AllFreeNovel
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When I walked into the hotel lobby where we agreed to meet, Liliana was sitting on her phone with a nasty snarl on her face. Trying to be a nice guy, I brought her a bouquet of flowers and the first words out of her mouth were how cheap they were and that this better not be how our marriage was going to be since her dad promised her she was marrying someone rich.
The upside, I guess, is that she did say I was hot and she was glad she didn’t have to marry some gross old man. While I thanked her for the compliment, it was the only one she gave me. When we had dinner, Liliana was rude to the waitstaff, complained about the food, and said the hotel was nothing like The Ritz-Carlton she usually stayed at. I remained quiet throughout dinner. She invited me up to her room afterward, and I politely declined.
The thought of having sex with my future wife made me sick.
Since we met on Monday, Liliana has been following me around like a little puppy. She showed up at the house, even after I told her it wasn’t the best place for her to hang around since I have roommates. She even showed up on campus today, bouncing up to me as if we’re a happy and in love couple. What’s worse is that I am almost positive Emree saw our interaction.
While I have made sure that Camden keeps his mouth shut about Liliana to Blaire, I don’t want Emree to think I have moved on so fast. As if she was nothing. Keeping Liliana hidden is going to be harder than I originally thought. Never did I think she would want us to spend time with each other every day and come around my friends and to campus. The more she is around, the more worried I get about Emree finding out.
While I know Em will eventually know about my impending marriage, I don’t want her to think I was cheating on her because of how fast Liliana and I got together. On top of me being in a new relationship, I don’t want Emree to see me being with someone like Liliana. While I have only known her for a few days, I can already tell she is an entitled and shallow person. It shouldn’t come as a shock to me since that is the kind of people I grew up with, but being tied down to that kind of person was never what I saw for myself.
“Dude, you going to eat that bowl of cereal or just let it soak up all the milk?” Maddox asks as he walks into the kitchen. Looking down, I notice the bowl of cereal I am preparing to eat is now mush. I guess I zoned out longer than I thought.
He comes to stand at the counter on the other side of the bar where I am sitting. “Guess not anymore,” I say as I push the bowl of soggy cereal away.
Maddox opens the fridge and pulls out the orange juice, pouring it into a glass he grabbed from the top cabinet beside the sink. “You going with Camden to that ceremony thing tonight?” he asks as he leans against the counter, sipping his drink.
After getting up and moving from the barstool and into the kitchen, I dump the mush in my bowl down the sink and rinse it out. “Yeah. Coach basically told us it’s mandatory.”
Maddox rolls his eyes.
“Gotta support those freshmen.”
“You bringing the bridezilla?”
Groaning, I drop my head back. “Hell no. It hasn’t even been a week, and I’m already tired of Liliana being around.”
Maddox laughs. “She’s a handful, man. Mateo said she dropped by campus today.”
“Acted like we were this happy, in-love couple. Not sure how much more of this I can take.” I run my hands through my short hair. “When my dad told me about all this shit, I didn’t think I would have to treat it like a real marriage, you know? I figured it would just be on paper, and we would know it was fake behind closed doors. But, dude, she grabbed my fucking dick last night when I dropped her off at her hotel after dinner.”
Setting his cup down on the counter, Maddox looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “Wait a second, have you not been banging your fiancée?”
“Ugh, can we not call her that? And no, I’m not sleeping with Liliana,” I tell him, an edge to my tone.
His eyes widen. “Why the hell not? Dude, you have easy-access pussy right there.”
“Could you be any more crude?”
Maddox shrugs his shoulders. “Probably.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes. “Sleeping with Liliana isn’t an option. At least not right now. I couldn’t do that to Emree…or myself.”
“You ever plan on telling her?” he asks in a serious tone.
This is something I have thought long and hard about and come up with no good response. While yes, I do plan on telling Emree, I don’t know when or even how. Based on Camden’s initial reaction, she probably will think I’m making it up. What I don’t want is for her to find out from someone else or in the goddamn gossip reports.
“Of course I’m going to tell her. I just need to figure out how,” I tell Maddox.
He shakes his head. “Better sort that shit out sooner rather than later. The longer you wait, the harder it’s going to be on her.”
Before I can respond to him, Camden walks into the kitchen, looking freshly showered and wearing a pair of dark jeans and a button-down black shirt with the sleeves rolled up on his forearms. “You guys ready to go?”
“Looking good, GQ,” Maddox comments. He is dressed more casually in a pair of black cargo shorts and a white Henley short-sleeved shirt.
Camden shoves Maddox in the shoulder. “Shut up. Coach said this is an important event and that we should look our best. We’re representing the team.”
“I’ll be representing our team in shorts and a T-shirt because it’s hot as fuck,” I tell our team captain. My light-blue cotton shorts and gray shirt are going to have to be good enough for our coach.
