Clay didn't even flinch "I know we're young Brian, but I love your daughter more than anything" Clay said.
Brian punched him full in the face almost knocking him over, I screamed again. Richard jumped up and grabbed Brian "That's my son!" he said shoving him away from Clay. Everyone was on their feet now shouting at each other, Brian was trying to get to Clay, Richard was holding him back. Even our Mom's were shouting at their husbands crying.
I looked at Clay, his lip was bleeding and he looked angry. He grabbed my hand and forced me behind him as Brian broke free of Richard and lunged to grab my hand. "You're not staying married to him Riley! Get up to your room now! Tomorrow we go see a lawyer and get this mess sorted out" he screamed angrily.
"We're not getting divorced" I said quietly gripping hold of the back of Clay's shirt. I felt him tense as Brian tried to lunge for me again, he turned his body slightly so I was out of reach.
"Like hell you're not! You're getting divorced, we're not going to stand by while you two throw your lives away, I mean your not even dating, you're kids" Richard shouted.
My Mom and Linda glanced at each other, "Brian calm down please, we need to talk about this, there has to be something that can be done without a divorce, is it even legal? Riley's not 18, I mean what about an annulment?" my Mom asked as if that would solve all of the problems.
Not legal? Oh God are we not really married? I felt sick with dissapointment, I pushed the feeling away there was no time to think about it now, if it's not legal then we'll deal with that later, get married again or something. "We're not getting an annulment either, Clay and I want to be married" I said confidently.
Richard walked up to me quickly and slapped me across the face. Instantly Clay let out what sounded like a growl and grabbed his father shoving him hard against the wall.
"You don't ever touch her! I don't care if you are my father, if you ever lay a finger on my wife again I WILL kill you" he said so angry the tone of his voice should have killed him alone. He turned round to Brian "That goes for you too" he growled walking back to me and stroking my face tenderly.
"I love Riley and she loves me. We're staying married. It doesn't matter how old we are, I thought you'd be happy for us but obviously I was wrong" he said taking my hand, and turning us towards the door. "Come on beautiful girl lets go" he said pushing me gently towards the door and following closely behind.
Suddenly his hand was ripped from mine, I turned back to see him on the floor, Brian was punching him. "You're not taking my daughter anywhere you stupid little prick" he shouted as he punched him again.
Clay threw him off easily without hurting him too much, I noticed that he hadn't made any moves to attack anyone other than the threat he made to Richard, he was firmly in control unlike our parents. Our Mom's were clinging to each other crying, Clay grabbed my hand and pulled me to his car grabbing our luggage that we had taken to Vegas, which he had luckily left on the porch steps. He threw them into the back and opened my door for me making sure I was in safely before he walked around to the drivers side. My Mom came bursting through the front door with Linda hot on her heels.
I opened my window so I could talk to them, "Wait! Where are you going? Don't just leave please we can talk about this, Brian will calm down eventually" my Mom said coming to my window. Clay was in the car now.
"Mom we can't talk to them while they're like that, look what he did to Clay" I said crying and pointing to his rapidly bruising face and split lip.
"I'm so sorry Clay, I can't believe Brian would do that to you, he loves you" my Mom sobbed.
"Sarah it's fine, but we need to go, I don't want Riley anywhere near them while they're like that she could get hurt" Clay said angrily looking back towards the house.
"But where will you go?" Linda asked still crying.
"We'll find a motel or something" Clay said sounding unsure.
"Do you need money?" Linda asked grabbing money from her pocket and holding out what looked like a hundred dollars.
Clay shook his head, "No we're fine but thanks for the offer Mom" he said smiling sadly at her.
"Please don't go" she begged.
My Mom reached through the window and gripped my left hand looking at my rings, "They're beautiful honey, congratulations, both of you" she said smiling but with tears still in her eyes.
"Thanks Mom, I'll call you ok" I said hugging her awkwardly through the car window.
