Ruined Castles (The Elite King's Club 8)

The door opens again and Saint and Tate are standing at the threshold.

Saint smiles up at me, her cheeks red. “Everyone is ready for you.”

I take the bottle of Grey Goose and flick off the lid, taking a long swig of the alcohol before passing it to Tate.

“Okay, let’s take a selfie.”

I raise my phone up high and we all bundle together to take a quick selfie, then I post one of just the floor and the girls surrounding me. Their black silk dresses blending with mine perfectly.

Opening up Instagram, I post the image I just took, not the selfie, and upload it with a skull.

Saint hooks her arm in mine. “Your skull face looks stunning. Is that how you always wear yours?” I reach up to touch my face as we make our way down to the bottom level of the house.

“No, not usually. I didn’t want it to be too heavy, so I asked Scarlet to only line it with pencil.”

“It looks hot,” Tillie says, picking up my dress from behind me. “Like seriously hot. Not trying too hard, but then, you know—Queens don’t have to try hard. Their people just know who she is.”

I laugh, squeezing Tate’s hand as she slides up beside me. “It’s not too late to run. I still have our old passports.” Her whispers die out as we reach the family room, where the doors are opened wide with no lighting but the candles that burn through the night and what fairy lights are drooping overhead, leading to the altar.

Oh God.

Why am I so fucking nervous?

Someone squeezes my hand and I turn to face my father, who is striking in a black suit just like the rest of the boys, only his has patterns sewn in it. “You’re going to do really well, baby. You ready?”

I take the first step down the aisle, trying not to count how many it takes to get there. I follow behind the girls, who are ahead of me, and the air whooshes through my hair, brushing a couple of stray strands over my collarbone.

The flickering flames from all of the candles illuminate a soft shade of orange through the dark space, and it’s not until Dad turns me around to kiss me on the cheek when I finally look up to Bishop, who is taking me from my father.

God.

If I was wearing panties, they’d be melted. Bishop’s tatted hand takes my chin, pulling my face to his where he kisses me gently. “Hey, baby. You look fucking beautiful.”

I can’t help but laugh, hiding my smile by tucking my lips between my teeth. Of course, he had to say something out of theme.

He takes me to the altar, where a priest stands, holding a Bible.

A damn Bible.

Good lord.

“We are gathered here today to celebrate the love between Bishop and Madison Hayes.”

Someone coughs in the crowd. “Madship. Just say Madship.” There’s chuckling and I turn to see who it is when my eyes land on Jesse, winking at me while squeezing Grace under his arm.

I shake my head and smile before going back to Bishop. His dark hair is styled slick, with the sides of his scalp shaved in a delicate fade. His skull outline is similar to mine, and only penciled so it doesn’t take away from his beautiful face.

He squeezes my hand and I come back into the now, not realizing I had lost my train of thought by how hot he looks right now.

He slips my other ring off my finger and places it onto the middle finger before taking the new one out of the box. “I, Bishop motherfucking Hayes, take you, Madison the fucking queen Mont—” He flashes a devilish grin. “Hayes, as my wife.” His thumb runs over my bottom lip and my heart short-circuits because there’s no way this frustratingly aggressive man has written his own vows. “I promise to love you when you’re screaming at me, just as much as when you’re not. I promise to chase your ass to the end of the world every goddamn day that we’re both alive, and lastly, I promise to fuck the attitude right out of you anytime I feel it coming near.”

Only Bishop. He lowers his lips onto mine.

“Till death we don’t part.”

I smile against his lips, sucking his bottom one into my mouth. “Till death we don’t part. And all of what he said.”

I can’t even get the words out of my mouth before his arm is around my back and he’s lifting me off my feet until my legs are wrapped around his waist and he’s kissing me. Loud cheers erupt around us as I vaguely hear the priest exhaustingly say, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

Bishop lowers me back to the ground before flinging me over his shoulder and carrying me back down the aisle with his hand on my ass.