Lucky for me, this time, they heard me. Cross moved to sit in the chair beside me, and Walker took me back to the couch, the whole time glaring at Cristiano. “Don’t talk to her like that. I love this woman, and what we have is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, even over you signing our band.”
“Wow, kid, her pussy’s got you brainwashed. What Pen did was mess with your little young head, or should I say your other head,” he laughed the ugliest laugh. I cringed back from the viciousness of his words, wanting to be nowhere near it. “We’ll get you a new manager that won’t take advantage of you.”
“You shut your mouth,” Walker gritted out. “If anyone took advantage of anyone, it was me.”
“Oh, please, kid, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cristiano laughed. He looked over at me and ground his molars together. “You’re never going to work in this industry again.”
Walker laughed, a cruel sound I’d never heard from him before. “You can’t do that. See, it states in our contract that Pen is to be our manager. If you fire her, you lose us.”
“Do you seriously think I care if I lose you? You’re one in a million, kid. Did you know Ms. Rose’s contract says she will not have any sexual relations with her clients?”
“It’s Mrs. Pierce, or did you miss that part?” Walker lifted my left hand to show off the ring that sat on my finger.
Cristiano furrowed his dark brow. “What are you talking about? Her name is Pen Rose.”
Taking Walker’s left hand in mine, I rubbed my thumb over his black wedding band. “We got married in Greece.” I tilted my head to the side. “Did your source tell you that?”
“No, he didn’t,” Cristiano stuttered out.
“I’m sorry to interrupt.” Breaking away from Walker, we looked over to find a sweet old woman standing at the end of our table. She smiled kindly as we looked at her. “I couldn’t help but overhear you want to get married here in Oia but don’t have a lot of time.”
“We only have tonight. We leave tomorrow and will be on the road for the next two months. Do you know of a place we can get married on such short notice?”
Clasping her withered hands together, the old woman smiled. “I think I do as long as you have your passports and an Apostilled birth certificate.”
“Yes, we have all of those things. In fact, I have them in my purse.”
“What the hell are you doing carrying all of that?” Kenton laughed.
“Because I never know when we’ll need it and today is my lucky day that I carry all of our paperwork in my purse.” I held up my giant purse that could take a person out if they were ever hit with it.
“Perfect. My daughter works at the town hall, and I bet I can get her to push the paperwork through for you once she sees how in love the two of you are. If you could come with me, we can get the paperwork done, and it would be my honor to officiate the wedding at any location you’d like.”
We hit the jackpot with this woman overhearing us.
“Oh, yes, could we get married on the hill overlooking the Aegean Sea?” I gushed, and I never gushed. Was I really doing this?
“Anything you want, my dear. Why don’t we see if we can get the paperwork to go through, and then if you want to do some shopping for some wedding attire or rings, you can do that.” She looked down at her watch and smiled. “You have a little over three hours until sunset, so we should get moving.”
I jumped up and gave the woman a hug. “You have no idea how much this means to us. Thank you… What’s your name?”
The old woman patted me on the back and smiled over at Walker. I wasn’t sure what we would have done without her. The look Walker was giving me seemed as if he was afraid if I had a chance to think too long about marrying him, I might back out after hearing all of Cross and Kenton’s questions. It didn’t matter, though, because I knew deep down in my soul we were perfect for one another.
She patted my cheek and smiled. “My name is Sofia.”
“That’s such a beautiful name. I’m Penelope, and this is my… fiancé, Walker.”
“It’s very nice to meet you both.” Walker stood and shook her delicate hand. Before he could pull back, she leaned and whispered, “I hope you get her one hell of a ring because you’ve got a priceless gem on your hands.”
“I will,” he promised. Leaning in further, he asked, “Can you tell me where I can find something like that here?”
“Of course, dear,” Sofia turned and clapped her hands. “Let’s get on our way. We’ve got much to plan.”
Unwilling to waste another moment, I pulled out a wad of cash and threw it down on the table. I hadn’t even thought about paying for the food we hadn’t eaten. “Can you get the rest boxed up and meet us when you’re done?” I asked the guys.
Kenton looked down at all the food. “If we don’t eat it all.”
“You can’t have me passing out on my wedding day, now, can you?”
“I guess we can’t. Fine,” he sighed like it was going to hurt him not to eat it all. Seriously, we had enough food for ten, and there were only four of us now. Surely there could be some left over for us to eat before we got married.
I couldn’t believe it. With what felt like every blink I took for the day, something changed, and in a few short hours, I would be married.
I linked my hand with Walker’s and gave it a squeeze as we followed Sofia out of the restaurant. “I hope you’re ready for this.”
Brushing his lips to mine, he pulled back and vowed. “More than anything. Now let’s go make this official,” he said as he slapped my ass.
Cross stepped in front of us with his arms over his chest. “You know what? I don’t think we need you. Pen, start your own record label, and we’ll be the first to sign.”
“Let’s not be hasty,” Cristiano backtracked.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have come in here throwing out all that trash talk. Pen has worked her ass off for us, and I believe if it wasn’t for her pushing every step of the way, we wouldn’t be here. And the thing is, I think she can do that for every band that needs someone like her. What do you say, Pen? Do you want to start your own label with us? I’ll happily chip in all of my money to help you get started. I’m sure Kenton would as well.”
Walker’s grip on my hand tightened, making me look at him. This was all too much. Never in a thousand years did I think today would turn out this way, nor had I ever thought of creating my own label, but now that it had been put out there in the world, I could see it.
“I’m in, and I’ll be right by your side through the whole thing. We can do this,” he nodded like all of this made sense.
“I… I don’t know. One second I’m getting fired, and the next, you guys are telling me I should create a label?” I looked down at my bare feet and wiggled my toes. “I’m a little overwhelmed here.”
“Well, I’ll make the choice for you. You’re fired. I don’t know how you got this boy to marry you, and it probably isn’t even legal. Titan Records can’t get behind employees who take advantage of their clients. You’re fired, Ms. Rose or Mrs. Pierce, whatever your name is.”