Fake Vow (For Now)

by Penny Wylder

  I’m on my feet before I can really even process it. I have her address now. I need to see her. My wife. I don’t pretend to understand why this happened or how it’s possible to be this deep this fast, but I’m done questioning it.

  I’m taking the risk. It’s the only way.

  On the way to my car I send Leo and Asher a text that I’ll be gone the rest of the day, maybe till tomorrow. I hope that they’ll understand. If not, maybe Diana will explain.

  There’s no car in the driveway when I get to her address, and no one answers the door. She’s not home. That’s okay. I can wait. After a week of madness and not knowing where she was? A few hours will be easy.

  I sit down on her steps and settle in, but I don’t have to wait long. A car pulls up to the house, but it’s not Rose in the car. It’s Gary.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” The man says, practically roaring as he gets out of the car. “This is all your fault.”

  He moves across the lawn faster than I thought possible, moving to hit me. I see it coming, slipping around him and off the steps before his fist can connect with my face. “You put her up to this, didn’t you? You fucking monster. Let me tell you something, Pearson, I’m not going to jail because of some girl I had off a bitch two decades ago.”

  It takes everything in me not to hit him. I would gladly pound this man into the ground for what he’s done, but I know why he’s angry. And assaulting him, while tempting, doesn’t help me. Instead, I pull out my phone and call the police.

  “Hello, emergency? I’m being harassed and attacked. I also happen to have the location of a known fugitive.”

  Gary goes pale, realizing that I’m not even close to bluffing. He turns and runs for his car, speeding away. But I have his license plate, and I relay it to the police before assuring them that I’m okay and don’t need assistance.

  Maybe there will be a car chase to watch later.

  The whole encounter took five minutes, and I can’t help but laugh. He’s pathetic, and I’m glad that I was here instead of Rose to deal with him. He’s put her through enough.

  That out of the way, I settle in on the steps again to wait for my wife.

  13

  Rose

  Stepping into the afternoon air, I’m exhausted. The new part-time job I got at a restaurant has me on my feet for hours, and I’m not used to it. Cleaning the kitchen and washing dishes. Not glamorous, but it’s holding me over until I can find something better. I have a little money saved away that will keep me afloat for a while, but even with school off the table, I still need to figure out a way to make ends meet. Not exactly my dream life.

  But sitting on my couch and doing absolutely nothing for the rest of the day sounds fucking amazing. Just not thinking about anything. Especially where I’m not and who I’m not with.

  My phone rings as I get into my car. Not a number that I recognize, but after this day, it can’t actually get worse, so I answer. “Hello?”

  “Hi, I’m looking for Rose Brandt?”

  “Speaking.” I lean my head back against the seat.

  “Oh excellent, this is Nancy Carr. I’m in the registrar’s office at the University of New Hampshire.”

  I swallow. “How can I help you?” I’d let them know that I couldn’t come back a few days ago. My professors had reached out, but there’s nothing they can do. Maybe next year I can finish if I work my ass off, eat ramen every night, and don’t sleep.

  “We just wanted to check in with you. The semester starts in a couple of weeks, and you haven’t registered for your classes yet. Since you’re in your final year, we want to make sure that you get into the classes you need for graduation.”

  Sadness seeps through my chest. “I’m sorry that the journalism school didn’t let you know. I couldn’t pay tuition this year so I’m taking a leave of absence.”

  There’s a shocked silence on the other end of the line. “I’m sorry, Ms. Brandt, I’m confused. According to our records, your tuition for the year was paid in full this past week.”

  “What?”

  “Your tuition is paid.”

  My head is spinning. Heart pounding in my ears. “That’s not possible.”

  She laughs, “Well, our system is up to date. So I’m sending the registration link to your email. Sign up for those classes soon so you can get the ones you need.”

  “Thank you.” My voice sounds hollow.

  She hangs up, and I can’t seem to get a grip on my panic. What the hell is going on? My brain refuses to believe that this is real. Did they take money out of my bank account and now I’m overdrawn by thousands?

