Page 76 of Betting on the Brainiac

“I get why you’d have a hard time leaving this bed. But we do have business this morning.”

She yawns and melts back into the mattress. Her eyes drift closed. “Mmhmm.”

I roll to my side so I can prop my head on my hand and study her. “How much caffeine do I need to get you so we can figure this out?”

“None. Yes.” Another yawn. “More sleep.”

“Madison . . .”

She pushes up on her elbows, creating peaks and valleys over her neckline that I want to explore. I jerk my eyes away from the view so fast that I’m fairly sure I detach a retina.

“I’ll marry you, Olvr,” she mumbles. “Yes?”

“Yes.”

She lies back down and makes the soft lip-smacking sounds of someone tipping into sleep.

“Mads? Should there be more to this?”

“Nap or go away. No talking.”

It’s very stupid to stay, but dynamite isn’t getting me out at this point. I settle down to listen to Madison breathe andexperience the unicorn-and-fairy mattress magic while I study the ceiling.

I wake to find Madison sprawled against my side, her head resting on my chest, her hand fisting my shirtfront. She’s sound asleep, her curves molded to me everywhere we touch.

Interesting. So this is how I die. Spontaneous combustion.

I brush my thumb over her cheek, wind my fingers through her hair, and start to drift off . . .

Until the sound of throat clearing gets my attention.

Her doorway is packed with three curious faces under messy buns of red, pink/blonde, and brown.

“Hey, Oliver,” Ava says.

I lift my free hand and wave.

“Whatcha doin’?” Ruby asks.

“Resting?” I say, as quietly as I can.

“Is that a question?” Sami asks.

Madison stirs, gives me a sleepy blink and sigh, and pushes up to face her roommates. “Ollie and I are getting married. Y’all want to come?”

It’s dead quiet for about two seconds, then a whooooole bunch of sounds happen at once. A gasp from one of them, a squeak from one of them, then Ruby running around the room chanting, “I win, I win, I win!”

“Are you serious?” Ava sounds baffled.

“Yes,” Madison says. “And Ruby, you don’t win. This is a marriage of convenience, like that movie where Ryan Reynolds has to marry Sandra Bullock. Except I’m nice.”

Ruby stops. “What are you talking about?”

Madison rubs her eyes, but she looks amused and more awake now. “This was your plan, Oliver. You tell them.”

“Everything?” She said she’s kept the Jeneze factory scandal and the details of her trust from everyone. I don’t want to spill info she still wants kept secret.

“All of it,” she says. “and I can’t tell it all again. I kinda wanted to puke when I told it to you, but they need to hear the whole thing, or this marriage isn’t going to make any sense without the full story.”

---