novelxo Undeniably Married: Chapter 9
With a yawn, I roll over in bed and find Mason asleep beside me. He took me again, and then I think we both passed out. My body is sore in all the best ways, but my stomach is too empty to go unnoticed. I’m starving. We still haven’t talked about anything beyond sex, and at this point, I’m not even sure what there is to say. We both know what this is and how it will work.
And when we get home, I’ll call an attorney and get the marriage end of this sorted.
That will be that.
Fling over.
I frown at the thought as I stare down at him. I like Mason. He’s everything I need him to be right now, but that doesn’t mean it can turn into more. Or that I want it to. I’m not even close to being able to think about another relationship right now. I need to figure out where I’m going to live. I need to spend some time thinking about what Brody and Eloise did and allow myself to feel because I haven’t done that yet and that can’t be healthy.
You don’t walk away from a two-year relationship and a twelve-year friendship without feeling something. It’s impossible. The lyrics to “Under the Bridge” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers float through my head, and I push them away along with Brody and Eloise.
The ring on my hand sparkles, catching my attention, and guilt tickles the back of my neck. I still can’t get over all he’s done for me. This ring is next level. It’s real, and I won’t think about the fact that he bought me princess-cut diamonds after I told him about the band Brody got me.
Mason isn’t looking for more. He wants it to be a fling. He said nothing would change between us. He said a week from the start. Those were his words. His idea.
My guilt is my own, and I need to move past it.
Climbing out of bed, I slip on the hotel robe and walk into the bathroom to brush my teeth when Mason’s reflection comes into view. He rubs the back of his sleep-mussed head, and I can’t help but admire the muscles of his arms and shoulders as they bunch. He’s naked and completely unbothered by it. Why should he be? He’s flawless. Honed muscles and tan skin and large cock—even when it’s not hard.
“I’m starving,” he mumbles as he presses his lips to the crook of my neck and wraps his arms around my waist from behind.
“Same. I believe you promised me a buffet.”
He grins against me and meets my gaze in the mirror. “I believe I did. We can do that, or we can get dressed up and go out. Maybe do some more gambling. Up to you.”
“I don’t think I can do dressed up. Or alcohol, for that matter. But gambling sounds fun.”
“No more alcohol for me either. We could do room service if you prefer that,” he offers, and while that’s tempting, I think I need to get out for a bit. Walk around. Clear my head. Not immediately climb back into bed, or onto the table, or into the pool with him. I need to keep my mental boundaries with this straight.
“Let’s go out. It doesn’t have to be a buffet, just something good. Then I want to play more blackjack. I killed it last night.” I bounce my eyebrows at him in the mirror.
He nibbles my neck. “You did. You were a card shark, Mrs. Fritz-Reyes.”
He sets his chin on my shoulder, his cheek beside mine, and I try very hard not to think about what he just called me. It makes my belly flutter uncomfortably. He holds me, rocking us gently, and that flutter grows, tickling up through my chest and down my limbs.
“Are you okay?”
I look up at his reflection, straight into his green eyes. “I am.” I think. Maybe. I don’t know. “You?”
He winks at me. “I’m great. Best weekend of my life.”
I giggle lightly. “How are you always this charming?”
“I’m only this charming with people I’m trying to impress. Is it finally working?”
I scrunch my nose. “Not really.”
He tickles me, and I jump forward and spin around, trying to ward him away, when he picks me up, drops me over his shoulder, and walks me back to bed.
“No!” I cry. “I’m hungry.”
He laughs as he tosses me down on the bed so he can jump on top of me. He’s still naked and now the tie of my robe has pulled a little and is opening up. He’s helping it along, his eyes glued to what he’s unwrapping like it’s a present.
His hands shift inside the plush white fabric and slide across my belly. He dips in to kiss me just as his phone rings. With a groan, he climbs off and walks on his knees toward the nightstand where his phone is sitting. He groans again when he sees who’s calling.
