Chapter 37

Chapter 37
Willa

“Hang on.” Luke steps forward and I watch him as he lowers himself to one knee in front of me.

My eyes widen because for a second I think he’s about to propose. Then he accepts a large box from Lan and sets it down next to his leg. He opens it and I let out a laugh at what’s inside. 

“My girl isn’t going out unprotected.” He says as he pulls the item out. 

“Our girl asshole,” Maxim says with a scoff but Luke ignores him. 

I stand perfectly still when he lifts the hem of my dress raises it up and motions for me to take the fabric. His eyes lift to mine and I feel the round texture of his hand as he slides it up my leg once before he wraps the leather straps around my thigh. 

“When did you guys have time to make this?” I ask as the straps are tightened firmly against my skin. 

“We put a rush on it. We’re going to be exposed and we aren’t going to let you go anywhere without a weapon from now on.” Sebastian says. 

I look down at the gun holster now attached to my leg with the smallest gun I’ve ever seen. It wouldn’t be good for a long-distance shot but it would be enough to get something done in a pinch. 

“I love it.” I suck a quick breath when Luke leans in and leaves a kiss on my thigh just above the holster. 

Then he stands and takes a step back. I let go of my dress and move my leg a little to test out the feeling of having the holster on. The leather is buttery soft and doesn’t cut into my skin at all. 

“Alright. Let’s go.” Lan turns and I spot two guns strapped to either side of him. 

In fact, it looks like all the guys have the same. “How many guns are you guys carrying? And don’t you think it might be hard to get inside a courthouse so heavily armed?” 

“We changed the location.” Maxim moves next to me and rests a hand on my lower back. “The courthouse has no good exits. If someone found us we would be sitting ducks.”

“How did you have all this time to…Lan.” 

Maxim chuckles. “The man is a machine. He can figure that shit out with his eyes closed.”

I don’t doubt it. 

“Let's get married shall we?” He gives me a huge smile that I can’t help but return. 

We are barely more than strangers but somehow marrying him isn’t all that scary. I should be more nervous, right? 

“Lets,” I say and a let him lead me out of the bunker.
Luke takes up the rear and the others stay next to each other in front of us like our personal bodyguards. 

“Why don’t we hire bodyguards?” I ask as we make our way out of the gate leading to the hidden tunnel. 

There are people out and about right now but none of them seem to notice us until we step in full view of the courtyard. 

“I don’t trust anyone else to protect you. Who knows how far my father’s been able to reach. Anyone could be compromised. I won’t take that risk.” Sebastian says. 

“Yeah but who’s protecting you guys?” I say feeling the nerves in my stomach that were missing a second ago. 

He looks over his shoulder and smirks. “We have each other's backs.” 

“You guys aren’t bulletproof. Even with us being prepared, you can still get hurt.” I point out. 

“Stop worrying my beautiful bride. All of this is a precaution.” Maxim leans in a presses a kiss on my cheek but I barely feel it. 

I’m too worried.

Lan and Sebastian lead us to a blacked-out SUV. My guess is that they spent a good amount of money beefing it up too. Maxim and I climb in and Luke gently moves my dress so he can sit on my other side. 

We leave campus and keep to side streets as we head further north. Lan drives us further from the city until we reach a road surrounded by trees. It doesn’t look like anyone lives in the area, but Lan turns onto a dirt road and we drive deeper into a huge wooded area. The shade from the trees almost blocks out all of the sunlight effectively hiding us. I’m not sure how long we drive before the tree line breaks and there in the middle of the nowhere is a huge house. 

“What is this place?” I ask as Lan pulls up to the front door. 

“A safe house,” Sebastian says before throwing his door open and climbing out. 

The rest of the guys do the same. I have to slide carefully so as not to completely destroy my dress. As soon as I’m at the door though Luke reaches in and picks me up bridal style. I’m forced to wrap my arms around his neck and am pleasantly surprised when he leans in and kisses the hell out of me. 

“I want to kill that asshole for stealing my girl but I’ll settle for carrying you over the threshold,” Luke smirks at me and I laugh as he heads for the front door and kicks it open. 

Sebastian curses at him about the door being original and who knows what else. I don’t get a chance to admire the beauty of the place though because Luke is walking with a purpose. We head for a pair of open double doors and he finally lets me down. My mouth drops open when I see what the guys have done. 

There is a huge open field and in the middle is a huge gazebo. It’s decorated with flowers. Not just one color of flowers though. It looks as if they found flowers of every color and attached them to the structure. 

“This is amazing you guys.” I start walking toward it and that's when I spot a man waiting. 

He looks…slightly terrified, but is trying his best to not show it. Trying to overthink the fact that the guys most likely threatened this poor man, I walk up the three steps to stand in front of him. 

“Uh, hi.” What do you say in this situation?

He tilts his head in acknowledgment, but his eyes quickly snap to the guys who followed me.

“Alright let’s get this done,” Sebastian says sounding a little bitter. 

“Aw don’t ruin my moment Seb with your grumpiness,” Maxim says.

He slides his hand into mine and gives it a little tug so that we’re standing in front of the…what exactly is he? 

“Who is this guy?” I whisper to him. 

“Some guy we had ordained online. We convinced him to do it, and he agreed.” 

“Convinced him how exactly?” I hiss at him. 

He replies with a big smile and that’s all I need to confirm my suspicions. The poor guy must have had the shit scared out of him. I’ll have to have a talk with the guys about this later, but we’re here now so might as well go with the guy’s plans. 

“Alright let's do this! I want to consummate this marriage as soon as possible.” I elbow Maxim hard in the side but he just laughs. 

“Try not to act like a complete Neanderthal will ya?” I say which only makes him laugh more. 

“Whatever you say, love.” He looks at the guy shaking in fear in front of us. “You may begin.” 

The man stammers and pulls a piece of crumpled paper from his pants pocket and opens it. His hands are shaking like crazy. 

“We are gathered here today…”

He stumbles through the script until he comes to the “I Do” part. “Do you Maxim take Willa to be your wife?” 

“Fuck yeah!” Maxim says but before I can say my line he grabs me and slams his lips against mine. 

Someone scoffs but I wrap my arms around Maxim’s neck and kiss him back. He pulls back just enough for me to reply. 

“I do,” I whisper against his lips and then he’s kissing me again. 

The guy says something else but I’m too lost in the way Maxim’s lips are moving against mine. He doesn’t just kiss. It’s passionate and playful. The kind of kiss that makes you smile and laugh. A kiss that is too short.

A loud noise shocks us apart and I'm pulled closer to him.

“Fuck.” Luke growls before jogging down the gazebo steps and running toward the house. 

“What was that?” I ask trying to get Maxim to release me but he only holds me tighter against him. 

“It seems we have a situation,” Lan says all too calmly.

He pulls out his phone and pulls out one of his guns. I glance up at Maxim and see all the playfulness gone from his face. 

“We need to go. Now.” Sebastian says as he pulls his own gun out. 

Maxim finally releases me and I lift my dress to grab the gun Luke gave me. Whatever that sound was… it's not good but at least I’m armed.