Chapter 38

Las Vegas (Next morning)

Vin woke to a beat of a marching band mercilessly playing drums within his brain and a burning urge to pee. Muttering obscenities under his breath, he blinked sleep away, groaning as he realized what a hangover he had after such intense night. Vin swallowed dryly as he lifted a hand, rubbing his eyes.

The bedroom of the suite was almost completely in shadows. The heavy, dark red curtains were parted slightly down the middle, enough to let him guess that the light coming through the crack was sunlight. But he had no damn clue if it was dawn or getting dark.

Disentangling his legs from the silky bed sheets he climbed out, wincing and headed to the bathroom, stumbling slightly over his own feet. His head was about to explode and those damn drums were playing even louder now.

Finally he reached the bathroom, relieving himself and with his eyes still almost closed, he stood at the counter, looking at his own reflection at the mirror.

Dark shadows were under his slightly red eyes. Vin leaned forward and opening the tap, he put his hands together under the stream of cold water and poured it over his unshaved head and face. Shivering, he reached blindly for a small towel, drying his hands when he noticed the wedding ring on his left ring finger. Vin glanced down at his hand, sighing hard and then back up at himself.

They had done it; he and Luna had gotten married last night. The details weren’t all there but Vin still remembered pretty clearly that he had married Luna in some kind of chapel by a guy dressed like Elvis.

Vin chuckled at his own memories, at least he wasn’t the one dressed like the King.

Lifting his right hand, Vin rubbed his forehead as he shut his eyes, trying to hunt down the details that seemed to keep slipping away from his blurry mind. He was trying to put it in some kind of semi-logical order.

Last thing he remembered, as clear as his own stage name, was that they had been singing at the bar, drinking exotic cocktails. Then they were heading back to their suite when Luna had said something about getting married. Next thing he was holding her while Luna was puking her guts out and then they were in a limo and he was sucking Luna’s pussy. It tasted of champagne? Or that was after they got married?

Vin shook his head, blinking fast. He wasn’t sure anymore. There were little flash backs popping in his brain and all of them seemed to be superimposing upon others, even mixing themselves in a bizarre sequence of events.

There was expensive champagne and coke and Luna was laughing hard, her eyes shining like stars. And there was a guy with a shaved head, covered with a dragon tattoo who was laughing with Luna?

Vin clenched his bottom muscles and winced slightly. Snapping his eyes open, his gaze slid down to his butt and his mouth hung open wide.

There was a bandage on his left cheek. Vin tensed his butt muscles again as he screwed up his face when a flash back popped without warning, pushing aside everything else in a second flat.

Flash back

“Aw, come on, Diesel, you’re acting like a whiny brat,” Luna said, laughing hard, her feet wildly patting the floor as she was trying to catch her breath, holding her stomach. “It’s just a little needle, you should be ashamed, baby,” she managed to say between her hysterical laughter.

Vin grunted as he laid on his stomach on the stretcher. “I’m not acting like a fucking brat and stop laughing at me, woman,” he groaned as the man pulled down Vin’s jeans, exposing his butt.

Luna cleaned the tears from her cheeks that had been shed with the force of her laughter.

“Hey, I did it first, sweetheart,” Luna giggled, as she got comfortable, lighting up a cigarette. “Besides you are an action movie star and you were a bouncer, for fuck’s sake!” she added, rolling her eyes, giggling.

The man grinned at her as he charged the tattoo machine with the black ink.

“Which letter will it be, blondie?” He asked Luna as he disinfected Vin’s left cheek with alcohol. Luna frowned deeply as she glanced at Vin, giggling. He shot a glance at the guy.

“Don’t fucking ask her, man. It’s my damn butt!” He growled, narrowing his eyes. Luna burst out laughing and winced slightly, grabbing her belly.

End Flash back

“No fucking way…” Vin whispered and slowly, he removed the bandage. Vin blinked furiously, staring at his bottom and cursed silently. Shit! His mind echoed.

There it was. The letter ‘L’ had been tattooed on his butt. A customized design actually, similar to the letter ‘N’ Luna had on her shoulder blade. It was still bleeding a little and when he lifted the bandage, the design was branded with black ink on the fabric mixed with blood and what seemed to be Vaseline.

