Page 6

Chapter six

Samantha

It doesn't take long after I send the message for someone to knock on the door.

Getting up quickly, I run to open the door and when I see her standing there, my knees threaten to buckle.

As I struggle to keep up right, Janae catches me.

One look at my face and hers darkens. "Tell me what is going on," she demands.

Every emotion I've been holding back comes pouring out, and I can't help but sob. Tears fall, my chest heaves, I can't seem to catch my breath, and snot starts to drip down my face.

"Let's get you to the couch over here before you take both of us down," she says guiding me. I follow her without any reservation, because if there has ever been one person who has been by side through it all, it's Janae. She's not just my best friend, she's the other half of my soul.

We both lower to the couch and I'm finally able to catch my breath for a moment.

"What's going on, Sam?" she asks with no judgement in her voice. Though I'm not sure it will stay like that for long when she finds out what I did.

"I did something unforgivable.”

Janae gathers me in her arms, and mutters, "Come on. I’m sure it wasn’t that bad. What did you do?"

"I married Kade," I whisper, hoping that maybe if I say it out loud I’ll wake up from this nightmare.

I watch Janae for her reaction, but she doesn't move or say anything.

She just sits there, stoneface, staring at me.

In fact, the longer we stare at each other, the more unnerved I become, wondering what she's going to say.

"Come on, say something," I urge her. The only person I care about what they think is her, and I'm not sure I can take it if she is disappointed.

"How did that happen," she breathes out.

At this point, I've calmed down enough that I can explain a little more to her. "Honestly, I don't remember.” I shrug my shoulders, hanging my head into my hands. “I guess we were really drunk. Shane came over here and told us it's all over the internet."

"You really married him?" she whispers like she can’t really believe it. You and me both, sister.

"It looks like it," I say, looking down at the ring on my finger. She notices it and grabs my hand, pulling it closer to her as she examines it.

"Fuck, you even got a ring?" she asks staring at it. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to figure out how to annul this farce of a marriage."

"Is that what you want to do?" Janae asks.

"Of course. Why would I want to stay married to Kade?"

"Because you still love him," she mumbles, but I scoff at the notion.

"I'm not still in love with him, because I wasn't ever in love with him. For a split second, I could see myself falling for him, but that is all in the past," I tell her.

Janae nods her head. "Okay, if you really don’t want to be married to him, I’m sure you can get it annulled."

"I looked it up and you have to be able to prove that you were drunk."

"Do you have any videos or pictures?" she asks me.

I open my phone again, pulling up the photo app, hoping that I might see a video of us getting married to prove we were not in our right mind.

As I swipe through the photos though, I don't see a video of us, but I do find a picture. I examine it closely. Then a thought pops into my head, I try to push it away, but it doesn’t want to go anywhere. There is no way, it's just a sham.

We are leaning into each other, smiling as if we both have a secret. Kade is looking at me as if I'm his whole world, but I know it's all a lie. Ugh! I can't look at this anymore . Placing my phone down on the counter, I refuse to look at it any longer.

But the thoughts don't stop there, they just keep coming and coming—what if we can't get an annulment?

Am I going to have to get a divorce? At the young age of twenty-five, will I be a divorcee?

How the hell did this even happen? Was I really that drunk that I was able to get married and not even recall it?

I can feel the tears streaming down my face again because this is a fucking nightmare. I've always dreamed of my wedding since I was a little girl but somehow, I'm now married to a man who doesn't even want me, let alone be married to me.

I shake my head, trying to answer her, but the words feel stuck in my throat. After a moment, I manage to whisper, "No, I don't. I only found one picture and it doesn't help me at all."

"I'll be the judge of that. Let me see it," she says, holding her hand out.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and hand it to her. We sit in silence as she opens the photo app and starts to slide through the pictures. I know the moment that she gets to it too, because her eyes widen and she breathes out, "Holy Shit."

I respond in the only way I can. "I know."