  I pull up my bank app on my phone, fingers shaking.

  My jaw drops open. On the contrary, my bank account is stuffed to the gills. More money that I’ve ever seen in my life. By hundreds of thousands of dollars. What the actual fuck is going on?

  I drive home in a daze. Did I hit my head on something? Am I actually dreaming, and I didn’t actually go to work today? That seems like a likely scenario, given that nothing about this makes sense. All I can do is keep shaking my head over and over again.

  When I pull up to my house, I know that I’m dreaming. One hundred percent. Because Asher Pearson is sitting on my front steps waiting for me. My stomach flips, and everything in me fucking rejoices that he’s here. But he can’t be here. Why is he here?

  Obviously he’s here about the divorce papers. They would have been delivered by now. And he wouldn’t want to do that without talking to me. I had hoped that he would, but I also knew that sending him the papers would let him know where to find me.

  As soon as he sees me, his eyes follow me. They follow me with an intensity that I can feel like a physical touch. And it feels the same way that it did on the day we met. Like a magnet. An inevitability. Like we’re hurling toward each other and there’s nothing that will stop the hot, lustful crash.

  “What are you doing here, Asher?” I hear how tired I sound, and I know that he does too.

  “I’m here to see you.”

  I shake my head, pushing past him to the door. “All you have to do is sign the papers. It’s easy.”

  His eyes are pure fire. Angry. Ready to explode. I open the door and wave him inside. Mostly so that I can yell at him without all the neighbors gawking.

  “Rose—”

  “No.” I cut him off, closing the door behind us. “I’ve had a hell of a day and I’m tired, cranky, and had some really fucking confusing things happen, so you’re going to sit there and listen. You did this,” I say, pushing past him again into the kitchen. “You’re the one that forced me into this and made it so that my father pulled his support and completely disowned me. You could have just let it go and let me go. But no. You didn’t. You pushed me around and forced my hand like everyone else has tried to do. So I figured the least you can do is sign the damn papers and set me free.”

  Asher is deadly silent, looking at me hard. For a long time he says absolutely nothing. And when he does, it sounds like it’s being ripped out of him. “If you want me to leave that badly, then I’ll go.”

  I sigh, all the anger and energy going out of me. “Why did you have to come here to acknowledge that? You could’ve just signed the papers and sent them back.”

  “I don’t want to sign the damn papers.” His voice echoes off the walls and through the house, his eyes filled with agony. “Yes, the marriage was a sham. Fake. A tool to get you to help me and punish you because I was pissed off. And let me tell you, I’ve never regretted anything more in my life than forcing you.”

  He braces his arms on the countertop, like the outburst took something from him. “I’ve been going crazy since you left. You know how relieved I was to get those papers just so I knew where you were? I emailed that address you gave us, and it did nothing but bounce.”

  I’d deleted it the day after I got back.

  “I googled you. I even—for a fraction of a second—thought about calling Gary to get your information.”
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  My eyebrows rise into my hairline, and I can’t move. I’m…stunned. This is what it means to be speechless. Asher’s gaze roves up and down my body, and I can’t tear my eyes away from him.

  He prowls toward me, entering my space in that way that he manages to do. The next words are quiet. Desperate. Sensual. “I don’t understand it fully, I just know that I’ve never had this kind of connection with anyone so instantly. And I’ve never missed anyone so much. Rose, I haven’t even been able to sleep with you gone. I wake up reaching for you.”

  Impossible, intangible emotion rushes into my chest. Relief and joy and wanting.

  “I am falling in love with you, Rose, if I’m not fully there already. I’ll do whatever you want—give you an annulment, divorce you. Just please, please don’t walk away.”

  I can’t stay still. The words he’s saying are things that have been echoing around in my brain for days and things that I haven’t been willing to admit. The things that made me cry when I came home and woke me up in the middle of the night utterly, utterly alone.

