Lucas
Arrested for indecent exposure. I still had no idea what had gone wrong between the time Jason had left my home and the two hours after that he’d called me to pick him up at the police station. He hadn’t explained how he ended up being there, and I’d rushed to the station worried he had been harmed in some way.
Nope, not harmed. Just detained for publicly showing his nude body to others.
“We picked him up off the streets, not a stitch on except for the red heels,” the police officer I’d spoken to had informed me. “At first we thought he was a junkie looking for his next fix, but when we inspected him, he looked clean.”
“He is clean,” I’d replied, not sure I liked the tone of the cop. “He left my house just a couple of hours before.”
“Well, good luck. You’re clearly going to need it.”
Jason hadn’t said anything throughout the exchange, and he still hadn’t said anything by the time we drove up to his apartment building.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?” I asked him. “Is this your way of trying to get my attention about what we discussed earlier?”
He turned his head and nailed me with an icy stare. “Yes, Lucas. I paraded bare ass on the street because I wanted your attention. Lucky me for getting it, right?”
He got out of the car, and I was right behind him. I had to catch the front door to avoid it slamming into my face as we entered the small lobby area. He didn’t hold the elevator for me either which meant I had to rush in.
“I get it, you’re mad at me.”
“I’m not even sure I’m mad anymore. They took pictures of me naked on the streets!”
“Who are ‘they’?”
“Random people.” He turned to stare at me. “And you know what I did? I waved and posed, pretending it was all a part of the act instead of finding myself dumped on the street because my trench coat got stuck in the car door.”
The elevator dinged open and I allowed him to go ahead of me, but at their apartment door, I handed him the spare key Becca had offered me almost a year ago in the case of an emergency. He unlocked the door, and I entered behind him.
“Ugh.” He made a disgusted sound and pulled the dress he had been given at the jail over his head, dropping it onto the floor. “That goes into the trash. God knows who the hell was wearing that before. I’m going to take a shower.”
He was gloriously naked, and beautiful. So fucking beautiful that he made my heart ache. I couldn’t lose him.
I watched the lush curves of his ass moving along with every step he took. I winced when he fell out of sight and the slamming of a door promptly followed. With a sigh, I picked up the dress that had looked an awful lot like something a hooker would have left behind at the police station. I dumped it, then checked their cupboards to find something worth cooking for him.
Despite being casual about how he’d handled the situation, it must have been frightening for him. He’d dealt with it far better than I would have for sure.
Their cupboards were a chef’s nightmare, but I scrounged up enough to make some sort of vegetable soup. I was clearing away the table when I heard the front door open. I’d texted Becca that I was at their apartment, but I hadn’t told her what had happened. As reckless as she seemed, she was just as protective as I was of Jason.
“Where is he?” she asked, dropping her bag onto the kitchen counter. “How the hell did you let this happen?”
“How’d you find out?”
Her answer was to dig into her bag for her phone and tap away at it a few times before handing it to me. I scrolled through the pictures of a naked Jason, hands covering his genitals as he struck a pose for the camera. I’d thought he was joking about that part, but apparently he hadn’t been.
“Oh no.”
“What the hell happened?” Becca cried. “Is he okay?”
“I’m fine,” Jason quipped, entering the kitchen wearing a robe and a towel wrapped around his head turban-style. He stopped at Becca. “Congrats on your upcoming nuptials. You’ll of course understand why I can’t make it to the wedding. I didn’t start this to have Lucas as my stepdaddy. He’s supposed to be my daddy.”
He made for the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water while Becca and I watched him. His eyes were red and blotchy, and I felt like the biggest tool in the shed. I’d taken him into my arms, made love to him, and broken his heart. But if I didn’t enter this fake relationship with Becca, I wouldn’t be in a position to have a boy anyway. Whether or not I married Becca, I would lose him for sure unless he accepted that our relationship would be platonic, and I’d still be seeing him despite what a piece of paper said.
“Why didn’t you let me talk to him about it?” Becca asked me.
“Because I couldn’t sleep with him again without letting him know what was going on,” I answered. “He deserved to know.”
“Will you two stop talking about me like I’m not in the room?” He glared from me to Becca.
“I take it you’re not going to support us in this?” Becca asked him. “Because we need your support if we’re going to be able to pull this off. The wedding’s in two weeks.”
Jason choked on the gulp of water he swallowed and coughed. I moved toward him, but he held up a hand to keep me away. “I’m fine. You’re getting married in two weeks?”
“That’s when the Wedding Experience wants the film to be completed.”
“What film?” Jason asked.
“Look, Jason,” Becca started. “I don’t know what Lucas explained to you, but we can’t afford not to take this opportunity. The Wedding Experience has been looking for a couple they can feature into a film they want to create for marketing exposure. They are offering us fifty thousand dollars, and we need this money. You know we do.”
“So, I’m not worth fifty Gs?” he asked me. “That’s your price?”
I shook my head. “No. What it’s worth is your security. I’m not going to stand by and watch you struggle, Jace. If Becca and I aren’t on our feet financially, we can’t help you out. We all need this. We all have something to gain from doing this.”
