Fake Marriage (Contemporary Romance Box Set)

by Ajme Williams

  “That’s what she said. How many women do I have to fuck and how many years have to pass before I’m ready to settle down, do you think?”

  Brooke let out a laugh. “I don’t know. I see what they’re saying a little bit. I mean, you know people our age. Some of them really haven’t grown up yet. You and I, we grew up when we were teenagers.”

  I think she had a point, but it didn’t change anything.

  “I went to see Stark the other day.”

  “Why?” She gaped at me, and then held her glass out for more whisky. If we were changing subjects, I could handle her sticking around.

  “I wanted to find out why he was still blocking the library project and tell him to leave Holly alone.”

  “So, you still care about her.”

  I gave her a look that said it was time to change subjects. “As it turned out, his goal wasn’t to stop the library. I think he wants his guy Wallace to take it on.”

  “So, what was he doing?” she asked, sipping her whiskey.

  “He paid Holly’s ex to come back and pretend to love her again so she’d be distracted from influencing parents and teachers from voting for Sinclair.”

  “Jesus, he is an asshole. Of course, I knew that, but to bring her ex back. That’s low.”

  I nodded. “I think something happened to him or someone did a number on him. All he knows now is pain. All he wants is power and money. It’s sad, really.”

  She gaped at me. “He wrecked emotional havoc on the woman you love and you’re sympathizing with him?”

  “I can see where betrayal and rejection can make you rethink love.”

  She gulped down her drink. “I did that so I didn’t waste it by throwing it on you. Seriously Tucker. You’ve got to get your shit together. Yes, heartache is a bitch, but you’re stronger than to let that turn you into an asshole.”

  “I didn’t say I wanted to be him. Only that I understood what could make him that way.”

  “Yeah. Weakness. Character flaw.” She shook her head. “Look, I don’t want to dismiss your pain, but the Tucker Marshall I know would pull up his big boy briefs and take on the world.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Telling Holly that you love her and that she’s a fucking idiot if she passes up on true love.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I did that and she walked away.”

  “Then go on a date. Find the woman that will appreciate and love you. Tonight, you can wallow. I’ll wallow with you. We can get shitfaced and say mean things about the people who’ve done us wrong. But tomorrow, Tucker, you need to start living again. I’ll kick your ass every day until you do.”

  Since I had one night to wallow, I wouldn’t worry about making her not kick my ass tomorrow. “What about Mo?”

  “He’s with my dad working on something or other. They do better when I’m not around. My dad still feels weird about us. But it’s getting better.”

  “To getting shitfaced,” I said, taking another long swig of my whisky.

  Two hours later, Brooke, a prime example of shitfaced, was lifted into Mo’s arms. I, nearly shitfaced, called him to come get her.

  “Sorry, man,” I slurred as Brooke wrapped her arms around Mo and kissed his cheek.

  He laughed. “Did she help you feel better?”

  I shrugged. “She’s my best friend so she always brings a little light.”

  “I’m the best friend ever. And the best wife, aren’t I Mo?”

  “Yes, you are, honey.” Mo laughed.

  “And the age difference doesn’t matter, does it?” she said.

  He arched a brow. “No.”

  “You need to order Holly to stop being so mean to Tucker. Just because she’s older doesn’t mean she can’t love him.”

  I was just sober enough to be embarrassed by her loose lips.

  Mo looked at me for a second and then at Brooke. “There are limits to my powers. I can’t order people to love someone if they don’t.”

  “But she does love him. I know it. I mean look at him.”

  I grinned, mostly because I loved Brooke for how she loved me.

  “He’s smart. And handsome. And sweet. And funny. And…” Her brow furrowed as she tried to think of more adjectives.

  “I still can’t order her, I’m sorry baby.” He looked at me. “I should get her home.”

  I nodded. “Again, I’m sorry.”

  “When she feels like shit tomorrow, I may bring her back and let you hold her head over the toilet.”

