2019, March 4th"He proposed right here! He said, 'Zoey, marry me already!'"She was yelling out into the night now."Why did he do that?! So what if I didn't marry him? Is it really such a big deal if two old guys don't get along?!"James came up to Zoey, pulling her away from the edge of the cliff. He must really not be thinking straight. How the hell had he sat still in a car next to this crazy woman while she drove him up the dirt road (the condition of which seems to have worsened since the last time he was in Caines) of Height of Caines like a rookie Formula 1 driver?"When those two men are your dad and my dad, yes," James answered, emptying more of the whiskey into his mouth.He knew he had to stop. He still had to get them back down safely somehow. James pulled out his phone and called for a helicopter to take them back down, all the while keeping his eye on her. She was completely wasted and not to be trusted to make even the slightest move.The screaming had stopped. Sudden
2019, March 4th"Come on, I'm obviously too sober and it looks like you're getting there too. Plus, you still reek of vomit. Let's get out of here," James said, taking her hand as he led her through the maze garden, trying to remember the secret way out he and Aaron had created all those years ago.James took Zoey to CC's fashion house. He meant to give Zoey something as a wedding gift, but as he was unlikely to be here tomorrow, he wanted to give it to her now. When they got there, though, he changed his mind. There was suddenly something too intimate about his gift. So while she washed up and somehow found CC's vodka stash, he looked for clothes for her to wear."Isn't it lovely?" Zoey asked, twirling around in the emerald dress he had designed for her.Again, James was taken aback. She was surprising him a lot tonight. He was sure she wasn't all that drunk anymore, so this was just all her. She'd chosen to put his dress on all on her own, no drunken influence needed. James never di
2019, March 29thZoey shoved James off of her."Okay James, I get it. You're a jerk. But guess what? I don't care about that today. I'm just here to get a prince to a coronation," she spat out.It wasn't entirely a lie. There was a coronation happening today and a couple that would be torn apart because of it if he didn't show up, a couple they both cared about.James wanted to keep her as much as he wanted to get rid of her. Seeing her out there, coming for him had made him forget for a moment, but there he was, right back to their wedding night when he'd promised himself he would undo it, if he could just say the words, have that moment with her, he would undo it."The coronation has nothing to do with me," he sneered, licking his lips as he looked at hers. "You, on the other hand-" he closed in on her, dragging a finger down the side of her face.Zoey didn't like what he was implying, the way he was leering at her. Or was it that she didn't like that she liked it? Not only did he j
2019, March 29thMeanwhile, back at the palace, Bart had been preparing all morning for his coronation. Which really meant he sat and stared at a wall while people talked at him, waiting for the only voice that mattered to show up and tell him it was okay, like she always did, that she would be his princess, his queen. But she wasn't showing up, and they were running out of time."Checked out already, have you Arden?" Aaron asked, coming up behind Bart, his hands in his pockets."I literally haven't had a second alone since I woke up. What do you want, Condor?"Bart seemed tired and older than he usually did somehow, which wasn't saying much. He always seemed older than he was to Aaron. Aaron didn't know he could feel pity for the man who had, for all intents and purposes, stolen his place, his title, but there he was, wishing he knew how to help them."You don't want it, I can't have it, it's a really fucked up situation man. Believe it or not, I'm just here to check on you."Bart lo
"Be a good girl and give it to me, Zoey," he whispered softly. "Or I'll take it."2019, March 29thHis eyes dropped to her breasts, then trailed back up her bare neck. He remembered how she tasted, how he'd bitten and kissed her. All that remembering was his undoing. As if she was somehow making him do it, as if compelled, he lowered his head down to her neck and kissed it. It was the lightest of kisses and had he not looked at her then, he might have gotten away. But he did look. His hand went to the back of her head, his fingers getting tangled up in her hair as he pulled it back, holding her in place. He inhaled her scent, licked and tasted her, kissed every inch of her neck, then down to her shoulders and chest until he was drunk on her, until he could stand it no more and his lips found hers.She took advantage of the state he was in and slipped out from under him, but this only served to make him mad when he caught up with her. He wrapped an arm around her waist from the back an
2019, March 29thZoey cringed as she watched the events of their wedding unfold. James had to hold on to her throughout the ceremony, because she kept almost falling over. They were so super drunk she kept wondering if their marriage could even be considered legal. She hid behind his back every time she heard herself giggle, cackle really."Oh, that one was really bad! That one gave Duchess Arden a run for her money!" she gasped in horror, her mouth falling open as she tried to steal the remote from him again to turn down the volume. "Where the bloody hell are the I dos?!"James had watched this video countless times since receiving it, torturing himself over what he'd done to Zoey and Aaron. Never once had he laughed at it, like he was now, watching her freak out over every little thing she did, never once mentioning him and his lack of decorum. He adored watching her be so embarrassed and teasing her about it.When at last they came to the part that he was worried about, the I dos,
2019, March 29thIt was barely a whisper, barely a whimper, but he heard her. He heard her give him her heart, truly and completely. James took a firm hold of her hips and slammed into her, entering her hard and fast. She cried out his name in pain. Sorry that he'd hurt her by being greedy and selfish and impatient, he rolled them back over and pulled out of her slowly, thrusting back in just as carefully, much gentler this time. He hadn't meant to be so rough; he just couldn't quite contain himself. She said the words, and he had to have her, had to make her his, be hers.Zoey's face relaxed into contentment. She was happy that he'd finally taken her, made her his in every way. It didn't matter that he'd hurt her a little, because the rest was pure pleasure, because her heart had never felt so full.They stared at each other as they went at it, painfully slowly at first. But he lost the battle, went back to being impatient and overly eager, didn't want to miss a single chance to make
2019, March 30th & 31st Zoey woke up to the sound of the shower running. She picked up his shirt off of the floor and pulled it over her shoulders. Most of the wedding night was still a blank to her, but one tiny piece of memory stuck with her and she wanted to see if it was still there. She knew he had had something similar made for her for the Duchess’ Welcome, but that one seemed new somehow. That night, Zoey had woken up midway through James struggling to get her wedding dress off, felt the zipper go down and watched him as he hung it up. She wished she remembered the way he did, or at least remembered a better memory, like the actual wedding. This one memory hurt too much to have. She opened the closet door and there it was, not quite as beautiful as the new modified version, but still as radiant as the night she’d worn it. “I guess you do remember some things after all,” he said, watching her touch the dress nostalgically. She didn’t freak out that he was fresh out of th