Page 112 of Sacrifice (Corrupt Empire 2)

James rubbed my arm.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. Christ, Ave, you really know how to complicate things.”

I put my cup down and dropped my head into my hands.

“I wish I could take it back. He didn’t even acknowledge what I said. I mean it’s not like I outright told him I wanted to get married or anything, but fuck.”

He tugged me towards him and wrapped his arms around me, stroking my back.

“I think you need to talk to him.”

“And say what exactly? Hey, Aiden, I’m sorry I made out like I wanted us to get married and I didn’t mean it.”

“Who’s getting married?” came Gert’s voice. “Wait, are you and Aiden tying the knot? Oh my god, this is so exciting.”

I wrenched out of James’ arms, finding my other best friend planting herself in the chair opposite me with the hugest grin on her face.

“No one is getting married,” James said. “It’s way, way too soon so don’t even go there, Gertie.”

“But they’re perfect for each other. Who cares if they’ve only been together for a short time? When you know, you know.”

I groaned, banging my head on the table and keeping it there. This was just getting out of hand now. All I’d wanted to do was confide in James because I had no one else to tell.

“I am not getting married to Aiden. I said something stupid to him and now things are weird between us, that’s all.”

“What? Spill all.”

I didn’t want to repeat what I’d said. The whole thing was just plain embarrassing. Telling Aiden all that shit about wanting to tattoo his name on my heart and that he was my soulmate. No bloody wonder he was being weird. It wasn’t like I expected him to ask me to marry him or even want to go down that road with me.

We did talk the next day, but it wasn’t about this. I was happy he wanted me to feel like his flat was our home. And I’d been surprised by him telling me he was going to demolish the office and the cell to make a second bedroom. That didn’t mean he was okay about the marriage thing. It didn’t mean he wasn’t freaked out by it. Why else would he have completely ignored what I said?

I lifted my head off the table. James’s eyes were sympathetic and Gert’s curious.

“Aiden keeps telling me he doesn’t deserve me. I was trying to reassure him and it came out wrong.”

“What exactly did you say?”

“I told him I vowed to love him until I died basically and he questioned why I’d said vow, so I said, ‘I want to make many vows to you, but for now, I just vow to love you.’ Now, things are really fucked up, okay?”

“Way to lay it on thick, Ave,” James said.

I punched him in the arm. He just had to make me feel worse about it.

“Lay off her, James,” Gert said. “Babe, it’s okay. I’m sure he didn’t think you were saying you wanted to get married.”

I shook my head.

“Oh no, he did. You should’ve seen the look he gave me.” I put my head in my hands again. “Why am I so bad at this?”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but this is your first proper relationship,” James said. “I mean you have moved pretty quickly. You do basically live together full time and have done since you met.”

“Stop scaring the poor girl,” Gert said. “Honestly, it’ll be okay. You just need to talk to him and make it clear you weren’t saying you wanted to tie him down.”

“You have met Aiden, right? He is kind of a scary dude.”

I peeked through my fingers at the two of them. James had a raised eyebrow and Gert was looking at him like he was stirring up trouble, which admittedly, he probably was. Aiden was a little intimidating at times, but I still talked to him about the difficult subjects. This was new territory for me. He’d been the one who broached the subject of us having a real relationship together. Now I’d just made a complete hash of trying to tell him I wanted him for life.

“If he loves Avery, then he’ll listen and forgive her for the misunderstanding.”

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