"Take care of her for me" my Mom said to Clay.
He smiled at her, "I will I promise" he said sincerely.
She blew him a kiss "I know you will, you're a good boy" she said smiling at us both before stepping back to let Linda closer to the window.
"Call me when you get to where you're going, don't let them drive you away please" she begged hugging me.
"We'll call you tomorrow while they're at work maybe we could come over and pick up some of our clothes and stuff?" Clay asked hopefully. She nodded looking sad, the front door opened again and Brian and Richard started making their was down the drive to the car arguing between themselves.
"We need to go, love you Mom" Clay called as he started the engine, she stepped backwards and Clay pulled out. I turned in my seat to see our Mom's hugging and crying but they both were smiling slightly. Brian still looked angry as hell and Richard just looked like he was still in shock, I waved and then burst into tears.
Clay drove us away and stopped after a few minutes, he unbuckled my seat belt and pulled me onto his lap putting his forehead to mine. "I am so sorry Riley bear, I'm so sorry" he said apologetically. I looked at his beautiful face, his cheekbone had a red tinge to it, he had a cut on the bridge of his nose and purplish shadows forming under his eyes and his lip was split. I touched his face while hissing through my teeth, he winced slightly but smiled to cover it up.
"Oh God Clay, are you ok?" I asked sobbing again, he pulled me into a hug.
"I'm fine beautiful girl, I'm just so sorry that this happened" he said sadly.
I pulled back to look at him. "Are you sorry you married me?" I asked desperately.
He shook his head immediately. "I will never be sorry that I married you" he said sincerely, "Are you sorry you married me?" he asked looking worried about my answer.
"Well the wedding night was a bit of a let down" I joked making him laugh.
He kissed me but pulled away quickly "Ow" he said touching his lip.
I put my forehead back to his, "What are we gonna do Clay?" I asked tears falling down my face slowly, he kissed them away gently even though it probably hurt him to do it.
"Let's go find a motel or something, then tomorrow we'll go get our clothes and stuff and we can start apartment hunting" he said easily as if this was something that happened everyday.
His lip had started to bleed again slightly where he kissed me, I leaned in and licked it, his metallic tasting blood touching my tongue, in a strange way it actually tasted nice, he moaned slightly and I pulled back thinking I had hurt him. He smiled "That was nice Riley bear" he said huskily, I leant in and traced my tongue across his lip again, he opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out touching mine.
I moved closer being careful not touch his lips as I sucked on his tongue, he slid his hands up my back pulling me closer to him, I ran my hands through his messy blonde hair and then pulled back to look at him. My husband. It didn't matter about anything else, he would be the only thing that it would hurt me to lose.
I sighed, "Ok then come on, lets go check into a motel, we better stop and get some stuff for your face, because baby you look a mess" I said smiling sadly.
"Yeah but you still love me" he said confidently.
"Hmm I don't know, your face was my favourite part" I said narrowing my eyes playfully. He laughed as I climbed back onto my seat and clipped myself back in.
We stopped t the nearest pharmacy and I jumped out buying cotton wool and antiseptic for Clay, then we drove on to a motel. We walked to the reception where the girl behind the counter was eyeing Clay even though he looked a little worse for ware, but I must admit that the cuts and bruises gave him a bad boy edge that really worked well on him.
"Hi can we get a room please" Clay asked her.
"Sure hon, you want two singles?" she asked eyeing me with annoyance.
He laughed "No I think my wife and I would like a double if you have one, but I'm pretty sure we could work a single too, right beautiful girl?" he said winking at me. She shot me a dirty look as he paid for the room then went back to undressing him with her eyes right in front of me.
"He rocks those bruises huh?" I said as she looked him over again, she shot me another dirty look and nodded.
"He certainly does, usually I don't go for married guys but for you I'll make an exception" she purred at Clay.
I laughed, "Yeah ok, good luck with that one" I said dismissively, Clay grabbed my ass and pulled me into a long kiss which started his lip bleeding again but he didn't seem to care.
