“Tell me am I right to think that there could be nothing better than making you my bride and slowly growing old together…”


Hernia surgery turned out to be a non-issue. Once Marco was back in Minnesota, he barely wasted a day in terms of physical activity. Like Marie had assumed, he took one day for rest and relaxation, but was at the gym the next for leg day. And the day after that, he went back, and the day after that too.

No follow up injuries occurred due to his lack of recovery time. The gluey substance used in place of stitches didn’t cause any issues, and June flew by. At the start of July, with most of the wedding plans in place, Marie hired a party coordinator, so that on the day of the wedding, she and Jess would be able to have fun while the coordinator handled the logistics of the ceremony and reception.

Marie began the process of juggling the workload of her business, cluing the coordinator in on everything that had been planned, and going through the motions of making sure the caterer, florist, and seamstress were all on schedule. By early August, she’d have to do a final fitting to make sure it was absolutely perfect, and from there it was a hard sprint to the wedding day.

June gave way to July and July moseyed along, threatening the start of August. Now, in just a couple weeks, Sofia would turn one. Neither Marco nor Marie could believe that it’d already been a year since they’d been blessed with her. Time had flown by and Marie wished she could get it to stop. Where would the years go before Sofia started school, and then started dating, moving out, and graduating… It was hard to believe there was going to be a time when Sofia didn’t depend on her and Marco for everything.

There weren’t going to be any big plans for her first birthday. Most of the team would still be out of town, and to be honest, Marie wasn’t quite sure if they’d be in St. Paul either. The chances of them flying back up to Montreal to be Marco’s family were pretty high. They would do something with her, of course. But neither of them was quite sure she needed a big party. She’d never remember it anyways. And even though that was coming up, Marie couldn’t even take the time to worry about that. Not tonight at least.

She was in front of the hotel bathroom mirror curling her hair, with Marco behind her in a pair of slacks, throwing a button down shirt on around his shoulders. He had just gotten done shaving to clean up the edges of his beard, and was well on his way to being done in the getting ready portion of his night. It was the 22nd, and tonight they’d find themselves apart. Marie would be off with Lizzie, Jess, and a couple old friends from BU. And Marco was going to be out with Nino, Charlie, and Matt. Even though Charlie reassured her that Marco would be a good boy, Marie still feared that something would go down tonight, and it’d be bad for both of them. She didn’t express her fears to him; that probably would’ve just started an argument.

“How was Sof when you dropped her off,” Marco asked, tilting his head backwards to make sure the edge of his beard was cut evenly.

“Sleeping. That hour and a half drive really does wonders. My mom gets easy Sof. We get cranky and temperamental Sof.” She pulled a piece of hair out of the curler; satisfied with the spring it produced. “Do you know where the guys are taking you?”

“I think they’re getting me buzzed at Matt’s hotel, and then taking me to some gentleman’s club on the west side. Because that’s exactly what I want to do,” he struggled with securing the smaller buttons on his wrist.

Marie smiled and turned to face him, taking his arm in hers to fasten the buttons for him. “You must be the only guy in the world that doesn’t want to go to a free night at a gentleman’s club,”

“I’d rather just have you strip for me,”

“I know we’re both kind of thinking we’d rather be home with each other, but let’s try to have fun tonight. Our friends have put together the best versions of a hen and stag party they could think of. It’s one night and then we have an infinite amount of nights to be homebodies and recluses.”

There was a barrage of banging on their hotel room door, and they both looked at it. “I’ll see you later, I guess…” Marco grinned softly and kissed Marie’s lips slowly. Practically forcing himself to peel away from her, he went to open the door for his friends, and they had him out of there in no time.

