Her blush deepened.

“But what really got me,” I whispered, “was that every single one of your quotes…were about true love. About surprises and a lot of them, about being fearless.”

Her eyes smiled. “You taught me that. To be fearless.”

“Yeah, well.” I slowly nudged her off my lap and got to my feet, bringing her with me. “I’m taking a cue from all that advice and all five hundred of those romance books and doing something really scary.”

“Marrying me is scary?”

“Hell, no,” I growled pulling her against my chest, kissing her head, damn just touching her shook my self-control. “But planning an impromptu wedding in front of all your friends and family without telling you? Yeah, it may have freaked me out.”

“What?” Her eyes went were so wide that I was afraid she was going to pass out from the strain. “I’m sorry, impromptu wedding?”

“Surprise?” I lifted her into my arms and carried her into the house.

“But I didn’t see anyone and—”

“Oh, thank God.” The words came out in a rush as Lisa slumped in relief and smiled. “She said yes!” The relief was short-lived, as two seconds later Lisa was running towards us with a hairbrush in one hand and some sort of torture device in the other. “We only have like two hours.”

“Two hours?” Kiersten repeated.

I set her on her feet and kissed her forehead. “See you girls at the ceremony.”

“Ceremony?”

Lisa and I both nodded then shared a high five behind Kiersten’s head.

“But…my aunt and uncle—”

“You think my dad would let me forget about Uncle Jobob? Geez, they’re worse than two old ladies. I’m shocked your uncle kept the secret this long. Now, go get ready. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Reluctantly, I left Kiersten in Lisa’s hands and went outside. Gabe was waiting around the corner in my SUV. When he saw me wave, he drove up and unlocked the doors. “So?”

“She said yes!”

“Thank God,” he grumbled.

I paused in the middle of climbing in and frowned at him. “Did you guys doubt me?”

“Girls are weird.” Gabe lifted his hands into the air. “I think we know this by now.

“True.” I smirked. “Oh, and I’m waiting.”

“Bastard,” Gabe mumbled under his breath then said, “Weston freaking Michels is a badass.”

I cleared my throat. “And?”

“Do we really have to do this?” He groaned.

I crossed my arms.

“And, when the time comes I’m naming my firstborn after him.” His head shook as he fought a smile.

We laughed the entire way to the ceremony location. Gabe said Kiersten would freak out—in a bad way. He said girls needed plans. Taking control from them—especially considering girly things like weddings—was like asking to get your balls chopped off with a rusty knife.

But he didn’t know Kiersten like I did.

And that was okay.

“A love so deep. A love so wide. A love so extravagant—that even death wouldn’t deter me from an eternity by your side. Can you imagine that type of love, Kiersten? Can you fathom it? Well, can you?”—Wes Michels

Kiersten

Lisa tugged my hair with a brush and then set to work on braiding it into a loose crown around my head.

“How did you keep this a secret?” I gasped as she pulled a bit too hard and glared when she smiled like she’d done it on purpose.

“If I can keep my identity a secret as well as Gabe’s secret life—I can surely keep a surprise wedding a secret.” She grinned at me through the mirror. “Vault. I’m a vault.”

“Rrrriiiight.” I laughed, while she shoved a few bobby pins into the base of the braid and grabbed the hairspray.

“Hold your breath. I don’t want this to fall out.”

I covered my face with my hands and took a deep breath as the cold hairspray hit the base of my neck and top of my head.

“Now.” Lisa set down the can. “Makeup and the dress.”

I giggled—I couldn’t help it. Was this really happening? Was I going to be a wife in a few hours? How the heck had Wes planned everything? It was a tie between being so nervous I wanted to puke and being so excited I couldn’t actually sit still.

I hadn’t told Wes—mainly because I didn’t want to add to the stress, but with everything going on with Gabe, things had felt distant. I know he wanted to be there for his friend, but between practice and him making sure Gabe didn’t jump out a window—I’d kind of fallen into the cracks. Though if I were being completely honest to myself it felt more like a giant chasm.

“Hey…” Lisa held out a dress. “You ready for the fairy tale?”

I gasped when she zipped open the garment bag. The color white made everything more real. The material shimmered and beckoned from the bag. The lamplight from the room gave the beading a warm glow. I was almost afraid that if I touched the dress it would disappear. “Is that for me?”

“From your future husband—he flew it in from France.”

“WHAT?” I shrieked.

“Wes Michels does style good.” Lisa’s smile grew to epic proportions. She clapped her hands in excitement. “Then again he may have had the super awesome best friend of the bride help out a bit with measurements.” Lisa giggled and thrust the dress into my arms. “Now hurry and get dressed, we don’t have a ton of time.”

The type of love that makes you want to laugh out loud—scream a bit—run in circles—and then repeat? Yeah that’s how I felt about Wes. Totally. Out. Of. Control. Giddiness.—Kiersten

Lisa

My smile felt so forced that it ached. Don’t get me wrong. I was really excited for Kiersten—what type of friend would I be if I wasn’t excited?

I felt like the last one. The redheaded stepchild. However, you want to look at it. Wes had Kiersten…Gabe had Saylor…

And I had…a shady past filled with the memory of a guy I’d betrayed. A guy I could have loved—but had destroyed instead.

Yeah, so much for happy memories.

“How’s it look?” Kiersten emerged from the bathroom and twirled. The dress was actually an embellished bodice with a sweetheart cut, while the skirt was around seven layers of lace and intricate beading. It had a definite Spanish flair. It was something I knew Kiersten would love.

And when I’d tried to show Wes, he’d covered his eyes and pulled out his credit card and mumbled something about not wanting to see the dress before the wedding and that I should do “whatever it takes” to make the love of his life happy.

I snatched that credit card with lightning speed—no girl should say no to a Wes Michels credit card, those bad boys have no limit, which was also a perk since I’d had it shipped that very day.

“You look beautiful.” I fought the tears clogging my throat as Kiersten’s smile filled the room with joy. I had to look away. I needed to look away because it broke my heart that I would never have that same type of joy. That same smile. I didn’t deserve it and part of me wondered if I ever really wanted it in the first place. When you want something, you fight for it, right? And I never fought. I just gave in, over and over again. I gave in to the nameless faces, the touches, the numerous advances…and then there was Taylor.

I didn’t give in to him. Not the first time. Or even the second, but the third? The fourth? The fifth? Sixth? Seventh? I’d lost count. And he’d turned out to be a monster. So I’d tried to leave. But the thing about leaving someone who’s a sociopath? They always find you.

For years, I’d never regretted what happened, what I did. It had to happen in order for me to survive…but watching Wes and Kiersten—it made me regret things, things I had no business regretting, because in the end I couldn’t turn back time. I couldn’t get my dignity back, my pride, my heart. Those had all died right along with his black soul.

Plato believed that reasoning originated within the brain, but passion? Passion originated in what he called the fiery heart. Separate from all logic—fueled by blood, driven by passions. I for one, completely side with Plato, how else could I explain the way she made me feel? It went against logic. It went against life. Against death. It was transcendent. —Wes Michels