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“It was just too…fast,” she said. “Like he was rushing her along, so much urgency about it. Our daddy hadn’t passed yet, so it wasn’t as if the store was hers, but I always felt like it was one of the reasons he was so ‘in love’. I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I just never really trusted him.”
Interesting.
It was no real secret that Aunt Lucy wasn’t my father’s biggest fan, but I’d always just assumed their personalities didn’t quite mesh. I was rarely around them at the same time, which became themneverbeing in a room together after my mother was gone.
It all made so much more sense now.
“Listen to me, Nalani,” she said, pulling my attention back to her. “You won’t be the first or last woman to marry a man for reasons other than love. As women, we do what we have to do all the time, but the only way you’re going to make it through that is toneverforget why you’re there, you hear me?”
I scoffed. “Trust me, that won’t be a problem.”
“Don’t be arrogant; you heed my words,” she warned. “That man is handsome, rich, and intelligent. Those qualities make it easy to go blind.Especiallyif he starts slinging dick the right way.”
“Auntie!” I gasped, and she sucked her teeth.
“Don’t youauntieme, I’m telling you what I know, what I’d tell my own daughter if she was here, and the same kind of warning I give the young ladies around the bakery all the time. A man like that will have you all twisted in knots before you realized you’re being tied.”
“Trust me,” I assured. “I have my eyesall the wayopen.”
I was confident.
Superconfident.
And yet, her warning stayed on my mind.
All the way from the center back to my apartment, her words played in my mind for me to turn over and dissect.
I refused to bury them.
Naivete could cost more than I was willing to lose.
Even being immersed in the jumble of my thoughts, I’d noticed I was being watched a bit harder than usual. From the time I climbed into my car to the time I unlocked my front door and hurried inside, it felt as if there were eyes on me.
I wished I could call myself surprised.
Such a public outing as Orion’s apparent wife-to-be would bring increased scrutiny, and frankly, the perceived value of the damn ring would turn me into a target.
Annoyances I couldn’t imagine Orion had considered when he jumped the gun with his proposal, which wasn’treallysupposed to happen for another month.
There was a cadence written into the contract—a period of public courtship to establish a dating story, give an opportunity for us to be photographed together, stuff like that.
And yet, because he was himself, it was nothing to him to jump over all that, just to make some silly point in front of an ex Orion didn’t even knowwasan ex.
Or… did he?
Something about the way EJ backed off when he realized who Orion was—or rather, the family he was from — it was a little unnerving. EJ and I went back to when he was just Eric, a kid from the neighborhood up the block my parents really didn’t want me around, but I was young and reckless and stupid, soof courseI thought I was in love anyway.
Even then, he was fearless.
Not thatfearwas exactly what I picked up, maybe more that a problem with Orion was something he’d rather avoid. Thinking about it made me feel like there was something I didn’t know about the Sterlings; something deeper than freaking…groceries.
Demetria and Des had looked into things for me, sure, but… did Ireallyknow what I was getting into?
It was yet another thing to have on my already overcrowded mind, and instead of dwelling on it too deeply, the idea of clearing my head with a hot bath was much more appealing.
I grabbed a bottle of wine too, toreallyhelp clear the bullshit away.
While the bath was running, I checked my phone. I’d already talked to the most important people, but there were still randomMerry Christmastexts to field.