  I smiled. “And I’ll do it. My head will probably be there anyway.”

  He turned to leave, but stopped. “I don’t know what’s going on with you and Holly, but I do know that if you love her, it’s worth the effort to try to keep her.”

  “I’m not the one who’s the problem.”

  He nodded and then carried Brooke out the door. I shut it, and then shut the sliding door and headed to bed. I was still heartbroken, but I wasn’t alone. I had friends in my new town. I had a great class of students. I had more than a lot of people. I certainly had more than Stark. It was time to do what Brooke said. I needed to get my shit together and start living.

  34

  Holly

  Being in my house was hard. Everywhere I looked, from the well-lit porch, to the unsqueaking cupboard door, to the closet now closing perfectly on its hinge, I saw Tucker, and with that, came guilt and profound sadness.

  As I closed the cupboard door after getting a few glasses, I tried to forget the pain in Tucker’s eyes and focused on my friends. They had their sleeping bags strewn across my living room floor, snacks on my coffee table, and an entire bar’s worth of booze.

  “God, it’d been forever since I’ve done something like this,” Becky said. “Why is that?”

  “Probably because you’re a grown ass woman, not a teenage girl,” Karen said, shoving cheese puffs in her mouth.

  “What’s your excuse for being here?” Becky asked her.

  “Well, sometimes we have let our inner teenager out. And I plan to. I want all the gossip. Starting with Tucker Marshall.”

  Becky’s gaze jerked to mine and I could see she was worried about my feelings.

  “Like, is he as good looking underneath his clothes as he is with his clothes on?” Karen asked.

  I handed each of them a glass, and then poured mine with vodka and diet soda.

  “Maybe we should talk about something else,” Becky said.

  Karen looked at her and then me. “Why?” Her brows pulled together. “I thought all that was fake.”

  I looked down. “It was and it wasn’t.” And because I didn’t want to be a downer at this party, I said, “And he’s better that you could imagine without his clothes.”

  Karen grinned and rolled back on her sleeping bag. “I knew it.”

  Becky smiled and I got the feeling that she was glad I could talk about it.

  Karen rolled over to her belly and looked at me with rapt attention. “And…in the sack?”

  “Better than you could ever imagine,” I said.

  “I can imagine pretty good,” she said arching a brow.

  I shook my head. “Not that good.”

  “Oh my God, I think I just had an orgasm.” She poured herself vodka and cranberry juice. “So why stop seeing him? If I had someone around like him, I’d throw out my vibrator.”

  I wasn’t drunk enough to mention that he was happy to include a vibrator in the bed when having sex.

  “The deal was done. Or bust, rather,” I answered, getting settled on my sleeping bag.

  “And that was it?” Karen asked. “I mean…I don’t want to bring up anything bad, but he looks like a lost puppy. You haven’t been much better. I keep thinking that—”

  “It’s none of our business,” Becky said, which was surprising because she nearly always blurted out secrets. It was a testament to our friendship, I suppose, that she could keep to herself my most painful experiences.

  Karen looked at her and then me. “Oh
…I’m sorry, Holly. I didn’t mean—”

  I waved her comment away. “It’s okay. It is what it is. It was bound to end at some point and that seemed like the best time.”

  “Why?” Karen sipped her drink.

  “You’re sure nosy.” Becky glared at Karen.

  “That’s rich coming from Miss-I-Can’t-Keep-A-Secret. Plus, we’re having a sleepover. Girl talk…supporting our sister, that’s what it’s about, right?”

  Becky looked at me and shrugged as if to say Karen was right. “We do want to be here for you.”

  “Tucker and I had a lovely time, but it would have never lasted.”

  “Why?” Karen and Becky said together.

  “You know why?”

  They looked at each other.

  “Because that asshole Rick came back to town?” Karen asked.

  “No.” That was ridiculous. In fact, I suspect he’d left again as I hadn’t heard from him since I’d seen him after Meredith’s party.

