The Bond That Built Us (28 page)

“Oh, honey there you are. Listen, the food is ready to go. The cake is so adorable! Your little face is on it, you know, those edible pictures?” I clench my legs together as I feel
a drip slowly work its way down to my knee. I need her to leave, now. “Anyway, once you are done… cleaning up, come on out. We’re starving. And tell Kellan he forgot his boxers on the floor.” She smiles at me knowingly and winks.

She turns and shuts the door behind her, leaving me completely mortified.

I pick up his boxers and when I make it to the bathroom he opens the door for me.I throw them at his face and I notice he is bright red in embarrassment.

“Do you know how fucking lucky I am that wasn’t your father who came in?
I’d be fired for sure.”

I give him a pointed look. “Very lucky. I’m positive he is convinced his Sweet Pea is still a virgin, and I don’t want to enlighten him today so let’s hurry.”

He waits for me at the door before we walk out into the living room together. But instead of my family there is a bright green luggage set sitting on the floor. I look at it, confused, as he comes up beside me.

He is convulsing in excitement. I grab his hand to get it to stop shaking.

“What is that?”

“Luggage.”

“No shit. What’s it doing there? Is it my present?” Not even a second after he nods I prance over to it and open up all the compartments and suddenly feel giddy. Kellan’s presents are always significant. They always have a meaning behind them.

“Are we going somewhere?” I ask him as I look up from my new gift.

He smiles and shrugs. I roll my eyes and open up the smallest suitcase and squeal. Inside is a map of Europe, with multiple towns circled. I’ve only been overseas once, to London. I see cities circled in Ireland, Italy, Spain, Germany, pretty much any country I’ve ever dreamed of going to.

“Oh, my God, Kellan!” Now I know why he is so excited.
We will be traveling Europe! I’m shaking now too. He comes up behind me and kisses my neck. He grabs my left hand and suddenly I feel something hard and kind of cold against my fingers.

“Will you go to Europe with me…
and be my fiancé during the whole thing?”

My heart stops. My knees buckle. My head swims. My stomach just fucking drops to my toes.

I glance down and see a gorgeous engagement ring poised and ready to slide on my finger. A tear falls down my cheek, and many more follow.

“Well? Will you marry me, Aubrey?”

I think I choke out a yes. Based on his smile and the fact that he is kissing me and I can feel the ring on my finger now, I’m guessing I did. Of course I did. An idiot I am not. Well, not anymore.

Epilogue

Kellan

We are standing on a terrace in Greece, the ocean behind us, the many little white houses with blue roofs in front of us. I stare at the man beside me, listening to every word he says. I’ve heard them many times before but this time is different. It’s me who is promising to do all these things. And Aubrey. I am holding her hands in mine, rubbing little circles on the top of her hand to calm her nerves. She is so nervous I’m afraid she might throw up.

I glance over and see my parents and hers standing off to the side. Both our mothers are a blubbering mess, wiping snot off of their faces with tissues. Aubrey’s father is gleaming and proud, while my father is as unattached as ever. Our short engagement really threw him off and he was not happy. Especially since we didn’t want to do it at home so he could invite all the
right people
and schmooze all night.

And
I guess it was an inconvenience for him to fly out here to see his son fucking get married. I fight the urge to roll my eyes and return my attention where it belongs.

Aubrey smiles up at me. All the fear and turmoil of what happened in Mexico is gone. Now it is just the two of us. As I slip the ring on her finger and vow to love and honor her forever, I think back at how much of a roller coaster our relationship was in the beginning. I can’t say I
truly
regret anything because I never know if we’d be here today if one tiny detail was different.

As we settle into our small hotel room after drinks and cake, I watch as Aubrey seductively slips her white slip dress off of her shoulders with her back to me. It falls to the floor and she peers at me from over her shoulder. I am at her side within the second.

She is mine. Forever. My beautiful, clumsy, caring
wife
. I still can’t get over it. It seems all so surreal, considering what happened to us. The men that took us were sentenced earlier this year. They will be in prison for a really long time. Luckily we didn’t have to go to Mexico, supposedly it was very quick. We found out then that it was just a random kidnapping. They’d done it twice before, but those women never made it out alive. They were sentenced for those accounts, too. I take pride in thinking that Aubrey made it out because of me. If I hadn’t followed her that night, I wouldn’t be standing here in Europe with the love of my life on our wedding night. She’d be long gone and I’d be alone, always wondering
what if
.

“What are you thinking about?” Aubrey asks me. I wrap my arms around her entirely and bury my face in her neck.

“How lucky I am.” I know she is rolling her eyes right now. She just doesn’t realize how true it really is. “Day five hundred and seventy nine is my new fifty six, and my new one hundred and seven.” She laughs out loud and grabs my hand to pull me into the small shower.

Thanks and whatnots

To everyone that took the dive and read my very first book, thank you. I kept this little thing a secret and didn’t even have anyone read it or know about it before publishing. Dumb move, I know, but hopefully it was as much fun and heartbreaking to read than it was to write.

Did you like Aubrey and Kellan?
I would like to know what you thought (nothing too awful, please- I
am
a newbie!) so I can learn and adapt to my readers in any upcoming stories I might come up with. I already have one or two simmering in my head just waiting to be put to “paper.”

Again, thank you.

Lots of love, KK

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