Addicted After All(190)
Make it to Loren Hale.
Make it to Loren Hale.
I repeat the mantra with each step forward. Connor stands behind Loren, officiating the wedding, but I focus solely on my best friend, shutting out the surroundings for an extended moment.
In a perfectly fitted tux, Lo waits at the end of the aisle for me, his hands cupped in front of his body. Those intoxicating amber eyes never diverge from mine, never break or part or leave me.
He is ice and scotch, sharp and dizzying—breathtakingly gorgeous. And when he looks at me, I see those thousands of memories course through his gaze. The seven-year-old us performing a backyard ceremony. The nine-year-old us racing around his father’s mansion.
The fifteen-year-old us flipping through comic books on his bed.
We have consumed each other from day one. And we truly never let go.
Only a few paces from Lo, my dad kisses my cheek, returns to his seat next to my mom. Rose collects the bouquet from me, and I’m whisked by my own feet to Lo’s side
Magnetically, we cling together, his hand slipping into mine, our legs knocking as they find each other. We stand so close, like we fear someone else pulling us apart. I subconsciously tune out the music, and Lo cups my face, his eyes dancing across my features.
Mine fly across his.
I’d like to skip ahead, to the part where we kiss. Lo must read me well. His smile suddenly dimples his cheeks, and he whispers, “Soon.”
Soon. I like that.
“Lily, Lo,” Connor says, attempting to deter my gaze. It works after he calls my name a second time. And I plant them on the well-dressed, impeccably styled Connor Cobalt. He’s a billion dollars, and the perfect officiator for our wedding.
Lo told him nothing formal for the ceremony, something short and sweet.
“Before you each say a few words to each other,” Connor tells us, “there’s something we all want to say to you.”
My brows scrunch and I look to Lo. He shakes his head at me like he wasn’t warned about this plan. I scan my family in the audience, and my mom’s already dabbing her eyes with tissues. Jonathan is beaming with pride, and my sisters…I turn to them, and they’ve sincerely lost it. Daisy is passing a tissue box down the line.
They’re crying before I am.
What’s going on?
Connor picks up where he left off. “I speak for everyone here today,” he tells us, “when I say that you two—Lily and Loren—are the strongest people we’ve all ever had the honor to meet.”
My eyes well. What? Lo squeezes my hand.
Connor remains stoic, his grin genuine and heartfelt. “You both have spent years praising all of us for our talents and our strengths, but you were too blinded by your own foibles to even realize how much we’ve revered you. For years, we’ve watched you fight for this future, for each other, and you’ve conquered a larger battle in your lifetime than most of us will ever come to see.”
I feel the tears roll down my cheeks, my chin trembling. I never ever believed someone could say something like that to us. This is a dream, but I know it’s not. Because Lo squeezes my hand again, his eyes misted too.
And Connor says, “You are our heroes, and today, we are grateful to celebrate your love and your life together.”
Lo wipes his eyes with his sleeve. “Goddamn, Connor.”
Everyone lets out tearful, emotional laughs. I do too, and Lo uses his thumb to dry off my face.
“You two have the floor,” Connor tells us, taking a step back.
Our turn. I look up at Lo again, one of his hands on my hip, the bare skin where my skirt meets my top.
“First or second?” he asks me.
We didn’t write down vows. We told each other to just say whatever hits us in the moment. I knew that if I tuned out the audience, his groomsmen, my bridesmaids—I’d be able to accomplish the task without stage fright. It’s already begun. The last figure I see in my peripheral is Maximoff Hale, my smiling, happy superhero son.
“First,” I whisper. “I’ll go first.”
His fingers are lost in my hair, his large hand encasing my cheek. I think back to days upon days with him. And I begin, “If someone ever asks how long we’ve spent together, I’d say for as long as my mind stretches back. I can’t tell you the day that I fell in love with you because there wasn’t a single day that I didn’t.” My voice shakes with more joy than I’ve ever known. “You have the purest parts of my heart, and I’m certain that in every alternate universe, I’m always, always in love with you.”