I promise to love you, unconditionally, and I promise that no matter what else happens I will always be here for you.”
Sliding his ring on was something much easier than it seemed in the pictures, but — then again — sometimes reality was simply better than the fairytale.
“This is the love I spoke of between the two of you. The kind of love that can do anything, can be anything, can shape anything, as long as you are together.” Taking a breath, Parks held onto their hands once more. “So, with the power vested in me by the New Democratic Fellowship, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You should probably kiss the bride.”
A set of quiet laughs echoed around them, but Phee was caught by his strong arms, his lips plying hers as she surrendered and deepened the kiss. A soft sound rumbled in his chest as Bryant pulled her tight, surrounding her in everything that made her feel safe, strong… all of the things that made her feel like she was home.
Finally home with a strange mix of resistance fighters and a best friend who had known her since she was four. Standing in the park she’d danced in when she was six, wearing stolen sunglasses with her mother against the hazy sun. The same park where she’d scattered her mother’s ashes at fourteen, and her grandparents at twenty. And now she was almost thirty-one, getting married, listening to the cheers of her chosen family as her new husband dipped her backwards to kiss her again. Wrapped in his arms as she watched Regan and Easton holding each other, asking Parks to perform the ceremony for them in this tiny park, deep in the fog, that Bryant had turned into something made of magic.
As Parks laughed his way through a new version of the vows, talking about Easton like he was still a troubled, impatient teenager, Phee couldn’t stop grinning, because this was living. This was building a life, a new life, a future without letting go of the past. With each shifting coil in the fog, she could feel her mother’s presence, hear her grandfather’s laugh, and remember the warmth of her grandmother’s arms. But there was joy where once there had been sorrow, there was a sense of being full, where she had been hollow.
This was what it was like to get to the end of the story and feel the happily-ever-after.
Another boisterous laugh from Regan had Phee grinning as Bryant wrapped his arms around her front, one hand gliding lower. “Do you think we should tell them?” he asked, and she felt the warmth flooding out from the center of her chest.
“The doctor said to wait a few more weeks to say anything,” but she couldn’t resist laying her hand over his, interlacing their fingers.
“But I think the little one should know their aunt and uncle, right?” Bryant asked and she melted as his hand pressed just a little harder over the place where they’d heard a heart beat the day before.
“You want Regan and Easton to be aunt and uncle?”
A low laugh as he squeezed her against his chest. “Well, they’re not going anywhere,” he answered and she nodded, leaning back against his shoulder.
“May as well tell the adopted grandfather as well then,” she whispered, and Bryant laughed as Easton and Regan kissed. A fresh round of happy cheers filling the small park as their odd little family settled into place.
A mome
nt later Bryant turned her around, and then he shifted to his knees on the damp ground speaking directly to her belly where the boy, or girl, was still growing. “You’ve got a family, little one. A very strange, very protective, family, but I promise you — just like I promised your mom — that I will work every day to make you happy. To give you the best life possible.”
Just as he sealed his words with a kiss, Phee noticed the stares, her blush burning bright as they were stormed with hugs, congratulations, and love.
So much love from their motley chosen family, standing in the fog under a glittering canopy of lights, with only a million tomorrows waiting for all of them.
THE END
“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”
- John Lennon
About the Author
Jennifer Bene is a USA Today bestselling author of dangerously sexy and deviously dark romance. BDSM, Suspense, Dark Romance, Thrillers — she writes it all. Always delivering a twisty, spine-tingling journey with the promise of a happily-ever-after.
Get the latest book news (and a FREE book at signup) here: http://tinyurl.com/jbeneauthor
Find Jennifer Bene:
On her website - http://jenniferbene.com/
Find her on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/jbeneauthor
Like her Author Page - http://www.facebook.com/jenniferbeneauthor/
Follow her on Twitter - http://twitter.com/jbeneauthor
Check out her Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/jbeneauthor/
Follow her on BookBub - http://www.bookbub.com/authors/jennifer-bene
Be a fan on Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/jbeneauthor
Books by Jennifer Bene
Dark / BDSM Romance:
Security Binds Her (Thalia Book 1)
Striking a Balance (Thalia Book 2)
Salvaged by Love (Thalia Book 3)
Taken by the Enemy
Lethal Sin (Dangerous Games Book 1)
Early Sins (Dangerous Games Prequel)
Black Light: Exposed (Black Light Series Book 2)
Tying the Knot (Thalia Book 4)
Destruction (Fragile Ties Book 1)
Imperfect Monster
The Thalia Series: The Complete Collection
Corrupt Desires
Inheritance (Fragile Ties Book 2)
Damaged Goods (Dangerous Games Book 2)
Dark / Paranormal Romance:
The Rite
Fae (Daughters of Eltera Book 1)
Tara (Daughters of Eltera Book 2)
BDSM Ménage Romance Novellas:
The Invitation
Reunited
Anthology Appearances:
Black Light: Valentine Roulette (Black Light Series Book 3)
Black Light: Roulette Redux (Black Light Series Book 7)
When the Dark Wins