Page 11 of Breakout (Walker University #3)

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I grab the manila envelope off the seat and carefully open it before pulling the certificate out.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Certificate of Marriage

This certifies that

Beckett Hayes & Peyton Anderson

Were united in marriage

On the fifth day of March in twenty twenty-five

At the Suffolk County Courthouse

Officiated by Judge Larry Brown

Witnessed by William Piper & Chloe Daniels

I run my finger over the embossed emblem from the state, certifying that it’s real.

Jesus Christ, I’m married. Not only am I married, but I’m married to Beckett fucking Hayes.

This is insane. I’ve done a lot of questionable things since my parents died, but this has to take the freaking cake.

Careful not to bend it, I stick it back into the envelope.

I look out the windshield and see that it’s still misting, so I slip the envelope under my hoodie to keep it dry.

Quickly, I jump out of the car and run across the parking lot to the door of Piper & Sons.

When I open the door, the bell rings, making Mary look up and smile.

“Peyton, how are you, dear?”

“I’m good. I have the marriage certificate for Mr. Piper,” I tell her as I slip it out of my sweatshirt.

“Wonderful. I’ll let him know you’re here. Would you like anything while you wait?”

“No, thank you.”

“Perfect. Just take a seat, he should be out soon.”

I take a seat and stare outside. It really is nasty today. I hope it doesn’t get much worse until I get back to campus. My windshield wipers are shit, and my tires are in desperate need of retirement. Money that I don’t have.

But I will…

I still plan to give away the money, but part of me is starting to accept that some of it could be helpful for me. Only to do things that I need to survive.

“Peyton, did your husband not come with you?” Mr. Piper says, making me look his way.

I smile as I stand. “No, he has class this afternoon, and I knew you wanted this as soon as it came in.”

“Of course, come on in,” he says, waving me toward his office.

I fall into step behind him, and as he shuts the door to his office, I take a seat. “Here you go.” I slide the envelope onto his desk.

Mr. Piper takes his time sitting down and getting comfortable before he opens the envelope. He pulls out the marriage certificate and smiles. “Perfect. I’ll give this to Mary to scan, and then we will give it back to you.”

“Sounds good.”

He sets the paper down and studies me. “You know, you made for a beautiful bride, and it’s very clear how much your husband loves you.”

Love? He must be mistaken. Beckett doesn’t love me, at least not in the way he thinks.

“The feeling’s mutual,” I choke out.

“I never asked, but how long have you two been together?”

Panic grips me, but I stay as close to the truth as possible. I decide to give him the timeline of when our friends-with-benefits arrangement started.

“About a year now. We were friends before we started seeing each other.”

“I hope you two had talked about marriage before I sprung everything on you,” he says ruefully.

“Of course. Our original plan was to wait until after I graduated. All of this just pushed everything forward.” The lie tastes bitter on my tongue.

I want to come clean and tell him that Beckett really is just someone I know who I married for my inheritance, but I can’t. For some reason I don’t want to see this man’s look of disappointment that I’ve been lying.

Your daddy issues are showing, Peyton.

“I can understand that. In fact, that’s what I would have encouraged my daughter to do.” He smiles but quickly drops it. “Now Peyton, there is something I need to talk to you about.”

“What’s up?”

“Your cousin Janis’s lawyer has made it known that she will be in fact contesting the will. The paperwork will be filed this week,” he says, making my heart pound.

Did I really do all of this just for it to be for nothing?

“What does that mean, exactly?”

“Well, as I told you before, your grandfather anticipated this would happen, so he set aside money specifically for fighting this. All you need to do is let me handle this and enjoy the honeymoon phase with your husband.”

I bite the inside of my cheek. “Are you sure I shouldn’t just give it all to her? I’ve never had money before, so it wouldn’t really be a loss.”

His eyes soften as he shakes his head. “Absolutely not. This is what your grandfather wanted.”

“You’re sure?”

“You haven’t read his letter yet, have you?”

“Honestly, no. I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m still angry that he knew where I was, but he never stepped up. I had to live in foster care, Mr. Piper, and while my situation wasn’t as bad as some people’s, it wasn’t great.”