It wasn’t much later that Marie was being summoned out of the hotel room, and was being stabbed with a plastic tiara on her head, and bombarded by a glittery sash that said “bride-to-be”. Unlike Marco’s group, Lizzie and Jess had planned to get drunk on the way to their destination. The extremely illegal task of giving her alcohol in the car occurred. Marie wasn’t proud of it, but it happened, and she sucked down a small bottle of Fireball whiskey like an old pro. By the time they reached the strip club, Marie was feeling good, enjoying a buzz that would definitely be with her for a while.

---

The boys rolled up to the gentleman’s club, and Marco looked out the window to study the bouncers that stood by the door. They were both dressed in suits, looking more like the secret service, than security guards to a private strip joint. At Matt’s hotel room, Marco had been given shots left and right. Having seen him out before, his friends knew how much he could hold, and how much he’d need to feel something.

He was happy now, being out with his friends, regardless of where they were taking him. It was a rare occurrence he’d be an angry drunk, and especially now as Matt helped him out of the SUV, he was enjoying it all.

The bouncers congratulated Marco on his upcoming wedding, but he barely heard it as Nino tugged him into the club. Between the thumping music and the barrage of lights everywhere, Marco couldn’t see a thing, but focused on the petite woman leading them to their private table for the night. Bottles were already lined up on it, and for a moment at first, Marco wanted to laugh at his friends. They were pulling out all the stops to make this the best bachelor party ever.

“Well look at this handsome bunch,”

Marco followed the voice, laying blurry eyes on a new woman standing in front of them. She was barely dressed at all, wearing a skin-tight vest, showing off cleavage for days, and small black shorts with fishnet stockings beneath them. He could hardly take his eyes off of her. For a moment, the getup reminded him of the Halloween party a couple years back when Marie had dressed up as a pinup cowgirl. It also didn’t help him any when the woman walked around and sat down in his lap, shaking her ass over his crotch. It might’ve been the alcohol and the buzz, but he felt himself harden just a touch, and he knew the woman felt it too.

“I hear you’re the upcoming hubby. Last night at freedom here,” the woman smiled and twisted in his lap, creating friction on him. “My name’s Heather, I’m going to be taking care of all of you tonight. Whatever you need,” she winked at Marco subtly and tugged on his hands to get them in her lap, pushing his fingertips between her bare legs. “Just holler when you need me. We’re having some of our finest girls spend some time with you tonight, so you’ll be in good hands.”

She slid off of Marco’s lap and went over to Nino, bending forward to whisper in his ear. He nodded and said something back, but Marco focused on his lap, already feeling guilty for what was happening. Marie had told him to have fun, not to think about bending the waitress over and fucking her from behind.

“Liking what you’re seeing already, Scandy?” Charlie smiled and picked up one of the bottles of Patron on the table.

“What’d she say to you, Nino?” Marco yelled to be heard over the music. Throughout the club, women were already starting their shows for other men.

“Said there was a new girl and asked if you’d like her. Small, skinny, brunette, eighteen,” he giggled like a schoolboy caught doing something naughty. “Kinda sounds like Marie when you met her. I took a chance and said you’d be fond of her,”

Maybe he should’ve been a little angry, but another part of him had to laugh. It did sound like his type. After all, the description perfectly matched Marie, and there was no one he wanted more right now.

Heather came back to the table with two women beside her, both dressed in long red, silk robes. They were modestly made up, honestly looking like they were about to walk the runway in a Victoria’s Secret show, and Marco had to shut his eyes momentarily before he just completely lost control of himself.

“Boys, I’d like you to meet Sarah,” Heather pointed to the platinum blonde to her left, “and Rachel,” she then pointed to the darker blonde to her right. “They’re here for your entertainment and pleasure… Have fun,” Heather winked and made off with a twenty handed to her by Nino.

“Which one of you is getting tied down to an old ball and chain,” Sarah hummed. For the moment, she was on Matt’s lap, and Rachel had climbed onto Charlie’s. When Marco chuckled and raised his hand, Sarah ran over to him, “oh you poor thing. What’s her name?”

