Kissing Her

“Yes, Ragnar.” She looks up at me with flushed cheeks and I’m so desperate I consider kidnapping her and just taking her home. But I don’t want to give her family any reason to not let her go with me or to deny me what’s mine.

“Goodnight, sweet Bee.” I can’t help myself and I kiss her once again as I hear the front door open.

“Bee, time to come in,” her mother says, and I’m sure it’s because her father told her to do it. He gave us a moment to say goodnight, but that’s all I’m getting right now.

I clench my fists at my side as I watch her go, and I know in that moment that I’ll never let her out of arm’s reach again. I’m not going to get any sleep tonight waiting on the moment when I can have her as mine, but I’ll do the best I can to pass the time. I’ve got a few calls to make and things to set in place, but by morning she’ll have my last name and my ring on her finger.

I might be a criminal with dirty money, but it’s going to buy me the purest and sweetest girl I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Chapter Eleven

Bee

I should have gone with him.

The thought plays over and over in my mind as I sit at the dinner table with my family. It’s quiet and it’s making me antsy. I have to fight to sit still. Normally Melina is going on and on about the wedding, but right now It feels like everyone is staring at me. When I peek up I see that everyone is, except for my dad. He’s doing something on his phone and if I had to guess it’s checking his bank account. But the worst part is the anger rolling off Melina because I can feel it like a living thing in the room. Dad doesn’t care and for once she isn’t at the top of his list.

“Did you see those tablecloth samples, Melina?” my mom asks her, and I know she’s trying to lighten the mood, but Melina isn’t going to let her. She wants everyone to know she’s mad and intends to take it out on us.

“I don’t care,” she says, and we all look to her.

She cares about every detail of this wedding and it’s all she talks about. I never gave a wedding much thought before now, but I’m marrying Ragnar tomorrow. The giddy feeling I had when he told my dad he wanted to marry me bubbles up inside again. I have to fight to hide it, which is always what I do in front of Melina. If she knew how badly I wanted something, she’d want it, too, but there’s only one of Ragnar and I’m not letting her dig her claws into him. I hadn’t thought about Ragnar wanting my sister, but hearing him say it felt good. I’m someone’s number one for once.

The only thing I care about is being with Ragnar tomorrow. It’s only hours away and I’ll be his forever. The title wife doesn’t seem so scary now. It feels perfect. I’m trying not to rock the boat at home even though I hate that Ragnar had to pay to marry me. It makes it all feel dirty and wrong, but Ragnar is willing to do anything to have me. He didn’t bat an eye over the money because he wanted me without having to wait.

“You have to care.” My mom reaches out to try and pat Melina’s hand, but she jerks it back and drops her silverware loudly on her plate.

I go back to staring at my food and moving it around my plate. It’s bland and I’m still full from the food at the mall. Everything here feels bland now and I realize that it was this way all along. I had a peek of a different kind of life when Ragnar pulled back the curtain. Now I’m eager to step behind it with him.

“Whatever,” Melina snips, folding her arms over her chest. She was happy when she went on her shopping spree, but I knew that would be short-lived.

“Call it a night, Melina. I’m not going to watch you pout.” My dad picks up his phone from off the table and leaves the room. He’s been on the thing since Ragnar left and he’s giddy with excitement. Two hundred thousand dollars is a ton of money and yet Mom is impassive about everything. I can’t get a read on her and I wonder if it’s because no matter what, my father will control the money so it doesn’t matter how much they get.

Melina pushes back from her seat and stomps out of the room, leaving her plate for me to clean up.

“I guess no one is eating.” Mom grabs Dad’s plate and her own and takes them to the kitchen.