5

I cashed my chip in, literally. My poor clutch wasn't able to handle the bulge of cash, so we ended up having to go back upstairs to deposit most of it in my other bag first. I kept some of it on me, just in case, and then we were off to go to the courthouse to sign the license, and then we would be off to whatever love shack venue Tucker had chosen for our nuptials.

He had to be there to obtain the license with me, but the man didn't even bother to look up as we approached, seemingly too preoccupied with his phone to care. We literally went through with obtaining a whole marriage license without him once looking in my direction. It was the oddest thing I'd ever seen and clearly the woman at the desk who had been helping us thought so too, judging by the concerned looks she kept throwing my way. I just shrugged my shoulders at her and smiled until we were done. Tucker turned then, in the opposite direction of where I was standing. "Meet you there," he mumbled and then he was off, leaving me with his best friend once again.

"Remember that time you offered to marry me?" I asked as we stood there watching Tucker's steadily disappearing form before he made it out of the door and out of sight.

"Yeah," Wes answered.

"Maybe we should rethink that," I told him. "We're here already, we can get the paperwork redone and honestly, even if it was annulled a few hours or days later, I think I'd love to see the look on your friend's face when I married you instead."

Wes laughed. "I bet you would." He put his hand on my lower back, damn close to touching skin, considering how low the dress draped open in the back. "Come on Trouble, let's go get you hitched."

I sighed. Then I pouted the whole way there, until I realized we had gone back to the hotel. "Are you smuggling me out of here?" I couldn't hide the hopeful lilt of my voice.

Wes laughed at me. "No, this is where you're getting married."

I turned shocked eyes to him. "What? Are you serious? I didn't even know they did weddings here. Wait, is he sending someone up to officiate in the suite, so no one sees?"

"Not quite," Wes murmured and then he ushered me along until we found ourselves in the Venezia Pool Gardens. Tucker stood there, under a green archway that was trimmed with beautiful aqua-hued wisteria, transforming an already gorgeous place into a fantasy. Wes guided me further along until I noticed there was a man standing before Tucker. When I glanced off to the side, I saw two very familiar brunettes standing there grinning at me as well.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I mumbled under my breath causing Wes to stop in his tracks.

"What?"

"He brought last night's hookups to our wedding? Of all the dirty, underhanded," my tangent was cut short when Wes spun me to face him.

"He never slept with them last night. Neither of us did." When I gave him a look of disbelief, he huffed. "Okay, we were going to before you effectively cockblocked the whole situation, but if you remember, we came back up to the suite with you last night."

"That doesn't mean you stayed there."

Wes sighed, but continued to explain while ignoring my challenging statement. "We ran into them this morning and they ended up asking if they could be witnesses to your wedding. We needed another person, Mina. There has to be two witness signatures on that certificate."

He shrugged his shoulders. The fact that he still thought it was no big deal, was rather astounding. It made me wonder if the women would have been the witnesses if I hadn't interrupted whatever was supposed to have gone down last night. I swallowed hard, and took a moment to get my shit together, because no matter what, this was the life I was signing up for. Nothing was real, and my feelings would never matter.

"Are you ready?" He asked as he returned his hand to the same spot on my lower back.

"I guess so," I whispered without bothering to look up at him. Instead, I put one foot forward and then the next until I was standing in front of an older gentleman, and next to Tucker, whom I had refused to look at thus far, beyond the glimpses I'd gotten of his backside on the way down the aisle.

"We are gathered here today," the officiant started, and I basically tuned out the rest until a throat clearing made me glance up from where my eyes had been trained on my feet the whole time.

"Sorry, I'm just so excited I completely blanked," I offered up the fake apology quietly and gave a quick, shy smile to the man. He chuckled, as if my words were true and he'd seen the reaction before.

"That's okay," he winked. "This is the part where you say, 'I do'," he instructed.

I nodded my head. "I do," I repeated robotically while still avoiding Tucker. It was the first time the officiant actually appeared a little uncomfortable as he then turned to Tucker and read through the vows we were supposedly swearing to. I wondered what the man would think if he knew the two women who were acting as witnesses to this farce were the ones my husband had picked up last night for a quick fuck.

"Do you have rings?" The man asked.

"No," I answered quickly at the same time Tucker said, "Yes, of course." It was the first time I glanced his way throughout the entire ceremony. He looked amazing in his tux, as if there had ever been any doubt that he would. There was a reason I refrained from looking at him this whole time, after all. It wasn't like I was going to get the hot, sweaty wedding night to go with the ceremony. Nope, that honor would probably go to one of our witnesses. I glanced back at them seeing pity on one of their faces. She was the one to whisper in my ear the night before about her sister. The other was too busy eye-fucking Tucker to even notice.

A warm hand took hold of mine and pulled it forward, placing a ring there on my left finger. I didn't bother to look at it. Instead, I felt the other ring – the one that belonged to him – as it was placed in my palm. I took it and with mechanical movements, placed it on his finger. I didn't get to ignore his ring, since I had to see what I was doing to get it on him. The unexpectedly heavy ring was actually kind of stunning. The band was black, with what appeared to be silver etchings throughout and a smaller, offset band of color that oddly enough matched the dress I'd worn. As the light hit it with movement, the color blazed greener in one instant and bluer in another. I was mesmerized momentarily by its beauty.