“Umm, let me get this straight.” He ticked off his hand. “Lucas, you’ll get your inheritance. What you owe the restaurant will be paid off for you. You get to keep your house. And you get to keep me on as a side piece.” He turned to the woman who could be our solution or our problem. “Now, Becca, you’ll get fifty thousand dollars. You’ll also get my man.”
She scowled at him. “I do not want Lucas in that way. We’re friends, have always been friends. This marriage will last for a year tops before we dissolve it. Hell, the marriage won’t be consummated, so we can even annul it, and it will be like we were never married. We’re not doing this to hurt you, Jason. This will help all of us. I’m sure you don’t want Lucas to pass up the opportunity to do what he loves. How would you feel if you never got to use your beauty supplies again? We can make this happen for him. We all stand to gain from this. Even you.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “What do I have to gain except being labelled as a homewrecker when your marriage is annulled and people find out I’m sleeping with my stepdad?”
“That’s it,” I said, interfering. “I’m ready to call off this whole thing. It was a bad idea.”
“You get exposure,” Becca replied, ignoring my sentiments. “I’ve already written you down as my makeup artist for the wedding. You’ll get credit, Jason, and everyone will see how great you are. I know you don’t want to work at another makeup booth in a store. This can be the beginning of great things for you.”
I had to admit that Becca was pretty convincing. Jason glanced from her to me, and I could see how tempting the offer was to him. I didn’t dare hold my breath in hopes that he would now reconsider since he would be directly benefiting from this web of lies we were about to spin. If found out, we would probably go down as the biggest liars in history, but when put up against injustices such as a father who wanted to forecl
ose on my house, I was ready to hit back.
“I’m still not convinced this is right,” Jason remarked, but his resolve was weakening, and I understood. In the same way he wanted his passion to be seen by others, I also wanted to get back into what I loved.
“We know it’s not right,” Becca replied. “But what’s the harm? The Wedding Experience needs a wedding, so we’re giving them one. Lucas’s father wants him to have a wife, so we’ll give him one. They’re getting exactly what they asked for.”
“I don’t like it though,” he still insisted. “It feels weird. The thought of you marrying Lucas while I’m still sleeping with him.”
“It’s just a piece of paper,” I said, finally adding my voice to the conversation. I approached him, brushing his cheek with the back of my hand. “It doesn’t have to change what we’ve started.”
“How can you be so sure?” he asked, picking at one of the buttons on my shirt. “Becca’s right that I could do with the exposure, but you and I just started our thing, and I’m afraid it will be over before it truly began.”
I kissed the tip of his nose. “Will you think about it?”
He sighed and leaned into me. “Okay, I’ll think about it, but in the meantime, we’re not having sex again until I’m sure this will work.”
Behind me, Becca cleared her throat. “I’ll just be going along and give you two some privacy.”
“You better get used to it if you’re going to be married to him,” Jason muttered too low for Becca to hear, but the possessiveness in his voice made me smile. Maybe everything would work out fine after all.
“No sex?” I murmured.
“That’s right,” he replied. “Maybe a kiss, but nothing else. I can’t think properly when you’re touching me, and I need to be level-headed about this. It’s weird as fuck that you’re marrying Becca, and I reserve the right to change my mind at any time.”
I nodded. “Sure, you do. Just say the word and I’ll put a plug on the entire thing. So are you saying you’ll give it the go-ahead for now?”
He grabbed my shirtfront and pressed a hard kiss to my mouth, retreating before I could respond. “I’m saying that regardless of what my lips agree to today, I can’t promise I won’t try to fuck up this marriage before it happens!”
With that, he spun away from me and stalked over to the pot on the stove. Whether it was from being overwrought with emotions or just his usual careless manner, he reached for the cover of the pot and promptly squealed, jumping back when it burned him.
“Jason,” I said on a sigh, yanking him away from the pot. “You’re going to be the death of me, you know that? Let me take a look at your hand.”
He didn’t protest, and that said something. He might still be mad at me, but he was allowing me to take care of him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jason
“I can’t believe you’re not helping me with my hair and makeup,” Becca accused, entering the living room. I stopped pacing long enough to regard her, taking in her attire. Dressed in a small black cocktail dress, this was the classiest I’d ever seen her. She was already a beautiful woman. I’d gotten my good genes from her. Possibly a combination of my father’s as well, but since I didn’t know the man, I couldn’t say for certain.
Even with her makeup only half-done and one side of her hair a lopsided mess, she was stunning.
And this was the woman who was about to marry the man I cared about. Not fair!
“I agreed to this whole sham of a wedding,” I replied, picking up the pacing again. “I even agreed to do your makeup and hair for the wedding. Don’t push your luck. You’re still marrying my boyfriend.”
“Are you going to keep bringing this up, Jace?” she asked, pouting. “Because you’re not being a very good son right now.”
I almost fell forward at the disbelief that slammed into me. I whipped around to glare at her. “I’m not a very good son right now? I bet the Mother of the Year wouldn’t be marrying her son’s partner.”