He flips the phone around so I can see it. Stone. They’re best friends. Stone is Mason’s age, and I wasn’t as close with him growing up as I was with Owen since Owen is only about six months older than I am. I can only imagine what his friends, my cousins, have to say about all of this.
“Hey, man,” he says as he picks up. “Can I call you back?”
He sucks in a sharp breath when I take his semi-hard cock deep down my throat. His eyes bulge, and I giggle lightly under my breath. “I told you I was hungry.”
He chuckles and slips his hand into my hair, but he doesn’t encourage me. Nor does he stop me. “Wait, what? Sorry, I was distracted.” His hand cinches in my hair to stop me, but he releases me immediately when he catches me wincing. He sits up straight, pulling himself away from me, and I can tell that whatever he’s hearing isn’t good. “Hold on, hold on. No, that’s not…” He runs a hand through his hair. “Shit,” he mutters. “Yes, I was going to tell you. All of you. It’s why I texted this morning saying that we needed to talk.” He listens for a beat. “I figured you were at work, and that’s why you didn’t get back to me. Same with Owen. I’m sorry you heard this way, but can you go over that again with me because it’s not making any sense.”
He pulls the phone back slightly from his ear, and I hear Stone shouting.
My brows furrow, and he reaches out his hand for me. Without hesitation, I shift in beside him and climb under the blanket along with him as he does.
“Stone, slow the fuck down. I’m putting you on speaker so Sorel can hear what you’re telling me, so stop yelling at me for two minutes. I’m hearing impaired, and you’re still hurting my ears. You can bitch me out after.” He sets the phone down on his lap and hits the speaker button. “Okay, she can hear you, so be nice and explain this again.”
“What I was telling you is that your fucking wedding picture is all over the goddamn internet.”
I gasp and cover my mouth as I face Mason.
“I heard that, but did Brody leak it?” Mason sounds incredulous, and frankly, I would be too. I can’t imagine Brody would want our drunk, smiling selfie out there. It’ll make him look stupid.
“I don’t know who leaked it.” Stone is not happy. “All I know is that it’s everywhere, and that’s how I found out you’re married. That’s how we all found out. Her parents. My parents. Your parents. My grandparents, and you know what that means now that Grandma knows, Sorel.”
“Grandma knows?!” My hands cover my face. Crap. Octavia Abbot-Fritz is going to be all over me about this. It’s a scandal, and the Fritz family doesn’t love scandals, though we do weather them well, so there’s that. But me being married is going to be her drug. She loves love, but she loves weddings. I’m thirty-five years old and not afraid to admit I am afraid of my grandmother and how she’ll respond to this.
“Yes. She knows. So now I want you to explain how this happened. Are you actually married? Did this really happen?”
“Jesus,” Mason hisses. “Stone, I’ll explain everything. Just give me a second to see what picture you’re talking about.”
“Here. I’ll help you out. I’m sending it your way now,” he snaps. “Mase, brother, we talked about this. You promised.”
“I know what I promised, but—” A text comes through on Mason’s phone, and he pulls it up so we can both see. “What the hell is that?” he bellows.
I grab the phone from his hand so I can see it better. I enlarge it with my fingers and then hand it back to Mason. “That’s not the selfie we took. We didn’t allow photos at the ceremony.”
“No,” Mason agrees with a shake of his head as he examines it. “It’s not our photo, and no, we didn’t.”
It’s dark and a little grainy because it was taken during our ceremony, and the only light we got married by was fake candlelight. It’s us kissing after we said I do, my hand on his arm and his on my face, but you can see my ring glinting on my left hand.
“Who took this?” I whisper because that’s not even the worst part of this. The worst part of this is a screenshot Stone sent, and it’s on the front page of Intertainment’s website along with a caption, Brody Clear’s Ex-fiancée, Sorel Fritz, Marries His Former Teammate and Rebels QB, Mason Reyes, in a Secret Wedding Hours After She Ran Out On Clear.
“It was either our trusted butler or the person who was there as an extra witness,” Mason states flatly, his lips pulled in a thin line, fury emanating from his pores.
