Page 20 of Broken Player

“I don’t like where you’re going with this,” Quinn said, his voice low.

I kept going as if he hadn’t spoken because if I thought about it too much, I’d chicken out. “He made me an offer. He said if I did something for him, he’d buy the ranch and then sign the deed over to me. So, there would be no more mortgage, and we’d own the ranch outright. Then we could hire help, and we could be free Quinny.”

He pressed his lips into a tight, flat line but didn’t say anything for a long time. Finally, he spoke up. “Based on this,” he pulled my hand into his and jiggled the diamond on my finger. “I’m going to assume that it wasn’t something easy like being his fake date or something.”

“No, it wasn’t that simple,” I confirmed. “He said we had to get married, and he wanted to do things backward. He said he likes me and wants to get married first and then sort of date and see if we want to stay married. He came to the date with a contract ready and everything. I even had to sign an NDA, but I told him to exclude you because I refused to do it if I couldn’t tell you.”

Quinn sighed. “What the hell were you thinking, Ryan?”

I pulled my hand out of his and sat up. “What other choice did I have, Quinny? Please, if you have any other ideas, I’m all ears. His bank was my last hope.”

Raking his hand through his hair, he closed his eyes. “He took advantage of you. You know that, right? He saw you were desperate and knew he could get you to do whatever he wanted.”

My shoulders sagged, and suddenly I felt every minute of this day weighing down on me. I wanted to sink into the mattress and pass out. “I know. But I still didn’t feel like I had another option.”

“So, you’re going to marry a stranger and stay married to him forever?”

Shaking my head, I tucked my legs under my body. “I made him change the contract and write in that either one of us can get out of it after one year. He said that was the minimum, and I agreed. I don’t feel any kind of spark with Yates. I don’t see any world where we stay married after a year.”

“What about Maddox? He just came back. What if he wants to start coming around more?” Quinn asked, almost sounding a little sad.

I scoffed. “Remember how he treated me yesterday? Fat chance he wants anything to do with me. Even if he did, I can’t tell him that my engagement with Yates isn’t real, and neither can you. We could lose everything, and then all of this would have been for nothing.”

Quinn opened his eyes and looked at me before shaking his head. “You know I’ll always support you, Ry. And Yates better make a room up in what I’m assuming is his big-ass house because the second you leave this ranch, I’ll be right on your heels. You’re never getting rid of me, fake husband or not. He’ll just have to deal with it.”

I laid back down, burrowing into Quinn’s chest as he wrapped his arm around me. “I wouldn’t want it any other way, Quinny. Love you.”

“Love you, too, Lancelot.” I smiled at the familiar nickname. Quinn hadn’t called me Lancelot in years. He once told me thatLancelot was the bravest and strongest knight he could think of, so the name just fit me. After I’d gotten in a fight with a guy at a bar harassing Quinn for being gay, he’d given me the nickname, but he hadn’t used it in months.

I closed my eyes and slowly started to fall into sleep when Quinn’s quiet voice jolted me awake. “What are you going to tell your parents?”

Closing my eyes again, I tried to ignore the sudden racing of my heart. “That I’m getting married.”

“Shit, they’re going to freak out. Want to tell them over breakfast? I’ll bake,” he offered.

“You’re the best. Will you hold my hand, too?”

He chuckled. “Whatever you need.”

With his promise, I floated off into a dreamless sleep, dreading the morning and the half-truths I’d be forced to tell in the name of saving the ranch.

The smellof cinnamon sugar and butter danced through the air, and I smiled before I inhaled deeply and filled my lungs with the delicious aroma. Quinn must have been up for quite a while working on breakfast already, and I was glad he’d let me sleep in.

My body still felt heavy and tired from everything that happened yesterday, but I needed to drag myself out of bed and face my parents. The sooner I told them what was going on, the better. I hadn’t told Quinn last night that Yates wanted to get married in just a month. Quinn probably would’ve freaked out, and I couldn’t have handled that. He’d get that fun surprise this morning with my parents.

Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes and swung my legs over the edge of the bed before crossing the room to my bag and walkingacross the hall to my room. I quickly got dressed, brushed my teeth, and washed yesterday’s makeup off. No longer looking like a raccoon was an excellent first step on facing the day. Tossing on a sundress, I padded out to the kitchen.

“Breakfast smells amazing, Quinny,” I said, walking around to where he stood with an apron wrapped around his body. He held out a coffee cup filled with the perfect coffee-to-cream ratio, and I gratefully took it.

He grinned. “I wish I had more time to cook. Unfortunately, ranch work doesn’t leave a lot of kitchen time.”

“Maybe when all this is over, you’ll have a chance to go work in a restaurant,” I suggested. I wanted nothing more than for Quinn to chase his dreams as much as I wanted to go after mine.

“Maybe,” he mused before looking over my shoulder at my parents, who were shuffling into the room. They’d given up keeping rancher hours a couple of years ago, so Quinn and I were almost always up before them.

“Morning, Ry. Smells incredible, Quinny,” my mom said, grabbing a couple of mugs and pouring herself and my dad some coffee.

“Thanks, Shannon,” Quinn smiled, sliding his hand into an oven mitt before looking down at me. “Hey, Lancelot, think you can carry the bacon and eggs?”

---