Wife Unwanted (Corrupt Vows #2)

Chapter 17

Thalia

"THALIA HAWTHORNE!" THE officer filling the door darted her gaze into the jail cell. I was standing in the corner behind three skimpily dressed women and I thrust myself forward before she closed the cell again. The officer looked me up and down. "Thalia Hawthorne?" I nodded. The cop jerked her head to the side. "Your lawyer is here. You're free to go." I raised my eyebrows. I didn't call a lawyer. In fact, I didn't make a call at all. I was too worried sick thinking about who I should call, Carey wasn't an option, to even place one at all. He wouldn't help and if he were to come, it would be to laugh in my face and probably to tell the police to throw away the key.

"I-I don't have a lawyer," I said, wondering if there was a mistake.

The woman shrugged and led me out of the cell. As I shuffled past the other cells, I looked for my friend. The police put Darcy and me into different cells, so maybe she called her lawyer and asked to represent me too?She wasn't in any of the cells I passed by. When I reached the front, I saw her. She was with Hugh… and Carey.

Hugh was hugging her and looking her over like she was a child he had lost and found. Carey was staring at me the entire time I made my way to him, his face blank. I approached him, trying to formulate an excuse, but when Darcy saw me, she rushed over to hug me. "I'm so sorry!" she said in my ear.

"You called him?"

Darcy nodded and shrugged. "He's the only lawyer I knew."

Somehow, I found that to be unlikely. I turned to Carey, and he immediately grabbed my hand, wresting me off of Darcy. "We need to get you home." He sounded like a disapproving father. I flashed a weary smile to Hugh, who waved at me as Carey practically dragged me out of the police station. His grip was what told me he was angry. It was hard and punishing. He dragged me to his waiting Mer?edes and opened the passenger door.

"My things!"' I said to him as I got into his car. Carey went over to the driver's side, opened the door, and threw something to the back seat. "There." It was my purse. I didn't ask if I my phone was in there, afraid to anger him further. He started the engine and drove off at a speed higher than usual. We arrived at the apartment in silence. I didn't know what to say. I felt embarrassed. Like a teenager caught drinking by her father.

It was when we entered the apartment that I finally spoke. "I'm sorry." He had his back to me as he closed the door. I was fidgeting with my purse, looking anywhere else but at him.

"Shoplifting? Seriously!" He turned to face me and crossed his arms.

"She told me she paid! I would have paid if I knew. She handed it to me, thinking she had paid." Darcy and I had gone into a bodega looking for something to eat. We left Darcy's chauffeur after the concert and walked around the city having fun. Nothing insane. Just going into stores, trying out outfits and hanging around. We got hungry and went to a bodega. One she picked, in hindsight. I bought a bag of chips while she went to the back to look for a bottle of wine. I paid first and waited for her outside. She came out and handed me the wine to hold. That's when I heard someone calling us, and we ran. A cop just so happened to be in the bodega, and he chased us down. And that's how my dumbass got arrested for the first time.

"Yeah well, it's not as if I didn't tell you about Darcy."

That he did. Darcy was extremely apologetic in the cop car. It was a bad habit she was trying to break; she told me. It wasn't even the first time she had stolen in that store, apparently."She's trying to change."

He scoffed. "Is that what she said?"

I didn't know what else to say without sounding defensive. Truth be told, he knew Darcy longer than me, and probably felt he was right in disbelieving her, but I felt like had known her on a deeper level. Darcy and I spent so much time together in the past few days that I now felt like I had known her forever. "I believe her."

"Believe her or not, she's got you a misdemeanor charge."

I'm probably going to court for that, and all this might end up getting to Carey's father. Who knows how he would react? His perfect daughter-in-law with a shoplifting charge. That would ruin the image he was crafting. "Your father is going to find out, isn't he? I'll call him and explain."

"You're not going to do that," Carey said forcefully.

"I'm sure he will understand if I explain it to him before it comes out. I mean, I am going to have to go to court."

"You won't be going to court."

"Why not?"

He sighed and raked his hands through his hair. "The charges have been dropped. For the both of you. I had to call in a favor from a friend. So don't worry, your little escapade has been buried."

I couldn't imagine that he did it for me. I was sure Carey would let me rot and suffer the consequences of my actions, but he had done the opposite. "Thank you."

Carey jerked his shoulders. "You're a Hawthorne now. Perks of being part of the family."

"I am soo sorry," Darcy said for what was at least the fourth time during our conversation at lunch the following week. The lunch itself was an apology gift, and so was the spa treatment we were coming from. Each apology was accompanied by a statement about how she's trying to stop and that she never meant to get me in trouble. Or that she didn't think we would get caught. She kept over explaining herself, but skirting the actual issue, and at some point I had to ask.

"Why shoplifting? You can afford the bottle of wine. Hell, the entire store if you wanted."

She pinched her forehead. Wincing, she said, "My therapist says it's a ploy to get attention." She closed her eyes. "That I secretly want to get caught. It all stems from the child neglect I experienced as a child."

"What? Your parents didn't love you enough."

She scoffed. "If they were around. I was raised by nannies and my mother was never there. I mean, she was there, but she would always be in another room. Planning some party or hosting said party. As for my father, he wasn't barely there. And when he was, he was well kinda abusive."

"Oh, Darcy."

"I know, poor me, right? I get it, I'm privileged. But you don't feel the privilege when that belt is spanking your legs."

