Page 14 of Claimed By River

Nadia

The gold band on my finger catches the morning light again, and I still can’t quite convince myself it’s real. Every few minutes, I find myself twisting it absentmindedly, expecting it to disappear the moment I blink.

Instead, it stays exactly where River slid it, right in front of Royal. He’s wearing a suit that makes him look far more like an executive than a man who completed forty-five minutes of online certification last night so he could legally marry two people inside a tattoo shop.

“If anyone asks,” Roman had muttered during the ceremony, “I’m telling them this happened in Vegas.”

Royal hadn’t even looked up from the paperwork. “It happened in Atlanta.”

“They don’t need to know that,” Roman said. "

River had rolled his eyes. “They also don’t need to know you almost cried.”

“I had something in my eye.”

“It was both eyes,” River teased.

Roman lifted his chin. “It was emotional dust.”

Even now, remembering the exchange nearly makes me laugh despite the surreal weight of the wedding band on my finger. If someone had told me a week ago that I’d be standing inside 4R Ink wearing a simple ivory dress I’d found with Elodie, while marrying the grumpiest tattoo artist in Georgia, I would’ve suggested they seek professional help.

Instead, here I am. Married. The thought still doesn’t feel real. Royal folds the signed marriage license before handing us each a copy.

“Well,” Royal says with an amused smile, “by the authority vested in me by the state of Georgia and approximately forty-five minutes of online training…”

Roman snorts.

“...I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

Silence fills the tattoo shop. My heartbeat pounds loudly enough that I’m certain everyone can hear it.

Royal smiles. “You may kiss your bride.”

I expect something polite. Something brief. A quick peck for appearances before everyone laughs and moves on.

Instead, River steps toward me with an expression I haven’t seen before, one that softens the sharp edges of his usually guarded face. His hand cups my jaw, thumb at the corner of my mouth, and he kisses me like we are alone.

Hard. Intense. The same heat as that first kiss a few days ago, the one I hadn’t stopped replaying no matter how many other fires were burning around us. His tongue slides against mine, and my mind goes blank. The shop, Royal, Elodie…everyone. It all drops away.

There is only the taste of him and the solid press of his body and the ring already warm on my finger. When we finally separate, I realize everyone in the room has gone suspiciously quiet.

Roman clears his throat dramatically. We both look at him.

“Anyone else suddenly feel like they’re interrupting something?”

Elodie laughs. “Definitely.”

Heat rushes into my face. River doesn’t seem nearly as embarrassed.

Royal claps his hands together. “Excellent. Now that our newlyweds have remembered we’re all standing here, I’d suggest getting Nadia moved into River’s apartment before someone decides to ruin everyone’s afternoon.”

Reality crashes back almost instantly. River quietly slips his hand into mine.

“We’ve got you.”

And the strangest thing happens. I believe him. Four men I’ve spent a year keeping at arm’s length, and a woman who’s becoming a friend, standing in a closed tattoo shop with the blinds drawn because of me. Over many years, my father instilled in me that being somebody’s responsibility and being somebody’s property were the same thing. Now, with River's hand in mine, I understand for the first time that they aren’t.

⁎⁎⁎