“Eh, they’re like my grandparents. They’re not happy unless they’re arguing,” Chancey added. He was holding his head. His hangover had already started, apparently.
“He’sthe one being a dick.” I leaned against the table. I felt listless. And depressed. Not how I’d imagined feeling on my wedding day.
“You guys could’ve smiled a little for the camera,” Ez complained as he watched the video replay on the camera’s small screen. “I didn’t get hardly any good shots.”
I sighed wearily. “Ez, please don’t send them that video yet. I need to be the one to tell them.”
Ez snorted. “Like I want to be the one to dropthatbomb. Dad’s gonna kill you.”
I didn’t even want to think about Daddy’s upcoming reaction. It’d be a family legend for ages.
“How interesting isyourlife that you had an arranged marriage?” Ivy asked. He was sipping on a Styrofoam cup of tea, and appeared to be much better off than Chancey. Vampires burned through alcohol.
“It needs to stop being interesting! I want to be happy, for once!” I flung up my hands.
“Aren’t you?” Marcus looked clueless. He cast a glance at Kallie, who shrugged.
“Happy that I’m married to a man who hates me? Are you guys nuts?” I asked. For the love of the Great Spirit, my heart wasbreakingright now. Did nobody see that?
Marcus frowned. “He doesn’t hate you, Ava. Goddess, I don’t know why you’d think that.”
“Um, he just insinuated I married him out of pity, so there’s that.” I scowled.
“He’s just being self-deprecating, like Charlie always is,” Kallie added. “This is a big change for both of you, and it happened so fast. Give him some space to get adjusted. You’re probably both still panicking.”
Shit if that was true. My heart hadn’t stopped pounding since the moment I’d said yes. I couldn’t believe I’d taken an oath to be with Charlie forever, in front of the Great Spirit and all my friends. That meant something.
And I was no good at keeping promises. I always broke them. Shattering this promise was something that absolutely terrified me. My vows were important to me. I wanted to keep them… but how could I, if the person I’d sworn myself to didn’t want me back?
“I can see you’re spiraling,” Ez said, and he leaned across the table to tug on my sleeve. “What’s the real problem?”
My lip wobbled. I couldn’t believe I was breaking down in front of all my friends like this, in the middle of the cafeteria, but I couldn’t give a damn at the moment. “I married someone who doesn’t love me.”
There was a collectiveawaround the table, one that was broken when Marcus burst, “But that’s just crazy! Charliedoeslove you, Ava.”
“He does not,” I insisted, and a tear broke out of my eye. I wiped it away and mumbled, “I told him I still loved him before all of this, and he didn’t sayanythingback. He’s been so distant through this whole thing. If he loved me, and this wedding was real, he would’ve shownsomesort of emotion during the ceremony, or said something afterward that confirmed it was real.”
I sniffed. “But it’s not. It’s a fake-ass marriage, one that’s held together out of my duty to keep him alive.”
“That’s not true. Charlie’s just a tough guy to read,” Kallie said, and she put a hand on my back.
“Yeah,” Chancey agreed. “I know Charlie. He’s got his guard up, but he never lost his spark for you.”
“You think so?” I wiped my eyes with the back of my sleeve.
“I mean, we all knew you guys would come back to each other eventually. We just didn’t think it’d take this long,” Chancey said.
Everyone around the table nodded. “It can’t be that bad,” I insisted.
“You two have really been dragging it on,” Ivy drawled.
“Ivy,” Opal scolded.
“What! The drama’s intense,” he said, taking a sip of his tea.
My shoulders dropped. “I don’t know. Unless I hear it from him, I don’t think I can believe it. And it’s not like he’ll ever tell me, so I guess this marriage really is a lie.”
“That’s not true!” Marcus yelled. “For the love of Mother Miriam, he gave up his sight so—”
