Page 14 of Zero Pucks

I didn’t reply. I just gathered what she’d given me and hurried out the sliding glass doors toward the rideshare waiting to take me to the airport.

Then I’d put the thought out of my mind until I was ten minutes away from my gate when it hit me: how was this poor fucker going to get back to his room with no legs?

It had been too late for me to do anything about it, so I just carried that guilt with the rest of what I was holding and waited until I was in my apartment before losing it completely. Luckily, Bryce wasn’t around when I got in, which meant I could fall apart without him asking me awkward questions because there were things I just did not want to explain yet.

I didn’t regain my composure until Monday morning when I walked into a family attorney’s office with that manilla folder the front desk had been holding. It turned out to be a Vegas wedding license signed by me and a man called Tucker Banks. There were copies of our driver’s licenses, which told me he was from the East Coast, and a photo of us kissing in front of Elvis.

I still wasn’t sure I’d cheated all the way, but this was cheating enough. I mean, I’d married another man, so there was no coming back from this. I had to tell Bryce. I just…didn’t know how I could get the words out. Or how I could tell the truth without risking him losing it completely and beating the shit out of me.

I hated that I meant that literally, but I could see it in his eyes that he was close to raising a hand to me. He’d progressed to slamming doors and hitting the walls beside my head when he was angry, and every time we fought, it got worse. I knew the signs.

I was up the creek, and there was not a paddle to be found.

“Mr. de Luca…”

Right. Yes. I was in a meeting with an attorney. I cleared my throat.

“Now, it looks like you two managed to get an actual marriage license, which is impressive. Most people just do the civil ceremony with Elvis.”

My face was on fire.

“The license needs to be filed before this can become legal.”

“So…I just get it annulled or…?”

“You don’t even need to go that far. Technically, you can forget about it, and it’ll go away.”

I stared at him. “Oh.”

“But I recommend speaking to your husband?—”

“Definitelynotmy husband,” I cut in.

Jacques smiled, showing off his freakishly square veneers. “—and make sure both of you are on board. You have the hard copies here, so it’s not something he could do without you, but he might be able to make trouble if he was expecting you to file everything.”

I doubted he was. If his night had been anything like mine, he wouldn’t even know my name. Maybe pretending it never happened was for the best. Would this come bite me in the ass later? Yeah, there was a damn good chance, but I was an expert at avoidance.

It was my go-to. My comfort zone.

It was why I was still with Bryce after everything he’d put me through.

I reached forward and grabbed the papers. “Thank you. So, should I write a check, or…?”

“Belinda can take a Venmo up front,” Jacques said with a half grin.

Venmo. Jesus Christ. I said a quick goodbye, then stopped at Belinda’s desk, who was busy flossing with one of those little green toothpicks. She didn’t even look ashamed. She just set it aside, sucked her teeth, then handed me a card with Jacques’s Venmo handle.

“Five sixty.”

I almost choked on my own tongue. “It wasn’t even an hour.”

She smiled. “We round up.”

Of course they rounded up. I had the money, but lord, it was a lot just to be told that I didn’t need to do anything. My fingers shook a little as I typed in the amount and then his handle, but I told myself this was penance for what I’d done. No matter how shitty Bryce was, no one deserved to be cheated on. I was the villain here.

At least in this one case.

I remembered being a little pissed off when I walked into the bar. I remembered the bartender flirting with me, but only because she wanted me to order top shelf. I remembered a sulky man sitting next to me and…

---