Until Korry (PULSETUNES ROCK GODS Book 4), page 31
“And I thought I was the crazy one in this band,” Deakon muttered.
“Sometimes the best decisions are the ones you don’t have time to think much about.”
“That’s true, if I have long enough, I usually talk myself out of things,” Sadie chipped in.
“So, what’s next?” Deakon inquired.
“Telling our families I suppose,” I suggested, glancing toward Bernadette again.
“My dad’s going to flip,” she mumbled worriedly.
“Don’t blame him, if it means you’re stuck with his ugly ass for the rest of your days,” Deakon joked.
“I can almost hear him now,” Bernadette mumbled before she switched to a baritone voice. ‘You did what, girl? I’m going to beat that man’s ass’, well, he would say that if he knew you’d let me eat marijuana cookies.”
I grinned. “Now that you’re my wife, I shall expect you to learn how to bake,” I teased as the helicopter landed.
Once we were all in a group, we began to walk the hundred yards from the helicopters to where a few people stood holding horses.
“So excited, it’s been years since I’ve ridden,” Trinnie remarked.
“A horse,” Levi mumbled. “It’s been years since you’ve ridden a horse. I’d just like to add the only thing she’s ridden bareback is me,” he said, having found his sense of humor again.
“Let me rephrase,” Trinnie said, glaring at Levi. “It has been years since I rode something so powerful,” she remarked, smirking.
“Oh, I don’t know. Some of those vibrators of yours make your eyes cross.”
“Stop it,” she muttered, smacking him in his ribs.
“Ouch,” he groaned, rubbing his side with a palm, smiling.
“I used to ride bareback all the time,” Greg casually muttered.
“Dare we ask,” Deakon mumbled, smirking at Sadie.
“Aye, we used to climb onto horses in the field once the owners had gone home for the night. We’d ride them around in the dark, wearing Miners’ lamps on our heads.”
“I’ve been riding since I could walk,” Annie informed us. “Taught all my kids before they were two. My youngest, Angel, was a little over nine years old the first time we took her on a cattle drive. Then again, I had no choice what with their father dying and leaving me with five kids to raise.”
“Damn,” Levi mumbled, glancing toward Annie with a glint of respect in his eyes. “That must have been hard for you.”
“We got there. Fortunately, my boys love life on the ranch. They’re my heroes since they’ve taken over most of the work these days. Apart from ordering feed for the livestock and cooking for the wranglers, my days are simple compared to when I lost their dad eight years ago,” Annie said quietly.
Greg wandered over beside me. “Deakon told me you had my back earlier today. I don’t know what went down, but he said I owe you one.”
“Nonsense, it’s all good,” I replied.
“Yeah, but it makes me feel bad for pranking you like that.”
“Pranking me?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t understand.”
“About getting married.”
“What? You’re not really married?” I asked, my adrenaline flowing again after risking conflict with the band by advocating for him.
“Jesus no, that’s real enough. I meant about you guys being married.”
I stopped walking and took a long blink. “What the fuck are you talking about, Greg? You’ve lost me.”
“It was clear that you were both so stoned that neither of you would remember what had gone down that night in the chapel.” he muttered. “It was me that rang the Rolling Stone magazine with the anonymous tip, that you and Bernadette had gotten married. I wanted to take the heat off Annie and me.”
“But we’re married,” I insisted, thinking back to the paperwork in Bernadette’s cell phone.
“Ah but are you?” Greg asked. “When did that happen?”
“You should know, we were all together,” I insisted.
“Nah, I don’t remember that. You’d have needed a license.”
“Bernadette got a license,” I said, beginning to feel anxious about our conversation.
“No, she got Annie and me a license,” he muttered. “Man, were you and Bernadette stoned. She even took a picture of both of your IDs instead of ours to begin with. Don’t you remember us heading to the marriage office in a taxi to collect the license?”
Slowly the cogs in my head began to connect. “Who paid for the license?”
“She did, from the band account. What is this, twenty questions?”
“But the rings?” I said, glancing down at the Star Wars ring.
“Oh,” he chuckled. “Annie and I were picking some out of a tray in the chapel for the ceremony and you and Bernadette chose one for each other. It was comical because you did this big speech about how she was your Disney Princess, and she did this cartoon voice like she was Cinderella.”
For a few moments my world fell away as I stood staring at him.
“Korry,” Bernadette called, snapping me back to reality. I turned and saw her smiling and waving at me from a honey-colored mare.
“Coming,” I called back, forcing a smile. “Not a fucking word about this to anyone. I need to check this shit out the moment we get back.”
CHAPTER 67
KORRY
Those two hours on a horse were the longest two hours of my life. The pain in my ass wasn’t half as agonizing as the weight I carried around in my chest, wondering about our marital status. There were plenty of smiles and laughter during the ride and everyone appeared to have an amazing time, except for me.
“Are you feeling okay? You’ve been so quiet,” Bernadette mumbled as we climbed back into the helicopter for the ride back to the strip.
“Yeah, just got a headache.” At least I hadn’t lied to her about that. My head was pounding from the buildup of pressure at not knowing for sure where our relationship legally stood.
