Page 30 of Fake Marriage with the Billionaire

She took another drink, looking out at the window just beyond the kitchen table. “One second, everything was good and the next, he would do everything in his power to keep me under his thumb. And everything had to be his way. God, I really thought that once we were divorced, I would never have to deal with any of that ever again.”

“Well,” said Stoney with a heavy sigh, “if you don’t want me to have a few words with him, then might I suggest getting a restraining order on him now before he escalates again?”

“He’s never laid a hand on me,” she said. “And I don’t think he ever would. He’s smart enough to know better than to switch over to physical abuse.”

“I’m sure every woman who ever said that ended up getting a restraining order on their exes,” Stoney responded. “Just do it as a precaution.”

She shook her head. “No,” she said. “Curtis…he’s just annoying. he’s being a thorn in my side because he thinks that if he can piss me off then it must mean I still care about him. And as much of an asshole as that makes him, I don’t think there’s any law against that.” She grunted in exasperation. “The worst thing is that he’s probably never going to leave me alone, is he? I’m going to have to move to a whole other state if I’m going to get any peace from him.”

“Well,” said Stoney. “That’s not an impossible feat. I mean, this whole deal you’ve got with Richard, maybe you’ll have the money to move sooner than later.”

She smiled wanly and took another sip from her glass. She thought for a moment in silence, her finger tracing a scratch on the table.

“You know, now that we’re talking about it, it’s not a terrible idea, really, actually,” she said. Stoney smiled at her brightly.

“Where would you go?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I’ve never really given it any thought. I’ve never had the money to travel like I’d like to.”

“So, let’s say you do. Let’s say after this whole thing with Richard is over, you end up with enough money to go anywhere in the world. Where are you going?”

She thought about it, then, “Somewhere tropical,” she said. “Maybe Jamaica or the Virgin Islands. Somewhere where I can lie out on the beach all day and soak up the sun, even in December.”

He laughed. “Whatever would you do without me in a place like that?”

“What are you talking about? You’re coming with me! I can’t live a country away without my twin.”

He smiled and nodded. “Good to know I’m somewhere in your plans.”

It was a nice thought, even though if the truth were to be known, she wasn’t sure she wanted to move anywhere at all. Not only because this town was the only one that she’d ever known and she didn’t know if she wanted to go through the mental adjustment of being somewhere else, Stella’s day in the park with Richard was nice. Much nicer than she was expecting…and nice enough to make her think that she might want more moments like that with him.

“You know, speaking of that whole thing,” said Stoney, “how’s it going with you two?”

“Good,” she said with a smile. “Really good, actually. I’m learning more about his life than I ever thought was possible. Plus, I think we’ve finally figured out how to keep our hands off each other during this whole thing. Last time we met up in a park and took a walk while we talked.”

Stoney blinked dumbly. “In the daytime right?”

Stella cringed. “Ew. Stoney! Seriously?”

“What? I’m not keeping track of how horny you two are for each other. Sometimes it takes more than a public place to keep people from boning.”

Stella glared at her brother. “You watch too much porn,” she said. “Real people don’t just fuck in parks like that.”

He chuckled and took a drink from his glass of wine without comment.

“You are so gross,” she said.

She got up and grabbed the dinner that had been waiting for them as they talked. It wasn’t anything fancy. Just a stirfry that she’d whipped up. She made plates for the two of them and brought them back to the kitchen table, saying, “Anyway, it was nice and wholesome. We just walked and talked about this whole party thing that I’m going to have to go to. We talked about other things too, you know? Like our childhoods and stuff like that. Turns out he’s pretty interesting.”

He nodded, chewing a mouthful of food. “I told you so,” he said.

“Excuse me, you did not tell me that he would be interesting,” she responded with a roll of her eyes. “And besides, this was just one park date. All it tells me is that he can behave like a human for a few hours. Nothing that happened negates whether or not he’s an asshole.”

Stoney chuckled as he shoveled another bite of vegetables and rice into his mouth. “You still want to bone him, though.”

“Stoney,” she sighed. “Why does it always come back to sex? That has nothing to do with anything.”

Stoney leaned on one elbow, fork in his hand. “Listen, all I know is that you two have to go to a public place to keep from having sex with one another. If that doesn’t say something about your relationship, I don’t know what does. Don’t you think?”

---