Page 179 of Charming Like Us
His eyes grow and he points upwards.Shit. My sister is here. Sleeping in the king-sized bed in the loft.
I scoot up the pullout, leather couch, avoiding looking at my own hand. No. No fucking way. I try to think back to last night, but it’s all a messy blur after we reached the club. Quickly, I climb off the bed and grab his wrist, dragging him to the bathroom.
As soon as the door shuts, I take the plunge and look at my hand. Motherfucker! There’s a ring on my finger.
A ring!
“Do you remember what happened?” I ask Jack, his dark hair is tousled from a hard, drunken sleep. My boyfriend leans a hip against the marble sink counter, arms threaded loosely over his chest.
“A little bit,” he says, stiffly. “I was hoping we could talk it out and piece it together.”
I place two hands on my head, chest rising and falling heavily. “Alright, so we were at the club.”
“And then we left,” Jack says.
“Okay…I vaguely remember stopping at a jewelry store?” I shake my head. “But that doesn’t make sense because it was too late—everything would’ve been closed.”
“No, that’s right,” Jack snaps his fingers. “You stopped at the store, and you called someone…”
I groan and sink onto the edge of the tub. “Had to have been Maggie. She’s a friend from college. She works at Cobalt Diamonds.”
Jack questions, “If you asked her to let you in after-hours, you think she’d open the store for you?”
I nod strongly. “She’s done it before, mostly when I’m with Charlie.” I swipe a hand through my bed-head hair. “But maybe this is a good thing? We just bought rings. We didn’t actually get married.”
Jack reaches into his back pocket. The same pants he was wearing last night. He passes me a crumpled piece of paper.
I’m staring at my motherfucking marriage license.
We both signed it.
“No one’s talking about it on the internet,” Jack tells me. “Which means we somehow did this without paparazzi orpeoplenoticing.”
“Of course we fucking did.” I fold the piece of paper. “I’m a strategic genius, Highland. I can get married without it being on the news the next day. Apparently, I’m so fucking good, I even hid it from myself.” I start laughing, but it’s a stressed, panicked sound.
Jack points to the paper in my hands. “The name of the officiant and the two witnesses are all fraternity brothers.” He sucks in a breath. “So I’m just as much to blame. We must have run into them or something. I, honestly, don’t remember.”
I frown, the fuzzy parts starting to clear a little. “I think I do recall stumbling into some guy named Edgar. He wore an ugly plaid shirt that looked like vomit.”
Jack laughs. “Yeah, he’s a lawyer.” He shakes his head. “The crazy thing, Oscar, is none of this would have happened if we both weren’t so well-connected.”
“Look at us,” I say. “So popular we accidentally got hitched.”
Silence finally seeps in, and it strains something between us.
He’s my husband.
And I didn’t even know his middle-effing name until seeing it on the marriage license. Until right now. “Your full name is Jack Arizona Highland?” I question. “Arizona?”
He makes a pained face. “I was conceived in Arizona, apparently.”
I laugh, one that dies, but damn did I need that right now. The air sobers again. We stare at one another as the reality sinks and sinks.
Do I regret this? I’m a smart guy. Even drunk, I’m not going to do something I don’t want. Deep down, I love Jack, and I can’t imagine running to the courthouse to get it annulled. The thought causes my stomach to twist in tight, unthreadable knots.
But I also can’t imagine this being okay for him.Too soonare words that ring in my head. Maybe he thinks I drunkenly married him for his money.God, I hope not.
I lick my dry lips, mouth parched. “We can get it annulled.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179 (reading here)
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196
- Page 197
- Page 198
- Page 199
- Page 200
- Page 201
- Page 202
- Page 203
- Page 204
- Page 205
- Page 206
- Page 207
- Page 208
- Page 209
- Page 210
- Page 211
- Page 212
- Page 213
- Page 214
- Page 215