Vin narrowed his eyes as his mind started to race when the noise of his cell phone ringing pulled him out of his thoughts.

Throwing the bandage out, Vin shook his head a little and padded to the bedroom in the penthouse, picking up the phone before it woke up Luna who stirred in her sleep. Damn! Vin cursed silently as he hurried his steps, heading toward the salon.

“Yeah.” He barked out, wincing as the sound of his own voice stabbed his brain.

“Is it done?” Marcela’s voice sounded at the other side of the line. Vin sighed hard.

“Yeah, we did it last night.” He answered, rubbing his forehead.

“Good. I’ll send the press release right now so when you are both back…” Vin cut her off.

“Marcela, I…I don’t like this.” He whispered so Luna couldn’t hear him. Marcela knit a brow, blowing the smoke of her cigarillo.

“What do you mean, Vin?” She asked, narrowing her eyes. Vin let out a heavy sigh.

“I don’t like all this shit one damn bit, Marcela. I…I love Luna.”

Marcela knit a brow. “Well, you told me you wanted to marry her, right?” She paused.

“I know what I said, but not this way…” he sighed hard. “I wanted something special for Luna, something unique and not…” Vin trailed off, shutting his eyes.

Marcela took a deep puff of her cigarillo, blowing the smoke through her nose.

“Vincent, listen to me.” She paused for a heartbeat then continued, lowering the tone of her voice. “Luna loves you and you love her, right? Then what’s the problem, dear? People that love each other get married every day; it’s not that big a deal.”

“But we were both wasted and high, Marcela. That’s not the way I wanted to marry Luna.” Vin hissed, breathing deeply. “I feel like a shit, as if I cheated on her!” Marcela snorted, putting out her cigarillo. “I’m not even sure if Luna will remember it when she wakes up, damnit!!”

Marcela rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

“Come on, Vin, you damn well know that Luna would never have married you if you gave her the chance to think about it for two seconds. She didn’t even want to move in with you!” Marcela’s voice sounded serious yet tinted with sarcasm and Vin let out a deep growl, tightening his jaw hard. “Just wait until everybody knows that Vin Diesel got married to a sexy scriptwriter and not to a brainless bimbo, sweetie. Richard will come in his pants and you will be able to shoot ‘Hannibal’…that’s what you wanted, right?”

Vin winced at Marcela’s words. “It’s what I wanted but not at any cost; not if I’ve got to make Luna believe everything has been as result of a spur of the moment, something not planned in advance.”

Vin felt sick, thinking about how he had tricked Luna, getting her drunk, knowing that she wasn’t used to it, until she was wasted enough to not even give it a second thought. He was somehow relieved that Luna was the one who mentioned the marrying shit because Vin wasn’t sure what he would have done to convince her.

He had been thinking non-stop about the matter since that night at the hospital, but he also knew that Luna would say ‘no way’. So when Luna said that she wanted to go to Las Vegas to celebrate his birthday, Vin saw the chance he was searching for.

“I promised Luna things were going to be different from now on, Marcela.” Vin whispered, collapsing on a big couch, shutting his eyes. “I didn’t want to break my promise; I…I didn’t want to fail her, again.”

“Well, dear, it’s not like you didn’t break a promise before, right?” Marcela replied coldly, pulling out a new cigarillo. “You only have to keep the secret, Vin. Do you think you will be able to do such a simple thing?” She asked and lit it up, puffing deeply. “It’s not the first time though, or did you already tell her about HBO?”

Vin snapped his eyes open, grunting. “Luna will leave me in a second flat if she finds out about that shit, Marcela and you know it too damn well.” He muttered in disgust. “Luna wouldn’t forgive me for messing with her career.”

Marcela sighed hard, shaking her head.

“Well, it seems to me that you don’t have too many options left then.” She said as she kept puffing from her cigarillo. “You keep your mouth shut and you pretend everything is okay, love. At the end you’re a damn good actor so it won’t be that difficult for you, Vin.”

