Page 7 of Resisting Your Love

I was weeping, but it wasn't with joy. I didn't like this one bit.

Although I was nervous, I was also scared.

I was about to be someone's wife for three years.

That was so crazy to me. For the past two weeks, we were getting ready for the fake wedding.

One I had been dreading since I found out about it.

This wasn't a joyous moment or day for me.

I was happy that it was going to be a small wedding.

That was probably the good thing about it.

I had only my father and best friend by my side, the only two people who mattered to me in this world.

If only my mother was alive to see this, but if she were alive, it probably wouldn't be happening.

She didn't let my father do whatever he wanted.

She always stepped in and told him how to do certain things, which was why I knew in my heart she wouldn't let this happen.

"Oh, Mommy, what the hell am I going to do?" I sobbed, trying to get ahold of my emotions, but it was difficult to do. I felt so out of sorts right now.

The door of the guest room opened, and Mianna stepped in. The wedding was at Levi's parents' mansion. I was not comfortable here and was ready for this to be over. When Mimi saw me, a look of concern spread across her face.

"Amryn, what is wrong? I was only gone for a few minutes." She rushed to pull me into her arms.

I cried on her shoulder. "I don't want to do this. Everything about this seems wrong." I sobbed, pulling away from her to hold my face in my hands. I was a wreck on my wedding day and didn't know how to get it together.

"Everything will work out as it should. You can't let this get you down. If you do, you won't go through with it. Remember, this is for your father," she affirmed.

With a scoff, I rolled my eyes. "I'm in this situation because of my father. Don't even bring him up. What kind of father is he to marry his only daughter off to a complete stranger?"

The door opened, and my father stepped in. His face held regret on it, but it was a little too late for that. It meant nothing to me.

"Mimi, may you give Am and me a moment alone, please?"

"Yes, sir," she stated and left the guest bedroom.

I wanted to tell him there wasn't anything to talk about, but I was sure he had heard what I said to Mimi before he opened the door. He stood by the door with his hands shoved into his pants pockets.

"It was never my intention to hurt you the way that I did," he started.

I waved him off. "At this point, I don't want to hear it. You did what you set out to do to save yourself. You intended to hurt me, so don't use that line on me. Then I had to break up with my boyfriend."

I turned away from him and gazed into the mirror.

I grimaced when I saw my face. My eyes were puffy and swollen from crying so much.

It was a good thing the makeup was waterproof.

If it weren't, I'd be in big trouble. I sighed as I thought about Joel.

We started talking again after the argument.

It had hurt me to break up with him, but the words he said hurt me the most. He had laughed in my face and told me I did him a favor.

Just thinking about that day, I wanted to bawl my eyes out as I did that day when I got back in my car.

After not hearing from Joel since our argument, I decided to pay him another visit.

This time, it was to let him know I couldn't be with him anymore.

I wouldn't tell him the reason as to why, but the less he knew, the better.

Joel probably wouldn't care, anyway. It had my heart breaking in two.

A year down the drain — more like a year of my life wasted.

I knocked on his door, drawing a shaky breath, not knowing what was about to greet me. I heard his footsteps coming toward the door, and I braced myself for what was to come. The door opened, and Joel stood in front of me with a scowl on his face.

I forced a smile on my face, knowing I didn't feel like it. Every time I was to come to this man's house unannounced, he had an annoying look on his face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, moving aside to let me in.

At least he was letting me inside with no problems. I'd usually have to ask him to let me in. "I think we should talk."

"Oh, hell. Here we go again," he mumbled, sucking his teeth.

I decided it was best to ignore him and get to the point of why I was there. I turned to face him, seeing that he had one of his eyebrows lifted.

"Wassup? What's the reason you are here now?"

I gazed at him, seeing that he was unbothered by why I was there.

He didn't even greet me with a kiss or even a hug.

That was something that was lacking in the relationship, too.

There was no affection of any kind. This should have been easy for me to do, but it felt so hard.

I was about to break up with my boyfriend.

With a deep sigh, I told him the reason I was here.

"I'm here to let you know that this relationship isn't getting anywhere.

I think it is best we break up." My shoulders sagged as if a weight had been lifted off of it.

Could this be a good thing or a bad thing?

From the way that it felt like a load had been lifted off of it, I didn't know what to think of it.

Joel looked me straight in my eyes and barked out a fit of laughter. My eyes widened as I stared at him, laughing at me. Was he taking me as a joke? That was what it seemed like he was doing.

I folded my arms across my chest and gazed at him, spitting fire. "I'm serious, Joel. I'm breaking up with you." I clenched my jaw muscles together as I narrowed my eyes at him. If looks could kill, I wanted him to be six feet under.

He stopped laughing long enough to wipe the moisture from his eyes. "Yeah, okay. It's all good, shawty. You just did me a favor."

I gasped and got the hell out of there. There was no way he could be serious saying that to me.

Sadly, Joel was serious since I hadn't heard from him since I told him that.

I was holding on to something that was pretty much over before it actually began.

It was safe to say no man would take me seriously because I still lived at home with my father.

It didn't even matter anymore since I was about to be a married woman.

No matter if it was a loveless marriage.

As I stared at myself in the mirror, I couldn't help but admit I was a pretty bride. The color of my dress was nude pink. It wasn't as long as I'd like it to be, but I refused to go all out on a wedding that wasn't real.

"I know there aren't any words I can say to make this better?—"

"You're right, it's not," I interrupted him. "I need to finish getting ready before it's time for me to walk out." I dismissed him.

