Page 11 of Blood & Lace
The priest cleared his throat. "Oh, I, uh?—"
"He's just joking." Lucero chuckled. "We're in love."
"We?" I intoned. "Jésus, tue-moi maintenant."
The man cleared his throat. "Welcome, Marino family. We are gathered today to…"
As the priest's words droned on, I simply stared, in shock. He was really going to go through with this. Then again, I guessed he was bought. Money could pay for anything in this world; I knew that better than anyone.
"Do you have the rings?"
Lucero frowned as he ran his hands over his body. The frown deepened as he realized he, in fact, did not have any rings. I blew out a sigh of relief until someone cleared their throat. One of the slender twins—they had to be, they looked exactly alike—tapped him on his arm. They handed over two boxes and smiled as they stepped back out of the way.
"Goddamn it," I muttered.
The priest glanced at me, and I wanted to run all over again. I hated every part of this. My skin wouldn't stop crawling. I wanted to make a run for it, but there was no way I was stepping foot out of this church without a few new holes. And I was kinky, but that was too extreme, even for me.
"Lucero, the ring."
His big, meaty fingers had trouble taking the dainty ring out of the box. The diamond was so big it looked like it would blind someone in the sun. I stared as he finally took it out triumphantly and slid it onto my finger. Somehow, I wasn't surprised it was a perfect fit.
This man knows way too much about me. I definitely have to kill him.
"Onyx, take your ring."
I took the ring, but as the priest mumbled whatever nonsense he wanted, I kept my jaw locked tight. The words he wanted me to repeat were ridiculous. I didn't know this man, didn't love him, and was definitely going to put him in an early grave. I shoved the ring on hard. Lucero chuckled and admired it, his face lit up like the Fourth of July.
"Just get on with it," I hissed at the priest.
He warily continued. "You may kiss Onyx."
As soon as Lucero tried, I placed a hand on his mouth. No way in hell was I kissing a pedophile. It didn't matter how much this mission confused the hell out of me, my sources werereliable, and I wasn't about to let some freak put his mouth on me. Besides, I didn't kiss.
"It's okay, I know you don't enjoy kissing," Lucero "whispered" at full volume. "We don't have to." He placed a kiss on my hand instead. "We're married!"
The hesitant sound of applause filled the church. All I could do was stare up at the mountain of a man that looked like he was about to jump and punch the air at any moment. My stomach rolled.
“Sign the license,” the priest said.
Lucero happily signed. I did so after, much more reluctantly. When I was done, it was whisked away by one of the twins, and I stared in abject horror.
Seriously, what the hell just happened?
Lucero scooped me up in his arms. I couldn't do anything but stare at him. When he met my gaze, he lit up all over again. Were... were those tears in his eyes? I bristled.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I just found someone even crazier than me.
***
"Where are we going?" I asked as Lucero wrapped thick duct tape around my wrists, and then my ankles. I laid in the backseat of his car, fighting for my life against the tulle nightmare that was the dress he'd picked out for me. "Lucero!"
"Sorry!" he said, mumbling before he ripped off more tape. "I thought we'd go to a hotel, really get to know each other, but that would be a problem because of… you know."
"The fact that you kidnapped me?" I asked plainly.
"It's not really a kidnapping. Just a meeting. Besides, we're married now. You can't kidnap your husband."
I growled. "You most certainly can kidnap a spouse, you slack-jawed Neanderthal!"
