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“You’re an adult, and I’m pretty sure you don’t read the Bible with your female companions.” She leaned forward, hands flat on the table. “Did you have sex with her, Michael? It makes a difference as to how quickly and quietly we can make this go away, so answer carefully.”
“What difference does it make? I said I married her. I have the marriage license, I have the ring…” He trailed off and shook his head. “Uh-uh. No. Not happening.”
“An annulment is a simple dissolution. No fuss, no muss.”
“No.” His vehemence surprised him as much as it clearly surprised Lila. “No annulments. I don’t believe in those.”
“You don’t believe in fixing mistakes? In making a problem go away?”
“That may be how you see marriage, but I don’t. I spent my whole life vowing to myself I’d never be like my parents. I’d never treat a promise casually. If it wasn’t forever, I wouldn’t say the words.”
Lila’s cheeks paled. “What are you saying? That you’re just going to stay married to her, because you made a mistake? That you’re going to pay for your crime for the rest of your life?”
“It wasn’t a crime. Christ, I fell so hard for her. In a couple of hours, I fucking fell.”
“You knew each other before this weekend. You’ve been at the same family things a couple of times, surely you’ve spoken to each other. Yet all of a sudden, lightning bolt?”
“What happened with you and Nick? I highly doubt that you were all over his ass from day one, because he’s a complete dick most of the time. I’m assuming at some point something changed and you saw him in a new light. Well, the same thing happened here. It took me being on stage and her being below me to—”
Lila braced her forehead against her hand and he decided to stop talking. He wasn’t going to convince her anyway, and he was long past convincing himself.
He didn’t get what had happened between him and Chloe either. It defied rational behavior. He might’ve said it was just beer goggles, but fuck, he hadn’t had a drop of liquor in him the first time he glimpsed her in the crowd. Even stone cold sober, he’d wanted her enough to risk everything.
Now they’d just have to figure out where they were going to go from here.
“I don’t know if it’s just based on sex or if there might be something else there, something underneath, but fuck, I’m not going to figure it out by sitting here talking to you.” He pulled out his wallet and withdrew a few bills to cover his juice and the tip. And saw that too bright white piece of paper that had changed his entire life.
“I get that you’re confused. But you don’t want to do anything rash—”
“I’d say the rash bus has already left the station, wouldn’t you?” He started to slide out of the booth.
“Michael, wait.” Lila reached out to grasp his hand. “Just wait. We can talk this through, figure it out.”
“No, we can’t. Because she’s my wife. Goddammit, somehow I have a wife.” He swallowed down the ball of fear and confusion and frustration in his throat. “I need to talk to her. She’s who I have to speak to right now. I’m sorry.”
Halfway out of the booth, he turned back. “You have to promise me something though.”
Still looking shell-shocked, Lila dropped her hands in her lap and nodded. “Okay.”
“You can’t contact her. You definitely can’t mention an annulment. No matter what. I need to do this on my own, and in my own way. Promise me, L,” he prompted when she shifted her gaze away.
After a moment, she glanced back at him and nodded. “All right. I promise.”
“Guys? I’m sorry to interrupt. Lila, could I speak to you, please? When you have a moment.”
He glanced up and smiled at Elle. She was gripping the padded leather end of the circular booth and biting her lip.
Probably returned to apologize. That was the Elle he knew. She was sweet and kind, and rarely prone to outbursts. In fact, that one was the first he’d ever seen from her.
Must be something in the Vegas air. People were acting all kinds of crazy, including himself.
Especially himself.
“No problem. I was on my way out.” He stood and turned toward Lila. “Thank you. I’ll be in touch.”
She nodded, pressing her lips together.
“Don’t worry,” he told her, knowing she would just the same. In this case, he didn’t blame her. “Everything is going to be fine.”
