Chapter 21
Run – what happens when you’re a scaredy-cat
Chloe
I wake surrounded by the smell of sex and an arm banded around my waist. This is a first. Usually, when I have sex, I skedaddle before the cuddling can begin. I am not a cuddler.
Except I’m literally lying in a bed with Lucas’s arm around me while he spoons me from behind. And I am as close to him as I possibly can be.
Lucas has the ability to cause me to make decisions I would never usually make. Such as sleeping with my fake husband who I want to be a real husband.
I slap a hand over my mouth to stop my gasp from being audible. I want Lucas to be my real husband. Holy mermaids in the ocean. I’m falling in love with Lucas.
This is unacceptable. I can’t fall in love with my husband. This is fake and he doesn’t want anything real. He made that perfectly obvious when he made me agree sex wouldn’t change our relationship last night.
Maybe I can change his mind. Maybe I can turn on all the charm and convince Lucas to give me a chance.
Except I can’t. Lucas is the kind of man who will want more children. And I will never have children.
Damnit, Chloe. I’ve been in some shitty situations before, although the time I got stuck in the cave without any clothes was totally not my fault, but this is the worst. The absolute worst.
There’s only one thing I can do.
Run.
I lift Lucas’s arm and scooch out from underneath him. He grunts before rolling over. Phew.
I tiptoe toward the door gathering my clothes as I go. Thank goodness Natalia is at a sleepover. I wouldn’t want her to catch me doing the walk of shame naked down the hallway. She’d be scarred for life.
No matter how much she claims to want me and her dad to get together. Sex between your parents is always icky. I assume. I wouldn’t know since my dad disappeared before I could form memories.
I debate not showering, but I can smell the sex on my skin. I shower as fast as I can before throwing on clothes and hurrying out of the house.
I wish I could say I’m exaggerating but I’m gasping for breath by the time I start cycling toward Five Fathoms Brewing. I don’t have any other choice. I can’t get attached to a man who doesn’t want me. I know how it feels to have a mother who doesn’t want you. I couldn’t pick my mom, but I can pick my man.
The brewery is locked up tight when I arrive. Probably because it’s Saturday morning and the offices are closed. The bar and restaurant will be open later for lunch and dinner, which is my excuse for being here.
I’m finishing up the payroll when the door bursts open and Sophia, Nova, Maya, and Paisley tumble inside.
“What are you doing here? It’s Saturday.”
Sophia snorts. “What are we doing here?”
“It wasn’t a rhetorical question.”
Nova smiles. “But it was kind of silly. You know why we’re here.”
My brow wrinkles. “I do?”
Paisley sighs. “Addy phoned. She said you were being bitchy to clients.”
“I haven’t been bitchy to clients. I’ve been in this office doing paperwork.”
“You didn’t tell a client you were going to shove him off the cliffs at Mermaid Mystical Gardens? ” Nova asks.
I wave away her question. “It was a misunderstanding. He called me a witch and asked me where my broom was. I told him if he wants to fly, he can fly off a cliff.”
“You can’t be mean to clients no matter if they’re jerks or not,” Sophia declares.
“I…” I pause when Maya sniffs me. “What are you doing?”
“I’m examining the beard rash on your neck. I wonder how far down it goes.” She reaches for my shirt but I bat her away.
“Don’t start seeing romance where it doesn’t exist.”
“I happily admit to being a romantic, and this romantic especially enjoys the sexy, smutty scenes and can spot beard rash a mile away.” She points at me. “You had sex with Lucas.”
Nova claps. “Yes! I knew Lucas was perfect for her.”
“Calm your tits, Ms. Sunshine and Ms. Romantic. Nothing’s changed between us.”
Sophia points at me. “But you did have sex.”
“Sex is sex. We agreed it wouldn’t change our relationship.”
Maya rolls her eyes. “Sex always changes a relationship.”
“In a good way,” Nova sings.
“Actually,” Paisley begins.
Sophia holds up her palm. “No. No statistics about relationships going sour because of sex or whatever nerd fact you’re going to pull out of your ass.”
Paisley’s nose wrinkles. “I do not keep facts in my ass.”
“We should go out to celebrate,” Nova suggests and everyone nods in agreement.
“The Bootlegger Escape Room festival is this weekend. Whoever escapes the fastest, drinks free for the rest of the night. Who’s in?” Sophia asks and everyone except me raises their hand.
“I am not celebrating having sex with Lucas.”
Maya huffs. “We’re not celebrating you having sex. We’re celebrating the beginning of your love story.”
I feign gagging. “No love for me. Just banging. Lots and lots of banging.”
“Does this mean you’re going to give us details about Lucas?” Sophia pulls me out of my chair and drags me to the door. “I want to know everything.”
