Page 46 of The Scenic Route
“Whatexactlyhappened last night?” Felicity asked, sick of getting spare bits of information and brief flashes of memory.
Ronan’s eyes went wide. “You don’t remember? I knew you were intoxicated, but I didn’t realize you were blackout drunk.”
“If you knew we weren’t in our right minds,” Felicity said, putting the whole spiked-drinks situation on the back burner for the moment, “why did you let us go through with it?”
To her surprise, Ronan laughed. “As if I could’ve stopped you. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Green could bench press a Subaru, and I have a feeling you’re a tough little scrapper yourself, as harmless as you look.”
Felicity couldn’t argue with that.
“Once you got the idea in your heads, you were determined to get married. If I hadn’t driven you to the Clark County building to get your license, you would’ve walked—or stolen a car or hijacked a bus or who knows? You were both blissfully in love.”
“Wait.” Felicity held up a hand, trying to wrap her brain around what Ronan was telling them. “It would’ve been too late last night. The license bureau wouldn’t have been open.” A rush of relief flooded her as she picked up what must be a fake marriage license and waved it at Ronan. “We’re not actually legallymarried.” Even as she said it, though, a hollowness opened up in her middle. She couldn’t be…disappointed, could she?
Her inner turmoil distracted her, so it took a moment to realize that Ronan was shaking his head. “This is Vegas. They’re open until midnight. We got there just in time.” He was beaming at them, looking so proud to be part of their sudden marriage. “The chapels are open twenty-four hours, of course.”
“Of course,” she echoed faintly.
“Your wedding was just beautiful. You went with the romantic package, had a unity ceremony where you lit each other’s candles…”
“We lit each other’s candles.” Felicity felt unable to do anything but repeat Ronan’s words as the fog around her memories slowly began to clear. She recalled their exasperated server at the diner and how Bennett admitted he dropped his case to help her chase after Dino. The clerk at the license bureau had been surprisingly jolly, presenting them with their official marriage license with the glee of a successful matchmaker. Everything had seemed to shine at their tiny wedding: the blush-pink flowers, the woman who’d officiated—notdressed like Elvis, thank goodness—and Bennett. Bennett hadn’t taken his eyes off her the whole night, and happiness had radiated from him.
The drugs. It had to be the drugs.
A polite rap on the door made her jump, and Bennett wrapped an arm around her again. She let him, telling herself she’d lean on him for just another few minutes. Then they could start talking about unpleasant things, like annulments.
“That’ll be our mimosas,” Ronan said, heading for the door,seemingly unaware of the bomb he’d dropped on them. “It’s a bit early for a straight champagne toast, but mix some orange juice in there? Perfect.”
Still a bit shell-shocked, Felicity accepted her mimosa, lifted it for Ronan’s lengthy toast to their happiness and long marriage, and automatically took a sip. The touch of the juice on her tongue brought her raging thirst to her immediate attention, and she slammed back the rest of her mimosa.
“Okay,” she said as Ronan blinked at her, his glass halfway to his lips. “We have a drug-dealing, drink-spiking, bail-jumping militia member to run to ground. Thank you so much for your hospitality, Ronan. It was a pleasure to meet one of Bennett’s friends, and I hope next time we stay here, it’ll be for pleasure, not for work.”
Ronan stared at her for another moment before he barked out a laugh and knocked back his drink. “Have I mentioned how much I adore your new bride?” he said to Bennett, who must’ve finished his drink as well, since he placed the empty glass down next to Felicity’s. “Best of luck on your search, happy hunting, and all that.” He dug in his pocket and pulled out a set of familiar-looking keys, handing them to Felicity. “I had a couple of the valets retrieve your car from that unpleasant bar’s parking lot. Come see me again soon. We’ll have dinner, and you can tell me all about your adventures.”
He shook Bennett’s hand, gave Felicity one of those double-cheek kisses that she hated but didn’t mind so much when it was Ronan, and swept out of the room.
Realizing that she hadn’t looked at Bennett during Ronan’sentire description of their wedding, Felicity braced herself and turned, her gaze finding his. His expression was one of the rare ones she still couldn’t decipher, and that made her worry.
“Are you okay?” she asked, annoyed with herself for her selfishness. All this had happened to Bennett too, and she’d been so wrapped up in her emotions that she hadn’t even checked how he was feeling.
That inscrutable look went soft, and he stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I’m good. Ready to get Dino?”
Shaking off the daze that look and tiny touch had caused, she shoved all the wedding stuff into a corner of her brain and nodded. “So ready. Give me five minutes, and then I’ll be physically ready too.” She gave him a grin that she hoped wasn’t too wobbly around the edges and then went into the bathroom.
As she guzzled glass after glass of water straight from the tap, she stared at her cell phone on the side of the counter. She knew she needed to check in soon, or Charlie and Molly would send in the cavalry. The last time she’d texted them was during the stakeout the day before, and in her drunken haze, she’d forgotten to charge her phone overnight. She almost didn’t want to plug it in, since she had no clue what she was going to tell her sisters.
Mentally dumping that worry into the soon-but-not-right-now bin, she took a shower. The side of her calf stung, and she saw a shallow graze her hazy memories told her was from one of Dino’s bullets. After scrubbing the small wound, she allowed herself to think only about how amazing the hot water felt and how indulgently luxurious the whole bathroom was. She and Bennett really had to come back for a real vacation soon.
When the thought registered, she gave a laugh that was a little too close to a sob for comfort.Bennett. Myhusband. How wild is that?
And why does the thought make me so weirdly happy?
***
By the time they’d both showered and packed their few possessions, Ronan sent up a huge breakfast of eggs Benedict, fruit, and incredible, melt-in-her-mouth sticky buns. Felicity’s earlier nausea was gone, and she stuffed her face as if she hadn’t eaten a whole stack of pancakes the night before. Bennett ate even more than she did and then watched her hungrily after his plate was empty, so she didn’t feel self-conscious about her gluttony.
The food and all the water she’d drank earlier banished the last of her brain fog and most of her headache. Some ibuprofen took care of the rest—as well as the renewed ache in her ankle from all the running the night before. As they climbed into her car, she was feeling surprisingly perky for someone who’d unknowingly drank a spiked beverage, been shot at, and gained a husband the night before.
Settling in the driver’s seat, Felicity reached to start the car but then dropped her hand and turned to Bennett. “What’s the plan?”