I extended my hand over the table, took hers, and squeezed it.Everything about her has always seemed so perfect and fun. I've never thought she was a victim of abuse or that her life was so lonely growing up.

"Don't feel sorry for me," she added. "My life is better than most people. Trust me, I know." She withdrew her hand and picked up her cutlery, as well as a chipper tone. "Enough about me. What about you?" she leaned in conspiratorially. "What about Carey? How did he take it? He looked downright livid when he came to the station."

"He hasn't spoken to me since."

Darcy's eyes widened. And I realized I might have let more than I wanted to slip. It was normal in our marriage for us to not speak for three days or more. A week was the most we had gotten through without communicating, but to me it was understandable, considering what I had done and the strings he pulled on my behalf. "It's fine. That's just how we are."

Darcy's interest piqued. "You're a year into your marriage and it is normal for you two not to speak to each other for a week ?"

Oh shit. "Yeah. I mean, we've known each other for a long time and that's how it is sometimes."

"Uh… Take it from someone who's been in four marriages. When your partner isn't speaking to you and you're still in the early days, there's something wrong that you need to fix pronto. Otherwise, it will grow into a mountain you can't climb."

"It's fine. Carey can be a little stubborn. I am sure he'll come around."

"Tell me at least you're doing it." She stabbed her fork into bits of salad as she spoke. "If he leaves your bed, that's when you really need to worry."

I took a little too long to respond.

Darcy paused mid chew. She washed her salad with her mimosa and tilted her head. "You are having sex, right?"

Again, I took too long to respond. I didn't want to lie to her, especially after she had been open and vulnerable with me. But I wasn't sure if I should tell her the truth. Defeated, I shook my head.

"That's not good," she said.

"It's not what you think. Our marriage, that is."

Darcy took another sip of her drink and placed it slowly on the table. "I'm listening."

"Carey and I are in a sort of…" I couldn't find the right words, "…arranged marriage."

"Arranged marriage. Like what? Both of your parents agree you two get married without your consent."

"Not exactly. Carey's father is grooming him for political office and he approached me. He thinks I would make a good politician's wife. Scandal free. From the right background, his words not mine, and pretty but not two beautiful. Again his words." I left out the part about the payment for my mother's medication. I was still too embarrassed to admit that I agreed to marry Carey for money, essentially.

"Huh." Darcy nodded.

"You don't seem that surprised."

"In this town, in these circles, nothing surprises me. There are plenty of 'arrangements', as you call them. Most to solidify business relationships. But I don't know." Her eyes narrowed as though she was working out something about me. "I had always thought you two were the real deal. If you've been fooling the world the entire time, y'all are doing a bang-up job at it."

I couldn't help but smirk, feeling a little proud of our ruse. "Thanks."

She frowned. "So you two aren't even…" she tapped her fork and knife together at the ends.

How would I even explain that part of our relationship? We've had sex before the marriage and after the marriage. But all the circumstances were different. Especially the times we had sex in the marriage. I still don't know why we did it at his father's greenhouse. For him, it was about control and regaining some of that. And for me? Fuck. I just wanted him inside me again and I would take whatever crumbs thrown my way, shameful as that was.

I went with the simple response. I shook my head.

Darcy's eyes bugged out. She shook her head. "I would never have guessed. I mean, the way he looks at you. Are you sure he doesn't want some of that?" she pointed at me with her knife.

"Trust me, he doesn't. We sleep in separate rooms. We barely talk. It's almost like we're roommates, in a way."

She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her chin. "I don't know. I think he kinda likes you. The way he looks at you…"

"And how does he look at me, exactly?"

"Like he wants to fuck you. It's hard to imagine he doesn't want to get you into a room and fuck you senseless."

I chuckle in disbelief. Every time I have caught him staring, I see revulsion in his eyes. Sometimes disappointment. Rarely lust. "I will compliment his acting then. Trust me, whatever you're seeing, it's all for show."

Darcy looked like she was about to rebut me, but then she shrugged and changed the subject. I felt a little lighter after telling someone else. We changed subjects and chatted about the food and other things, like the next event Darcy was invited to. I wondered if she ever tires of all the parties, fundraisers and galas. Darcy looked at me as though I had two heads and simply said, "That's how it's always been, I guess."

"So you and Carey," Darcy said after we were done eating. "If you don't have sex, are other people invited?"

"You mean affairs?"

She nodded.

"We can both have affairs as long as we are discreet. Do it with someone who won't sell the story to the press. You know that sort of thing."

"Oh. Oh, well, that makes a lot of sense then." Her face washed with relief that only made me anxious.

"What do you mean?"

"Uh. It's probably nothing, but you said it's fine, right?"

"Darcy?"

She glanced at a spot beyond me, then back to me as though finally committing to what she was going to say. "You know Gemma. She lives in my apartment building. And a few days ago, I saw your husband coming out of our apartment building. I was going in. He didn't see me and, I was kinda hiding from him, but it was him I saw."

My heart clenched as I listened to Darcy. It shouldn't matter to me he saw Gemma. They were friends, right? However much I tried to not see it as a big deal, it was hard not to be bothered by it.

"I mean, you said they are friends. Maybe he was just visiting."

"Yeah totally. And like you said, it doesn't matter right, your relationship is unique."

"They must be really close."

"Rumor has it they dated once upon a time, but I never believe in rumors."

But the problem with rumors is that most usually had a kernel of truth in them.