“I’m not giving you details.”
“Please,” Maya begs. “The book I’m reading is a clean romance. I didn’t realize there was no sex in it at all. But now I’m halfway through and I have to finish it. I feel as if I’ve gone celibate.”
“You should watch porn,” Paisley suggests.
I screech to a halt. “What did you say?”
“She should watch porn.” Paisley glances around at our group of friends, all of whom have their mouths hanging open. “Why is everyone surprised? Women can watch porn.”
I groan. “Someone stop her before she goes on a feminist rant.”
Nova grasps Paisley’s hand. “We realize women can watch porn, sweetie. The thing we’re confused about is you watching porn.”
Paisley wrenches her hand away. “Being a nerd does not mean I don’t have sexual needs and desires. In fact, sexual satisfaction—“
“Nope.” I slap a hand over her mouth. “I’m not listening to a scientific lecture about sex. It’ll ruin my post sex high.”
My post sex high evaporated the second I realized I was falling for Lucas, but I am never ever admitting my feelings to my friends. Maya would have a honeymoon booked before I had the chance to explain Lucas doesn’t want what I want out of our ‘marriage’.
“I love this!” Maya shouts. Several people in the parking lot look over and her face darkens until her cheeks are red. “Sorry,” she whispers.
“I knew we’d be the fastest through the escape room,” Sophia says when we enter Rumrunner later.
The Bootlegger’s Escape Room was a combination of figuring out bootlegger trivia and drinking shots of moonshine. Between Paisley’s knowledge of all things and us growing up on moonshine, we were unbeatable.
We find a table and collapse in it. We might have been raised on moonshine, but those five shots are hitting us hard.
“Shots for the winners.” The owner of the bar, Harper, slams a tray down on the table. “You know the escape room festival was intended for tourists.”
Sophia leans to the side as she attempts to shrug. “They didn’t make a rule saying we couldn’t.”
“I reviewed the rules in detail,” Paisley announces.
Nova tries to slap her shoulder and ends up hitting her boob. “Oops. Sorry. What cup size are you hiding under those oversized shirts?” Nova lifts up Paisley’s shirt but Paisley shoves her out of the booth.
“I’m okay!” Nova yells from the floor where she’s now sprawled. “Nothing hurt.”
“Harrumph.” Maya snort-snores from the corner of the booth where she’s slumped over asleep.
“Maybe you don’t need any more shots.” Harper draws the tray away, but I stop her.
“Nova and Maya drank extra shots so Paisley could keep her mind clear,” I explain.
“It wasn’t against the rules,” Paisley volunteers when Harper glares at her.
Harper sighs. “Smuggler’s Hideaway should know better than to have any loopholes in the rules of a festival with the five of you around.”
I throw my hands in the air. “Because we are the champions.”
Harper shakes her head. “Your poor husbands.”
“I’m not married,” Sophia shouts after her.
“As good as,” Harper yells back.
Sophia grins. “It’s true. I’m as good as married to Flynn. He’s stuck with me for life.”
Lucky her. I am married but my husband wants nothing to do with me. Except have sex and pretend nothing’s changed between the two of us. How can nothing be changed after what we experienced together? Or is he used to having awesome sex?
“Is someone going to help me up?” Nova asks from where she’s still sprawled on the floor.
Paisley helps Nova to her feet and gets her settled in a chair.
“It’s not the moonshine,” Nova claims. “It’s the speed of the moonshine.”
“We had to be fast or else we wouldn’t have won,” Sophia says.
“Uh huh,” Nova mumbles before she slumps over.
“Maybe we should get these two home,” Paisley suggests.
“Let them be. They’re perfectly fine.” I hand out shots giving me and Sophia two glasses to Paisley’s one. “To smugglers, bootleggers, rumrunners, and the mermaids who loved them!”
“To the smugglers!” The rest of the bar joins in as I down my two shots. “Do you ever wonder why a speakeasy is called a speakeasy? The speaking is easy. Finding it is the hard part. Why wasn’t it a hardtofind? Sounds better to me.”
“I like it,” Sophia says. “It makes sense.”
“It makes sense because you’ve been drinking moonshine all day,” Paisley says.
Harper arrives and sets another tray of moonshine shots down on our table. “Courtesy of the boys over there.” She points to a table of men on the other side of the room. “I explained you’re drinking for free but they insisted.”
I stand. “I guess I better go thank them personally.”
Sophia latches onto me. “No, don’t go. Lucas won’t appreciate you talking to strange men in a bar.”
I push her off of me. “Lucas won’t care because nothing’s changed.”
Lucas and I aren’t a real couple. No matter how many times he rocked my world last night. No matter how I woke up feeling safe and protected in his arms.
No matter how much I want otherwise.