Page 7 of Wolf Fated
"What do you say, Brookie?" Stephen looked over his shoulder at me for half a second, like I wasn't even worth giving a full moment to. "I think you can do this."
"Are you crazy?" I crossed my arms, my hands balled into fists. "It's our wedding day! You and I are supposed to be getting married, not you hocking me off to three strangers."
"You're acting irrational." Stephen reached back to grab my arm, squeezing me, but I jerked out of his reach. "Think of the money."
"No." I stormed out of the room, not caring if I acted like a child or not. This was insane. I couldn’t believe Stephen was even considering this. Practically pushing me to go along with it.
"Hey," Stephen shouted after me and I stopped in the hallway, facing him. "It'll be okay. Let's take this bet. I'm going to win, and you won't ever have to see these guys again."
He strolled to me, and I let him. When he reached me, he rubbed my arms but the feeling of his hands on me made me sick for some reason.
"Can't you just forget this? Fold and let's walk away. We can go get married and start our lives togeth—"
His eyes narrowed. "No, Brookie, I have to do this for the future."
"What about our future, together? Money isn’t everything.”
His fingers dug into my arm.
"Ow, you're hurting me."
He stopped, ripping his hands off me and raking a hand through his dark hair. "Don't you understand? I can't just walk away."
"Yes, you can." I moved closer to him. "Come with me and we can get married. The ceremony is in an hour. If we leave now—"
"Don't you get it?" he snarled, his dark eyes hard as coals. "We can't get married. This game is supposed to cover everything. Our wedding, our fucking lives.” A look of disgust crawled over his expression and his lip curled. “Everything."
A cold feeling skipped down my back. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I'm broke. We're broke."
"No." I shook my head. "I-I saw the reservations and..."
"Faked to get you off my back. I had to do this game and I needed funds to do it."
"Y-you used the money for our wedding f-for this?"Fuck!All the days I ate damn peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and noodles until I thought I was going to throw up and he’s thrown it all on this stupid game?
"Every last cent." He pushed me into the wall, his face a breath from mine. "And you're going to agree to whatever they say. Suck their cocks, fuck them, I don't care. But in thirty, you're going to paint a smile on your face and chose me."
Tears stung the back of my eyes and my throat tightened. "No."
His face colored so red, it almost looked purple. "No?"
I swallowed and forced the words out, "Of course not. We're supposed to be getting married. What would you do if I was telling you to go be with three strangers for money?"
He grabbed my arms squeezing painfully. "Yes, I would, and I would enjoy it because it's not just about money, Brookie. It's about our future. We'll never have to work again in our lives. Ever."
"So what?" I choke out. "You want me to become a whore for you?"
His open palm raised, and I flinched, but he fisted his hand and punched the wall beside me.
"You're scaring me, Stephen." I inhaled a sharp breath that burned all the way down. How was it that Stephen was so calm about this? About sending me off with three men…three strangers like it’s something people do all the time. It’s crazy.He must not be thinking clearly, but excited about the idea of us having so much money all at once."Let's just go. Leave now and don't take the bet."
"Are you kidding me?" A sliver of his spit hit my shoulder as he shook his head. "That's everything we have. We leave now, even if we could, we wouldn't have a penny to our name and a debt we couldn’t hope to pay back in four lifetimes.”
I crossed my arms, feeling sick inside. "So we file bankruptcy. We work two jobs, we do anything we can to get by."
"Are you this fucking stupid?" He clenched his fists and pushed off the wall, pacing in front of me. "These guys expect to be paid one way or another. Whether it's in blood, or cash, or sex... hell, all three even, then they'll collect."
