Page 61 of Wild Hit
My eyes pop open. Miguel’s looking at me calmly, all hooded eyes but serious. His own mouth is pressed against the other sideof his thumb, and the officiant announces us officially husband and wife.
Of course. Miguel would never betray my trust. I asked for a favor and true to him, he followed through. He even goes as far as shifting his head just a tad so that everyone else thinks the kiss is real. Our friends break into loud cheering, completely fooled by our act.
He might’ve been keeping track of the time because Miguel finally deems it reasonable enough, and carefully straightens me back up. Everything feels like I’m underwater and my whole body burns. Without looking at myself in the mirror, I know for a fact that my splotchy blush covers me from head to toe.
The officiant gets our attention again and presents the documents. This is the real marriage—the one I need to defeat my male progenitor with. Miguel is the first one who signs and when it’s my turn, I stare at his handwriting in fascination. The signature is a handsome scribble, and his print name is large, easy to read, and friendly. It strikes me as so him.
Miguel Machado.
Machado.
Before I can overthink myself out of it, I sign my name as Audrey Machado.
Screw it. I’ll never be Audrey Cox again. The second I get home I’m shredding my previous name change application and throwing it like confetti in my living room.
When Miguel walks me down the aisle as my husband, and me as his wife, I’m free at last.
CHAPTER 22
MIGUEL
Lights dance in my vision as the limo takes us back to the hotel, after an hour of pictures in all angles and poses. At least half of the pictures alone are between Audrey and I, which is awkward enough, but then we get the others in on the play and it adds an extra layer of what-the-hell-are-we-doing.
But what’s done is done. I hold in my hands a fancy folio with the marriage certificate, and in it, she signed using my last name.
The folio nearly slips from my sweaty palms and I catch it mid air before it crashes on the floor.
“So what’s the plan after this?” Rose asks her newly married friend from her seat on the right side. “Are you going back home to tell your father that you just nuked his plans, or are you sticking around a bit?”
Audrey sounds like she’s about to drop asleep when she responds, “I travel back tomorrow afternoon, but I’m not planning on breaking the news to him right away. I need to buy myself as much time as possible.”
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
Nothing makes sense anymore. I’m just along for the ride.
However, my brain spews out a single thought. “By the way, I got a hotel room.”
Every conversation dies off and all eyes settle on me.
“What?” Then it clicks in my tired and overwhelmed brain. The folio’s destiny really was to fall on the floor of the limousine after all, and I raise my hands in defense. “I mean, for her! Not for both of us, you creeps.”
“Oh.”
“Whew.”
“I knew you were a good guy all along.”
My chest is on fire. Luckily for me, that’s where my embarrassment concentrates and not on my face. Since I’m fully dressed, only I know that I’m dying on the inside.
“Actually…” Lucky taps his chin, eyes narrowed in thought. “Wouldn’t sleeping in separate rooms after just marrying look weird?”
I blink hard at him. That’s not a thought that had crossed my mind until this moment. Audrey’s expression tells me that this is also breaking news to her.
All Hope can say is exactly what I’m thinking, which is “but…”
Then Audrey waves a hand. “Guys, we don’t have paparazzi chasing us.”
“Oh.” Rose raises her hand. “Didn’t we agree that I was going to take some paparazzi type of shots? Because I’ve been doing that all night and I was planning on distributing them.”