She slapped the key on the counter, "I gave you room 4, it has a bath and a TV" she said still looking at Clay like she had a chance.
"Thanks but I don't think we'll be watching much TV tonight" Clay said smirking at her as he took the key and dragged me out to room 4, I grabbed a bag of ice from the cooler on the way past.
The room was ok, it was clean and had a double bed, TV, fridge and air conditioning, it had its own bathroom with a bath and separate shower. He grabbed me into another kiss but I pushed him off quickly, "Sit" I instructed pulling out the dresser chair, he sat down obediently and I grabbed the stuff from the pharmacy. I set to work cleaning his face and then setting the ice his face to try and keep some of the bruises away.
He pulled me down on his lap so I was straddling his legs while I worked. He was tracing his hands up and down my thighs making me hot, I slapped his hands away, "Will you stop I'm trying to concentrate" I said trying to sound stern. He smiled his cocky grin and moved his hands back to my legs again, "Stop! I need to clean your face up Clay" I said trying not to smile. He pulled me towards him and pressed his lips lightly to mine, I could taste the antiseptic on his mouth.
"I love you so much Mrs Preston" he said putting his forehead to mine and stroking my face.
"I love you too Clay" I said smiling getting butterflies in my stomach. Oh crap are we really not married like my Mom said? "Clay was it really not legal because I'm not 18?" I asked worriedly.
He frowned and shrugged, "I don't know RIley, we'll have to look into it I guess, I hope it was" he said quietly. Oh God I hope it was too, I never really thought about being married to Clay but now that I was I wanted it so badly I would do anything for it.
"If it's not legal then I'll just have to marry you again in a year" I said flirtily. That was the only solution, we could get married again on my birthday if it wasn't legal.
He sighed dramatically, "Oh well I guess I can cope with another wedding night, seen as I let you down the first time" he said teasingly making me laugh. He kissed me softly tucking my hair behind my ear, "How about I order us a pizza?" he suggested, I nodded not even realising how hungry I was until he said.
Chapter 18
I woke up early the next morning and climbed out of the bed as quietly as I could so I didn't wake him and put on my clothes. I snuck out of the room and went to sit on the nearest bench. I'd been thinking about this all night, I didn't want to move out and get a place if we didn't have to. I didn't want Clay to have to earn money to pay the bills if there was some way we cold work this out with our parents.
My Mom and Brian loved Clay, this was all just a shock that's all, well that's what I was hoping for anyway. I was hoping that if I called them maybe I could convince them to let Clay and I live there together, I mean he practically lived at my house anyway.
I called the house silently praying for my Mom to answer, I was still mad at Brian for hurting Clay but he'd convinced me last night not to hold a grudge. I guess he was doing what any father would have done to a guy who had just told him he married his teenage daughter in Vegas. I was still angry but I guess I needed to let it go and get it sorted quickly before Clay and I needed to rent a place, I didn't want to stay in the motel forever.
I held my breath while the phone rang, eventually Brian answered.
"Hi it's me" I said closing my eyes waiting for his reaction, please be ok!
"Riley! Where the hell are you young lady? You get back here right now so we can sort this damn mess out" he growled, wow he hadn't calmed down at all.
"Brian, there's nothing to sort out, Clay and I love each other, we want to be married" I said trying out my most persuasive voice in a bid to calm him down. This act usually worked to his face but I'd never tried it over the phone before.
"There sure as hell is something to sort out Riley! You can't be married at 17 for f**k sake, get home now" he ordered making me flinch slightly.
"No, I just wondered if there was anything we could do to sort all of this out, stay married but come home?" I asked hopefully even though I knew it was pointless to even ask.
He gasped, "Are you kidding? If you want to come home then come home, but you do it alone, you understand what I'm saying?" he shouted. I could hear my Mom crying in the background.
"Brian please don't make me choose between you and Clay" I said pleadingly.