Page 37 of Liar & Champion
“It would be my pleasure,” she finally said.
I took her in my arms, gazing down at her while she smiled with that sweetness I couldn’t resist, and then finally I kissed her as light and delicate as possible. It was my vow. I would be gentle with her, give her the care she deserved for as long as we were together.
The way she opened up in my arms, stretching towards me like I was her sunshine, so soft and welcoming drowned out everything other than her and her delicate sweetness. It was a kiss I’d never forget.
The next morning we took the Camaro. I drove while she stared at the scenery, the endless shifting pastel mountains, sky, and desert, a view that she drank in like she could feed on color.
I kept wanting to say something, but what could I say? Everything was agreed on, it was just going through with the mission. Mission: Marriage.
I’d stopped at a gas station, and made the calls to arrange everything, the roadside wedding chapel, the dress, and the information that I’d be back and everyone would need to be at the compound on Monday. That took less than ten minutes while she agonized over whether to pick gas station hot dogs or pizza. Eventually, she chose both.
She was happy with her decision. She was usually so ridiculously happy and I couldn’t help picking up on that. I lost every bitter, jaded, angry streak and was left with something like optimism when she smiled at me.
I pulled into a gas station fifty miles from our destination. She stirred in her seat and sat up, smiling. That smile. You could light the world with that smile.
“Kitten. Do you want to drive for a spell?”
She stretched, arching her back and shifting her hips beneath her narrow waist. I hadn’t touched her for too long. I was dying to do more than touch her. My mouth was actually watering and suddenly I wasn’t particularly tired. There were benefits to thiswhole marriage thing, and I was looking at them. She couldn’t be a virgin, and she needed someone to worship her.
I directed her to the little chapel in the brush off the beaten path that did quiet, custom weddings. This next part was going to be tricky, particularly when my heart was pounding and I was starting to feel panicky. I was going to be married? Only for six months. It would be fine. She’d be safe from Dupre, and I’d be safe from my mother.
“Turn here.”
She pulled off the main road and drove down a lit gravel road, twinkle lights on either side of until she reached the old adobe church. An ancient Joshua tree was wrapped in sparkling lights. When she got out, she paused to look up like it was the most magical thing in the world. No, that was actually trepidation.
“It’s not a cactus,” I said and took her hand, walking with her towards the office on the side. She hung back only for a second before rallying and sticking by my side. When we got inside, José smiled brightly when he saw us.
Kitten froze when she saw his priest’s collar.
“Is that a real priest?” she whispered.
“Yes,” I whispered back. “Although he has an Elvis costume in the back if you’d rather go that way.”
She looked up at me, shock and horror warring with a hesitant yearning. “It’s so real. I figured it would be all neon and glitter, not an actually church and a priest. I’m going to hell for sure for not respecting the sanctity of marriage.”
I pulled her close, hating that she might be right. Would being with me taint whatever sweet innocence she had? Probably. Still, she didn’t need to know all the pieces of me, and she definitely would be safer physically with me than on her own.
Holding her close helped mitigate my own fears. This was a temporary marriage that was for her protection. It was like hiring on as a bodyguard for six months. There’s no one whose body I’d rather protect.
“Come on, Kitten. Let’s sign the certificate.” I walked over to the desk and signed my name on the line. ‘Nix Death-Hammer’ with a lot of flourishes and little devil tail at the end.
“You’re serious about your name?” she asked in a small voice.
I pulled out my driver’s license. Nix Death-Hammer was right there along with my age. “It’s legal. We’re going to do this, right Kitten?” It felt like my throat was going to swell closed and I had to run and run and run, right into the bush and never come back. But she wouldn’t let me leave without a canteen, so I had no choice but to stand there and try to look stoic.
She smiled a little shy smile. “Yes, of course, but I didn’t expect a real priest.” She bit her bottom lip until she signed, ‘Sunshine Ray Wilson’ on her line. She pulled out her license, and there it was, her real name and a really cute picture of her looking sleepy and confused. It was not the best driver’s license photo.
I kissed her on the lips quickly, a sweet promise. “We’re going to get changed and meet in the foyer. Unless you get cold feet.”
“How can I get cold feet in the desert?” She hung onto me for another second before she turned and marched into room where her dress would be.
After I’d changed into my tux, I took my place next to the priest and kept shifting, adjusting my cuffs while I waited for Sunshine. It’s not that I was nervous, just that I was anxious for this to be over. It was a temporary job that required a tuxedo and the sooner the contract signing was over, the sooner we could forget what it was called.
“Are you going to come back for another year? It’s risky after the last Three-Hundred,” the old priest said. He hadn’t always been a priest, and I’d known him when I first came to Vegas.
“Business is still good. As long as it’s good, how can I quit and put all those people out of work?”
José sighed and tugged on his collar. “That’s life, things come, things go. This girl, she’s not your usual type.”
