Strip Search (Tap That)

His bride.

For a second he seriously could not breathe.

They weren’t just playing with fire here, they were juggling with dynamite.

Because everything about this was so wrong and so right and so completely ass backwards that he didn’t know how he could do this without talking to Leighton first and telling her everything that was running through his head.

He was about to start down the aisle to her, to say what, he had no idea.

But Leighton beat him to the punch. She picked up her skirt with one hand and started running. Stunned, he just watched her.

“What the hell is she doing?” Rick asked, bewildered.

The guests were all giving gasps and exclamations. Jackson was running after her, camera up, as were two other guys behind him left and right. Leighton tossed her bouquet of flowers into her mother’s lap as she ran up to him.

And right past him.

What the fuck was going on?

Axl reached out and grabbed Leighton by the arm, whirling her around. Panic was written all over her features.

“Sweetheart, what are you doing?” he asked, trying to pull her close to him. “Talk to me.”

“I made a huge mistake,” she whispered frantically. “This isn’t me. I can’t do this.”

He knew exactly what she meant. He was feeling the same way. This wasn’t them. All the cameras, the elegance, the fuss.

The fakeness.

Speaking of cameras, one popped up over his shoulder. He turned and glared at Jackson. “Get that out of my face or I’ll break it.”

“I need to get the shot.”

Axl pushed the camera down so he could see Jackson’s face. “Back the fuck off. Now.”

When he turned back to Leighton she was breathing hard and swiping at her veil, which had dragged across her cheek. “I have to get out of here, Axl. Seriously.”

“Are you saying you don’t want to do this?” What shocked him was how much that made his heart drop into his gut.

“I want this to be real,” Leighton said. She looked up at him with her heart in her eyes, and he saw his future. “Is this real?”

“No, it’s not real.” He opened his mouth to expound on that. To tell her that it could be real.

But Leighton gave a cry of dismay and ripped herself out of his grip. She ran out of the back of the greenhouse, jumping off the back ledge and twisting her ankle.

“Leighton!” He ran after her, scared. He didn’t know where she thought she was going and he wanted a chance to talk to her. To explain.

“Holy shit,” someone said from behind him.

“Do not follow them,” he heard Rick order the cameraman.

A woman was wailing and trying to get through the crowd. A glance back showed it was Barbie dressed to the nines, slapping at her husband, who was keeping her from running after Leighton. “Let me go to my baby!”

It was chaos and drama and something he could honestly say he would have never thought he would be a part of in his entire lifetime.

Leaping off the stairs down into the grass he went after Leighton. She had thrown her veil off and abandoned her shoes so she could run faster, but she was wearing a skin-tight dress and it wasn’t easy to move in that thing. He caught up with her within fifteen feet.

But when he went to grab her hand and stop her, she slapped at her. “Get away from me.”