We became so caught up in the moment, we hadn’t been thorough enough. Before we’d jumped the gun and told everyone we were married, we should have gone to the license office and confirmed it. We’d just been either drunk or too busy since then. Part of me wanted to believe we’d lost the paperwork somewhere on the way home and would only need to file for a copy. With the state we had gotten into that wouldn’t have been outside the realm of possibility.
The helicopter ride on the way back felt twice as long as the one to get to the canyon. Fortunately, as we were leaving the following day, we’d all decided to go our separate ways and spend the evening with our partners instead of the group. Once we arrived at the hotel, I sent Bernadette ahead to take a shower and pulled Raff aside for a private conversation.
“I need you to do something for me.”
“Sure,” he replied.
“I need you to go to the marriage license office and check whether Bernadette and I are married.”
“But the rings …” he began to protest.
“Greg gets hammered, but he never forgets what he does,” I reasoned.
Raff frowned as he nodded. “And?”
“And he says Bernadette and I went with Annie and him to get a license. If he’s right, then the paperwork downloaded on Bernadette’s phone was for him, and the fee she paid was for their license.”
“Fuck. Does Bernadette know?” he asked, raising his voice in disbelief.
“Shh, no one knows … well Greg does, or so he says … anyway, I’m fucking babbling now. Get your ass over there and check it out.”
“Will they give out that information?”
“I don’t care what you need to do, just get to the truth.” I slapped a money clip into Raff’s hand that held about twenty, one-hundred-dollar bills. “Get an answer.”
I watched Raff head toward the hotel entrance as the elevator arrived. I stepped inside, heaving a deep breath as I tried to figure out how to tell Bernadette what Greg had told me.
Entering the suite, Bernadette peered through the bedroom door and caught my eye. “The shower is free if you want to freshen up.”
“Can you come here, sweetheart. There’s something I need to tell you.”
Her smile fell and her eyes grew serious as she wandered slowly toward me. “Sure, what’s wrong?”
“Come sit with me,” I mumbled, pulling her down beside me. “Greg spoke to me this afternoon about what happened at the chapel the other night.”
“Right?” she said, her beautiful, questioning eyes searching my face.
“Greg says you downloaded those forms for him. I don’t know where they were printed off, but he said we all went in a taxi to the marriage license place.” I took a deep breath because I figured she would feel as crushed as I was. “The license you paid for from the band account was for him.”
“I see,” she said calmly, nodding. “That makes sense. Okay, so that changes things up for us. At least we don’t need to tell our moms we eloped anymore.” My heart stung with how quietly accepting Bernadette had taken the news, while inside, I felt devastated. I’d expected tears but she appeared to shrug the news off. “Okay,” she said standing. “It’s back to work tomorrow. If you don’t mind, I have a digital mountain of emails to get through.” I shook my head and she disappeared into the bedroom.
Once she was out of sight, I immediately missed her and felt lost. We had left the hotel room that morning as man and wife, and now I felt as if a part of me was missing.
I had a sudden urge to get drunk or high to change the gloom in my heart, but I knew that wouldn’t change the outcome of Raff’s inquiry. Grabbing the TV remote, I switched it on and sat watching some Australian reality television program, where couples who had never met beforehand had gotten married.
The following hour felt like torture as I sat waiting for news, checking my cell phone for something from Raff. Would he text if we were married, or would he break that to me in person?
When the knock finally came on the suite door, I bounced out of the chair like my ass was on fire and headed quickly over to open it. Raff would usually come into my room unannounced, but he hadn’t done that since he’d seen Bernadette in a state of undress.
Bernadette wandered from the bedroom into the sitting room, wringing her hands. My heart flipped over because it was the first sign that she felt as anxious as I was to know the truth.
“That took some doing, but …” his gaze darted between Bernadette and me, like he was holding back for dramatic effect. Then he took a deep breath and blew it out. “Greg’s right, there’s nothing on file about you and Bernadette.”
I turned to look at her, to gauge her reaction but she was already walking toward the other room. “Thanks, man, can you keep this to yourself for now?”
“Always,” he muttered. “I’m sorry, man. I was rooting for you guys.”
I nodded sadly. “Thanks, Raff, at least we know now. It’s taught me a lesson about drinking and taking drugs. I am never getting that shitfaced again.”
As Raff left, I closed the door and blew out a breath, realizing how tight my chest felt. “Right,” I muttered defeatedly to myself as I walked slowly toward the bedroom.
A suitcase lay on the bed while Bernadette packed clothes in it. I was sure she’d heard me come in, but she kept herself busy by placing a pile of sweaters into the case. Shoving the suitcase out of the way, I sat on the bed and pulled her into my lap.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I tried to make eye contact.
She nodded but kept looking down. “Yeah, it was stupid. I should have done my due diligence instead of getting carried away in the moment.”
“It wasn’t stupid and I got carried away too, we were living a dream,” I suggested. “Are you disappointed?”
“Are you?” she countered, reluctantly giving me eye contact for the first time.
“Bummed … crushed. I had gotten used to the idea.”
She nodded. “Well, you’re off the hook now.”