Marco wrapped his arms around Sarah’s hips, and she took the moment to press her chest against his. The silk robe began to fall loose. He cleared his throat, and drummed his fingers on Sarah’s hips, “Marie.” He glanced around at his friends, noting that Charlie was halfway through a conversation with Rachel, and Nino and Matt couldn’t wipe the smug grins off their faces as they watched Marco.

“Marie? Well that girl’s going to spend her life telling you no, so for tonight, no one’s going to tell you no, sweetheart.” Sarah stood up straddling his lap. She tugged at the thin strip of fabric, holding her robe together and pulled it open slowly. Marco watched the way the soft fabric rolled along her skin, revealing a little bit more each moment. When she held it apart, she was completely naked, save for a thin strip of fabric at her waist, and Marco swallowed down a groan. “I know you like what you see, sweetheart. You don’t have to pretend you don’t. No one here is going to tell on you,”

Charlie, Matt, and Nino couldn’t see to what level of undress she was at. It was like she was a secret only Marco knew about. Sarah reached back, smiling at Rachel, who then began her own show of stripping down. Once the other three boys were focused on her, she turned back to Marco with a lime and shot of tequila. She handed him the shot glass, wet a small patch of her neck, and tapped salt onto her skin. Marco tried to distract himself by the fact that the naked woman on top of him was rolling her hips on him, moaning out breathlessly as she prepared herself.

“Come on, sweetheart,” she egged on, setting one hand on the back of his neck. She urged him forward until he finished the motion and licked the salt off of her, took the shot, and then opened his mouth for her to thrust the lime wedge into his mouth. “Someone’s a big boy,” Sarah took the shot glass back from him, and grabbed onto his now empty hands and placed them on her breasts, curling her fingers around his until he squeezed.

“I didn’t think this was a thing,” he kneaded her breasts through his fingers, sliding down in his chair to a more comfortable position as her rocking kept making him harder.

“Our members pay a great deal to relax here. We like to give them… special perks. Especially very, very important people like you.” Sarah set her hands down on Marco’s waist, bucking her hips into him as though he were actually inside her. “Does Marie make you feel this good, sweetheart?” She leaned forward, biting on his earlobe firmly, moaning her hot breath into his ear, “what I would do to have you fucking me raw right now. What are you, nine inches?” She turned her head just to gauge his reaction. “Don’t go home with your friends tonight. Come to my place… fuck me like your sweet, little wife won’t let you.”

Marco pulled his head away from her and reached around her body, pouring another shot of tequila into the glass. He wasn’t that drunk. Not yet at least.

---

Marie giggled as she was on stage, hearing the cheers of those watching. One of the male strippers had taken an interest in her, given the fact that she was a bride-to-be. She expected nothing less. However, being bent over the prop table with the outrageously muscled man behind her, was something unexpected.

The stripper, who’s name evaded her in her drunken stupor, bent over her body and held her wrists down on the table, administering short jabs to her backside, simulating sex. Although he wasn’t hard, Marie could feel his bulge pressing tightly to her. She blushed and turned her head away from the crowd, shutting her eyes to pretend like Marco was the person doing this to her.

But just as that fantasy began, she was being pulled up from the table and summoned to an armless chair on stage. Opening her eyes back up, she realized the stripper was now thrusting his hips forward, sending his crotch closer to her face, and in the same instant, he grabbed the back of her head and nudged it closer to his member.

She resisted and looked up at him with a playful smile. But behind that and the blurry eyes, she just wanted to be back at the hotel with Marco. She had said that they should have fun with their friends, that they shouldn’t let their love for each other make their parties a miserable experience. But Marie just couldn’t do that. It was harder than she thought it would be.

The night carried on, and even though her sister and friends sought to give her more alcohol, Marie played it off like she wasn’t feeling well. She was fine, felt good, but she didn’t want to get back to the hotel and pass out. She wanted to be able to spend quality time with Marco tonight.

