Page 58 of Icing the Enemy

“Um, it was spur of the moment, and Oakley was taken by surprise.”

Jennie Rae smirks. “I bet she was.”

After thirty minutes, Becca walks over and says something to Oakley, then comes back rolling her eyes. We wait another hour until Oakley is finished. “You’ve got this. Be who you are and sing your heart out,” she encourages her client.

I have to admit, she turned her client into an absolute knockout.

“Thanks, Oakley, and congratulations on getting married.” Her client notices me, and her smile widens. “You hit the jackpot.”

Oakley grins, but I can tell it’s fake. “Yeah, I’msolucky.”

After she pays, Oakley leaves with me as I drive my truck to Oakley’s apartment in silence. She points to what she wants me to take, and we load up a few things in the truck bed while my sister waits in her car.

Becca arranges for us to meet someone in the back entrance of the courthouse and when we arrive at the massive stone building, the clerk takes us into a small office. We give her all the documents needed. After signing the paperwork, she hands us a marriage license, backdated to a week ago.

Oakley gives me a wry, smug smile and jokes, “Signed. Sealed. Delivered. I’m Yours.”

Her eyes narrow as she purses her lips.

“That’s a song by Stevie Wonder, not a movie.”

“Oh, am I not allowed to quote anything but movies?” she asks, pretending to be offended. Luckily, the clerk leaves the room and doesn’t question the tension between us.

Becca mumbles, “This is going to be a disaster. Can you two find your way home, together?”

We nod as the clerk comes back in. “Corbin, she’s beautiful. I wish you both all the happiness. Michael and I got married after dating a week, and we’ve been married twenty-seven years.”

“Congratulations.”

“Now, I'm not saying it’s easy. There will be times when you want to walk away. And times you wish you had done something differently. But in the end, all that matters is you have good sex, and you listen to her wants and needs.” She looks at Oakley.“And I can tell you're used to doing as you please, but a marriage takes compromise.”

Intuitive.

“Thanks for doing this, Georgia. I’m a hair stylist, so if you ever need a favor, I’m your girl,” Oakley offers with a genuine smile.

The brown-haired clerk with her hair curled under her chin hugs us both and says, “I may take you up on that. Be good to each other.”

Becca admonishes us both on the way out, then with tears in her eyes, she says, “I was supposed to be your best woman.”

“I know, Sis. Oakley and I need time to talk by ourselves. I’ll call you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

oakley

My first officialevent as a WAG. I never heard that term until Friday night at the pool party, but it’s an acronym for Wives and Girlfriends. Corbin got a call yesterday requesting our presence at the main office. Something about a fundraiser they’re putting together for an animal rescue.

Corbin thought they were calling about our impromptu wedding. Thank God, it wasn’t. Corbin and I barely speak at this point. He’s always working out, running, practicing, or working on his endorsements.

It’s been a week since we married, and there’s been no talk of regrets. It’s more like it didn’t happen. But I know it did. I lie in need every night, remembering how he touched me, or rather gripped me. The little marks he left on me are vanishing. Does it make me crazy to be sad about that? Every time I see them in the mirror, it reminds me thatwe did happen.

I’ve notified Mr. Gould that I married Corbin Shearer and sent him a copy of the marriage certificate. I’ve been waiting for my dad to call, but I guess he doesn’t care.

Par for the fucking course.

One thing Corbin did say to me is, “Management is happy about us.”

I said, “Are you?”

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