“As are you,” I replied, surprised by her cold comment.
“Okay, well, I have work to do,” she said, trying to get off my knee.
“What if …” I said, thinking out loud. She frowned, staring at me with sad eyes. “What if we headed up there and got ourselves a special license?”
“Korry we’re not getting married out of pity, that’s a knee-jerk reaction.”
“No, it’s a gut reaction. These last few hours have been the most miserable of my life. I love you, and I hate the thought that you’re not mine anymore. Think about it. This time we have a real choice. We’re not drunk or high, we have a chance to make a real choice here. This time we’d be getting married because we think what we have is worth it.”
Bernadette’s eyes brimmed with tears as her gaze searched my face. For a moment I figured she’d say no, then she nodded. “Yes.”
“Fuck, yeah! Thank God for that. Okay, let’s see what we need to do to make it happen, and go do it.”
“Is there somewhere you need to be tomorrow?” I asked Deakon on the phone, on the way back from the wedding license office. Bernadette sat clutching the paperwork neatly filed in a leather folder to her chest.
“Nowhere in particular now that the album’s done. What are you thinking.”
“Can I trust you?”
“Do you need to ask?”
“Sadie?”
“If I say so,” he replied, chuckling.
“How would you feel about being witnesses at our wedding?”
“Dude, you married her already.”
“Actually, we thought we were. It’s a long story, and I promise to fill you in, but for now, I just need to know if you want to stay and help us celebrate.”
“I’m in.”
“How many times have I told you, Deakon? We’re in? What are we in? What are you signing us up for now?” I heard Sadie ask in the background.
“I’ll tell you in a minute,” he replied, laughing.
“When and where,” Deakon asked.
“I’ll text you the details,” I said.
“They’re coming,” I informed Bernadette, smiling.
“What about our families?” she asked with concerned eyes.
“We’ll have two weddings. Wait, should I ask your dad?”
“He doesn’t know you, so he’ll say no,” Bernadette said, with a smile playing on her lips.
“Then I’ll ask him afterward,” I said, grinning. “Nothing is coming between us this time. Besides, he’ll grow to love me, I’m a loveable guy,” I joked playfully.
“We can have two weddings?” she asked again.
“Yeah, one for our moms to show us off to the relatives. Most famous people do that,” I argued. “But how’s this? You set up one of those Zoom calls and send all our family members a link. That way they can see us say I do and at least they can’t complain at our ‘other’ wedding. Do you need a dress?”
“I have a white linen …”
“Call someone in now, get what you want,” I insisted. “Hair, make-up?”
“No, I want to leave it as it is.”
“Good, you look beautiful. This isn’t for show, this is about two people who love each other, taking a leap of faith.”
“God, you’re romantic when you want to be,” she said as we climbed out of the car. Raff was on the sidewalk waiting for us. We’d ditched him when we went to get the license.
“Where the fuck have you been?” he muttered, scowling.
“To get a marriage license.”
“Seriously?” he asked, grinning.
“Not a word,” I warned.
“My lips are sealed.”
“Now,” I stated, pulling Bernadette in for a kiss right there on the sidewalk. Before it could get too heated, I spun her around and patted her gorgeous ass. “Go get that dress organized, sweetheart. We’ve got a wedding to go to.”
“I bet we look like a throuple to anyone who doesn’t know us,” I joked as Bernadette, Raff and I climbed into the stretch limousine that was taking us to the chapel.
“I wouldn’t mind if they did. I mean you two must be the hottest men in Vegas this morning,” Bernadette mumbled, smiling.
“So, you think I’m hot?” Raff mumbled, wagging his brows at her.
“Don’t you dare hit on my soon-to-be wife. You won’t look so hot without balls,” I warned. They both laughed.
Bernadette had turned heads as we walked through the hotel lobby, dressed in her gorgeous figure-hugging, floor-length dress. It was the perfect wedding gown for her—plain, white satin and a halo of what looked like white and lilac daisies on her head.
“Everything has been set up for the Zoom call?” I asked Raff, who had liaised with the chapel and Bernadette earlier that morning.
“The chapel did remote guests during the pandemic, they know what they’re doing,” Bernadette replied. “Are you nervous?”
“Fuck yeah, it’s not every day I get married … that I can remember anyway,” I added, joking.
Bernadette laughed. “I can’t believe we were taken in like that.”
“It’s something to tell our kids for sure,” I replied, then stared seriously toward her. “Kids? We’re going to have some, right?”
“If the good Lord gives us some,” she replied. “But I think we should take a year or two at least to hang out together first.”
“Agreed,” I said, relaxing and covering her hand that I was holding with my other one.
“Looks like you’re hanging on tight there, Korry,” Raff mumbled.
“I knew you should have sat in the front. Ever heard the term, fly-on-the-wall?”
“Yep.”
“That’s what you’re supposed to be like as a bodyguard. Not butting into our conversation.”
“I’ll remember that next time you ask me for something. I’ll just pretend I’m not there.”
“Smart-ass,” I said, chuckling.
The car pulled up on the sidewalk and it was obvious the word had spread.
It was stupid of me to think we could do this quietly.