So she ended the night by being on her way to sobering up, and when she got back to the hotel around two in the morning, she was slightly disappointed that Marco wasn’t back yet. Maybe he was just having such a good time with his friends. Trying to distract herself, she washed her face and downed a couple of ibuprofen. And apparently she knocked out, because the next thing she knew, she was being woken up by lips on her neck.

Marie grinned and stretched her arms above her head. Blinking awake, Marco came into focus. He was still dressed from his night out, with a few of the buttons on his shirt undone. She glanced over at the clock on the nightstand and realized it wasn’t even three yet. Finally sitting up, Marco swallowed ibuprofen as well, and undid the rest of his shirt, letting it slip from his shoulders.

“How was your night?” Marie whispered, voice sore from the mix of alcohol and screaming.

“You mean before or after I was brought an eighteen-year-old child who kept calling me daddy?” He looked back at her momentarily, and then focused on his slacks, trying to get them down. “Any boner I might’ve had, disappeared at that point.”

“So you were turned on by what you saw?” Marie didn’t quite know what she hoped to get out of this conversation. She really didn’t want any of the explicit details.

Marco shed the rest of his clothes and stumbled onto the bed. With a hand on Marie’s hip, he pulled them together. “I had a naked woman on top of me, asking me to go home with her. And all I kept thinking was how badly I wanted to get out of there and be here with you.”

Marie reached behind her and tucked a hand behind Marco’s neck. He replaced his lips on hers and let out a breathy sigh. “They actually brought you an eighteen-year-old?” Marie could hardly believe that Nino and the boys would go for that.

Marco nodded and offered a small smile. Hell, he could hardly believe it himself. “Apparently she’s the new favorite thing at the club. Poor thing,” he cupped his hand on Marie’s neck and stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I kept looking at her, and all I saw was Sofia. Like that was someone’s teenage daughter… giving lap dances and getting undressed for a bunch of old, sweaty guys.”

“And calling you daddy,” Marie giggled. If there was one thing Marco hated, it was being called daddy in a sexual way. Anything remotely close to even a fake incestuous relationship bothered him. “What about the naked girl?”

His eyes were closed now, trying to relax into sleep. And her question didn’t even phase him. “What about her?”

“Was she pretty? Did you like her?”

Marco opened up eyes, “was she a good stripper? Yes. Would I have her over for dinner? No.”

“Was she pretty?”

He looked utterly confused, “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“The truth,”

He hesitated and licked his lips, “she was pretty. But you’re the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

“It’s okay if you’re attracted to your stripper. Because at the end of the night, you’re in bed with me.”

“Good because she was literally the sexiest woman ever,” he mocked and earned a playful slap on the chest from Marie. He laughed and crawled on top of her, nuzzling his face into her neck, “gave me such a massive boner.”

“Marco!” Marie shrieked, as he blew raspberries against her skin. She writhed beneath him, unable to catch her breath, and midway through her laughing fit, he dropped his hips to hers, rubbing his semi-hard cock against her hip. Her hearty laughter turned into a breathless moan and she reached up, grasping at the ends of his hair.

He dropped his weight onto her lower half completely, just barely holding his chest off of hers so she could breathe. Cupping her face, he kissed her slowly, longingly. All the while, he circled his waist on top of hers.

“Marco,” she managed in between his long kisses. He leaned back just enough to look at her, brushing her hair away from her face. “Not tonight… I’m just really tired. And I don’t want to start something I won’t be able to finish,”

He kissed her once more and slid out from between her legs, back to his spot beside her. He still kept her enveloped in his arms, and Marie struggled for a bit, rotating to face him.

She ran her fingers through his beard gently, “sorry.”

“You never have to apologize for denying me sex. You’re entitled to that,” he reached forward and pressed his lips to her forehead and lingered there as they both took deep breaths, ready to find sleep after a long night.

Notes

"Nothing Better" by The Postal Service