Page 32 of Wife Unwanted
We were served alcoholic beverages, I chose what Carey chose, bourbon on ice, awful choice. The drink was smooth down the throat and clearly tasted expensive. Expensive gasoline. I sat down on one of the plush sofas, nursed my drink and pretended to look at something important on my phone.
"You know, I've just now realized that you and I have ever rarely spoken to each other. I should rectify that. You're family after all."I turned to see Nolan Jr sitting next to me. He had a glass of bourbon in his hand, though he didn't seem to be struggling with it as I was. He looked friendly and relaxed.
I don't think I consider myself that yet. It feels awkward after all to call myself one of them when I spent so many years on the outside looking in. I darted my gaze around the room. Seb, Ty and Jacqueline were talking in a circle together. Carey huddled in the corner of the room with his father. "It doesn't feel like it," I said to Nolan Jr.
He followed my gaze and chuckled. "We can be a little cliquey sometimes, but trust me, we are a warm bunch once you get used to us. Well," he cocked his head to the side, "My father and mother excluded."
I giggled, and he did the same.
"You know, I didn't think Carey would finally do it, but I am glad he did."
I took a sip of the awful drink, not fully taking in what he was talking about. "He did what?"
"Marry you?"
"Huh?"
"Your long term will they or won't they was excruciating to watch as an outsider."
I almost choked on my drink. "My relationship with Carey was nothing of the sort."
Nolan Jr rolled his eyes. "Don't act like you two haven't been blue balling each other ever since you were teenagers."
I shook my head refusing this reality that never existed.
He tilted his head to the side. "Come on. I know you would explicitly choose to clean his room just so you could tempt him. And my brother didn't have to go to school using the same route that had your school when it took him ten more minutes to get to school."
"That's not what--" I tried to formulate a rebuttal, but I couldn't think of one. I had no idea that it was Carey who had specifically chosen that route. "I thought my father asked him."
"Your father asked my father if he could drop you off closer to your school. Not at the school. But what did you two do in his room when we went there."
"But I didn't ask to clean his room. I just cleaned whatever happened to be on the roaster."
Nolan Jr, smiled as though realizing something for the first time. "That little fucker." His gaze went to Carey. "So he hadyour duties changed as well. I had no idea my brother was that down bad."
My cheeks warmed, and it was not because of the bourbon.
"Looks like he finally got the balls to claim you."
I felt like an imposter. Carey was forced to marry me. Nolan thinking the opposite made me want to correct the record. At least he of all people would understand the situation we were in. "Carey and I didn't… We are not. Your father…"
"Forced the union. I know. He brags about it a lot. But trust me, no one makes Carey do what he doesn't want to. Including my father."
"I don't know. Your father can be domineering."
"He is a force unto himself, that is true," Nolan glanced at Carey and his father. "He has always had his sights on Carey becoming president, it's fucking wild."
"Do you think Carey wants it?"Carey turned his gaze on us and his eyes narrowed.
"The career my father has planned for him ever since he won first prize in a debate competition in the second grade?" Nolan shrugged. "You know him better than me."
I laughed. "Me?"
"Your lives have always revolved around one another."
"Me and Carey?" The mere idea sounded ludicrous on its face. Carey and I rarely spent time together outside of those trips we made to school. Carey made it a point of avoiding me. He went so far as to make sure his friends didn't speak to me. Hell, for all of Nolan's assumptions that Carey somehow influenced my duties so I could clean be the one to clean his room, Carey and I rarely spoke during those times.
"That's probably what my father saw."
