This is ridiculous.
No longer willing to be a soldier in the battle of the wills, I throw myself off the couch, abandoning the sorry excuse for a blanket, while swiping my pillow. I’m not going to sacrifice any more of my sleep.
Stomping over to the bed, I flip the duvet on the unoccupied side, and the moment I lie down, my entire body relaxes into the mattress.
It’s not long—mere seconds—before sleep begins to pull me under, but the comfort’s cut short by an irritated groan and an obscene amount of shifting.
“What are you doing?” I growl, barely lifting my heavy head from the pillow to glance over my shoulder.
Raina’s dark shadow bobs as she slams pillows into the space between us. “Making a pillow wall.”
“Afraid I’ll touch you?” I won’t touch her. Ican’ttouch her. Not unless I want her to be my complete undoing.
“We won’t be making thatmistakeagain,” Raina mocks, and I realize she’s taken my words from earlier to heart.
Good.
When there's four pillows between us stacked two high, she finally seems satisfied and lies back down, facing away from me.
She’s infuriating.
Stubborn, bullheaded, and maddening.
But also intelligent, independent, and impeccable.
Absolutely perfect.
And the bane of my existence.
A royal pain in my ass.
“Goodnight, RP,” I goad, closing my eyes again with a smug smile on my face. And it isn’t long before the sandman pulls me under.
“How was I supposed to know the hotel Javier booked would be such a far drive from his family’s estate?” Raina argues as she looks down at the GPS lit up on the car’s navigation screen.
“I don’t know, maybe you could have asked at some point?”
I’m not angry, per se, just annoyed that we’re going to be on the road for nearly four hours round trip, and we have to do this drive again tomorrow.
“He literally booked the flight and hotel and sent me the confirmation numbers. It’s not like I knew about all this ahead of time. He gave me less than a week's notice.”
“You’re right,” I say simply, not wanting to argue any longer. We still have another hour to go, and the last thing I want to do is sit in heavy tension. “Could you look up some things to do around the area so I can keep myself occupied while you’re with Javier’s family?”
Raina turns her head to look at me, her eyes growing large. “You’re not staying?”
Does she want me to?“I hadn’t planned on it.”
Originally, I had, but after seeing the possessiveness Javier exuded last night at dinner, I know that the two of us around each other for a prolonged period will be disastrous. I may be her fake fiancé as far as he’s concerned, but to his family, I’m her fake brother, and it would look pretty incestuous for herbrotherto punch herhusbandfor putting his hands on her.
As much as it makes my blood boil with rage every time he does, we all have a part to play, and the sooner we get this poorly written performance over with, the sooner we all go back to our regular lives.
Javier grants Raina her divorce.
I help facilitate it.
She signs the papers.
And when the ink is dry, she and I will go our separate ways with as much distance between us as possible. I’ll even detach myself from my friends just to ensure I don’t have to see her more than absolutely necessary.