“It doesn’t feel right, damnit!” Vin hissed, breathing through his nose. All of sudden he couldn’t breath normally. “We haven’t been married for twelve hours yet and I’m already keeping secrets from my wife, Marcela. Do you think that’s decent behavior?”

At the other side of the line Marcela rolled her eyes, snorting. “Decent? Since when are you decent, Vin?” She retorted coldly, causing Vin to growl deeply, unable to keep his rising anger at bay. “I still remember the day you told me you would do anything to be a famous actor, and it’s not like you have shown many scruples along the way, Mark.” Marcela added sarcastically. “You’ve done worse things to be where you are today, Mr. Diesel. Tricking a chick to marry you is not that bad anyway, much less considering the fact that the chick loves you and you love her.” Marcela paused, getting to her feet and then continued. “I told you once that you would have to leave your conscience behind if you wanted to make it big in this business and I don’t recall you complaining back then.”

Vin felt his blood boiling within his veins. “I’m not proud of that shit, Marcela. I was a fucking moron; I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, damnit!!” Vin snapped back, closing his hand into fists. “I didn’t know I was selling my soul to the Devil.” He added.

“That’s exactly what you did and you better deal with it, Vin!” Marcela retorted, putting out her cigarillo. “You’re about to finally reach your ultimate dream. So I suggest you not fuck up your career now that you’re so damn close to getting it.” Marcela whispered coldly as she started pacing her office back and forth. “I put you where you are, Vin, you never forget that.”

Vin cursed silently. “How could I? You remind me of that shit every single fucking chance you have, bitch.” He retorted, mimicking her tone of voice. Marcela arched her brows at once and stopped pacing.

“Vin, you know I love you but don’t cross me or I’ll destroy you in a second flat and you will be lucky if you can make a special appearance on CSI.” Marcela muttered through clenched teeth.

Vin clamped his jaw so tightly that his neck muscles screamed in pain. “If I fall, I’ll bring you down with me, Marcela.” He growled emotionless, causing Marcela to gasp soundlessly. “So you better weigh the risk up before you threaten me because you’re not the only agent in this business and I wouldn’t hesitate to start from the beginning if I had to.”

At the other side of the line there was a long pause and a dead silence could be felt.

Marcela had no other choice but to give credit to Vin. He wasn’t shitting and she knew it. Vin Diesel was a good actor with his own production company and he would be able to rise if he felt the need. Certainly it would take him time, but Marcela was sure that Vin had enough balls to do it. And since he had Luna at his side, Marcela had no doubt that she would help him in that task without a second thought.

Luna was similar to Marcela regarding that matter. Marcela herself had done the same with her own husband, Richard, when they were still happily married and in love with each other.

An eternity had passed but Marcela knew that Luna would sacrifice everything to help Vin in his task, if the occasion required it.

After a long moment in which neither of them said a word, Marcela cleared her throat, taking a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, Vin.” She whispered, cursing silently.

Vin closed his eyes for a second, calming himself a little.

“It’s okay. We both said things we shouldn’t.” He answered, sighing hard. “Just one more thing, Marcela.” Vin paused for a couple of seconds. He knew damn well that his agent wasn’t going to like what he was about to add.

At the tone of his voice, Marcela narrowed her eyes in suspicion and braced herself because she suspected what Vin had done.

“I married Luna using my real name and I didn’t make her sign the pre-nuptial contract you suggested.” And with that, Vin hung up his cell phone and headed towards the bedroom, grinning.

“Damnit!” Marcela muttered in disgust and without hesitation, she dialed Vin’s lawyers office to tell them the news.

If Luna divorced Vin, she would keep 50% of everything Vin had, including the companies, the houses, the cars and all the money.

Vin entered the bedroom, and slowly he climbed on the bed. His head was hurting like a bitch but Vin wanted this done as soon as possible. He desperately needed to know how Luna felt after such a wild night and not only physically but also emotionally as soon as she realized they had gotten married.

“Rise and shine, beautiful.” Vin whispered, leaning forward, brushing his lips against her bare back.

Luna stirred a little, stretching her back, groaning.

