Page 52 of Impending Consent

"Ourhome, Sail. At least for now."

Chapter 13

Sailor

The ride back to Rival's house, our house as he insisted on calling it, I was mostly silent. My mind was racing, torn between anger at his interference and dread at the prospect of facing my father tomorrow night.

My father was not a man who took surprises well, especially when they involved his children making major life decisions without his input. He barely accepted Skylar's independence when she refused to work for his firm and it took an act of congress for him to approve TJ's different path after his breakdown. My impulsive marriage to a man my father had only briefly met asthe carpenterwas going to be a disaster.

As we pulled into the driveway, I noticed Rival’s jaw was set and his posture was stiff as hell. He was angry and had every right to be.Shit, why can’t this just be easy?"I know you're pissed," he said slowly and the tightness of his voice proved he was indeed angry and trying his best not to blow up on me.

“You shouldn’t have…”

“Sail, shut the fuck up and let me finish.” I slammed my mouth shut and let him speak. “What’s done is done. We'll face it together."

"You don't know my father," I muttered, grabbing my purse. "This isn't going to be some cozy family dinner. This is going to be an inquisition."

"I can handle myself."

"It's not about handling yourself. It's about..." I trailed off, unsure how to explain the complicated dynamics of the Addison family to an outsider.

Rival cut the engine and turned to face me. "Look, I know you’re trying to figure this out and you stay in your fucking head about what you think and what you feel, but hiding isn’t the move, Sailor. I’m a grown ass man and will not dance around this shit with you or your family. Your father deserves to know."

I closed my eyes briefly, then smiled, nodding, because once again Bossy Rival had me and my pussy falling into compliance. “You’re right and I apologize.”

“I don’t want you to apologize. I want you to trust that I got you no matter what. You have to trust me to be your husband, Sail. There’s not a person on earth, including your father, who I won’t defend you against, right or wrong, and your ass is wrong a lot, Sail.”

I was about to argue but the look he delivered had me grinning. “Okay.”

“Just okay, no strategic debate about this?”

“Nope.”

I pulled out my phone, scrolling through my contacts. "I need to call Skylar and TJ. They should be there tomorrow night. If I'm going down, they're coming with me."

"You make it sound like you're facing a firing squad, not dinner with your family."

"You'll see," I muttered, finding Skylar's number. "My father has a way of making you feel like you're on trial even when you're just passing the salt."

As I made the calls, the reality of tomorrow's dinner settled over me. My whole family would be there, my parents, TJ and Indi, Skylar and Gray, now me and Rival. I would have to tell the truth about our arrangement and how I got myself into this mess.

Marrying a man because he denied me his dick…

By the time we entered the house, I'd spoken to both my siblings. They hadn’t been surprised about our father’s demand.

"They'll both be there. Teej’s bringing Indi and Sky and Gray will be there too."

"Full house.” Rival didn’t seem the least bit worried. I wished I could be that calm.

"Safety in numbers." I was only half-joking.

"What are you going to tell them?"

I looked at him, really looked at him. This man had turned my carefully constructed life upside down by forcing me to accept my consequences. I could do the same with my family for him. "The truth. That I married you while drunk to get you to sleep with me and now you're holding me to it for a year. What else is there?"

He barked a laugh. "Shit, I don't know. I just figured you might want to edit that version a bit."

"My family can spot a lie a mile away. We're all trained to do it. The only way through this is the truth, as humiliating as it is."

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