Page 16 of Brewer Family Collection, Part 1
I move to the glass and stand by the body print. But, as soon as I do, I realize the boobs line up with the height of mine. With a flushed face, I stand by the llama instead. This isn’t how I imagined Renn seeing my boobs.
I gulp.
What more did he see?
What more did we do ?
My eyes find his. The corner of his lip twitches.
Nope. Move on.
“So what now, Renn?” I ask, forcing a swallow. “What’s the best way to handle this? How do we minimize the drama?”
“It’s a little late for that,” Brock says.
I turn to my brother, my head starting to hurt again. “Brock, I love you, but shut the hell up.”
“Excuse me?”
I don’t want to fight with him. I don’t want him to fight with Renn, either. But I simply don’t have the bandwidth to deal with his unreasonableness. My wits are already frayed to the point that they’re about to snap.
Ella tugs on his arm. “Let’s give them some privacy to work this out.”
“The last time we gave them privacy, they got married.”
That does it.
“You know what?” I ask, charging forward. “You’re not helping.”
“Someone needs to help you. You married Renn, Blakely .”
“Easy …” Renn warns.
“Or what?” Brock asks, looking at his friend. “You married her twelve hours ago, and now you’re her protector? Give me a fucking break.”
I can’t take it. I can’t do this again. “Brock … leave.”
“You’re out of your mind if you think I’m leaving you. You’re about to be embroiled in another fucking scandal that will make the last one look like a piece of cake. The two of you dragged me into this when you strolled into a wedding chapel and got married .”
“ Lower your voice ,” Ella says.
He turns to her and lifts a brow.
“ Lower. Your. Voice .” Ella glares at him. “I know you’re unhappy right now, but this isn’t about you.”
“This affects me as much as it does them,” Brock says. “They’re both selfish?—”
“Do not talk about your sister like that,” Ella says, gasping.
“Ella, don’t …” I say.
“I’ll be here to help you any way I can, Blakely.” She glares at Brock. “But you and I are done.”
“Ella …” he says, watching her storm out of the room. “Dammit. Come back.”
I cover my face with my hands. “Someone, anyone—how do we fix this before we all fall apart?”
Renn takes a deep breath. “We have two options.”
“Name them.”
He exhales. “One, we try to get the annulment. If that fails, we get a divorce. Pros … it’s straightforward. Cons … we’ll both get annihilated in different ways.”
Yay . “And two?”
He looks at me, then at Brock, and back at me. His gaze is wobbly. “We stay married.”
“ What ?” I yelp.
“It’s just an option. You asked for the options.”
My mouth hangs open. “I’m not staying married to you. Have you lost your mind ?”
“I don’t mean for real. I just mean …” He groans. “I don’t know what I mean.”
I snort. “I hope you can back that statement up with a reason, considering you had the guts to say it.”
He takes a step away from my brother. “Look, this sounds … Well, I know how it sounds, okay? But one option we have is to stay married for a little while. We take the steam out of the media. We play it off like we did it on purpose. Like … it’s real.”
“Oh, come on,” Brock says, laughing in disgust. “You can’t be serious.”
I glare at him. “Leave. Be quiet or leave.”
“Or what?”
“Or …” I glance quickly at Renn. “I’ll call security and have you removed. This is my suite now.”
Renn turns his back to my brother and covers his mouth. His body shakes as he suppresses a laugh.
Brock’s eyes widen.
“I’m kidding,” I say. “But I’m also not. I understand you’re worried and not vocalizing that in the best way. Considering the situation, I’m willing to overlook it. But I’m a grown woman, Brock. I appreciate you. But either be helpful or leave.”
“What’s gotten into you?” he asks.
“I’m wasting a perfectly good birthday on this bullshit. It’s irritating me a little,” I say.
“ Oh fuck. Blakely, your birthday …” Brock says, frowning.
“Yep. Happy birthday to me.”
“Happy birthday, Mrs. Brewer,” Renn says, testing the waters.
“Renn—” Brock starts.
I hold up a hand—which he never likes—and pray he stops talking.
Walking back and forth across the room—from Brock to the llama with a cigar—I weigh my options.
