The person sighs like they’re exasperated by me. “My name is Debbie and I’m with the Heart Song Chapel here in Las Vegas. We’ve been trying to reach you for quite some time now about your marriage certificate.”
“What about it?”
“Here in Vegas, you have ten business days to file your marriage certificate with the county registrar’s office. If you fail to file your certificate, your marriage is not legal.”
“Yes, but that was included in the package. You would file for us.”
“Correct, sir. However, when they went to file your certificate, they noticed a discrepancy with the signature. Somebody signed as Daisy Duck.”
There must be a mistake. I remember the ceremony. I remember reciting our vows, and I remember signing that document.
There’s no way.
“Sir, are you still there?”
“I’m still here. What…what exactly does this all mean?”
“Your marriage…sir, you are not legally married.”
We lost.
It’s not the first time we’ve lost this season and it won’t be the last, but tonight we lost for one reason and one reason only.
Me.
My head wasn’t even kind of in the game. I couldn’t concentrate for shit. I let the puck just skate by me, I took bad penalties, and I skated like I was playing peewee hockey all over again.
Tonight’s loss is solely on my shoulders.
And it’s all because I’m not married to my wife.
Well, not my wife, apparently.
I still can’t believe it. How could they have let such a huge mistake slip right through their fingers like that? How could we not know? How could we not remember?
And more than that—why? Why did Ryan sign the certificate with a fake name? Does that mean she knew all along we were making a massive mistake? Does that mean even in her crazy drunken haze, she didn’t want to be married to me? Does that mean if I confront her with this truth, she’ll leave me?
I clutch my chest, rubbing at a spot just over my heart.
Coach comes charging into the room, hands on his hips. He’s pissed and disappointed. His eyes land right on me, and he shakes his head with disgust.
That’s okay. I’m disgusted with me too.
“Well, that was…something, and not something good, that’s for damn sure. I expect that the next time we’re out on that ice, we all have our heads in the game and we come out swinging. We got it?”
A round of affirmations goes around the room, but it’s weak.
“I said, do we fucking got it?” Coach yells.
Everyone screams louder this time, me included, because I know that’s what he’s waiting for.
“Good. Now hit the showers and get out of here. I’m tired of looking at you.” He sends me one last pointed glare, then stomps out of the room.
I begin stripping my gear off as Collin slides up next to me.
“Yo, man, what the fuck was that out there? You were playing like dog shit.”
“Not now, Col. I’m not in the mood.”
“Not in the mood? Not in the fucking mood? I don’t give two shits if you’re in the mood or not. You let this entire fucking team down and I want an explanation.”
“What’s that famous NHL quote? It’s always we, never I?”
He does not appreciate my sarcasm one bit, his features falling into a mean scowl that could rival one of my own.
“I don’t know what the fuck is up your ass, but whatever it is, you need to pull it out. It’s not just you out on that ice, you know. It’s not like you to be selfish like that.”
I squeeze my eyes shut because he’s right. It’s not like me. “Having a bad night is all.”
“What’s going on? Talk to me.”
“It’s…” I shake my head. “It’s Ryan.”
His face fills with concern immediately. “Is she okay? What happened?”
“She’s fine. She… I…” I toss myself down onto the bench, cradling my head in my hands.
Collin drops down beside me.
“Dude. What is going on? Did she finally realize you’re ugly and leave you?”
I don’t even have the energy to laugh.
“It’s fake.”
“It’s fake?” He leans closer. “Your marriage?” he whispers. “Yeah, I know. It’s been fake, man.”
“No. It’s really fake.”
“What? What do you mean? I’m not following.”
“She didn’t sign it.”
“Didn’t sign what?”
“The certificate. She didn’t sign the certificate.”
His brows shoot up, finally beginning to understand. “That means…”
“We’re not married. We were never married.”
“Oh fuck.”
Oh fuck indeed.
It’s been three days since I found out about the marriage certificate, and I still haven’t told Ryan.
How exactly do you tell your fake wife she isn’t really your fake wife at all? And how do you tell her when what you really want is for her to be your real wife?
I take a deep breath, hands shaking as I push open the front door.
Tonight. I’ll tell her tonight.
“Hey!” She beams at me. “I thought for sure you’d be at least another hour.”
She’s standing in the kitchen wearing one of my shirts and a pair of little sleep shorts. She’s barefoot, and it’s very obvious with the way her nipples are pressing against the shirt that she’s not wearing a bra.
She looks fucking gorgeous, and I can’t help when I cross the kitchen and sweep her into my arms, slanting my mouth over hers.
I kiss her hard. I kiss her deep.
I kiss her for all the times I’m not going to be able to kiss her anymore.
When I finally pull away, we’re both gasping for air.
She peers up at me, her eyes glassy with lust. “Wow. What was that for?”
