Page 11 of My Mafia Captor

“I didn’t sign a prenup. I only signed the marriage certificate and the paperwork to change my last name, but anyway, I don’t believe in divorce,” I reminded them. Kiwi waved a hand at me.

“If this doesn’t work out, and Jimmy turns out to be a real asshole, you are going to have to get over that. Fall in love with someone else, divorce Jimmy, and then marry someone you actually like. I have a hard time seeing this as an actual marriage, anyway. It’s more of a contract or a protection deal for you and your father. So, if you get a divorce, it’s not like you gave up on someone you loved. It’s just ending a contract,” she explained and I shrugged. What she had said made sense and did make me feel a little better about everything, but it still didn’t feel right.

“True,” was all I could say because she didn’t seem to understand my viewpoint. It wasn’t a particularly religious one, I just believed that if you married someone, it was forever. I knew it wasn’t that way for everyone, but it was for me.

“So, what… you live with him now?” Logan asked, his voice sounding a little off. I looked at him, and I could see the disappointment and hurt in his eyes. Hedidlike me. Crap. Why didn’t I know this beforehand? I just thought we had entered the friend zone, and nothing would ever happen between us. If only he had said something before all this happened.

I lowered my gaze to the table and shook my head.

“Not yet. He gave me a key and asked me to move in with him. He wants to try to make the marriage work, and I think I owe it to him to try, as my fellow victim of circumstance. I was planning on moving in this weekend, and I was hoping you guys would help me.”

There was a moment of silence before Kiwi let go of my hands.

“Of course, we will help,” she smiled. I could always count on her to have a positive attitude about everything, even if I wasn’t sure that was what the situation called for. “Right guys?”

“Absolutely,” Donte agreed.

“Sure,” Logan said, more hesitantly than the other two.

“Thank you, guys, really,” I said, bumping Logan’s side with my shoulder. He was considerably taller than me, so bumping shoulder to shoulder was kind of out of the realm of possibility. Logan shrugged.

“What are friends for?”

I took my phone out of my pocket and opened it to the text conversation between Jimmy and me. While the others were discussing the best way to move me and if they wanted to order more sushi, I shot Jimmy a quick text.

Me: Thank you for the flowers. They are beautiful. Okay, I’ll move in with you

Jimmy: Glad you like them

Jimmy: When?

Me: Tomorrow

Jimmy: Good

Not wanting to be rude, I put my phone back in my pocket. I could do this. I could be an adult and try to have a relationship with the guy I was married to.

I hoped.

Chapter 7

Jimmy

Istaredatmyphone in absolute awe. It worked. Seth’s insanely pansy-ass idea actually worked.

“She’s moving in tomorrow,” I told Seth as I took a sip of my beer.

“See? I told you it was going to work, bro. I am the master of seduction.” he jested, making a fake sexy face and moving his hips in his chair suggestively.

“I’m not trying to seduce her. I’m just trying to get her to move in with me,” I rolled my eyes, and he laughed some more.

“Same thing dude. Once she’s sleeping in your bed, it’s only a matter of time, trust me.”

The sizzling noise coming from the grill rose an octave, and Seth got up to check the steaks. I was sitting in an Adirondack chair on his back porch overlooking his pool. Seth’s wife and a couple of her friends were sunbathing around the pool’s edge. Lucky for us, her friends were hot women, and tops were optional. Seth and I had a really nice view from where we were, but really, we were there for the fresh air.

It had been a long time since I had just sat and enjoyed the day. I think the last time we had done this was last spring when Seth got his grill. Today hadn’t really been planned either, but Seth had helped me out with planning how to win Natalia over, so it was the least I could do. I had called Caroline in the morning and told her I wouldn’t be in, then I went to the market to pick up some T-bone steaks. They were Seth’s favorite, and lucky for us, he had some corn on the cob to grill with them.

His wife was a vegan, which was why the grill was on the second-story porch connected to Seth’s office. She didn’t want to even think about all the dead animals he had put on it and in his mouth. It worked out well for us, though, because it meant we didn’t have to entertain her friends at all; all of them would stay with Tania, and she refused to come upstairs.

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