Page 134 of Some Like It Hot

Just hey. Like it’s just any other day, and I caught him while he was hanging out or running errands.

“Hey,” I say. “Anything interesting happen to you today? And is Elise aware that she doesn’t have her phone with her?”

There’s a long pause and then he says, “I don’t know. I’m not with her right now.”

That also pisses me off. “So you married her and then dropped her off at home? What the fuck?”

“She has all those dresses to work on!” He sounds annoyed.

Well, he can join the fucking club.

“And I have a game tonight.”

“So you really did just drop her off?” I ask incredulously. “What the hell?”

“It’s not…” He stops, then starts again. “It was for the cabin. My grandmother changed the rules. She was going to give it to us at our wedding and not before. So…we moved up the timeline and forced her hand.” He pauses. “It was Elise’s idea. For the record. I never would have asked her to do this.”

I suck in a breath, then say, “So, it’s real?”

“Yeah. It’s real. I mean, it’s legal.” He stops again. “Fuck. I don’t know what I mean. It’s legal and all of that until we get it annulled.”

I stand up and pace across the room. “Are you fucking kidding me? What the hell?”

“You knew we were going to do this,” he says, some of that annoyance coming back.

“We knew you were faking being engaged.”

“Yeah, well, Simon was in London and you were at work and we decided why not just do it this way?”

“Why not?” I ask. My voice rises. “Why not? I’ll tell you why not! Because Elise is my girlfriend!” I exclaim. I realize how dumb that sounds at this point. “Because I’m in love with her! It’s one thing for us to consensually all sleep with her, and for you to date her, and to pretend to be engaged. But you fucking really married her without a word to me? No. That is not okay. And Simon’s in love with her too! Fuck! I mean, she deserves a real damned wedding, Wilder. Not a spur-of-the-moment trip downtown with no friends or family. What the fuck were you thinking?”

He’s quiet for several long seconds. “You’re in love with her? Both of you?”

“Yes!” I practically shout.

“Have you told her that?”

Okay, that trips me up. “Well, no. Not yet.”

“Yeah, well, she overheard you tell Simon that you love him. And vice versa. She’s pretty sure you two are just into each other for the long haul.”

I drag a hand over my face. “Dammit.”

“Yeah.” He blows out a breath. “Fuck, man. If you both love her, then this wedding thing was kind of a dick move on my part.”

I shake my head and almost laugh because…yeah. “You think?”

“I do. Except I can’t read your mind, you know. At any rate, this is all becoming one big damned mess.”

“But you’re not planning on staying married, right?” I ask. “It’s temporary, even if it’s not fake.”

“Well…about that,” he says.

I scowl. And brace myself. “What about that?”

“I’m in love with her too,” Blake says.

“Is she in love with you?”

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