your heart just like exploded from love overload.”
“I know. There would’ve been tiny little heart daggers all over.”
“Wow. Sounds scary.”
“I know, and your nice little tux would be coated in blood… which might look sexy.”
Jackson shakes his head. “It would not look sexy!”
“You know what would have been cool? If I could slingshot the ring onto your finger! Or if we could only marry each other if we shot an arrow through the ring. Fuck. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Dammit, Jackson, we need to tell that lady that we can’t get married yet!”
“Sweetheart. As much as I love your insane ideas, can you imagine how long it’d take me to shoot anything through a hole that small? We could do it for our one-year anniversary.”
“Ooh, good idea. For every year we’re together, I’ll make it harder.”
“Or you could worry about making something else harder.”
“Nah, that’s not difficult at all to make hard. I can just give you a look and it’s hard,” I say as I scrunch up my nose and purse my lips. “Are you hard?”
“Instantly hard.”
“Fuck, I knew I was good,” I say as he laughs.
“My mom’s coming so please don’t make me too hard with your wickedly good looks,” Jackson says.
“I’ll try not to but sometimes I can’t contain the smoking-hot sizzle of my wickedly fuckable bod.”
“We just have to make it through the reception, and then you can show me all about your hot sizzle.”
“You like my sizzle, dontcha?”
“I have to admit, I might fancy it a bit,” he says.
Ava walks up and scrutinizes us. “Alright, stand next to each other.”
“What if you position them with the pond to their backs,” Lewis says as he waves us to step over. When we do, he gives us a big smile.
“Pictures are so strange to me,” I say. I guess because it wasn’t really something I ever did. My parents probably never bothered to take any and Lucas sure as hell didn’t. “The only times I took pictures was for my new identities. I’ve been a Donny, Percy, Dominic, and Sally.”
“Wait, hold on. Tell me about this last one,” Jackson says.
“Will you two zip it and smile?” Ava barks.
“Ava wants me to zip your pants,” I say as I reach for them.
Jackson laughs but catches my hand and forces me into a pose and I realize that I’m wrong. I have taken pictures before, dirty ones to send Jackson. Those are my favorites. For the next half hour Ava forces us into the most ridiculous poses, but she seems to enjoy it, so I let her have it.
“Ava, get in there. I’ll get the picture,” Cassel says as he takes her camera.
She hesitates before getting into the frame with the others.
“Leland, can you take a step to your left?” he asks.
I step to the left, giving Ava more room.
“Another step.”
I take another step.
“And… hmm… one more,” Cassel says, but as I step out of frame, I realize what he’s doing. “Perfect! Looks fantastic.”
“Ha-ha,” I say as I fold my arms over my chest while everyone who is still in the picture laughs. This is because they’re savage and ruthless, unlike me who’s a saint. I’m so fucking nice to all these asshats who I love so much it disgusts me. “Daddy, hold me!” I hold my hands out to Henry who seems to forget his name.
Jackson pulls me back into the picture and kisses the side of my head before Cassel snaps the picture. “Cassel’s just unhappy Jeremy didn’t show up.”
“Speak of the devil,” I say as I eye the very man slowly walking toward us. “Are you a wizard, Jackson?”
“Yes.”
“Ooh, I wanna see your wand,” I say.
Ava’s glare makes me stop moving. I’m positive she’s the descendant of Medusa and is trying her hardest to turn me to stone, and instead, all she’s managed to turn to stone is her own heart.
I grab Cassel’s hand and drag him with me while he pretends he doesn’t want to see Jeremy but it’s clear from his huge eyes he’s in ecstasy. “Jerebear! You made it!”
“You literally sent me a text that said if I didn’t show up you’d find out where I lived. So I thought getting free food was worth making it so I don’t have to see your face anywhere near my house,” he says.
“Maybe. It’s Mr. Leland Stein to you now, and this is Husband,” I say as I wave toward Jackson.
“Ah, yeah, I’d prefer if I didn’t actually have to call either