by Grey, Blair
“Darling, you know that I wouldn’t involve you in my work business unless I absolutely had to,” Dad said, glancing over at Will. He took my hands in his, staring deep into my eyes. “But as much as I hate doing it, I have a favor to ask.”
“Okay,” I said slowly.
“I’m afraid that Red Eyes is having certain problems at the moment,” he said. “I don’t want to get into all the details of it, but I need your help.”
“What kind of problems? And what can I do to help?” I asked, trying to pretend like I didn’t already know.
Dad sighed. “I don’t want to tell you everything,” he said. “I don’t want you to know all the ways that your poor father has failed you. But I don’t want you to be worried.” He paused. “Fortunately, there’s a way to fix things. As much as I hate involving you in these things, I think it’s for the best.”
“Dad, what’s going on?” I repeated.
“What do you think of Will?” he asked abruptly.
I had to fight to keep from laughing. “He’s a good guy,” I said. “I can tell he cares about me. About Red Eyes. About us.”
Dad stared between the two of us for a moment, and I wondered if he understood. But then, he shook his head. “Will has asked to marry you,” he said flatly. And I could tell just what he thought about that. He didn’t approve at all.
I tried to think of how to respond. I couldn’t help glancing over at Will, finally, to see how he was taking all of this. But his face was carefully neutral, as though he didn’t know a thing about what was going on. He had always been better at hiding his feelings than I was.
“You want me to marry you?” I asked slowly, trying not to grin. “How’s that going to solve the problems that Red Eyes is having?”
It was hard, trying to pretend I didn’t already know what was going on. Especially when Dad was giving me hardly any detail, forcing me to keep asking questions. I kept worrying that I was going to slip up and let on that I knew more than I should. But I tried to be calm and stick to the basics.
I saw the flicker of a smile on Will’s face for a moment. But just a moment. He shrugged casually. “My grandmother left me a sizeable amount of money when she died,” he said. “Enough money to smooth over whatever problems the MC is having at the moment. I don’t mind handing it over to your dad, bailing out the club. But in order to get my hands on it, I need to be married within the month. I was hoping that I could trust you to help me out.”
“I don’t like this,” Dad said frankly. “And sweetheart, I hope you know that you can always say no.”
“You wouldn’t be asking if there was any other way, though, would you?” I asked.
“No.” Dad sighed and twirled his fork around his fingers. “We were robbed,” he said finally. “At the clubhouse. And the money that was taken, let’s just say it was no small change. If the local businesses find out about this, there will be hell to pay.”
“But they don’t need to find out about it,” Will interjected. He gave me a serious look, one that sent a shiver of lust down my spine. “Marry me, Belle. Help me get my hands on this inheritance. I promise I’ll take good care of you.”
“Just until we get our hands on the money,” Dad interrupted, frowning at Will.
“Of course,” he said deferentially.
“Sweetheart, you only have to go along with this until we have the money. Once we’ve smoothed everything over, you can move right back in here and get divorced. I'm not asking you to give yourself to Will forever.” He paused, frowning and then shooting Will a look. “I’m not asking you to give yourself to Will at all.”
Again, I almost started laughing, except that I could tell just how serious this was. I didn’t think I had ever seen Dad look so concerned.
“And you wouldn’t ask if there were any other way,” I said quietly. “I know that.” I paused, pretending to think about it, and I was amused to see Will look mildly uncertain for the first time. “How serious are the lawyers going to be about it? Will I have to move in with Will?”
“I think that for now, it’s enough for the two of you to go down to the courthouse. We read through a copy of the will, and Cameron thinks it’s enough for him to show the marriage certificate to the estate executor,” Dad said. “It’s all for appearance’s sake. If anyone realizes that we’re doing this just so we can get our hands on that money, they’ll start to ask questions. They’ll wonder why we need the money so badly. It’s best that the two of you start acting like a real couple, and that you go down to Texas with Will. If you’re going to do this. But I don’t think it’s necessary that you move in with him.”
“Right,” I said, hoping he couldn’t hear just how breathless the thought of that made me. He had basically just told me that I had free reign to have a real relationship with Will. He might not want me moving in with the man yet, but it was more than I had expected.
“I know this isn’t what you ever expected for yourself,” Dad continued, sounding worried. “And although you’ve done your best to keep it from me, I know there’s someone you’ve been seeing lately.”
I stared at him in shock. “You know about that?” I asked. Again, I had to play dumb. Will had already told me that Dad had asked Will to keep an eye on me. But better that I seem surprised and slightly guilty now.
Dad grimaced. “I suspected,” he said. “I don’t know who it is. I’m not having you followed or anything like that. I don’t like it, but I trust you to make good decisions.” He paused. “And I understand that this marriage with Will might ruin whatever you and this other guy have. But believe me when I say—”
“I’ll do it,” I interrupted. “Seriously, Dad, it’s no problem.” I shrugged at him and then looked over at Will. I felt kind of bad, continuing to pretend that Will wasn’t the guy I was in a relationship with. I never lied to Dad. I never even shaded the truth, normally. But the last thing I wanted was for him to decide that he didn’t want me to go through with this. I grinned at Will. “But you’d better be good to me.”