The man marrying us spoke again, so I didn't get the chance to check it out more in depth. Instead, I heard the dreaded words, "You may kiss the bride." Having missed the pronouncement of us being man and wife completely, I was shocked when Tucker moved closer and took my face in his hands before leaning down and kissing me rather soundly. I hadn't been expecting the kiss, to be honest.

I thought he might place a quick peck on my lips, considering how much I apparently repulsed him. Instead, I got the full deal, complete with his tongue licking at the seam of my lips until I opened for him. Hand to God, I only did that because I was in shock that it was happening at all. It was only when he released me, and I glanced around, that I realized the entire thing had been filmed. I'd have to watch it later, because I didn't feel like I was present for any of it beyond that damned kiss. "You look absolutely stunning, Mina," Tucker whispered in my ear before he moved completely away from me.

"We'll just need the two of you to sign the certificate, then your witnesses, and the rest will be taken care of for you," the man interrupted. We moved in to sign the paperwork as requested, then Wes and one of the women – thankfully, the one who seemed to take pity on me – moved in to sign as witnesses. When the other woman also attempted to do so, Wes stopped her and pulled her away. I wondered what that was all about, but honestly, in the big scheme of things, it didn't really matter.

Once again, I stood there, sort of floundering and wondering what the hell I was supposed to do with myself now. I turned to find Wes arguing with the woman, Tucker was speaking to the officiant as the other lady – I wished I knew her name – signed my marriage certificate, and I just felt utterly lost. While everyone was occupied, I wandered off to go check out the little pool and statuary we had passed on the way in. My shoes slipped off my feet easily enough as I hiked up the long, billowy skirt of the dress I'd worn and dipped my toes in the water.

I could still hear bits and pieces of the conversation Wes was having with that woman, though it was muffled enough that it sounded more like those old Charlie Brown cartoons when the teacher tried to speak. Honestly, I wished they would just shut up or go away so I could enjoy the serenity of the place. I leaned back on the soft, green grass so that my weight was held up by my elbows and forearms as I threw my head back, eyes closed, and let the little bit of sun that filtered through warm my cheeks as my feet swished back and forth in the pool.

To be sure, I was probably breaking several different rules about not trampling grass or swimming in the pools that weren't meant for that, but I didn't care. What's the worst that could happen? They kick me out and I go home. Home. That sent a queasy feeling rippling through my stomach because I honestly had no clue what the word meant anymore. I was married now and would be expected to live with my husband. I imagined that meant we would be jetting back to his bachelor pad in the city. I could only hope that there was a bedroom on the opposite end of the apartment so that I wouldn't have to deal with listening to my new husband's sexploits with other women.

"What are you doing over here?" The man of the hour asked from somewhere behind me.

"I guess I held you up too long with the official stuff. Looks like your bride found a place of peace to wait," the officiant from our wedding stated. I opened one eye just wide enough to peek at him and then offered up a smile.

"You have to admit, this is a lovely spot," I explained, and it was the first time since my day had begun, that the words coming out of my mouth didn't feel like a lie.

"I figured that's why you both chose the area. Your husband told me you would love it."

I managed to keep the fake smile plastered to my face because my fake husband had no clue what I would love. "Well, I wish you both the best, but it would seem my part in this is over now. I'll leave you to enjoy by yourselves." The last line was said as he glanced over his shoulder to see that the two women, along with Wes, were striding over. He made his hasty retreat, and I turned my face back up toward the sun, while trying to tune everything else out.

"So," one of the women said once they were close enough. "Are we going to head off and celebrate now?" I didn't even need to look to know which one was speaking.

"Amber," the other woman hissed.

"What? It's not like she doesn't know the score," the woman – Amber – answered.

"You can leave now," Wes stated, anger lacing his voice as he did. "You've served your purpose." It was cruel, or would have been if the woman hadn't been flaunting it in my face on my wedding day, that she planned to hook up with my new husband. That was a cunty move on her part.

"Served my purpose?" She asked in a snide tone.

"Yeah, you want to act like a whore and cause waves on their wedding day, then that's how I'll treat you."

"They're not in love or anything," the woman argued.

"Jesus, Amber, what the hell is wrong with you? It doesn't matter if they have feelings for one another, no woman wants to think about her wedding night as the moment she first watched her husband walk off to be with someone else."

Didn't that just sum the whole day up, and probably my whole marriage too. I stood from my comfy little spot that had once been peaceful but was now tainted by this ridiculous display. I turned to Tucker, looked him in the eye, and then scanned over until I had Wes's attention. "Good call, having your Vegas hookups come to the wedding. Thanks for ruining the five peaceful moments I had today."

I didn't wait for anyone to say anything else; I just left and went back to the hotel suite to pack up my shit. If I had it my way, I'd be able to find a flight back home tonight. Thanks to Mr. Poker Chip from last night, I had the means in my bag to do it without worrying about breaking my bank.