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I must’ve been weaker than I expected, because my legs felt like they were dragging. Which Price noticed.
He practically lifted me like one would a small child and then carried me from the building.
We were possibly halfway to the bike, and I was in the process of informing Price that I could walk when it started.
“I am more than capable of carrying you…” Price trailed off when a bellowing yell filled the air, followed by a curse.
“Get your hands off my wife!”
I blinked, surprised to hear Cole’s voice.
I turned only my head, not disentangling myself from Price’s arms, and stared in stunned silence at Cole, who was staring at the two of us with such intensity that I would’ve backpedaled had my feet been touching the ground.
Price looked over at him with a sneer. “She’s not your wife.”
“She is,” Cole snapped.
I allowed my feet to slip down from Price’s hips.
He didn’t let me go, though, which meant I was just dangling there in the air while Price held on to me.
I would’ve laughed had Cole not taken an intimidating step toward us.
Price turned and put me at his back, holding his hand to my back to press me snugly against the back of his body.
That didn’t stop my mouth from working, though.
“I am most certainly not your wife,” I disagreed hotly.
Cole sneered at me, his eyes taking me in as I poked my head around Price’s body.
“You are. Common law. You lived with me for two weeks. We got mail at the same address. And I called you my wife in front of people, and you didn’t correct me. It’s a done deal, baby. Ain’t Texas great?” Cole jeered.
I was flabbergasted.
Literally and utterly flabbergasted.
• • •
It was a tense few minutes later that the realization that I was screwed hit me.
“I know someone that’s a lawyer.” Price paused. “She’s the wife of a friend and I think she can help.”
I didn’t know what to say or do.
In fact, I was a little bit numb.
This couldn’t be true!
“I can’t handle this right now,” I admitted. “I just can’t. After Faye. I just can’t.”
The hand that’d been on my shoulder moved. Fingers tilted my chin up, so I was looking into the beautiful brown eyes of the man that’d just told me that everything would be okay.
And now I just didn’t see how it could be.
There was no coming back from this.
“He’ll have access to my retirement benefits,” I whispered. “He’ll probably ask for alimony, because I was the only one who worked.”
Price moved his hand to my throat, then moved me until I was pressed flat against the brick of the building behind me. And with gentle pressure, he squeezed my throat.
“Look at me,” he ordered.
I licked my lips, nervous energy rippling through me.
I’d had a shit few weeks.
I just wanted to forget.
Forget about Cole.
Forget about this godforsaken town.
Forget about everyone and everything.
But Price made me want to remember.
And that scared the absolute shit out of me.
“I’m looking,” I snapped.
Honestly, it pissed me off, too.
He’d done a damn fine job ignoring me.
Then today, of all days, he has to come to me and make me feel again?
Well, that just fucking sucked.
Because honestly, I didn’t want to feel.
I wanted to bask in the silence for just a little bit. Forget what it felt like to hurt so bad.
“You’re copping an attitude,” he disagreed. “I want you to listen to me.”
I rolled my eyes and tried to move out of his hold, but that hold on my throat only tightened, letting me know without words that I wouldn’t be going anywhere until he was ready for me to.
“You will get through this,” he promised as he picked up his phone and made a phone call to who, I realized later, was his lawyer friend.
I didn’t say anything to that.
Because I wasn’t sure that it mattered.
The moment the woman answered, Price led right into the problem we’d just been hit in the face with.
The lawyer, Swayze, sighed after hearing Price’s explanation of events.
“Technically, in Texas, to be common law married, you agree to be married, and after the agreement, you live in the state as husband and wife. You also have to represent to others that you’re married,” Swayze explained.
Price pinched the bridge of his nose. “She never agreed to be married.”
“Did he say they were married in front of others?” Swayze asked.
Price looked at me, and I shrugged. “Yes.”
“Did you object?” he asked.
“No.” I paused. “It was easier to allow him to say it than go explaining about how we weren’t actually married.”
“What about mail?” Swayze asked. “Did you get that at the same address?”
I had a sinking feeling that I wasn’t getting out of this so-called marriage.
“Yes.” I paused. “For a week when I was eighteen and transitioning from one house to another.”
