Page 26 of Just My Luck

I had my own feelings about the justice system and its many holes, but there had to be something they could do to protect her and the kids.

A mutually beneficial business arrangement.

Sloane’s words from earlier echoed in my mind. The woman in front of me was at the end of her rope, and instead of simply saving herself, she’d devised a way to help us both. The thought that perhaps I could pay my share of the bargain by helping with her dipshit ex rolled around in my head.

“You’d do it again?” I cautiously asked. “Get married?”

She sucked in a deep breath and exhaled. “If it meant that I could fix up Granddad’s house? Have a safe place for me and the kids? Absolutely. Getting married is the only way I can access the trust fund right now. If you help me do that, investing in the brewery is the least I can do.”

Emotions were trampling my thoughts as I worked through what I needed to say. “And where will you stay while the farmhouse is being rebuilt?”

She blinked up at me. “We’re staying at my granddad’s cabin.”

I frowned. “What about your ex? Is there a security system? Something to make sure help arrives if something happens?”

Sloane scoffed. “No, Abel, there is not a security system on my grandfather’shunting cabin. Look, I know it’s not ideal, but it’s the only way to?—”

“No,” I ground out.

She reared back with wide eyes as though I’d slapped her. I settled my emotions and tried again. “No, it’s not the only way.”

I sighed and rubbed my palms together. “If we do this—get married—then I’m not going to have my wife staying at some run-down cabin while her potentially dangerous ex-husband is lurking around town. That doesn’t work for me.”

My wife.

My chest squeezed. The words had slipped out unintentionally, but now that they were out there, I let them hang in the air.

A tiny furrow formed between her eyebrows. “What do you suggest? That we stayhere?”

I shrugged as if it were the simplest solution in the world and not completely life altering for me to share my space with her and the kids. “There’s plenty of room.”

She gave me a flat look. “There are three bedrooms.”

I swallowed. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”

Sloane nibbled her lip as she considered what I was proposing. “I know it’s been hard on my granddad to have us all on top of one another. Us being across town would also help him get out of the house a little... maybe?” She looked around my property and sighed. “It does feel safe here.”

The reality that we might actually be considering getting married hit me like a ton of bricks. My gut twisted. It was becoming a very real possibility that my father would be very unhappy to hear I was interested in buying out his share of the brewery and that I would have the means to do it, thanks to Sloane.

Sloane leaned closer. “What are you thinking about? I can practically see the smoke billowing out of your ears.”

I looked at her and sighed. “My father, actually. If he even suspected the marriage was illegitimate, he’d likely do anything he could to stop it. He doesn’t like things he can’t control.”

She nodded in understanding. “Then it won’t be fake. The marriage would be very much real. He doesn’t have to know thefeelingsaren’t real.”

But what if they were?

The errant thought had my palms sweating.

I tamped down my feelings and nodded. “If he thinks it’s real, he just may go for it. Anything to help my reputation would be good in his eyes. And if you move in, that’s two birds with one stone. Your ex can’t fuck with you, and my father will believe this marriage is legitimate.”

She hummed as though she were playing over the scenario in her mind. “I need to know what happened. You understand that, right?”

I knew she was talking about my incarceration. I didn’t blame her. All she knew was that I had done time in prison, and here we were entertaining the idea of getting married.

Seconds ticked by as I hung my head, struggling to find the right words.

Shame coursed through me in thick, choking waves. The air around us thickened and my heart galloped. I knew she deserved answers, but I didn’t even know where to begin.

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