The corners of Will’s lips twitched into a smile. “Oh, I will,” he said gravely.
I looked over at Dad. “So how do we do this? What’s next?”
Dad smiled. “One day, I’d love to throw you the perfect wedding,” he said. “With all our friends and family. I’d love to walk you down the aisle. You’d look so beautiful in a wedding dress. Like an absolute angel.”
“Hey, Dad,” I said, putting my hand over his. “We’ll have all of that. One day. You said I can divorce Will as soon as we have the money, right?”
Divorcing Will was, of course, the last thing I wanted to do, but for appearance’s sake, I had to pretend like I was only doing this for the money. Dad’s talk of wedding dresses and walks down the aisle made me wonder what it would be like if this was for real.
But I wasn’t ready for that yet, honestly. Will and I didn’t even know each other well enough for that, though we had known one another for years. But our relationship was still very new. We certainly weren’t ready to pledge ourselves to each other forever. It was a surprisingly tempting idea, though.
I wondered, for a moment, if I would still be so interested in Will if he hadn’t been the first guy I had slept with. But I knew that was a silly thing to think about. I’d been interested in him for years. Sure, that interest had really flourished now that we’d slept together, but it had always been there, in the background. I’d just been better about avoiding him.
It was going to be possible to avoid him now. And I liked that. I was looking forward to this trip down to Texas, already.
“Rather than go through all that fuss for this,” Dad said, “I think it’s best that the two of you go down to the courthouse tomorrow to get the license. Marcus will join you as a witness.” He sighed. “I wish I could give you more time to come around to the idea of it, but the truth is, we need the money as soon as possible.”
“Of course,” I said, smiling at him. Inwardly, I was practically squealing.
Tomorrow. Will and I would be married twenty-four hours from now. I could barely contemplate it.
“Once the two of you are married, you’ll go together to Texas to prove to the lawyer that the two of you are married,” Dad continued, looking at Will now as he discussed the details of the trip.
“That’s a good idea,” Will said. “Going together. Don’t want them thinking our marriage only exists on paper.” He looked over at me and winked, and I felt a warm flush run through me.
Married. I had barely convinced myself that I might be able to date someone, someday, without my father freaking out, and here I was, getting married to Will. We were pretty much engaged at the moment. The thought made me want to drag him over to the mother-in-law house and leap on him, but I knew I couldn’t do that.
Still, we were practically planning our honeymoon now, with this talk of a trip to Texas. Just the two of us. I had read somewhere, once, that if you really wanted to see if you loved someone, you should take a trip with them. That all that time exposed to the other person could make you really start to hate all of their quirks.
But right now, it seemed like the best thing that could possibly happen to Will and me. We would be out from under the watchful eyes of Dad and everyone else in town. Free to explore our budding relationship. Free to explore one another. And I could hardly wait.
27
Will
I woke up early on Wednesday, unable to sleep any longer. I couldn’t believe we were actually going to do this, that I was going to marry Belle. Sure, it was just so that I could get my hands on my family fortune. But there was something about this that just felt so right also.
I thought back to Belle’s face the previous evening. She’d looked so surprised when her dad said that I wanted to marry her. She was a good actress, actually. I knew that everything her Dad said to her was stuff I had already told her about, and I had almost expected her to blow our cover. I knew she and her dad were close; it had to be killing her to lie to Ray about us, just like it was killing me.
But she kept up the charade, acting like she had no idea that the club was in trouble or that I could get my hands on my inheritance if only I could prove that I was married. Like it was the first time she had heard any of that stuff. And something about that had turned me on, in a weird way.
Now, waking up, I was rock hard in my boxers. I was going to marry her. That sweet, beautiful woman. I’d had eyes on her for a long time now, and the more I got to know her, the further we progressed in our relationship, the more I liked her. She wasn’t just sexy. She was sweet. Smart. Kind. She really believed that I could do something better with my life, and what’s more, she wanted to help me achieve those dreams I had for myself.
I knew she was just doing this to help me out and to help her father out. But I couldn’t help thinking about what her father had said, about wanting to have the perfect wedding for her someday. What if that wedding could really happen? I could already imagine Belle in a white dress, walking up the aisle toward me. God, she’d be beautiful.
This was just for the sake of the money, but I definitely wasn’t sorry to be marrying her.
I waited until midmorning before heading over to Marcus’s.
“Look at you,” he said in surprise, brushing some imaginary lint off the shoulder of my suit jacket. “I didn’t realize we were supposed to dress up. I didn’t think this was the real thing.”
“It’s not,” I muttered, feeling embarrassed. I hurried to cover up my feelings for Belle in case they were too obvious. “I just figured, it’s Belle’s wedding. And even though we’re doing this in the worst way possible, I wanted to make it special for her. She’s a girl, you know.”
Marcus laughed. “Oh, I know,” he said, a knowing glint in his eyes. “But remember, you’re just marrying her for the sake of the money.” He paused. “Aren’t you?”
“Of course I am,” I said, scowling for good measure.
