Chapter 20 Married
Cassie couldn't wrap her head around what Greyson was saying. The words echoed in her mind like a broken recordnmarried, married, married but they felt foreign, impossible. She tried desperately to piece together what happened the night before, but her memories were fragmented, like trying to assemble a puzzle with half the pieces missing. From the time they crashed their first wedding to the time they apparently got married, everything was a blur of champagne bubbles, laughter, and stolen glances across crowded reception halls.
The irony wasn't lost on her. If they were crashing weddings weddings they weren't invited to, where they pretended to be guests how in the hell did they end up getting married themselves? It made no logical sense. They both had a rehearsal dinner to attend tonight, and neither of them had picked out any outfits. They had ended up in Greyson's hotel room, and now Cassie desperately wanted a bit of privacy. She needed to pull herself together, to make sense of this chaos that had become her life overnight.
The hotel room felt smaller now, suffocating almost. The morning light streaming through the curtains seemed too bright, too cheerful for the confusion swirling in her chest. She could feel Greyson's eyes on her, watching her every reaction, and it made her feel exposed and vulnerable in a way she hadn't experienced in years.
She looked at Greyson, and suddenly, without warning, the tears came. They started as a gentle trickle but quickly became a torrent, her shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs.
Grey immediately moved toward her, his arms wrapping around her trembling form. He held Cassie while she cried, and she let herself fall into his embrace, finding comfort in his warmth despite the circumstances. But she wasn't crying about the fact that she had married him—that wasn't what was tearing her apart. She was crying about the fact that she had done something that she had promised herself she would do with family around and friends around, with all the people that she cared about present to witness one of the most important moments of her life.
The wedding she had always dreamed of had been stolen from her by her own drunken decisions. Her mother wouldn't be there to help her with her dress, her father wouldn't walk her down the aisle, and her best friends wouldn't be standing beside her as bridesmaids. Instead, she had apparently stumbled into marriage in some random Las Vegas chapel, probably officiated by an Elvis impersonator.
But there was another reason she was crying, one that cut even deeper. She was crying because she had broken a cardinal rule—the most sacred rule that she had made with her friends years ago when they were young and naive and thought they could control their hearts with simple agreements. The rule was ironclad: she wasn't supposed to get into any relationship with any of her friend's brothers, older brothers, or exes. It was meant to protect their friendship, to avoid the inevitable complications that came with mixing romance and friendship.
She knew Megan's history with Greyson, knew the complicated web of feelings and hurt that surrounded their past. And she had done the one thing that she promised her best friend she would never do. The guilt was eating her alive, gnawing at her conscience like a persistent ache. Now she didn't know how to navigate what she was about to face because she genuinely loved Grey—had loved him for longer than she cared to admit,but she wasn't sure if Greyson loved her or if this was just some alcohol-fueled mistake he'd come to regret.
The uncertainty was perhaps the worst part. She had given herself completely to someone who might wake up tomorrow and realize he had made the biggest mistake of his life.
Greyson kissed her forehead gently, his lips lingering against her skin. The gesture was tender, almost reverent, and it made her heart skip a beat despite everything.
"Take a deep breath, you're okay, you're fine," he said softly, his voice steady and reassuring. "We are married, and I'm sure there is a way to get out of it if that's what you want. We can go back to where we went yesterday and retrace our steps. On our way back, we can go shopping for outfits for the rehearsal dinner, and then we can figure out how we can untangle this mess, or we can just take everything as it comes."
His words were meant to be comforting, but they stung. The casual way he suggested they could "get out of it" made her wonder if that's what he wanted. Was he already looking for an escape route?
Cassie grabbed Greyson's shorts from the floor and pulled them on, along with his white crew neck shirt. The clothes were too big for her, but they smelled like him a mixture of cologne and something uniquely masculine that made her feel oddly comforted. Her hair was short and manageable but unruly because she had decided to opt for natural curls when she cut it after her breakup with Jake. She had also gone back to her natural color, trading the blonde highlights for her original dark brown.
Greyson watched her move around the room, and he couldn't help but notice how different she looked now. He hadn't really seen it before, but she looked prettier with her natural color. The blonde hair that she had worn for so long had done her looks no justice, masking the warmth in her brown eyes and the natural glow of her complexion.
On the other hand, Grey was remarkably calm about the whole situation. Internally, he was happyngenuinely, deeply happy that he was with the woman he loved. But he didn't want to show her that he loved her, not yet. The wounds from their past were still too fresh, the trust issues too deep. He had learned the hard way that showing his cards too early could lead to heartbreak, and he couldn't afford to be that vulnerable again.