“It’s true, though? That’s you?”
It’s a little tough to see our faces in the darkness with the way we’re kissing.
Mason sighs. “Yeah, man. It’s us.”
“What. The. Fuck, Mason? This is not what we talked about, brother. Not even a little.”
“Yeah, but now we’re actually cousins and not just brothers from other mothers.”
Stone is not amused.
“It was my idea,” I explain to Stone. “I begged Mason to do it. I wanted revenge on Brody. I was drunk, and Mason was just trying to help me out so Brody would feel the sting of betrayal back.”
“By marrying you?” Stone is incredulous.
I sigh, sinking down into the bed a bit further, feeling more foolish than ever. My photo is on freaking Intertainment. “By marrying me,” I parrot. “We were going to get it annulled when we get back.” I take in the photo. “It was crazy and impulsive. It was meant to be my way of hurting Brody for what he did and then what he felt the need to come out and say publicly about it.”
Only now Brody looks like the wounded, scorned party and not the other way around. He must love that. I look like an unstable whore who jumps from one football player to the next and picks up rings like championship souvenirs along the way. My name is on the cover of Intertainment. What will this do to my practice? My reputation as a serious doctor?
Anxiety starts to hit me like a barrage of bullets. My empty stomach churns violently, and my chest quakes. I don’t like the spotlight. I’m the quiet one. The introvert. The one who doesn’t have my face in tabloids. That’s Serena’s thing, not mine, and she’s never been stupid enough to pull a stunt like this. I never should have called him out at the ceremony. I never should have run off to Vegas.
“Maybe we can say it’s not us. Maybe this doesn’t have to go beyond what it is.” My voice climbs frantically as panic surges through me.
Mason holds my hand and tries to calm me down. “Except there’s a wedding license that’s easy to look up,” he tells me, his eyes soft and sympathetic. “We maybe could have gotten away with that, but a little digging and it’s out there. I’ll call my PR team and speak with them, and we’ll talk with your family’s people and come up with something.”
My hand covers my face. “It’s going to look so bad,” I murmur. “I ran out on my wedding because my fiancé was cheating, but I ran right into the arms of another man and married him the same freaking day. I’m so sorry, Mason. I dragged you into this.” Emotion clogs my throat and burns my eyes. “I didn’t think about it this way. I never intended for the press to get wind of it. I figured it’d be my fuck you to Brody, and then we’d go home and quietly take care of it and it’d be like it never happened. I’m so stupid.”
“Hey,” Mason soothes, moving the phone and shifting me until I’m sitting sideways in his lap. He runs his hand down my hair before he rubs my arm reassuringly. “Don’t do that. It wouldn’t have been a thing if this person hadn’t snapped a picture without our consent. In fact, they weren’t supposed to have a phone in there at all. I had everyone put them by the front door of the villa for this very reason. She must have had a second one on her. She knew what she was doing, and there will be hell to pay, I can promise you that. But this crap will fade after a few days. It’s a headline and some buzz, and then it’ll pass when the next thing hits.”
Stone has been quiet. Maybe he doesn’t know what to say, or maybe he’s still angry that his best friend did this with his cousin. I don’t know. Guys are weird with their bro code crap.
My phone has been on and off Do Not Disturb since I left Boston. I’ve talked to my parents, and I spoke to my girls this morning, but I wanted a reprieve from the rest of the real world. Now the real world is getting ready to bitch slap me in the face.
It’s only been a day. How can so much happen in one day? How did my life go from one thing to something completely different in the blink of an eye?
“Mason’s right,” Stone says in a low voice, still unhappy but reconciled. “This buzz won’t last long unless something perpetuates it. Talk to Mason’s PR people. Talk to the family’s. Come up with a plan that minimizes damage to everyone. It’ll get worked out. It’ll be fine.”
Only nothing about this feels like it’s going to be fine. And what started as something easy just got a whole hell of a lot more complicated.