Page 27 of Billionaire's Accidental Marriage
She tilted her phone screen in my direction as I wrapped my arm around her, cradling her as she trembled against me. I had no idea what the fuck was going on, but the second my eyes focused long enough to read her screen, everything dropped into place.
The message at the front desk.
The bag of shit that had been left for me.
The reason my PR guy had called to curse me out.
“Oh, my God,” I murmured.
Maggie sniffled. “Mike, it’s trending everywhere. Twitter. Instagram. News syndicates. Everyone is talking about it.”
I blinked. “Easter Egg Pastor? Really?”
“Michael!”
I jumped at her shriek. “I know, I know. Okay, uh…”
Right there, in black and white, were pictures from my small-town event. Everyone was praising the fake minister who hadn’t actually been fake, and I watched the random reel of people doing everything from renewing their wedding vows to getting married for the very first time. People in a fictional town I had created out of nothing in the middle of the Vegas desert were having the time of their lives.
And all of them thanked me in videos that had hashtags ranging from “Easter Egg Pastor” to “Spontaneous Love” to “Small Town 2021.”
“You haven’t even seen the worst of it,” Maggie whispered.
The bag of shit.“Oh, God.”
I leaped up from the couch, leaving Mags behind as I raced into my bedroom. The world seemed to spin out of control as I rummaged around in the contents I had dumped out onto my bed before Langley had called to curse me out. And right there, in front of my very eyes, was a certificate of marriage.
Holy shit, we got married last night.
“We’re actually married, aren’t we?”
Maggie’s voice dragged me out of my trance, and I slowly turned to face her. She stood in the doorway of my bedroom, her eyes saddened, and her voice full of defeat. She looked as if she were on the verge of tears. On the verge of simply crumbling into a million pieces that I had no hope of ever scooping up and piecing back together. And even though I swallowed the knot in my own throat in order to answer her, I couldn’t form the words. I couldn’t bring myself to tell Maggie that we had actually gotten married.
“Shit,” she hissed as she turned away from me.
“Maggie, wait.”
She held up her hand. “I need lots of coffee for this.”
I sighed as I let her rush out of sight. On the one hand, this didn’t bode well for us. But, on the other hand? The praise we were getting on social media was nothing short of miraculous. Yes, it was probably being reported that we were married, hence why Langley had called. However, the praise this event received would catapult the entire annual event into something I could have never dreamed it would turn into.
I mean, it was a massive hit from all directions. I just didn’t know where to step next.
“Fucking hell!” Maggie cried out.
I dropped the certificate onto the bed and rushed to go find her. “What is it?”
I found her in the kitchen with her face in her phone. “Dammit.”
My eyes widened. “Wow. Must be bad if you’re throwing down words like that.”
She glared at me. “Shut up, would you?”
I walked over to her and sat in front of her. “What is it? What’s happening now?”
She turned her phone around. “Guess who snapped pictures of us last night?”
I took her phone into my hand and scrolled through the hashtag “Timeless Romance.” And right there, in plain sight, were pages and pages of pictures people had snapped of Maggie and me while we were up there, having the time of our lives. People zoomed in on our faces as we recited our fake vows for one another last night, and for the life of me, I couldn’t shake just how happy we both looked.
