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He glared back. “If I don’t leave this state as your husband, it might as well be.”
“Stop pretending you want this.”
“I’d be better off marrying a mountain lion, but I’ll be damned if I let that son of a bitch ever lay another finger on you.”
My heart squeezed at the same time I felt a fist to the gut. Cal was doing one of the kindest things anyone had ever done for me. He was protecting me. But it hurt that being married to me was so repulsive to him.
Why did I care?
This was just a business transaction.
Except we had no agreement. I was the only one benefiting. And if Cal would do this for me, expecting nothing in return, that meant there was something decent in him.
And if there was something decent in him, maybe I’d been wrong to hate him so much.
He’s not that man from years ago.I’d experienced how decent he could be in the way he cared for me—sheltered me—after Alex assaulted me.
Anger had kept me strong and shielded for so many years. And to defeat my father, to stay on this new trajectory, I had to cling to my anger like a lifeline.
He shoved open the door. “Let’s go see if we can get this over with.”
Chapter Three
Cal
“You’re early.It’s lovely to see a couple so eager to begin their journey together.”
I didn’t bother to tell the old man we’d started this trip a long time ago and it was destined for hell.
Wordlessly, Beau followed him into the chapel. Ma would kill me if she knew I’d set foot in a church dressed like this.
She wouldn’t kill you for getting married without telling her?
That was probably a worse offense, but I wasn’t sure she’d ever know. I was at Beau’s mercy. This was her show and I was just along for the ride. Like always.
You could’ve protested harder.
Maybe. It would’ve been the smart thing to do for both of us. We were good at hurting each other. But this had seemed the most logical solution to her massive problem.
And maybe the fastest one to yours too.
And even though I’d needed to let go of her—to move on and go back to life as I’d been living since she left—the idiotic part of me grasped this harebrained idea like it was pure genius.
I didn’t believe some vows and a legal document would change anything between us. It probably complicated things.
But I wanted to make it harder to walk away. What had surprised me was her outburst in the car. God, I was sorry that she’d been so hurt by my actions—choices I’d made to ensure she found the happy future she deserved.
Now that I’d had a minute to think on it, that surprised the hell out of me. Beau didn’t need me. She didn’t let anything get to her. Look at how fast she’d come up with a solution to her marriage problem.
But if I still affected her after all these years, what did that mean?
Don’t even go there, man.
I had no place in her life, not even as a real fake husband. And it wasn’t wise to get comfortable in that role.
“Have you prepared your own vows?” the minister asked kindly.
“No.”