  I’m not sure who moves first, and it doesn’t really matter. The only thing that matters is that he’s kissing me and I’m kissing him and every cell in my body feels like it’s taken a breath for the first time in days. His hands on my body are hungry. Unyielding. Hot.

  There’s no way we’re making it to the bedroom. Too much between us. Too much heat and need and if I don’t have him inside me in the next ten seconds, I’m actually going to die.

  Asher pulls my crappy work shirt over my head and I’m pushing his t-shirt up at the same time. Brushing his abs. Savoring the body that I never thought I would touch again.

  His mouth drags across my skin and my bra goes flying across the room. I don’t give a shit. I’m struggling to get his belt undone, and he’s shoving my pants and underwear over my hips.

  “Come here.” Asher pulls me against him, capturing my mouth with his. Holy fuck this kiss. Every moment of our separation is in this kiss. Every time he woke up reaching for me, and the stolen moments where I touched myself desperately imagining that it was him.

  He’s right. We can’t explain it. Maybe we’ll never be able to, but it’s not something that I can walk away from. No matter what he or my father did, we can move past it. We have to. Because finding something like this isn’t something that happens every day. It doesn’t happen every decade. This feels like once in a lifetime.

  Asher turns me around, pushing me against the counter and fitting himself against me. He doesn’t wait, slamming deep in one go, and we both groan before going still. “Oh my God,” I manage to breathe.

  My pussy squeezes down on his cock, trying to get used to his size, his length again. He kisses the place where my neck meets my shoulder, drags his hands up the front of me so he can cup my breasts. Tease my nipples.

  “We have some time to make up for,” he whispers.

  “I know.”

  Another kiss, dragging outward toward my shoulder. “I’ll go slow later.”

  I have to brace myself on the counter, hold on for dear life as Asher starts to fuck me. Long, deep strokes that make me see pure sunlight. It’s déjà vu. Like him fucking me against the tree all over again, but desperate, reaching.

  Our skin slaps together, a carnal soundtrack underscoring our shared moans. I brought him inside so the neighbors wouldn’t hear me yell at him. Now I’m glad we’re inside so that I can scream my head off. Because that’s coming. I can feel it.

  Asher’s hands are on my hips, pulling me back onto his cock just as hard as he’s fucking me. Fireworks of pleasure bloom beneath my skin. I’m so close and I’m so far away and fuck I missed this. How the fuck did I ever walk away when this is what’s between us? This invisible thing that binds us deeper than we have any right to be.

  Pulling out, Asher turns and lifts, perching my ass on the countertop before plunging back into me, now face to face. “I want to see you come.” His voice is nearly a growl.

  “I’m almost there,” I manage. Barely.

  Sweet, delicious pleasure is rolling over me like honey. Like glitter. Fire. Everything that is warm and shining. I’m rolling around in that bliss. Never wanting it to stop. Asher pulls his cock out and drops to his knees, sealing his mouth over my clit in one brutal movement.

  I’m not prepared for his tongue. For the way he sucks my clit so hard that I see stars. For the way my orgasm hits me like a crushing weight. It freezes me, pulls me under and throws me around in the current. I can’t move, can’t breathe, barely managing to hold on to the counter and not fall. The only thing that’s really keeping me up is Asher’s head between my legs.

  He licks into me, pushing his tongue inside and savoring my orgasm. Making me squirm against his mouth until I’m cursing and he’s laughing.

  I’m barely holding on when he stands and fits himself against me, sliding his cock in and in and in. “I’ve missed the taste of you,” he says roughly, hauling my mouth to his for a kiss. His mouth tastes like me, and my pussy clenches in response, squeezing down on him, making him groan.

  There’s no condom, the delicious friction of skin on skin is fucking amazing, and I’m so fucking glad that there’s nothing between us. I don’t want anything between us anymore. Ever.

  “I’m going to come,” Asher says.

  I want him to. I want to see him do it the way he saw me. Asher closes his eyes, lost in the movement, in the pleasure of burying himself inside me over and over. He still feels so fucking good, that when he bites his lip, squeezing my thighs, I nearly come again.

