Page 57 of His to Bedevil
Berto comes into the room, and he has a look of concern on his face. Before he can open his mouth, his eyes land on my mother. They widen, and he becomes speechless. His eyes roam up and down her form, and I’m close to knocking his ass out for looking at my mother that way. He seems to abruptly remember his surroundings and puts the mask he must wear firmly back in place. “You look beautiful, Benita.”
Benita? Since when does he call my mother by her first name?I’m about to remind him of his place when my mother responds with her cheeks tinted a little more pink than before. “Thank you, Alberto.” Then she looks back at me again and straightens my lapels, which I’m sure were perfectly fine. “I’m going back to Irma,mijo. I will see you out there.” She kisses me on the cheek and exits the room. Berto makes sure to keep his eyes forward when she does. I’ll have to look into that more later.
“We had a situation back at the compound, Alejo,” Berto says as soon as the door is shut behind my mother.
Sighing, I rub my throbbing temples. “Can it wait, Berto? It’s not exactly the best timing.”
“It’s about the boy.”
Lucas looksmore interested. He wants any excuse to kill Matches. Claiming I’ve gone soft by keeping him alive. “Jesucristo.What happened?” I finally ask.
“He’s dead,” he states.
Fuck.“Puta madre.”Motherfucker.“How the fuck did that happen?” I demand.
“We tried to let him out of his restraints as you requested.” As Irma requested. “And he took down a few men when he got ahold of one of their guns in the process. They had to gun him down. I’ve seen the footage, and they did try to take him down without killing him, but it was either him or them.”
Exhaling loudly, I rub my temples again and wish Irma were here to massage them for me.Fuck. Irma.She’s going to hate me. Despite all the progress I’ve been making, not only will she retreat back into the safe cocoon she was trying to hide in, but she’ll be dead set on trying to escape me now that I don’t have anything to make her stay.
“Okay. I’ll deal with all that later.” Then I look from him to Lucas. “Not a word about this around Irma. Do you hear me?” Both men nod their heads. “Good.” There’s nothing I can do about it now, and I’m not telling Irma today. He’ll still be dead tomorrow. She’ll most likely throw a tantrum and resent me, but she’ll just have to deal with it. I kept my word and did not kill him. He got himself killed. And Irmawillmarry metoday.
Standing up at the altar, I take everything in while I wait for the ceremony to start. My mother did a wonderful job with everything. She had less than a week to plan, and she pulled it all off. I tried to take the reins on a few things, but Mamá insisted I was being officious and told me to focus my attention on my actual work.
The church is decorated with an assortment of flowers, all red and white. Peonies, dahlias, roses, hydrangeas. Thick foliage spilling out of the pews and lining the aisle. It’s all perfect, and I cannot wait to see my perfect bride come walking down the aisle.
I should feel bad that her ex-lover is dead and that I haven’t told her, nor do I plan on telling her today, but I don’t. He’s finally out of the picture, and she can move on with me. I’m a heartless bastard, and I don’t care. Irma is mine, and now nothing is standing in my way to own every part of her.
My mother comes in and takes her seat between Lucas and Berto. She’s clutching some tissues and begins to sniffle, blotting underneath her eyes. It’s good to know they’re happy tears. My mother likes Irma, and she is happy to see us getting married. She would voice her opinion if it were different.
The orchestra starts, and the large doors in the center of the back of the room open. Before Irma even takes a step, I suck in a gasp of air and my heart skips a beat. She is the most exquisite being, a piece of heaven, an angel. She’s what life is about. Her spirit, her beauty. It makes me want to live, like, really live. I thought my purpose in life was to take over the family one day, to protect what we created. Until I laid eyes onher. Since then, my heart hasn’t beat the same. She makes me feel alive when I didn’t even know I wasn’t. She gives me breath and purpose. She’s so much more than an obsession or a possession. She’severything.She is life.
She takes a step forward and then another, slowly walking up the aisle to me. Her face is somewhat tense and she’s trying for impassiveness, but her eyes have a twinkle in them. Her auburn hair is mostly pinned back, showing off how much hair she really has, with some pieces falling loosely. Her lips are painted a deep red, and I can’t wait to smear it. As she nears, I can see that the rest of her makeup is soft, just lightly painting her soft, angelic, doll-like features.
When I take her tiny hand in mine, her cheeks burn, and I give her a smirk. She might not want to marry me right now, but she doesn’t exactly hate the idea of being with me.
My wife…Mi esposa…
The ceremony is a blur to me, although no one can tell, because I’m so transfixed by Irma’s beauty and the fact that we are to become one. We’re saying our vows, and as I repeat each word given to me, I mean them. Staring into her eyes, I promise to cherish her till death do us part. I’ll protect her, care for her, build her up, be faithful to her, be loyal to her, give her all of me.
When we’re announced husband and wife and I wrap my arms around her tiny waist, I stare a long moment into my new wife’s green eyes before my lips fuse with hers. She’s stiff at first, hardly moving her lips against mine. Then as I bend my knees and deepen the kiss, I feel her begin to soften and submit to me. Her arms tentatively wrap around my neck, and her neck cranes back so I have better access to her. When my tongue sweeps out to meet hers, it’s already halfway there, meeting me right in the middle. With every stroke of my tongue, she retaliates with one of her own. I’m so imbued with desire and her palatable tongue that I almost begin tearing at her beautiful gown.
Remembering that we have a large audience watching and cheering for us, I break the kiss. She gasps for air as soon as I do, and she slowly opens her eyes. I keep my forehead against hers and my arms around her body. She blinks a few times sluggishly before she speaks. “Did you smear my lipstick all over my face?” she whispers.
Giving her a smile, I reach up with a hand and swipe some of the smeared lipstick from under her lip and at the corner of her mouth. “All better,” I say in a low voice.
Her fingers shyly reach up, and she rubs at my lips. Then she looks up at me, and she hitches an eyebrow for only a second with a sideways smirk.
Giving her lips one last chaste kiss, I turn us around, hand in hand, and present us to the crowd. Everyone continues to clap and cheer as we walk down the aisle together, fingers laced, man and wife. Feeling lighter than ever with no regrets.
We walk through the doors, and they close behind us. Giving us a few moments to safely exit the building and get into our blacked-out limo with bulletproof everything. My men surround us, and then the doors leading to the outside of the church open for us. More men wait, surrounding our limo. Since this is such a big event, my enemies will know where to find me, so we need to take every precaution seriously.
I help my tiny wife into the limo then slide in after her. The door closes behind me, and it’s not long until we’re rolling.
Taking her hand in my lap, I angle my body toward hers and cup her face. “You are effulgent, my love. You took my breath away when those doors first opened.”
Her green eyes are wide saucers, and her cheeks are tinted pink. “Thank you,” she says quietly. “You look very handsome in a tux.”
I chuckle and bring her forehead to me to kiss it. “Thank you, my love.”