  “It can’t be because you work together,” Becky said. “So…” She thought for a moment. “It’s because he’s a mooch. He moved in, ate all your food, let you do all the work.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “He’s a really good cook and handy around the house.”

  They both stared at me, stumped.

  “Oh, come on, you know why,” I said.

  “I don’t.” Karen poured more vodka in her drink.

  “Me neither,” Becky said, handing Karen a napkin when she spilled a little.

  “He’s twenty-four.”

  They both stopped and stared at me.

  “And…” Becky prodded.

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m older than him.”

  “So,” Karen quipped. “The mayor is old enough to be his wife’s father.”

  “I’m not old enough to be Tucker’s mother,” I said, feeling defensive.

  “So, what’s the big deal?” Karen grabbed the cheese puffs bag off the coffee table offering some to Becky.

  “I’m old enough that our goals are different. I want a man I can marry and settle down. I’m running out of time to have children.”

  “And he wants to sow his oats?” Becky asked, taking a few cheese puffs.

  “He’s twenty-four. You remember when you were twenty-four. You were out partying and dating and…not settling down.”

  “I don’t know,” Karen said. “I dated then yes, but if I’d met the one then, I’d have settled down. I wasn’t dating just to meet some sort of young-fun quota. Plus, he’s sort of an old soul, don’t you think?”

  “He does seem solid. I mean, he relates to the kids well, but he manages them too. And he’s had time here in Salvation to date others. It seems to me that he’s only ever had an interest in you.” Becky repoured her drink of coconut rum and pineapple juice.

  “That’s just it,” I argued. “He hasn’t met other women in town.”

  “That’s not true,” Karen said. “He’s hung out with Brooke and her friends.”

  “Who are all married,” I said.

  “Not all. Plus, there’s Sam at Salvation Station. She gives him a good look over when he’s there,” Becky offered. “There are other teachers. Melissa Sampson is about that age, single—”

  “And has a pair of tits that make men drool.” Karen rolled her eyes.

  “I don’t think Tucker has even noticed her, but he’s met her,” Becky said.

  I drank my vodka and diet soda, and refilled it, with more vodka this time.

  “But hey, if you didn’t feel it, then of course, it had to end,” Becky said.

  “She didn’t say she didn’t feel it,” Karen said. “She said she was too old for him. Which is bullshit. Who cares?”

  “People would talk,” Becky said. “That’s why she cares.”

  “So the fuck what? Let ‘em talk.”

  Becky laughed. “It’s easy for you to say. It’s not you they’re talking about.”

  “It doesn’t make me wrong.”

  “If you were being talked about, you wouldn’t like it,” Becky argued.

  “I might not like it, but I wouldn’t toss out a man I loved over it.”

  Karen’s words made me stop mid-drink.

  “If I had a man I loved and he loved me, let ‘em talk. I’m not going to let this town decide what’s okay for me. I mean what’s next? Are they going to tell me how to wear my hair? Do my nails? What books to read? If I won’t let them dictate that, I sure as hell am not going to let them mess up a good relationship.”

  I swallowed hard as her words hit me hard in the gut. Was I really letting society dictate my relationship?

  “What about how I’ll look old before he does. Or he might find someone else later,” I said, feeling defensive.

  “He might hurt you. But Rick did and he was your age. Age has nothing to do with it,” Karen, who was pretty drunk by now, was saying such sobering things. “So maybe all that does happen. That would suck. But as far as I can tell, you’re feeling pretty sucky now anyway. If you can have some fun in the meantime…why not do it?”

  Becky reached over and put her arm around me. “The other side of that is, what if he sticks? We can’t predict the future. A meteor can slam through your room and kill us right now.”

  “Oh jeez.” Karen ducked, spilling her drink.

  “You have the same odds that something could go wrong as there are that it could go right.”

  “What does he say? Because I’ve really wanted to console him but haven’t out of respect for you and thinking he still likes you,” Karen said.

  I glared at her and wanted to tell her to stay away from Tucker.

