Page 23 of The Promises We Break

“EmberByrnes.” Chuckling to himself as he accentuates her last name. “Wow, she probably hated the idea of marrying you.”

Neither one of us remembers it much.

“I’ll make sure both your names are on the agreement. She’ll need to be here to sign it when it’s ready. I’m looking forward to meeting her.” He finishes shaking my hand, releasing my grip.

The realization of the seriousness of my lie hits me and bile rises to the back of my throat.

She lives in another goddamn state and acts like she’s allergic to me. I have no idea how I’m going to pull this off.

“Thank you, Coach.”

I exit his office and urgently walk to my car. I’m not sure if I’m running from the blinding white lie I just told or running as quickly as I can before he changes his mind.

Jesus, what the hell was I thinking?

I want to call Ember. Demand she come here. Frankly, I want to demand more than her just coming here because where she is concerned, I’m greedy. But with her, I need to be persistent, not pushy.

I could ask her here. Maybe she’ll pose for me for a day, but her constant “I can’t” response gives me PTSD I didn’t realize I had until now.

I need to figure out how the hell I’m going to get myself out of this.

I hop into the truck I rented, dialing Jake before my phone even connects to Bluetooth. Since he lives here in Seattle, it just felt natural to call him first.

“Hey, Hud. How did it go?” His voice comes through faintly in the background from the small speaker of my phone instead of the speakers of the truck.

“Hold on.” I pressconnecton the touch screen.

“Hello?” Jake’s voice blares through in echoing waves as it finally syncs.

“Jake. Man. I messed up.” I run my hand through my hair, attempting to tame the crazed strands making my appearance just as deranged as my lie.

“What happened?” he asks curiously.

“I got it. He’s signing me, but he kept bringing up my ‘playboy’ reputation. It was a concern for him.” I chipmunk my cheeks, pushing air out of my lungs. “I told him I was married.”

“That’s not so bad, right? I mean, technically, you are.” Jake’s tone is uncertain.

“He asked for her name to put her on the lease agreement. I gave him Ember, and now she’s gotta be here to sign in.”

Now his full, accentuated grunt sounds like he partially choked on his own spit.

He recovers easily, avoiding a laughing stint as a favor to me, I’m sure.

“Married and buying a house together, all in the span of a long weekend. You’re a busy man.”

My silence says it all.

Clearing his throat, “I’m at the Ford building downtown. Chris and I are taking Elena out tonight. Come by here and let’s figure it out. We can all go to dinner to celebrate.” Leave it to Jake to always stay calm in every situation.

I mean, I’m calm. On the outside.

Inside, my stomach wants to barrel through my esophagus, my heart wants to palpitate out of my chest, and my brain wants to kick my own ass to the next planet.

“See you in a bit.” Hanging up, I press thePush Startbutton on the truck’s ignition and head in the direction of the Ford building. Normally, I would plug the address into GPS, but it’s the tallest skyscraper in Seattle and you can’t miss the damn thing. It’s a glass fortress that towers over everything downtown.

Elena, Jake’s wife, is the one who inspired us to throw Jake a belated bachelor party. Christian Ford istheirsignificant other.I think. I’m not quite sure what his label is. At some point, they opened up their marriage and Christian met Elena through a work contract. Things escalated over time, and now they are in a poly style relationship together. I think they all pretty much live together when Christian isn’t traveling. He’s Seattle’s local billionaire, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. No big deal.

When Jake first told me about their unique relationship, I initially thought that would never work, but I have never seen Jake so happy.

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