“Your anger is justifiable. I told him I thought what he was doing was a risk, but he insisted.”

“Too bad I’ll never get the chance to ask him.”

“The answers are in the letter, I promise you.”

“If you’re sure.” I smile weakly as I slap my thighs. “Anyway, is there anything else we need to handle? I need to get to work soon.”

Mr. Piper shakes his head, smiling. “May I say, dear, it’s awfully refreshing that you didn’t quit your job as soon as you found out about your inheritance.”

I smile, unsure what to say. I’m not quite sure if that’s a compliment or a dig toward the people he typically deals with.

He picks up my marriage license and stands. “Let’s get Mary to make a copy.” He takes a step but pauses. “Oh, I forgot to give you your keys.”

“My keys?” I say as I stand.

“To the estate, of course.” He opens his desk drawer and pulls out a key ring. “Here you go. I’ll have Mary write down the address for you as well.”

Instinctively, I hold out my hand, and he drops them into my palm.

“There we go.”

The weight of the keys in my palm is heavy as I follow him out of the office. I can’t stop staring at the three keys as Mary scans my marriage certificate and writes down the address. On autopilot, I say goodbye and walk outside once she’s done.

The brass keys feel like a lead weight, tempting me with something I haven’t had in years.

A home.

No, an estate. Mr. Piper called it an estate.

What the hell am I supposed to do with an estate?

A roar of laughter fills the living room as we watch Cora hand Kellan his ass in a first-person shooter video game.

“That’s so embarrassing,” Kellan mutters.

“We can’t all be good at everything,” Peyton teases.

Cora rubs his back. “I still love you even though you suck.”

Usually, the fact Kellan is hanging out with us after everything between him and Grace last year would bring a smile to my face, but not tonight. No, I wish that everyone was doing their own thing so I could figure out what the hell is wrong with my wife.

As soon as Peyton stepped inside tonight, I knew something was wrong, but I haven’t been able to get her alone for a minute to figure out what it is, and it’s killing me.

Did the lawyer say something when she dropped off our marriage certificate?

Just thinking about that piece of paper brings a smile to my face. There’s no denying it now, we really are tied together, for life if I have it my way.

Peyton shifts next to me, bringing me back to the present.

Instinctively my hand falls to her thigh.

Like usual, though, when we are around others, she bats it away.

My jaw clenches in frustration. I know no one knows, but I just want to be able to touch her when I want.

In a non-sexual way. I’m so completely obsessed with her that I want to keep her close. Is that so wrong?

Peyton jumps up. “I’m going to go grab another drink. Does anyone want anything?”

“I’m good,” Grace tells her from where she’s tucked into Clay’s side.

Envy fills me as I watch him play with her hair.

That. I want to be able to do that. But I can’t because no one knows.

I give it a minute before I stand and follow her out of the room. As soon as I step into the kitchen, she looks up from the fridge.

“If you wanted something, I could have brought it to you,” she says as she holds up a bottle of water.

I shake my head as I approach her. As soon as she’s within touching distance, I pull her into me.

“Beckett,” she warns.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lies.

“Don’t lie to me. Now tell me what happened.”

Peyton frowns and pulls out of my hold. “Nothing for you to worry about.”

“Everything okay?” Wyatt asks.

Peyton shoots him a smile, which pisses me off. “Of course, why wouldn’t it be?”

She brushes by me and heads back to the living room, and I tip my head back in frustration. My wife is a giant pain in my fucking ass.

“You good, brother?” Wyatt asks.

I turn toward him. “I’m good.”

Wyatt hums but doesn’t say anything as he studies me. Shit, how much did he see?

Before he can press, Brett yells his name. “Wyatt, it’s our turn!”

“Coming,” he says, not taking his eyes off of me.

“Come on, you know he hates waiting.” I slap him on the shoulder, and together we head back to the living room.

I feel the corner of my eye twitch when I see that Peyton is now sitting next to Cora, where there’s not enough room for me to sit next to her.

Perfect. Fucking perfect.

I sit back down in my spot and watch her. I don’t care if our friends notice or if it’s creepy. I can’t help it.