  Asher shouts, pulling out at the last second and spilling himself across my stomach. His cock jerks, his entire body taut as he shudders with the strength of his climax. He’s gasping for breath just as hard as I am when he opens his eyes.

  “God, I fucking missed you,” he breathes.

  I run my hands over his chest, enjoying the smooth expanse of skin, the dips in his muscles, before I reach down and grab his cock. It hardens in my hands, faster than I thought possible.

  “I missed you too.” I sit up more fully and yank him closer, brushing my lips against his. “We have shit to talk about. You know that, and I know that. But right now, you know what needs to happen?”

  One of Asher’s eyebrows raises, but he smirks before he asks. “What?”

  “You need to clean me up and then take me into the bedroom and boss me around a little bit. We’ll talk later.”

  Asher laughs softly. “Boss you around, huh?”

  “Yes.” My voice shakes. Breathy. My body already warming again in anticipation.

  “Then let’s go.”

  He picks me up off the counter and carries me to the bedroom.

  14

  Asher

  Rose is lying across my chest while we both catch our breath. A sheen of sweat is on our skin, heat gathering between us even now. Having her beside me makes me feel settled in the way that I’ve been craving. A way that I didn’t even know was possible until she walked away.

  Honestly, the second the words came out of my mouth—that I was falling in love with her—everything clicked. I’m not sure I’d allowed myself to actually think it before that moment, but it didn’t make it any less true. I didn’t realize I was capable of emotion like this.

  And now, I’m lying in a bed with my wife. If she still wants that.

  I know that I do.

  Slowly I roll us over so that she’s beneath me again. This feeling…I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of it.

  Her lips are so fucking sweet and wicked. They drive me mad. They make me absolutely insatiable. It’s not going to take me long to recover and want her again. I’ll always want her. Always.

  Rose moans into my kiss, and I press deeper until she’s arching against me. “I don’t think that I can go anymore,” she says breathlessly. “You’ve worn me out entirely.”

  “You’ll get your strength back,” I say. “We’ll get food. But other than that? We’re not leav
ing this bed tonight.”

  A low sound in her throat. “Okay.”

  I kiss her again, taking time to enjoy the feeling of her lips under mine and her tongue dancing with mine. “Do you still want me to sign the papers?”

  Rose stares, so quiet that my stomach drops and nerves tingle in my stomach. “I know we were drunk,” I say, brushing her lips, “and it wasn’t exactly the best start to a marriage, but I would love to give it a go. If you want to. Nothing else that isn’t your choice, Rose.”

  She smiles, and I swear it’s like the fucking sun has come out. My wife is beautiful. In a way that makes me ache and pull her closer. I want to hold her forever, just like this.

  “If we do this,” she says, “I’m not going to be a normal wife.”

  I laugh. “How so?”

  “I’m going to finish my degree and pursue my dreams and no way am I going to be barefoot in the kitchen.”

  “The very idea of that is laughable,” I say, running my hand through her hair. “I wouldn’t want you to be anything but what you are. But—”

  “But?”

  “I’m hoping that you might want to live with me. Be my wife in every sense. Because let’s be honest, conjugal visits in a dorm room are going to be awkward. Especially with how loud I can make you scream. Oh, and I want to buy you a ring so that everyone knows that you’re mine.”

  She arches at the word but also smacks my arm playfully. “I don’t live in a dorm. I rent this house, thank you very much.”

  I chuckle.

  “Speaking of which, you don’t happen to know why the school called me right before I got home and told me that my tuition for senior year is entirely paid? Or why there are hundreds of thousands of dollars in my bank account?”

  I can’t contain my grin. “I might know something about that.”

  “Oh my God, what did you do?”

  Briefly, I tell her about Gary’s visit to Blue Mountain, and how everything went exactly the way we’d planned it to. “And I told him that he had to help you. And that he had one week to do it.”