There was nothing my father could say to me to fix what he had caused. I didn't know when I'd be able to forgive him.

Mimi came back in and gave me a sympathetic smile. It was one I didn't need. After I finished getting ready, it was time to marry me off.

"You may kiss your bride."

My eyes widened before they settled on Levi's face. His eyes were too wide. Someone cleared their throat, but we were staring at each other, not knowing what the hell to do. I didn't want to kiss this man's lips, not knowing where they were.

"Levi," someone whispered.

I felt Mimi clearing her throat behind me, too. Yeah, this was a disaster, but I knew we had to kiss each other to make this final. What I wanted to do was run the hell away from the whole thing. I stayed put, though.

Levi stepped forward, and I did as well.

He leaned forward, and I did, too. Our lips touched, and we pulled away too quickly.

Everyone started clapping their hands while Levi and I awkwardly stood there.

From the outside looking in, the people that were here probably sensed something was wrong.

Hell, they'd be right, too. Something was very wrong.

"Girl, y'all have to join hands and walk back down the aisle," Mimi whispered.

I gulped and held out my hand for him to take. Levi eyed it like it was a piece of trash but eventually took my hand. We walked down the aisle, holding hands, and they threw rice at us.

"They need to cut that shit out," he grumbled.

I didn't say anything, but that was something both of us could agree on. We made it back inside of the house. I thought we were going our separate ways, but we were stopped by many people saying, "Surprise!" I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"What the hell?" he mumbled.

I was fighting hard not to pass the hell out. This wasn't supposed to be happening. It was supposed to be small. Where did all these people come from?

"I'm going to kill my mother," he growled.

I could feel a headache forming and didn't know how to stop it from coming on. Many people came up to congratulate us. I had to smile at people I didn't even know and played nice.

"I need a drink.." I mumbled.

Levi hummed next to me, causing me to look over at him. He had me wondering if he agreed with me or not.

When I finally got a chance, I went to get a drink. The punch was good — too good. I had two cups back-to-back.

I became dizzy and nearly collided with someone. "Careful," the person said, holding onto my waist.

I turned and saw that it was my new husband. He, too, was in the kitchen. For some reason, the space now seemed small. He quickly let go of me, and I smoothed down my hair. It probably wasn't out of place, but I needed to do something with myself.

"Once everyone is gone, we're meeting my parents in their office," he stated.

I leaned against the counter and arched an eyebrow. "Uhh, why?"

He filled his cup with the juice. "For you to sign the contract and prenup."

I nodded. "Okay, cool." I was ready to get that over with.

"Damn, this is good as hell," he complimented the drink.

I smiled. "Yeah, it is. I had two cups already and nearly fell on my ass."

He chuckled. "Not a real drinker, huh?"

I shook my head. "No. I never had a reason to drink. What about you?"

"Man, I can get down when it comes to some liquor. I have it bad. It's one of the reasons my parents wanted this marriage.. to slow me down."

I lifted a brow. "How the hell is that gonna happen? I'm not gonna stop you from doing what you want to do."

He scoffed. "You couldn't if you wanted to."

I rolled my eyes. "Are you sure about that? I love a challenge."

He smirked. "And so do I."

I went to pour myself another cup of the punch. "You don't want to go there with me, but why should it matter? This isn't real."

He nodded. "It's not, so it doesn't matter."

I sipped my drink in silence. "How's this gonna work?"

Before Levi could answer, his mother came into the kitchen. She eyed us and the drinks. A smile spread on her lips. I didn't need or want her to get the wrong idea, but from the look on her face, she had formed it.

"We are ready to meet with the both of you in the office. The party will still be going on, but the lawyers are here."

Levi and I exchanged looks before he nodded. With his cup in his hand, he walked out of the kitchen. I followed behind him.

In the office, the lawyers were getting snappy with me for no reason. I didn't like it since I hadn't said anything to them but a greeting. They went over things I already knew from the start.

"I don't want any of his money. I have my own," I snapped back. They were getting on my last nerves, saying the same thing over and over. "Plus, I have a job."

They exchanged looks, but it didn't matter to me, not one bit. They were rubbing me the wrong way.

"If I'm just here to sign papers, let me sign them so I can go on about my business."

I was in need of another drink. The lawyers he had were pissing me off. Never had I ever been disrespected the way they were disrespecting me. I didn't ask for this to begin with. They better leave me alone before I air all of this out.

I stood in the corner with my arms folded without the help of anyone.

Every time I thought about what my father got me into, rage simmered through my body, putting me in a chokehold.

I hated the lawyers were treating me like some kind of groupie when this wasn't even my fault.

As much as I wanted to cry, I didn't. It wouldn't help my situation.

I glanced down at the ring on my finger and smiled. It was a nice-looking ring, too. Whoever his grandma was, she was a lucky woman to have gotten this ring.

I sighed, running a hand across my face. Thinking about everything was giving me a headache.

"We are ready for you to sign," one of the lawyers announced.

I did what was needed of me to do, and then I walked out with my head held high.

If only my father could have been here with me.

If there was a way for me to rewind time, I would.

I didn't want to be married to Levi. He seemed to be immature.

I didn't need something like that in my life.

From what I learned about men so far, they were chumps.

Joel taught me that. Knowing that Levi was a reckless man, he probably was no better.

Levi was a party animal and did reckless things.

What the hell could he offer a woman like me?

I knew I didn't have much, but I wanted genuine love.

There was no telling how long it'd take to get that.

"Come on, three years."