“You’re drooling,” Brett mutters.

Instinctively, I reach up and wipe the corner of my mouth, only for it to come up dry.

“Liar.” I glare.

“Yeah, well, if you stared at her any harder, she could get a restraining order put out on you.”

“She wouldn’t.”

His eyes narrow. “What’s up with you, man? You’ve been off lately.”

“My dad. You know how it is.”

“Yeah, I’m calling bullshit.” I go to deny it, but he shakes his head. “You and I both know what parental pressure looks like, and this isn’t it. Just know whenever you’re ready to talk, I’m here.”

“Thanks, man.”

“You can thank me by chasing after your girl and getting whatever you need off your chest before anyone else notices.”

I look over and see that she’s left the room and is heading up the stairs.

“I’ll be back. I need to put my phone on the charger.”

Brett shoots me a look of disbelief. “Have fun.”

I bound up the stairs and wait for her right outside of the bathroom. My heart races as I hear the water turn on.

Come on. Come on.

When the door opens, she jerks back.

“Are you following me?” she hisses.

I keep my mouth shut as I grab her hand and pull her into my bedroom. Only once the door is safely shut and locked do I turn toward her.

“Beckett, someone could have seen us.”

“I don’t care about that right now.”

She tosses her hands up in the air. “Then what do you care about?”

“ You . Now tell me what the hell I’m missing. I can tell something is wrong, and it’s driving me fucking crazy.”

Peyton huffs as she crosses her arms. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. Did something happen at the lawyer’s office?”

I watch as she leans against my desk, trying to buy herself some time.

“Yes, okay. Something happened,” she admits.

“Okay…what is it? He watched us get married, so I know it’s not that. You sent me a photo of our marriage certificate, so I know it’s not that.”

She looks down at her shoes. “He told me that he got word that my cousin is going to contest the will.”

“Okay, we knew that was a possibility. I mean, hell, your grandfather left money aside just for that.”

“You’re right, and he did, but I don’t know. It just made it all more real. Part of me feels bad that this woman who I’m supposedly related to feels like she’s entitled to the estate, but I got it. Then on the other hand, I want to be greedy and keep it to myself.”

“As you should. It’s yours. He left it for you,” I point out.

“You’re right.”

“Have you read the letter yet?” I ask after a beat.

“No, but Mr. Piper was pretty insistent that I should. That all the answers would be there.”

“What’s stopping you from reading it?”

“What if I don’t like what he has to say? What if it only makes me angrier than I already am? I hate being mad, Beckett.”

I cross the room and pull her into my arms. For a minute she’s stiff, but she quickly relaxes and wraps her arms around me.

“I would be angry too if I were you, but you also deserve to know. Don’t wait too long to read it, though, and if you want, I’ll be next to you while you do. Or hell, I’ll even read it out loud to you.”

She chuckles against my chest. “I can hear you now. My dearest granddaughter…”

I laugh as she does her impression of me.

“You know I would.” I kiss the top of her head. “Now what else is eating at you?”

“How do you know something else is bothering me?”

“Because you wouldn’t be this upset or distracted over something you knew was going to happen. So what is it?”

She pinches my side. “Do you have to know everything?”

“I am your husband, so yes. Now tell me.”

Peyton buries her face further into my chest. “He gave me a set of keys.”

I frown. Keys? Why is she upset about keys?

“Okay…”

“To the estate,” she whispers.

“He gave you keys to the family home.”

She nods.

“Well shit, I guess we have a home now…” I tease. Through my shirt, I feel her smile.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Ridiculously handsome, I know,” I quip. “So what about the keys bothers you?”

“I have a home, Beck. One I’ve never seen.”

“Well, we have the address. You tell me when, and we can drive over there together and check it out.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

Peyton pulls back and grabs my face. She kisses me softly before falling back onto her heels. She tips her chin up and rests it on my chest as she stares at me.

“You know, Beck, you’re a pretty great husband.”

“I’m trying to be. You good now? Need to talk to me about anything else?”

She shakes her head. “We better get back downstairs before our friends notice we’re both gone.”

Yeah, I think it’s a little too late for that, sweetheart.