Page 15 of Covenant

Mr. Flanders has long since left, but I’m still sitting at that conference table. I can’t bring myself to move. It’s like someone replaced the gum on my shoe with concrete.

Matthias is here too. Silently watching me. He vanished out the door after Flanders, giving me false hope that I wouldn’t have to see his smarmy face for a while.

Luck isn’t on my side. Not a surprise, given how my life was going. He returned minutes later, taking his seat once more and watching me.

His fiancé.

My future husband.

I can’t fucking believe this.

“You can’t want this either,” I burst out finally. “You hate me as much as I do you.”

Matthias leans his chin on interlaced fingers. “I asked The Firm for a husband, and they delivered. Quite frankly, I don’t give a fuck who they picked.”

“Ask them for someone else,” I say, hating the desperate note in my plea. “For old times’ sake, Matthias. You owe me this.”

Matthias’s gaze darkens, and I know immediately that I’ve said the wrong thing. “I think we have different memories of what happened during thoseold times.”

Fuck him.Fuck himfor implying shit hadn’t played out the way it did. That he was anything other than the guilty party who set me up to take the fall.

My nostrils flare. “So you’re saying you’re happy to go along with this? To marry me, of all people?”

His expression doesn’t change. “Yes. I need a husband, and you’re, well…not willing, but available.”

“Fuck.” I drop my head into my hands, my knee jiggling under the table. “I can’t believe I’m going to have to marry you.”

“Oh, it’s rather more than that, I’m afraid.” Matthias is tracing patterns on the table, but his eyes are still on me. “Did you not read the document thoroughly?”

I met his gaze, my jaw jumping. No fucking way was I admitting that I’d been so stuck on themarriagethat I hadn’t considered anything else. “Refresh me.”

“You’ll be required to attend various family and society functions as my date. Take vacations with me, etc. I’ll expect you to perform as though you are a caring, doting husband who loves me.”

I stare at him, waiting for the punchline, but he’s deadly serious. “What?”

“This must appear real,” Matthias says coldly. “It’s what I requested.”

“About that, why did you request it?”

Matthias was quiet for a beat. “I’m due to inherit a large sum, but the condition of it is that I must be in a happy, monogamous marriage.”

My mind latched on to one part. “Monogamous?”

There’s a glimmer in his eyes, something I can’t quite place. “I expect you to be faithful to me, Wyatt. Real or not, no one outside of the four walls of our home can have reason to question it.”

“So, I’m expected to be celibate for the length of the contract?” I frown. “Wait, how long am I expected to put up with this shit show?”

“One year.” My stomach drops. Fuck, can I really put up with Matthias for a whole year? While also not having sex?

Matthias continues speaking. “And no one said you need to stay celibate, Wy.”

“But you said I can’t be with anyone else.”

Matthias tilts his head. “You can’t.”

It takes far too long for the penny to drop. When it finally does, heat floods my cheeks. In fact, my whole body feels like it’s been exposed to a scorching blaze. “I’m not fucking sleeping with you, Matthias. I told you, I’m straight. You know that.”

Matthias shrugs. “That’s fine. Sex is not part of the contract. But, like I said, you can’t be with anyone else. I won’t accept it.”

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