Fire Inside:A Chaos Novel(117)
Then I heard the ratchet of a handcuff. My head jerked down and I saw the bracelet on me and watched as Hop steered with his knee while he ratcheted the other bracelet on his own wrist.
My head jerked back up and I cried, “What are you doing?”
“Kidnapping my woman, takin’ her to Vegas, and getting married.”
My mouth dropped open.
I snapped it shut to ask, “What?”
He glanced at me then back at the road. “Babe, learnin’.”
That didn’t answer my question. That didn’t even make sense!
“Hopper, what are you talking about? We can’t go to Vegas!”
“Yeah, we can.”
My eyes narrowed on him. “I thought you were okay with us not getting married.”
“Never said that.”
“Yes you did.”
“You asked, ‘You’re okay with us not being married?’ I asked, ‘You gonna live the rest of your life with me?’ You said, ‘Absolutely.’ Never said I was okay with it ’cause I’m not. So we’re gettin’ married in Vegas.”
I stared at him then yanked my wrist, shouting, “You’re crazy.”
“Headin’ drama off at the pass and doin’ it using drama,” he retorted.
“What?” I shrieked and got another glance.
“Babe, knew, I fought it out with you then, we’d hit a drama. I love your drama, you know it, but just found out you have my baby inside you, just put a ring on your finger which, by the way, you didn’t take off.”
I didn’t.
I still had it on.
Gah!
“Didn’t want to spoil the moment,” he continued. “You passed out after our baby celebration last night. While you were sleepin’, I decided to fight off drama with drama. Commence kidnapping which, over the next few hours, will go over state lines. Twice.”
“You still aren’t making sense, Hop.”
Suddenly, he pulled off the road, put the truck in neutral and turned his full attention to me.
“You got somethin’ twisted up there,” he pointed at my head, “about a wedding. You didn’t say shit about a marriage. You said we can’t get married, not be married.”
“You’re kidnapping me on a technicality?” I shouted and he grinned.
Then he used our hands cuffed together to pull me closer and went on.
“You talked about the dress, the rings, the plans. I get that. I get why. So no dress. No flowers. No big thing. We get hitched. We live our lives. I get you’d shy away from the big thing. I’m a man. I’m all about not havin’ a big thing. What you gotta get is, no baby of mine made of love is comin’ into this world with her momma not wearin’ my rings and carrying my name. It’s just not gonna happen, Lanie. What’s gonna happen is, we’re goin’ to Vegas, we’re getting married, we’re comin’ home, and you’re moving in.”
He was insane.
“What about the kids?”
“They love you. They love me. You’re in my bed every night when they’re there. Doesn’t make a difference you have your clothes in my closet. Molly will be pissed she didn’t get a dress but she’ll get over it. Cody will be relieved he doesn’t have to wear some monkey suit.”
This was true. Molly and Cody had totally accepted the easing Lanie into their lives gig and Cody would lose his little badass biker-in-the-making mind if he had to put on a suit.
“Hopper, I don’t—”
“Don’t care what you don’t,” he cut me off to say. “Got donuts in the backseat. Snacks. Packed you a bag. Got a full tank of gas. And you got a lot of time to come to terms you’re takin’ my name. You don’t, I’m haulin’ your ass out connected to me to pump gas and you gotta use the men’s restroom ’cause I sure as fuck am not walkin’ into the ladies’.”
My eyes got wide. “You packed me a bag?”
He smiled. “Sure I missed something, seein’ as the bag I packed for you doesn’t weigh as much as normal. But if I did, we can pick it up in Vegas.”
I hated it when he was amusing when I was ticked off.
“I’m moving in and we’re living happily ever after, Hop. I’m also keeping the ring because it’s gorgeous. But we are not getting married.”
“Yeah we are.”
“No we aren’t.”
He turned back to the wheel, put the truck in drive and moved back onto the road muttering, “We’ll see.”
“We’re not!” I shouted, yanking on my wrist cuffed to his.
He caught my hand and pressed it to his thigh. “Don’t want my bride on her wedding day havin’ bruises on her wrist.”