Face-Off at the Altar Read online

  “Babe, do you like this?”

  Looking over to where Mekena was holding a frilly lace pillow, his face twisted as he shrugged. “Do you?”

  “I do,” she gushed, holding it close to her as Lucy grinned and he smiled.

  “Then get it. It’s great.”

  She held his gaze for a moment and then shook her head, putting it down. “He doesn’t like it.”

  “I know,” Lucy said with a giggle as they moved on, and he let out a breath.

  He tried.

  Wasn’t his fault; he couldn’t erase his face. With a scoff, he remembered that time he yelled at Baylor to erase her face. It was when…Skylar. When Skylar was flirting hard with Jayden because they’d had a thing, but it had ended way before that moment, and Jayden was committed to Baylor. That was a funny night. A good night because Baylor finally admitted that something was going on with Jayden, that they were in love, which was the reason she almost kicked Skylar’s ass.

  Wow. He had thought about Skylar, and it didn’t hurt.

  Mekena looked over at him as her brows came together. “What?”

  “I’m awesome,” he decided and she grinned.

  “Duh, come on. Let’s look at a table!”

  Letting his head fall forward, he moaned loudly as he got up and headed for her, but he paused when his phone sounded. Pulling it out, he saw it was from his mom.

  Mom: Markus, are y’all coming to church this Sunday? Everyone would love to meet Mekena.

  Things had been good with his parents. They talked once a week, mostly about hockey and his games, which made him feel good. They were watching, cheering him on, and even had a burger named after him. It was Mekena’s favorite burger too, which resulted in a very inappropriate comment about her loving his meat in her mouth, to which she smacked him. Hard. Probably because he said it in front of his father, not that he was listening. But at least she was trying too. She went to the restaurant with him, stood by him as they showed him off and gushed over him. Things were looking like they might work out with his parents, and that thrilled him. A lot.

  He came up beside Mekena before showing her the text. She read it and then looked up at him. “You know I’m not very religious, right?”

  His phone sounded once more, and they both looked down.

  Mom: If y’all want to marry at the church, she’ll have to know everyone.

  He looked back at her, and she glared. “I don’t want to get married in a church. I want a cool barn wedding or something. Or something like Lucy and Benji did.”

  Lucy grinned. “Y’all are getting married? You didn’t tell me!” she said, smacking Markus.

  He glared over at her, rubbing his arm. “We aren’t. Not yet, at least.”

  Mekena caught his gaze. “Not yet?”

  “Not yet,” he repeated with a wink. “Come on, don’t act like it won’t happen.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not acting like anything. Just surprised.”

  “Surprised?” he asked, his face twisting as he tucked his phone into his pocket, deciding to text his mom back later. “I think everyone is aware, and surely you know, I’m head over heels for you.”

  “It’s true. Everyone knows,” Lucy added, and Mekena laughed, shaking her head.

  “Well, duh, but why would your mom think it? I mean, they hate me. Why would they want you to marry me?”

  “They hate you? Why? You’re amazing,” Lucy said, looking back at Markus, confused. “What is wrong with them?”

  He shrugged his shoulders while rolling his eyes. Why was Lucy commenting here? “They don’t hate her, they’re trying. And I don’t know why they’re asking.”

  He knew it was too early to think of marriage. They had only been back together a few weeks, and while they dated for a few months before, that still wasn’t long enough. Though, in a way, he didn’t care. He’d marry her tomorrow, with no questions asked. But really, he knew she’d have questions.

  “They hate me.” Rolling his eyes, he heard Lucy laugh as Mekena continued, “They called me white trash, and Markus cut them off. And now they’re back, trying to make nice.”

  Lucy grimaced. “Ouch.”

  “Yeah, whatever. Do they even know we live together? Or that we haven’t even discussed marriage?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m surprised they’re not asking for ring sizes. I should probably get on that before she asks.”

  She laughed. “Okay, so what you’re saying is we should have this all discussed and ready to go before we see them? So when they come at us, we’ll have all the right answers.”

  He held her gaze. “We’ll go?”

  “If you want.”

  He hadn’t wanted to go. He didn’t care. Yeah, he had grown up in the church, but he didn’t want Mekena to feel weird, especially with everything that had gone down. But now, as they stared into each other’s eyes, he realized he did want to take her. He wanted people to love her as much as he did, and maybe one day, even come to their wedding.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “Well, I’m a six.”

  His brows pulled together. “Huh?”

  “My ring size,” she said with a wink, and he laughed as he nodded.

  “Noted.”

  “You two are crazy,” Lucy joked as she picked up a lamp. “But the best people in love are.”

  “Yup, and I’m happy,” Mekena said, kissing his lips as his arm snaked around her, holding her so she couldn’t get away.

  “Really?” he asked against her lips, and she grinned.

  “Really.”

  With a wink, he kissed her once more before letting her go so she could get back to shopping. The quicker they got done, the quicker they could leave. Or at least, that’s what he was going to tell himself. Looking down at his phone, he decided to scroll through Facebook as he followed the girls through the store. He wasn’t sure how he got pulled into this, and he blamed it fully on Mekena. She’d seduced him and then asked him to come shopping while she was giving him the best blow job of his life. At that moment, he would have said yes to anything she asked.

  So here he was, in hell of furniture and fixtures to make their apartment pretty.

  Or, Mekena’s apartment.

  Since he couldn’t get signed and provide for his girlfriend.

  “How was the stay-in honeymoon?” Mekena asked, and Lucy beamed.

  “It was so nice. Mom took Angie, and we basically just Netflixed and banged all weekend. It was glorious,” she said with a laugh that Mekena joined in on.

  “That sounds awesome,” she said, elbowing Markus in the gut playfully. “We should do that after the wedding at your mom’s church.”

  He gave her an exaggerated look. “Ugh, we can’t. They’d expect us to go somewhere tropical, duh, Mekena.”

  She let out a long breath, slapping her leg. “More reason to do a barn wedding. No one expects anything.”

  “This is true,” he said with a nod. “Good thing we have time.”

  “Markus, we have plenty of time since you haven’t asked,” she said with wide, playful eyes. “I bet the people at church would be appalled we’re even talking about it without the ring.”

  “The horror! Because, shit, Mekena, we’re already sleeping together.”

  “Crap! And living together.”

  “The horror!” they said together before sputtering with laughter.

  “You guys are nuts,” Lucy teased, and Mekena grinned up at him but then paused.

  Her brows pulled in as she wrapped her arms around him, and Lucy asked, “Y’all coming? I don’t like these colors.”

  “We’re coming,” Mekena said, not taking her eyes off Markus. He glanced up to see Lucy wandering away, and when he looked back to Mekena, she asked, “What’s wrong? Are you not having fun?”

  “No, I hate this,” he said and she smiled.

  “No, really.”

  “No, I’m serious. I hate this,” he said simply, and her grin dropped.