If we get an annulment, our lives go up in flames. We’ll survive it, but it’ll be a nightmare for a while. I’m not looking forward to all the trash that will be spewed my way. But I survived that once before, so I can again.
If we stay married, there might be some smoke, but we could avoid an inferno. Maybe. It also might drag out the whole thing and waste more of my life with a man who isn’t for me .
Renn’s eyes are clear and concerned. Even though the answer is obvious, he’s not pressuring me to do what’s best for him.
“Oh, that I’m a little punk. That I probably just cost myself my job and him two years and a deal worth three-quarters of a billion dollars. I’m careless and selfish. You know, the usual.”
I don’t know Reid Brewer, but I hate him. Fuck that guy. Who says that to their own son?
My hand shakes as I run it over my head. “Renn?”
“Yeah?”
“What happens if we stay married?” I ask. “What does that look like? I’m not saying I want to do that, because I really don’t, but theoretically …”
“I’ll be honest—I don’t know. We’d have to play it off and look convincing. Otherwise, it would bite us in the ass even worse.”
Play it off. Look convincing.
How the heck do we do that?
And how do I ensure I don’t get my ass handed to me in the end?
Brock clears his throat. “It’s obvious I think you two just fucked all the way up, and I’m pissed about it.” He swallows. “But I’m going to back away and let you figure it out.”
“Thank you,” I say.
He turns to Renn. “I want to say one thing.”
“Go for it,” Renn says.
“Blakely is more important to me than anyone else on this planet,” Brock says. “She trusts too easily and sees the good in people. It gets her in trouble.”
My heart lodges in my chest.
“I expect you to protect her,” Brock says. “I don’t want to see her go through this all over again. You got her into this; you get her out of it. But if you do anything to hurt her, Renn, so help me God?—”
“ I won’t .” Renn squares his shoulders to Brock. “You have my word. Whatever happens, I’ll do everything I can to ensure she’s as unaffected as possible. I love you, man.”
Tears cloud my vision.
Brock’s jaw tenses as he pulls Renn into a hug. I don’t breathe until they part without throwing punches.
My brother steps back. “Okay. Let me know if I can help.”
“I love you, Brock,” I say, my voice wobbling.
He crosses the room and wraps his arms around me. “I love you, B. No matter how many times you fuck up?—”
I laugh through the tears falling down my cheeks.
“I’ll always be here.” He pulls away. “ Always .”
“Thank you.”
He rubs the top of my head before giving Renn a final stare. Then he heads for the door.
Reality fills the room again. It’s just me and my now husband—and a million unanswered questions.
If we file to end this mess, we’re handing ammunition to the tabloids. But if we play it out, will the injuries be less? Or worse ?
“I feel like we need to talk this through—you and me,” I say. “There’s a lot to consider and my head is scrambled.”
Renn nods. “Agreed.”
“I don’t want to stay here. We’ll be held captive in this room since everyone in the world knows we’re here. And I really want to get away from my brother and Ella.”
“If I really married you, I’d take you on a honeymoon. If we went away somewhere for a few days, that would give us some time to work it out without confirming or denying anything. And the optics would be good if we decide to play this out.”
Makes sense. “Can you get away from here for a few days?”
“I don’t have anything I can’t move around until late next week. You?”
“I have next week off. My new boss is gone, so they told me to enjoy the break.”
“Nice.”
I laugh softly, remembering how excited I was to lie around and do nothing. I didn’t expect to be negotiating a divorce .
The more I sit with the options, the more it’s obvious that we really have only one viable choice on the table. But we can’t make a spur-of-the-moment decision. That’s what got us in this mess.
“Renn?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you find us a place with an ocean?”
“Absolutely.”
I take a deep breath. “Then do it. Let’s go somewhere and … figure this out.”
Renn’s shoulders fall as he crosses the room. He holds his arms out, and I collapse into them. I fist his T-shirt in my hands and press my cheek against his chest.
“Are you sure about this?” he asks.
“No, I’m not. Not even a little. But I’m as sure as I’m going to be.”
He chuckles, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead. “We’ll sort this out, cutie. Trust me.”
I dip my chin and pull back from him. I hope I can trust you, Renn. I really do.
At that, he walks out of the room, and I’m left alone. Finally.
What the hell have I gotten myself into?