Page 21 of Staying for Her

It’s been a week since the disaster that was my parents’ house. A week of figuring out what Billie and I are outside of the constraints of our arrangement, and honestly, it’s been the best week of my life. She’s taken me to some of her shoots, employing me to carry all her equipment and joking about paying me back later when, in reality, watching her work is the sexiest thing I have ever seen. Her control, vision, and creativity are inspiring, reiterating the fact that this woman was meant to do this. But nothing compared to when I took her to my shop, showed her off to the boys, and then took her into my office and had a little fun of my own.

Nothing has been this simple, this easygoing, and this relaxing. Even growing up, dating was always a stressful endeavor because I always worried that my parents would find out and cause a scene. Now? Now I couldn’t give a shit because once I get the money, everything will be null and void. Neither of us has talked about what happens after this. The contract states that I need to get married and with the ring on her finger I want to think she understands the implications but feelings are starting to get involved, and that can only complicate things.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Billie asks as I pull out of our parking lot and make my way toward Addison’s house for Luna’s first birthday party. “I mean, I know we’re… whatever we are, but involving your friends? Do they even know what’s going on?” She holds out her hand, my eyes landing on the diamonds that encircle her finger, and I wonder if I should tell them at all.

“They know enough, Mark ran into my parents and they spilled the beans that we’re getting married.”

Her wary eyes flick to mine as I take her hand and place it on my thigh.

“I know this isn’t ideal, and if I could do it all over again I would have wished to have met you before all this shit hit the fan, but these guys are my real family, the ones that have been with me through everything these last few years and I promise you they will understand.”

“Will they? Because I don’t even think I understand,” she mutters under her breath and her fingers leave mine and her silence fills the car.

I know she’s nervous. I can see it in the way her fingers play with the rips in her loose jeans, the way her teeth gnaw at her bottom lip to the point I want to kiss her just to make her stop.

“Baby, listen to me.” My voice rises as we come to a stop at a red light and I turn toward her. “I know everything is a bit complicated right now and I promise you we will figure it out, but for now, at this moment, you are my girlfriend. That is something that is never going to change no matter what happens. Okay?”

Her uncertainty fills the car as the light turns green and I’m forced to turn away and focus on the road.

“Then why am I wearing this?” She plays with the ring and I take a deep breath, wanting nothing more than to admit to her that seeing it on her hand is one of the sexiest things I have ever seen and I never want her to take it off, but in reality, we’re not there yet.

“I’m not forcing you to wear it, Billie. You can take it off today if you want and I promise it won’t hurt my feelings.” It’s the truth and something I should have thought about before we pulled into Addison’s driveway. Once the car is shut off and I can finally look her straight in the eyes, I smile, kissing her softly. “Give me the ring,” I demand, holding out my hand between us as her eyes search mine. “I will keep it safe until you want to wear it again.”

“Are you sure?” she questions, her voice soft as if she’s afraid to hurt my feelings. I smirk, cupping her cheek and resting my forehead on hers.

“Baby, today is not about lying, and right now, that’s what this ring represents. Everyone inside that house knows the truth. They know what I need to do in order to get that money and they know you’re helping me do that.”

She nods, her eyes flicking to the ring and gently taking it off her finger.

“They also know that you mean more to me than the lie we’re portraying.”

Her gaze connects with mine and I smile, taking her lips in a simple kiss before taking the ring from her and placing it in my pocket.

“You ready?” I ask, looking toward the front window only to see the curtain move.

Addison never could be subtle.

“Let’s do this,” she says right before opening her door and making her way toward the house.

* * *

“So tell me again how you guys met?” Mark asks, his eyes flicking between Billie and me. My friends know what we are but I’ve never actually gone into detail, wanting to keep her to myself for as long as possible. It’s been a few hours since we pulled up, and hour after hour, I can see Billie’s shoulders relax, her demeanor changes and her eyes soften as my friends pull her into their vortex. Normally I would have warned her about their nonstop chatter, affinity for gossip, and inability to leave anything alone, especially regarding anyone’s love life, but she seems to be doing well.

“He saved me from having to find a hotel room or moving back home with my parents after I caught my ex cheating.” She goes into the story, leaving out no details as she rips her ex to shreds and if I didn’t know how much of an asshole he was, I’d feel sorry for the poor guy.

“He seriously got someone else pregnant and was fucking her on your bed?” Hannah says with her mouth open, not believing it.

If I didn’t witness it with my own eyes I would have agreed that it was unbelievable.

“Yup, he even begged me to stay, insinuating that our lack of sex life was my fault and I should have expected it to happen.”

Kate’s mouth falls open as Addison gasps, Luna giggling in her mother’s lap. Her little fingers are covered with icing as she continues to stuff small pieces of her cupcake into her mouth, Max watching carefully. I never expected Max to be a good father, he’s always been the outlier of our group, the one that always did his own thing, but seeing him with Addison, their daughter and the life they’ve created over the past year is incredible.

“So he expected you to do what? Stay while he had another kid with someone else?” Drew says, his arms draped around Kate as she nurses a glass of wine.

Cash chuckles, his hand softly rubbing against Hannah’s growing belly while she eats the rest of her cake. They’ve been pretty low-key about Hannah being pregnant, but I can see from the way Cash stares at his girl, that he is ecstatic.

“I bet he expected her to beg him,” Cash mutters, taking a swig of his beer and leaning back in his chair.

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