“Missed you.”
“I missed you too. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything is great.”
“Are you sure?” She studies me closely. Too fucking closely.
“Actually, no. Everything isn’t fine.”
I turn her away from me, pressing her against the counter, grinding my hard cock against her ass. I gather her long hair into my fists, tugging on it not so lightly.
A small moan escapes her, her head lolling back, enjoying the bite of pain she’s no doubt feeling.
“W-What’s wrong?”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her the truth.
I should tell her the truth.
I want to tell her the truth.
I want to tell her I love her. Tell her I can’t imagine a day of my life without her in it and I want this to be real more than anything I’ve ever wanted before.
But I don’t say any of that.
Instead, I say, “You’re wearing too many clothes.”
Then, I lift her shirt and push her shorts down her legs. I strip her underwear from her body and bend her over the counter. I fist her hair and grab her hips and I fuck her hard.
Raw.
Rough.
I slide into her pussy over and over again as the sounds of her moans and our skin slapping together fill the quiet kitchen.
And I pretend she’s mine just one last time.
21
RYAN
Something is off with Rhodes.
I could tell when he came home. There was just something in his eyes that didn’t seem right to me.
I don’t know what it is either. He wouldn’t talk after he fucked me against the kitchen counter. Instead, he took me back to the bedroom and did it all over again.
Something was going on. I could feel it.
But instead of forcing him to talk, I let him take what he needed, thinking maybe in the morning, things would be different.
I was wrong, because that was two days ago and nothing has changed. Something is off, and I want so badly to know what it is. I’ve
already decided that tonight when he comes home from his game, I’m confronting him.
My phone buzzes against the desk with my reminder that I have about five minutes to finish prepping for my live video.
In an effort to grow my YouTube channel and get my views up, I’ve been doing live makeup tutorials. At first, I was really nervous because it’s awkward being in front of the camera on a good day, but being live in front of the camera? Downright terrifying. If I mess up, everybody is there to see it. If I say the wrong thing, everybody can hear it. It’s a huge risk to take.
But sometimes you have to play the algorithm game, and right now, I’m playing it.
And it’s working.
Thanks to all my newfound followers and views, I’ve been able to double my income over the last two months. If I keep this up, I’ll be right on track to get my student loans paid off when our one-year agreement is up.
My chest pinches with discomfort.
I don’t want to think about that. I don’t want to think about how I’m going to have to walk away from the man I’m in love with.
My timer goes off with a thirty-second warning, and I sit down in my chair in front of my setup. I stretch my neck a few times to get rid of the tightness forming from my nerves. I check my teeth in the mirror, then paste on my brightest smile just as the feed goes live.
“Hey, you beauty babes!” I wave at the camera. “I’m so glad you’re able to join me today. I can see we already have…oh wow, there are five hundred of you here. That’s…oh! It just jumped. Wow. Twelve hundred already? Holy…oh my gosh, there are five thousand of you! This is crazy! This is the most viewers I’ve ever had at once. Thank you so much.”
I smile at the camera, but behind the scenes, my heart is beating rapidly. I have never had this many people on my live videos before.
I glance down to make sure I actually put on clothes just to make sure I’m not naked and that’s why everybody is running to watch the feed.
Nope, I’m definitely dressed.
The views climb. And climb. And climb. Before I know it, I’m sitting at 250,000 people watching.
I’m shocked. I’m overwhelmed.
“Wow,” I say nervously to the camera. “This is…wow! Your girl is a little nervous over here, not going to lie.” I chuckle, hoping it doesn’t sound as fake as it feels. “Okay, let’s just dive into it, huh? For today’s look, I am going with something a little fun, a little funky. I was thinking about turning myself into Alice from Alice in Wonderland. What do you think? That sound good?”
My phone vibrates loudly against my desk, pulling my attention.
“Oh, sorry about that. Let me just turn that off really quick.”
I pick it up and see Harper’s name flashing across my screen. I hit ignore on the call, but before I can even set my phone down, texts start coming through.
* * *
Harper: CALL ME!!!
* * *
Harper: NOW!
* * *
Harper: Do not read the comments. Call me. Please.
* * *
I have literally never clicked on comments so fast in my life.
And I regret it immediately.
Hundreds upon hundreds spill onto the page. They’re coming in so fast I can hardly keep up with them.
* * *
GirlyGirl18: Is it true?
* * *
BathAndBeautyWorks: My god. Shut up. No way.
* * *
User256468: You’re not married???
* * *
BombBabe: Oh my god, what a psycho lying to us about being married.
* * *
MakeupMaddy: Liar, liar, liar.
* * *
Hockeyluvr2: OMG, I just feel so bad for Adrian Rhodes. Like, this chick has been using his name and lying like crazy about being married to him. Can you say crazy??? Poor Adrian!!
