Page 54 of Donut Overthink It

“How long into your marriage did she decide to be with the father of her baby?”

I think back to our wedding night at that question. It feels like it was yesterday.

“I can’t believe we just did that,” Eve says, laughing as we enter the hotel suite.

“I know,” I say, running my hand through my hair nervously. I just married a woman who I have never even slept with. Eve is one of those girls who hangs with the guys. She loves sports and can drink you under the table. She’s smart. Too smart for her own good. She’s not one of those girls who drop at your feet or follow you around campus, hoping that you tell them to get naked and spread their legs. And now she’s my wife. On paper.

She spins around with a smile on her face, arms out wide. “This place is amazing.” Then she stops spinning and looks at me, her smile dropping off her face. It’s like she just realized that I’m not the man of her dreams. And that I alone have crushed them. Her eyes drop to the floor. “Now what?”

“I have a surprise for you,” I say with a smile, trying to reassure her that what we just did was the right thing.

“What?” she asks skeptically.

I walk over to the large white French doors. I open them up, and she gasps when she sees the man standing there, smiling at her.

“Baby!” he says, holding out his arms wide, and she runs into them. Trent picks her feet up off the floor and spins her around before giving her a long kiss.

I turn around to leave them alone.

“Aiden?” She calls out to me.

I stop and turn back to face her to see her now coming toward me. She wraps her arms around my shoulders. “Thank you so much,” she whispers. “I owe you.”

Hadley stares at me wide-eyed. “But what about you?”

What a strange question. “What about me?”

“Eight years and you never had the desire to be with someone more than a night?”

I shake my head. “No. And I honestly can’t tell you how much longer it would have stayed that way if not for Trent wanting to marry her.”

“I feel sorry for him,” she says softly.

“Me too.” I sigh.

“So what about now? It’s been eight years, but from what you explained, it doesn’t sound like her father is going to welcome him into their family now.”

“You’re right.” I nod. “He won’t. There were only two reasons Eve couldn’t marry him back then. One, she wouldn’t have received her trust fund at twenty-five, and two, her father would have forced her to have an abortion.”

Tears start to fill her pretty blue eyes. “Hey,” I say, pulling her into me.

“He couldn’t have forced her to do that. She was still an adult,” she growls frustrated.

I sigh. “Just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean you get to make your own decisions.” Kids like me grew up in a different world. My father was always there for Asher and me. Our mother died when we were young, and he made sure to take care of us. But other kids we grew up with whose parents were wealthy didn’t get the same options we had. They did what they were told. Child or adult.

She wipes the tears from her face angrily. “That is bullshit.”

“Everyone got what they wanted. Our divorce will be a secret, and they will elope. I’m not sure how long they can hide their marriage from her father, but he lives in New York, and they live here. So it could work for them for a while.”

“Who all knew that it wasn’t real?” she asks, wrapping her arms around my waist.

“My brother was the first one to call bullshit. He was on the ski trip with us, and I had another woman with me.”

She chuckles “So she thinks you cheated on her.”

“Yes. But I didn’t care what she thought. And of course, my father knew. I couldn’t get married and let him think I was truly in love.” I shake my head. “As much of a bastard as you think I am, I’m not a liar.”

She pulls her head from my chest and looks up at me. “Thank you for telling me.”

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