"How is it that you are so calm about everything that has just happened?" Cassie asked, studying his face for any sign of the panic she was feeling. "Don't get me wrong... I do like you, and I feel bad about everything, but I do love you. I'm crying about the fact that I broke girl code and there's no turning back, but we'll take this as it comes. We just need to find out how we got married and why we got married to each other. And as much as you think that there is an easy solution to what we're going through right now, I need to remind you that I've got dual citizenship, so anything that happens here is indirectly going to affect anything that happens at home. We are legally married, Grey. This isn't just some Vegas thing we can laugh about later."
The weight of her words settled between them. This wasn't just a drunken mistake, it was a legal commitment that would follow them both back to their real lives.
Suddenly, both Cassie and Greyson's phones rang with notifications. They both received a message telling them that they were officially married, complete with their marriage certificate from the chapel where they had apparently tied the knot. The chapel had decided to keep the original for record purposes, but they could print out the digital copy that had just been emailed to them.
Seeing the official documentation made it real in a way that nothing else had. There it was in black and white: Mr. and Mrs. Christianson.
Greyson looked at Cassie and kissed her, and despite everything, Cassie kissed him back. The kiss was soft and sweet, filled with unspoken promises and fears. She wasn't aware of how much pain she was in until she tried to stand up to get off the bed so she could return to her hotel room. When she attempted to stand, her legs gave out, and she fell to the floor with a soft thud.
Whatever must have happened the night before must have been spectacular because she hadn't had a night like that in a very long time. Even when she was with her ex, she had to schedule in intimacy, but this felt different. She felt painfully good, sore in all the right places, and embarrassingly satisfied.
"Honey, are you okay?" Greyson asked, immediately moving to help her up.
Cassie couldn't believe what was happening to her at that moment, and she was more than a little embarrassed. Her cheeks burned with a mixture of shame and the lingering effects of their apparent passion.
"No, but I will be fine," she managed to say. "Just give me a couple of minutes to figure out why I'm in so much pain right now."
"Can you walk?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.
Cassie took a deep breath and forced herself to stand, using the bed for support. Her legs were shaky, but she managed to stay upright.
"Yes, I can, and I'm going to my hotel room now before I have to recover from any more embarrassment. I'm not embarrassed that I am married to you. I'm just embarrassed about the way I'm behaving right now, so I'll see you downstairs for breakfast, which is at 7. It's only 6, so I've got an hour or so... damn, you're an early riser."
When Cassie walked toward the door wearing Greyson's blue and white checkered boxers and white crew neck shirt, he winked at her. The gesture was playful and intimate, and it made her stomach flutter despite her emotional turmoil.
"I'm right next door. I will pick you up, and if you need me, you know that you can just call me, right? You've got my number on your phone, and I just don't feel right about leaving you alone. But if you want space, I'll give you space to process what has just happened what happened last night, for that matter. So I will see you in an hour."
"Cool," she replied, trying to sound more casual than she felt.
"Cas, we are married, by the way, and you are now a Christianson."
She turned around and winced, both from the physical discomfort and the emotional impact of his words. Christianson. She had a new last name, a new identity, and she couldn't even remember how it had happened.
"I'm still trying to piece together in my head what happened last night and how we ended up married, but all I know is that we are married and we'll handle whatever comes together as a team. I hope you have no regrets."
"None," he said simply. "See you at breakfast. I love you."
The words hung in the air between them, heavy with meaning and possibility.
"Do you mean it?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"I never say things I don't mean. We have a rehearsal dinner to prepare for and matching outfits to get. It's all on me—you don't have to spend a thing."
"No one has ever done that for me," she admitted. "I usually spend my own money."
"I just didn't want to tell you how I felt the first day I saw you for fear of you running away, but I'm just thankful that we're together now, and I'm going to treat you right."
"Promise?" she asked, needing to hear the words.
Greyson walked toward Cassie and kissed her on the forehead again instead of on the lips, which confused her more than she cared to admit.
"You're mine now. I take care of my own. I promise."
"Can we keep our marriage secret?" she asked, thinking about the inevitable fallout with their friends and family.
"Yes, for now."
"I love you too, Greyson."
The admission felt like a leap of faith, like stepping off a cliff and hoping someone would catch her.
Cassie left Greyson's room and went back to her hotel room to get cleaned up and ready for the day. She couldn't believe this was her life at the moment, but she was married to Greyson Christianson. She was happy and sad at the same time, torn between joy and terror. She hoped that going shopping with Grey might jog her memory and help her piece together the events that had led to this moment.
She needed to retrace her steps and remember the night before and the morning after. More importantly, she needed to figure out what came next and how she was going to explain this to everyone who mattered in her life.
As she stood under the hot shower, letting the water wash away the physical evidence of their night together, she couldn't shake the feeling that her life had just taken a dramatic turn. Whether it was for better or worse remained to be seen, but there was no going back now. She was Mrs. Christianson, and somehow, despite all the uncertainty and fear, that didn't feel entirely wrong.