Dark smudges mar the skin under his eyes; I know it’s more than just exhaustion from running so late at night. “I want to get married. Tonight.”
I’m speechless.
He points a finger at me. “You were upset because you thought I was canceling.”
“Yes, but then you explained—”
He talks right over me. “I don’t want to have to go through that again. Not knowing where you were was awful. And it’s because of a ceremony that’s more for all the guests than the two people getting married. The ceremony means very little to me, Chloe. I think you know that.”
He’s right. He’s always been against big weddings and has never hidden this fact from me.
“I only agreed to a wedding because I thought it was what you wanted. But now I think we should elope. That’s the goal anyway, right? To be married?”
He’s got a point.
“So, why don’t we just do it? Go tonight and get it over and done with. I mean, I already consider myself married to you in every way possible. This is merely a formality.”
I have to search for my voice. “Um . . . how? Where?”
“Vegas,” he says firmly. “They have those little chapels on every street corner.”
“Las Vegas?”
He nods once.
“You want to go,” I say slowly, “to Las Vegas and get married. Tonight.”
“Yes.”
To say I’m surprised would be a gross understatement. “Wow. I—”
“Besides.” He comes to stand next to me. “This’ll be easier on everyone involved.”
“Everyone?”
“My brother.” His arms cross against his chest.
I swallow hard. “How so?”
“He wasn’t planning on coming to the wedding, and I assume people would question why. This way, when we elope, he won’t have to face that sort of scrutiny.”
I feel like a parrot, but all I can really do is repeat back what he says. “Scrutiny?”
“It’ll be like a Band-Aid,” he says, fingers drumming against the opposite arm, “ripped off fast to minimize pain.”
“Band-Aid?”
“This is the way to go,” he says confidently.
“Vegas.”
“Yes.”
I look down at the comforter lying across my lap. “I’m in my pajamas.”
“Wear them if you want. I don’t care.”
“You don’t care if I wear my pajamas to our wedding?”
He makes it quite clear I could be naked and he wouldn’t care.
“Jonah, it’s eleven o’clock at night.”
“Vegas never sleeps.”
I stare up at him, perplexed at what’s brought this on. On one hand, I absolutely have no problem with this plan, because it would solve a lot of problems. I’ve never been overly concerned with an actual ceremony, either. Being married is, as he so succinctly put it, the goal. But on the other, there’s just something about the way this appeared out of the blue, on the heels of bizarre behavior from him over the last few days.
“All you have to do is say yes. By this time tomorrow, you’ll be Chloe Whitecomb. We can even start looking for a new apartment within a few days—wouldn’t it be great to have a much bigger place?”
I don’t know why, but it seems like he ought to be smiling when he says these things. Happy. Excited. But he’s none of those things. He’s on edge.
“You don’t think we ought to tell . . . Kellan?”
His eyes narrow. “I hardly think we have to ask my brother permission to get married.”
“Yes, that’s true, but—”
“Are you trying to tell me something?”
My personal shield goes up faster than it ever has before. “What? No!”
“Maybe,” he says in a very tight voice, “marrying me isn’t what you want anymore.”
I scramble out of bed. “Of course I want to get married!”
“Is there any legitimate reason we should wait?” I’m shocked by the amount of tension radiating from his body. “Because, to me, this is a no-brainer. You were upset when you thought the wedding was off. So upset you bolted. I’m offering a perfect solution. We don’t wait. There will be no postponement, no delays. We get married tonight. If you want a reception, then that’s fine. We’ll have one whenever you want, wherever. I don’t care.”
As I stare at him, I’m reminded that I’ve known this man since I was a little girl. My heart was lost to him the first moment I saw his eyes. He was my first kiss, the person I’ve judged all other men against. I fell in love with him long before I ever knew about the existence of his brother. I’m still in love with him, despite a Connection to someone else. He’s the first person I want to see in the morning, the last person at night.
Jonah Whitecomb has been my constant my entire life.
Suddenly I feel like I’m faced with a choice—make this man happy, who means everything to me, or hold off and make him, and his brother, miserable.
Someone is going to be hurt. In this triangle, someone is always going to be hurt. Right now, all three of us are hurting. Would it be so wrong to want to lessen that equation? Make it so only two people are hurting, instead of three?