* * *
FckIt: Lying bitch.
* * *
BossyBabe3: What a slut.
* * *
User0585: Like seriously, how pathetic can you be?? Lying about being married to somebody like WTF?
* * *
Liar. Not married.
What the hell is going on?
“So, um, I don’t really know what’s happening here. It seems like I’m having some possible technical difficulties and…”
I fumble my way through the words, unable to take my eyes off the comments that are still coming in.
* * *
Kickrocks4: WHORE!!!!!
* * *
URLUVRGIRL: Can you say D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E much?!
* * *
User835088: hahahaha how sad
* * *
PrincessPeaches8: Yeah I am totally unsubbing now. LAME.
* * *
KensBarbieGurl: Totally disappointed
* * *
RhodesLuvr: Guess this means my man is officially back on the market then!
* * *
CometsFan96: GOOD RIDDANCE! Rhodes doesn’t need distractions this season. BACK 2 BACK BABY!
* * *
TheBeastsBelle: Sad sad SAD! But at least Rhodes is free now!
* * *
I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say.
So, I switch my computer off. Disconnect everything.
My heart is hammering so hard in my chest that I feel dizzy and it’s a struggle to drag air through my lungs.
I don’t understand what’s happening but the things they’re saying… They send a bad feeling through my gut. I clutch my stomach, suddenly feeling nauseated.
My phone buzzes against the desk, scaring the shit out of me. I watch it buzz, seeing that it’s Rhodes calling me. I have never wanted to both answer and ignore a call so badly in my life.
With shaky hands, I hit the green button and place the phone against my ear. “H-Hello?”
“Oh, thank fuck. Listen, whatever you do, do not go online, okay?”
“Well, it’s a little late for that. I was literally just on a live video, and I started getting all these crazy comments.”
“Oh shit.”
“People were calling me a liar and a slut and saying all kinds of mean things, untrue things.”
“Ryan…”
“They said we aren’t married.”
Silence.
Complete and utter silence.
“Rhodes?” I ask tentatively. “Is it true? Are we not married?”
He sighs. And just with that sigh, I know.
“No, Ryan, we aren’t married.”
After completely screwing up my life, I ended up in the same spot I was trying to avoid.
On Harper’s couch.
Okay, fine, so maybe it’s not on her couch. I’m in her spare bedroom, but it’s still the same result.
A soft knock sounds on the door as it swings inward. Poe stands, ready to protect me if need be, like the badass she is. I run my hand down her back, calming her.
Harper pokes her head around the frame. “Hey, good morning.”
She says it like I’m a skittish little kitten about to run off.
“All right,” I say, holding my hand up. “Before you walk any farther into this room, I need you to take the kid gloves off.”
Harper makes a show of pretending to peel gloves off her hands, then rolls her sleeves up like she’s ready to fight and continues into the room. She settles in on the end of the bed and stares at me.
The longer she stares, the deeper she frowns, and the deeper she frowns, the more annoyed I get.
I sigh. “Just say it. Whatever it is you’re in here to say, just say it.”
“I don’t have anything to say. I just wanted to see if you were doing okay.”
“I’m fine, Harper. Totally fine. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Nothing to worry about? Ryan, your husband isn’t your husband. You married a guy in Vegas, decided to stay fake married to him for a year, fell in love, and then found out the entire thing was a lie and you nev
er got married in the first place. What do you mean there’s nothing to worry about?”
Once she says it out loud like that, it sounds absolutely crazy. And, well, it is kind of crazy.
I haven’t spoken with Rhodes in days. I know it was probably immature and completely unhelpful for me to run, but I needed space. Needed a fresh environment to clear my head. Every time I looked around his house, I felt like my lungs were going to give up.
I’m upset with him. Not because we’re not married—because that somehow just feels like a technicality at this point. No, I’m upset with him because he knew we weren’t married, and he hid it from me for days only for me to have to find out on social media during a damn live video.
It was mortifying.
And the worst part is, I don’t know what this means for us.
I need to talk to him—desperately so—but I’m not ready.
I need more time. I need to process. I need to think. I need to figure out what the hell it is we are going to do.
I feel like I’m in Las Vegas all over again, stressing about what I’m going to do with my life. Only this time, I don’t feel hopeful about my future. I just feel really, really sad.
And scared. I’m worried about my career that I’ve worked so hard for blowing up in my face. I’m worried about paying for my grandmother’s care.
I’m worried about how I’m going to forgive the man I love for hiding such a big thing from me.
“If it’s any consolation,” Harper says, “Collin says he looks like shit.”
I laugh. “To be fair, Collin always says Rhodes looks like shit.”
“True,” Harper agrees. “Have you talked with him?”
Blind Pass (Carolina Comets) Page 18