Vin winced slightly and started stroking her back, up and down, already soothing her even though she hadn’t woken yet. If he felt like shit then she had to feel like dying.

Luna groaned, letting out a string of obscenities in Spanish, with her face buried in the pillow. Vin screwed up his face, knowing she would feel even worse as soon as she opened her eyes.

“Oh my…fuck…” Luna moaned in pain as she opened her eyes, and a stab of white hot pain seemed to burn through her eyeballs, crashing into her very brain. “Oh, my fucking God…Vin…” She whined, her voice full of pain.

Vin cursed himself silently and buried his hand in her hair, rubbing her nape.

“I’m right here, baby.” He whispered, pulling her to him. “It’s just a hangover, Luna. You will be fine soon.” Vin added, keeping his voice as low as possible even though it sounded like a trumpet blasting against Luna’s ear.

Her head was pounding as if there were dozen drums thundering mercilessly inside it and her mouth felt as if it had been stuffed with cotton, bitter cotton actually.

Luna swallowed forcefully and a new ray of searing pain seemed to stab her body making her shudder hard, whimpering in pain. Luna shut her eyes tightly, grabbing her head as she prayed silently for someone to kill her already so she didn’t have to suffer the unbearable pain one second more.

“I’m going to die…” Luna breathed hoarsely, swallowing her sickness, whimpering.

Vin smiled sadly, hugging her against him, stroking her back up and down.

“You’re not going to die, baby. Not today anyway.” Vin replied, chuckling a little.

“Please, Vin…kill me…” She whispered, blinking tears. Her head was going to explode and her body hurt so bad she couldn’t stand it.

Vin shut his eyes, feeling so guilty that he was the one wishing to die, then he cleared his throat, tilting her head back a little so he could look at her eyes.

“Open your eyes, Luna. Look at me, baby.” Vin whispered, swallowing hard at the sight of her silent tears, falling down her cheeks.

“I can’t…it hurts too much…” Luna whimpered, shutting her eyes, as she shook her head ‘no’. Vin grinned a little.

“Open your eyes, Mrs. Vincent, so you can take a look at your brand new husband.”

That did it.

Luna’s eyes snapped open in a second flat as she froze in place.

“W-What…” she gasped her eyes almost popping out of her face. Her terrible headache forgotten for a second.

Vin nodded ‘yes’ as he took her hand in his, squeezing it softly, showing Luna their wedding rings.

Luna’s mouth opened and then closed again without uttering a sound. She tried again, forcing her brain to remember how to speak but her brain seemed to have collapsed.

Vin took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

“We got married last night, Luna.” He whispered, nuzzling her nose.

Luna frowned deeply, her eyes moving frantically as she wracked her brains, trying to process the meaning of Vin’s words. Luna blinked fast, doing her best to remember something, anything about last night. When all of sudden a vision popped without warning.

Flash back

“I, Mark, take thee, Luna, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, through sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.”

“I, Luna, take thee, Mark, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, through sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.”

“Inasmuch as Mark and Luna have consented in holy wedlock and have witness the same before God, according to the powers vested in me by this state, I pronounce that you are husband and wife. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, those whom God has joined together let no one put asunder.”

End Flash back

“B-but…I…I thought it was…”

“A dream?” Vin supplied, grinning a little. Luna nodded ‘yes’ slowly as her eyes narrowed slightly.

“Oh my…we didn’t do it, did we?” She screwed up her face. “But I can’t marry you…” Luna whispered breathlessly as she forced the air to pass through her lungs.

Vin’s grin died in his lips as he frowned deeply.

“Why not, baby? We love each other and that’s what people that are in love do. They marry.” Vin answered slowly, staring at her eyes.

Luna took a ragged breath; she was going to start to hyperventilate in a second.

“But…but…but…I was toasted and …you…you were drunk too, Vin…and how the fuck could anyone marry us in that state?” She asked confused.

Luna couldn’t believe in this country that anyone could get married for the hell of it, in a flash and being drunk and high and not even being conscious of what they were doing.