“Good,” Marcus said, folding his arms across his chest. “I didn’t like your plan when I first heard it,” he continued. “I’ve come around to it. But I just want to make sure that you remember this is all for the sake of the club.”
“I’m the one who came up with the plan, aren’t I?” I said peevishly, folding my own arms across my chest.
“You are,” Marcus agreed. “But don’t forget that I know you, Will. Better than anyone else in this club, even Ray.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Marcus gave me a long, measuring look. “It means that I want you to remember that if you fuck things up with Ray’s only daughter, there’s going to be hell to pay.”
“I’m not going to fuck things up with her,” I muttered under my breath.
Marcus sighed. “That’s what I’m afraid of, to be honest.”
“You’re not making any sense,” I complained.
“Put it this way. If you fuck things up with Belle, Ray’s going to come after you,” Marcus said slowly. “But if you don’t fuck things up with Belle, if you actually make the mistake of thinking that this is a relationship and that Ray is going to let you two kids play house for the rest of your lives, you’ve got another thing coming as well.”
“We’re not going to be playing house,” I said, even though I kind of liked the sound of that. I remembered what it had been like that one night, cooking dinner for Belle and then tumbling into bed with her afterward. What if every day ended with some variation of that? What if every morning started with her right there next to me? There was nothing bad in the image that my brain painted of us.
“Just be careful,” Marcus said, shaking his head.
“I will,” I said, even though I knew I was already too deep in all of this.
We went to Belle’s place to get her, and then the three of us went over to the courthouse. Belle looked radiant in a soft yellow dress with a couple of blue flowers woven into her braid. I had never seen her look so pretty before, and I had a hard time taking my eyes off her.
The officiant pulled me aside immediately, recognizing all three of us. “Does her father know about this?” he asked in a low voice, eyeing Belle. Of course the man knew who Belle’s father was; everyone in the whole city knew the man.
“I wouldn’t be here if he didn’t know about this,” I said. “Try to marry Ray Thompson’s daughter without him knowing? I’m not that stupid.”
The officiant gave me a doubtful look. “I’m just saying, you wouldn’t be the first person trying to push through a wedding that the in-laws didn’t approve of,” he said. “And the last thing I need is Ray Thompson as an enemy.”
I rolled my eyes. “What, do you need a signed note from him telling you it’s okay?” I asked sarcastically. “Belle is old enough to make her own decisions, isn’t she? And trust me, the last thing I want is to have Ray as an enemy, either.”
The officiant gave Belle another doubtful look, and she rolled her eyes. “Is there a problem?” she asked icily, every inch her father’s daughter at that moment. I had to hide a smile.
“He wants to make sure that your father is on board with this,” I called over.
“Of course he does,” she muttered. Then, she smiled sweetly at the poor man. “Do you really think I’d be here with two guys from his club if he didn’t approve of it? I’m not that stupid. I’d be trying to keep it a secret. We would have run away and gotten married somewhere far away.”
“Right,” the man said, even though he still didn’t sound at all sure that he wanted to get involved with this. Marcus chose that moment to slip him a wad of cash, though, and that sped things up.
He went through all the usual wedding spiel, and I just stood there, holding Belle’s hands and smiling down at her. I could tell from her expression that she could barely believe this was happening either.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the rest of it either. Taking her off to Texas with me. Holing up in hotels with her, having my way with her. I couldn’t believe that Ray had suggested that she come with
me; it was an unexpected bonus. Yet another reminder that he trusted me, that he thought I would take care of his daughter and that I would never dare do something he wouldn’t approve of with her.
But all that aside, I was just glad to be here right now.
“You may kiss the bride,” the officiant said, and I pulled Belle into my arms.
The kiss was awkward and uncomfortable. Marcus and the officiant were both watching us, and I felt like we had to pretend like this was our first kiss, like we had never even touched before. No tongue, no pushing into her mouth and making her moan like I wanted to. No sweeping her off her feet, carrying her back to my place, and having my way with her.
I couldn’t help the way I was hardening in my slacks, though. I hurriedly pulled back, not wanting things to get too awkward. As far as Marcus was concerned, we were both only doing this because we had to. I remembered his warning from earlier, that I needed to think of this as just a step in the plan to get the money that the club needed. He couldn’t suspect anything different.
Even though this was just part of the plan, though, even though I knew that as soon as the money was in our hands, Ray would probably be pressuring Belle to get that divorce, I couldn’t help feeling that this was right in some way.
Belle smiled right back at me.
“So,” I said, turning to the officiant, “when do we get that little piece of paper?” I tried to say it casually, even though I knew there was no way he could suspect what we were up to.
Besides, it wasn’t like we were doing anything wrong. Sure, this might not be what my grandmother had in mind when she had put the wedding stipulation into her will, but it was her own damned fault for putting some crazy clause in there about my getting married within the month. There was nothing illegal about this.
The officiant stared at me for a long moment. “Usually, it takes a few days for the official paperwork to come through,” he said. Then, he glanced at Marcus. “Of course, if you were in some sort of a hurry, I might be able to get it through quicker than that. Today, even.”