Page 61 of Be My Bride

Fifteen

Asia

We meet in one of the hotel’s spacious conference rooms.

Which is already a bad sign.

The Make It Marriage crew could have gathered in the dining room. Or at the pool. Or in an air balloon.

Somewhere more casual.

Less… stiff.

My eyes dart around the conference room. Windows that take up the wall. Heavy red drapery. A huge oak table with black chairs.

I feel like I’m pitching my graphic design business to a corporation.

There’s even a giant television screen hanging above Venus’s head. Kayla’s pretty face stares at me from the centre of it. She’s in a hospital gown. Sweat still clings to her light brown cheeks.

Is she on this call while in labor?

When I met Venus at Make It Marriage a few days ago, she told me that Kayla was on maternity leave. In their C.E.O’s stead, she politely offered me a refund or a chance to be re-matched.

I went with the refund.

We parted amicably.

When I met up with the Make It Marriage crew in Vegas, I was too drunk to feel awkward. I’m stone-cold sober now.

I can barely breathe as everyone looks at me.

Hansley’s beside me, a devil may care air about him. But I saw the distress flash in his eyes only a few minutes ago and I know that he’s not as unaffected as he wants to seem.

My eyes drop to the sneakers he so tenderly placed on my feet.

No one has ever put my shoes on before.

I felt like Cinderella.

Like some dainty princess who’d found her prince.

But that’s not the case.

Fairytales aren’t real. And this prince has a harem of princesses waiting to warm his bed. I can’t let myself be swayed by a few crumbs.

This entire situation reminds me too much of my parents. When they got married, they were under pressure too—drunk on lust with a baby in the oven. Instead of moving carefully, they charged ahead armed with nothing but their passion and their youthful folly.

Just like a delicate bubble brushing against a thorn, their ‘love’ popped in an instant. A broken marriage was all that remained.

Hansley might be different than I first anticipated, but he’s still untrustworthy, unpredictable, and unwilling to settle down. Just a few days ago, he proudly called himself a heartbreaker.

There’s no universe where he’d throw his playboy life aside and stay faithful to one woman. I just have to stop kissing him long enough to remember that.

“I’m assuming all of you gathered here to congratulate us,” Hansley says, holding my hand and marching us into the room like we own it.

Venus’s expression is the most serious I’ve ever seen her. “What happened after my wedding last night, guys?” Her eyes dip to the ring on my finger. “Did you really get married?”

Hansley pulls out a chair for me and, when I’m seated, he plops into the one beside it. “What can I say?” He nods at Troy. “You two were so inspiring.”

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