“Luna…” Vin swallowed hard. “Do you love me, baby?” He asked, his eyes flickering to hers. Luna sighed hard, squeezing his hand as soon as he saw his hurt gaze flashing at her.

“Aw, Vin, of course, I love you, baby but that’s not the point. It’s just that I…I never wanted to get married like that. I mean…I… I don’t even remember all of it.” She whispered, staring at his eyes. Vin cleared his throat, frowning slightly.

“Are you in love with me?” He asked seriously, finding himself desperate to know the answer to that question.

Luna swallowed hard, taking a deep breath and nodded ‘yes’ eagerly.

“I’m in love with you, Vin.” She answered, putting as much reassurance as she could in her words.

Vin smiled a little, letting out the air he had been holding with a painful sigh.

“I’m in love with you too, Luna. I love you, baby.” He said, looking directly at her eyes and for the first time Luna noticed that his voice was shaking a little, as if he was scared of what he had said.

But then the meaning of his words sunk into her brain and Luna’s eyes filled with fresh tears in seconds. She swallowed the knot in her throat, blinking them back.

“What…what did you say?” She breathed, her eyes flickering to his.

Vin smiled widely, he knew that it was the first time those words passed his lips and he couldn’t even explain to himself how or why. He only knew that he meant them even though he was scared to death because now there was no turning back.

“I said, I…am…in…love…with…you…Luna.” Vin repeated slowly, noticing that he didn’t feel that scared anymore saying those words to his girl. No! His wife!!

Luna’s lips spread in a radiant smile that lit Vin’s entire world in a second flat, almost cutting his breath away and he swallowed hard against an invisible knot that came from nowhere, threatening to choke him.

“Oh my God!” Luna squealed, kissing him with so much passion that Vin thought he would pass out. But he returned the kiss, almost melting Luna in his arms.

When they came apart, searching for air, they leaned forward, pressing their foreheads together.

“I feel like dying, Vin.” Luna whispered, and a small whimper slipped her lips. “I stink and my body hurts so badly…are you sure I’m not going to die, Mr. Vincent?” She giggled a little.

Vin grinned wickedly at Luna’s words, stroking her cheek wiping away her tears.

“I’m sure, baby, you’ll feel better soon.” He whispered, a breath way of her lips, brushing them. “Are you happy, Mrs. Vincent?” Vin asked, grinning as he tilted his head back a little to look at Luna’s eyes.

He really liked how it sounded.

Luna giggled, even though a hiss in pain escaped her lips. Damn! She couldn’t believe that they got married. And what her name would be now? Luna Vincent?

“I’m very happy but I still feel like shit, Mr. Vincent.”

Vin couldn’t help but laugh hard, making Luna shut her eyes tightly feeling his laughter booming within her brain. Oh, fuck! She cursed silently, swearing that she wouldn’t go near an alcoholic drink ever again.

Luna released herself from Vin’s arms and glanced down at her belly, finding a bandage. She sighed hard, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, fuck! I got a new tattoo.” Luna whispered, wincing as she contracted her abdominal muscles.

“Yep and you aren’t the only one.” Vin replied, sighing hard. Luna’s head snapped up, giggling.

“You kidding?” She asked, arching a brow. Vin screwed up his face, shaking his head ‘no’.

“Look.” He said, turning over, showing Luna his butt.

Luna’s eyes widened completely as she burst out, laughing hard even though her head was screaming in pain.

“The things a man does for love, huh?” Luna giggled and Vin rolled his eyes, groaning.

Carefully, Vin removed the bandage, so they both could see what Luna had gotten. She wasn’t sure and he couldn’t remember at all.

Luna pushed up onto one elbow, watching as Vin finally revealed the design, kissing her belly making Luna shiver slightly.

“Hey! It’s the ring, Luna. You got the black star.” Vin grinned, stroking the area around the tattoo. Luna grinned staring at it.

They had gotten married, both were happier than ever before and in love with each other and they were going to move to their new house, starting from point zero.

Vin was going to start shooting ‘Seth’ in three weeks, playing the role Luna had written just for him and she was going to leave behind all her fears and pains.

Nothing would get in their way, shattering their happy future together.

How wrong she was.

next…