Page 7 of Crossing the Red Line (Vancouver Dominators)

Ella

Lucas pulled me close and pressed a kiss to my cheek. It was this sort of moment I missed the most. I closed my eyes and rested my head against his shoulder, which allowed him to place another kiss on my forehead.

“You know, babe, it’s not too late for us to rectify this problem of marriage. If you are serious about this, that is.” He winked.

At first, my heart jumped into my throat as his blue eyes stared down into mine.

Was he serious? I swallowed hard, then my racing heart slowed as I remembered where we were.

Vegas, the land of glitz and glamour and fake everything.

It would be just like the movies. A silly decision leads you to one of those little chapels on the strip, get married, only to find out the Elvis impersonator who married you was a fake.

Seriously, all those little wedding places weren’t real. I knew that because one of Layla’s friend had used one to get her ex-boyfriend back by marrying his best friend. He’d flipped out at first only to learn that it was as fake as ever.

“Um…what problem?” I questioned, trying to play into the situation and add a little excitement to everything by pretending I didn’t know what he was talking about.

I could feel his mother and sisters watching us, which somehow added extra pressure to the moment.

As he studied my eyes, my mind flashed to last night, to the feeling of being with him again.

Then I thought of how wonderful this weekend had been, even if we had only been pretending.

What a better thing to add to the memory of this weekend but a fake ceremony?

“Don’t keep us in suspense. Answer him,” I heard his mother say. “I need to know if we should make an appointment for a wedding today.”

“Sure, why the hell not?” I said, the words falling from my lips as I stared up into his eyes.

Lucas looked at me, not sure how to respond. Why did he look shocked? Had he not watched movies? Had I never told him about Layla’s friend?

As we stood there staring into one another’s eyes, his mother let out a squeal of excitement and began clapping her hands.

“Girls, girls, girls, it looks like there will be a wedding after all!”

I caught Corinne and Janice both whispering something to their mother, but I didn’t catch what it was because I hadn’t been able to tear my eyes from Lucas. Why did he look so panicked?

I was about to lean over and whisper to Lucas if I could talk to him for a moment and explain to him this wasn’t real when I felt someone pull at my hand. As I tore my eyes from Lucas’s, I looked down at his mother’s phone to see a little chapel on the screen.

“What is this?” I questioned.

“Only the best little chapel in all of Vegas, Midnight Moments. They have an opening in an hour, and I just booked the pair of you in.” She smiled, pulling me away from Lucas. “Isn’t that wonderful?”

“It looks perfect,” I said, feeling giddy inside.

I was about to ask his mother a question when Corinne and Janice took hold of my hand and began leading me away from Lucas and his mother.

“Where are we going?” I questioned.

“Well, you can’t marry my bother in jeans and a T-shirt, so we are going to get you a dress.”

I looked down at myself. It was a fake wedding chapel; I didn’t need to spend any money on a dress, I thought to myself, but didn’t want to ruin the moment.

The girls continued to pull me toward a shop, and that was when I shrugged and decided I’d just get a dress I could wear again.

When I looked up, I saw Lucas and his mother head into a shop for men.

Why were they acting like this was real, I wondered. Regardless, if Lucas was going along with it, who was I to say anything? So instead, I said nothing and began flipping through the dresses on the rack in front of me.