“For God’s sake, Jace, what do you want us to do?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips. “Please, give us a better solution.”
How about you not marry the man I’m sleeping with?
“That’s what I thought,” she replied with a sigh. “I know this is not ideal for any of us, but it can work, and if it does, we’ll all benefit from it.”
My shoulders slumped and I dropped onto the couch, pulling my legs under my ass. “I know. Just give me some time to wrap my head around this. I can’t think right now. I can’t do your makeup and send you off on a date with Lucas and his dad.”
She nodded and backed away. “Okay, you’re right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”
She turned to walk away, and I wanted to call her back, to promise I would help her to work on her makeup, but I couldn’t make myself. Two days ago when Lucas had confirmed he and his father had signed an agreement to stick to his side of the bargain, I had immediately protested the dinner date for his father to meet Becca. I wanted to be invited to the dinner as well, but of course I wasn’t.
Why would I be? I was just the guy for sex.
I winced, wiping my face with my hands. I needed to change my attitude about this wedding if we were going to make it work. I wanted it to work, because it meant we would all be in a better place, but at the same time, I was hesitant for it to work. What if their marriage changed everything?
A knock on the door signaled Lucas had arrived. I didn’t want to get the door. Would he believe me if I told him Becca was ill and didn’t want to go to dinner anymore? When I’d told Lucas I might sabotage the wedding, I’d been joking, but now I wasn’t so certain.
“Jason, will you get that?” Becca called to me.
“I can’t! I’m busy.” Busy trying to see how far I needed to count before I was no longer mad at the situation.
She breezed by the living room to get the door, and I didn’t even feel guilty about it. I had given my consent. They could hardly expect much more from me.
I heard their whispered conversation and tried to block them out. I was pretty certain Lucas was asking about the mood I was in. Damn coward. He should check himself.
He entered the living room, and I peeked at him. So not fair. He looked wonderful dressed in a formal suit with even a jacket on. We’d never been anywhere fancy in the short span of time we’d been dating before shit hit the fan. This should be my date. I should be meeting the asshole father who was forcing Lucas’s hand. Except I’d already met the father, and it was safe to say that we didn’t hit it off at all.
“Hey, how are you?” he asked me, taking a couple more steps into the living room but stopping before he got to me.
“Fine,” I answered, noticing for the first time the flowers he had. He’d brought her flowers? My eyes misted.
“I brought these for you.”
“For me?” I asked, staring at the bouquet of purple hyacinth flowers he held out to me.
“Yes,” he replied, coming over to sit by me on the couch. “The florist said purple hyacinths are a symbol of forgiveness and mean ‘I’m sorry.’ I thought they were just perfect because purple is your favorite color.”
I swiped at the lone tear that trickled down my cheek. “I thought they were hers. Damn you for being so thoughtful and nice, Daddy Luke.”
“Why would I buy her flowers?” he asked as I took them from him and inhaled the pungent, sweet aroma coming from them. “Jace, please tell me you understand my relationship with Becca is completely platonic.”
“I know but—”
He placed a finger over my lips. “There is no but. That’s just the way it is.” He grasped my free hand and squeezed my fingers. “Look, I don’t know where you and I will end up. We were just really getting to know each other before this cropped up, but from what I’ve experienced with you, I think we could have something special. I’d like to find that out.”
The anger melted away, and I carefully placed the flowers onto the c
enter table before I climbed him, legs on either side of his waist. I probably crushed his suit a little. Good.
“You look too perfect,” I told him. “Let me mess you up a little.”
I kissed him with all the frustration that lingered, plunging the fingers of one hand into his hair while clutching his tie with the other. He gripped my ass, grunting as his tongue took over my mouth, deepening our kiss. I’d meant to completely devastate him with the kiss, remind him of what was between us, but I ended up being brought under his spell.
“Ahem!”
Becca must have been clearing her throat for a while, because she really put work into it to be heard. Lucas reluctantly released my lips, but I felt appeased he didn’t immediately try to set me away from him. He kept me right on his lap as we turned to regard Becca.
“How do I look?” she asked, completely unbothered that the man she was marrying was making out on the couch with her son.
“My father will approve,” Lucas remarked. “You’ve transformed well.”
I bent over backward, swinging a bit while I clung to Lucas’s neck. “In other words, you’re one step ahead of me because at least he’s meeting you when you’re wearing clothes.”
“Did I miss something?” Becca asked, slinging the gold strap of her bag over her shoulder.
“Now’s not really the time to delve into it,” Lucas replied, standing and placing me on my feet. “Maybe someday we’ll talk about it.”
“By the way, Jace, I can’t find my red pumps,” Becca remarked. “Do you happen to have them in your closet?”
“No, I have no idea.”
She gave me a strange look, but I kept a straight face as I turned to address Lucas. “Don’t have too much fun without me.”
“I won’t.” Lucas kissed my cheek. “What are you going to do? Want me to drop you at my place and you can stay with Miss Puss and catch up on your reality TV shows?”
So now I’m the crazy cat lady? “Actually, I have plans,” I replied, delighted when his eyebrows arched.
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