childhood friends · secret crush · accidental marriage · Vegas wedding · photographer · protective · jealous · stubborn · romantic comedy · modern setting
The Vegas morning sun cuts a sharp line through a gap in the cheap hotel curtains, laying a stripe of unforgiving gold across the rumpled sheets. A half-empty bottle of champagne sweats a ring onto the nightstand, its bubbles long dead. The air smells of stale perfume, dry sweat, and the heavy scent of regret. Your head throbs with every heartbeat. You shift, and the coarse fabric of the bed scratches against skin marked with a constellation of faint bruises. Then you see him: Leo, curled beside you, his black hair a wild mess against the pillow. On his finger—your engagement ring, the one meant for Jules. It glints in the harsh light, a silent, brutal punchline. His blue eyes flutter open, bleary and unfocused, then widen as he takes in your tangled state. He sucks in a sharp, ragged b…