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“Leo,” I say blandly. “Only old fucks call me Leonardo.”
Her mother blanches, and I smirk. Wait until I take my suit jacket off for the wedding and flaunt my tattoos to the guests.
Eden turns toward me with a huge grin on her face and palms my cheek. “That’s my soon-to-be husband.”
“I really must talk with you, Eden,” her mother says.
Eden doesn’t look back at her. Instead, she keeps her gaze trained on me. “I don’t know, Mom. I’m actually looking to see what trouble my fiancé and I can get into here. Maybe we should have loud coat room sex. Ooh, or I could strip you down on the dance floor. I know…” that pretty pink blush is back—she’s enjoying this just as much as me, “dry humping while dancing to Usher.”
“You will do no such thing!”
This must have been the reaction Eden wanted all along because she finally turns. “Why? You pimped me out like a whore, I might as well act like one.”
A couple walking by eyes my beautiful fiancée up and down like she’s the scum underneath their shoes. “Keep stepping or I’ll shove that stick even further up your ass,” I growl.
Alaric smirks. “I do believe that was the mayor of New York with his wife.”
“I guess we should strike their names from our guest list, huh, baby?” I make sure to turn her fully toward me and devour her lips like I’m a starving man. She returns the kiss with as much heat as I put into it before slowing it to a crawl, hovering her lips over mine and staring up at me.
“Fine. Have it your way.” Her mother’s haughty tone is annoying as fuck. “Blame everything on me. It’s always me.”
Eden doesn’t turn, and eventually, Oliver says, “She’s gone.”
I tilt Eden’s face down and kiss her forehead. She grips my forearms and sighs. “I know I have to talk to her…one day. But that felt damn good.”
“You know what else will feel damn good?” I ask as we heed Alaric’s advice and walk toward the room where Anne-Marie and Vincent are having the ceremony. “We get to watch the bitch of Carnegie marry Mr. Limp Dick.”
“I take it back,” Oliver says after Eden laughs. “You two are perfect for each other.”
Eden peers over her shoulder and frowns at him. He winks at her in response and then we all funnel into the room full of glass windows. Today, it’s set up with white chairs lining a petal-strewn aisle. An arch of white roses sits at the very front of the room, vacant right now bar a white lectern and a microphone stand.
Eden and I attempt to sit, but a gruff voice sounds behind us. “Leonardo…” My heart turns to stone as quickly as Eden can fire it up. “I’m sure your cousin would be thrilled to have the happy couple sit closer.”
The slender hand in mine stiffens. I don’t like the idea either, but having us where he can see us is a good idea right now.
I gesture for Eden to continue down the aisle, and she does so until we hit the first row. We step in, moving a few seats down, leaving room for my aunt and uncle and, of course, my grandfather who sits prominently at the end of the row.
The wedding is tasteless. It’s as boring as every other wedding I’ve been to where two rich people decide they want to marry for reasons other than love. The kiss has no passion. There are no tears of joy or cute little flower girls who drop clumps of petals in all the wrong places.
It’s staged. The whole thing. And it disgusts me.
When Eden and I get married, we will dry hump to Usher in the middle of the dance floor, and the guests we invite will all be dry humping next to us.
Exactly as it should be.
Grandfather waits for us at the end of the row after almost every other person has left the room to greet the new couple. “I’m looking forward to your ceremony,” he says, eyeing Eden like she’s a piece of meat. “We’ll need to meet one day soon to have all the legal documents signed and expectations reviewed, and a little intimate celebration, of course.”
Eden squeezes my hand to stop the growl from escaping my throat…barely. Just barely.
19
Alaric
My body buzzes, tension searing me. I’ve been on high alert the whole night. During the ceremony, my leg bounced like it had its own spring underneath. Afterward, at the reception in the ballroom, my gaze darted everywhere. Searching for cameras, for alarms, anything that would give me a heads up so I could grab Eden, tell the guys, and get all four of us the hell out of here.
Nothing happened. In fact, it was so uneventful that I doubt the team Leo hired actually has the file. It was probably too tough to get.
I blow out a breath, watching Leo and Eden say goodbye to other couples. They looked perfect together the whole night. My gaze drifts to her bare wedding finger. At least Leo hasn’t done that yet. Out of all of us, I was sure Oliver was going to pop the question first, but no one could’ve predicted what happened.