  “What did he say?” Becky asked.

  I bit my lip. “He said he loved me.”

  “Oh God. I’d swoon if he said that to me. Then I’d marry his ass and make sure he never wanted to look elsewhere.” Karen tipped her glass to drink, but since it was empty she didn’t get anything. “I need another.”

  “Do you love him?” Becky asked.

  I nodded. “Yes. More than Rick even. Way more.”

  “So, let’s call him and tell him that you love him.” Karen reached for her phone.

  “And ruin this party?” Becky reached out to stop Karen. “No. Besides we haven’t gotten all the nitty gritty details yet. Like…length and girth.”

  Karen’s eyes lit up. “Oh yea. Do spill the tea. Give us visuals.”

  I was able to eventually move the conversation away from the size of Tucker’s dick to other gossip. We fell asleep on my floor, and early the next morning, somehow, we were able to have coffee, with water and pain reliever, and then I sent them on their way. I did feel good having them there. It didn’t change my circumstances, but it felt good to know they had my back.

  Once they left, I went back to bed for another hour and then woke, showered, and decided to work on lesson plans. Thanksgiving break was coming soon, and then there was just a few weeks after that before the winter break.

  I’d just plotted a Thanksgiving lesson that integrated geography, history, and science, when there was a knock on my door.

  When I opened it, I was surprised to see Simon Stark standing there. I felt like death warmed over after last night and the last thing I needed was to try and spar with this man.

  “Please don’t slam the door in my face, Ms. St. James. I come in peace.”

  I wasn’t sure that was something he knew how to do. “What do you want?”

  “I was hoping to talk to you about the library. I know it’s a project close to your heart and I want to help.”

  I was torn. I really wanted to bring an updated library to the children of Salvation, but I couldn’t trust Simon Stark.

  “I just want to talk.”

  I opened the door to let him in. “I thought when you exposed me, you’d gotten what you wanted. An end to the library project.”

  I didn’t want to offer him a seat, but I had allowed him. I motioned to a chair, but didn’t offer him something t
o drink.

  “That wasn’t my goal, no. I’m all in support of the library. I didn’t realize that I’d thwarted that until Mr. Marshall came to my house and had words with me over it.”

  Tucker went to Stark’s house? “He asked you to fund it?”

  Stark laughed. “No. I don’t think he’d take water from me even if he was on fire. But like you, he thought my goal was to stop the library. And it wasn’t.”

  “What was?” I sat on the edge of my couch. I didn’t intend for him to stay long, so I wasn’t going to settle in for a long chat.

  He see-sawed his head. “It’s not important now. What is important is that I feel bad about putting the kibosh on your project. And it’s not sitting well how things went down at Mrs. Reynolds. When I asked Rick to return—”

  “You asked him to come back?” I couldn’t stop from gaping.

  “Yes.” He turned away, his fingers plucking at non-existent lint on his slacks.

  “Why?”

  “Again, not important. But the whole thing was a reminder about that statement of best laid plans…” He didn’t finish what he meant about that. “I’m here because I want to help you with your library. And before you tell me no, hear me out. I’m here in Salvation and I want to make a difference. I see things that can be better in this town and I know you do too. When you talk about a new library, people listen. All I’ve wanted to do is talk about the same things. Jobs. Education. But when I do it no one listens.”

  “You don’t talk, Stark. You bully and manipulate and threaten.”

  “I’m not doing that now. Right now, I’m offering you the chance to redeem your good name, build the library you want, not what Meredith Reynold’s wants, and help me become more respected in the community.”

  I studied him. “What’s the catch?”

  He shrugged. “Support Wallace for the mayoral election.”

  “No.”

  He laughed. “This is what I find fascinating about you people. You act all high and mighty. You condemn me and my methods. Mr. Marshall told me my actions hurt the children of Salvation. So here I am, offering to help them, and you’re willing to sacrifice their literacy for your friend. How does that make you any different from me?”