Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Cole
M y research on Nevada annulment procedure—which was way more complicated than I had anticipated—was interrupted by a loud banging on the door.
With a gasp, Willa looked up from her phone. She was doing her own research. Likely reaching the same conclusion about our predicament: getting out of this marriage would be a hell of a lot harder than getting into it.
“Open up, Cole.”
My gut bottomed out. Fuck. Owen was my biggest critic, and clearly, he’d heard the news.
Focusing on keeping my breath even, I headed toward the door. I grasped the handle and eyed Willa over my shoulder. “You can head back to your suite if you want to.”
Rather than scurrying off, she straightened and shook her head.
Okay, then.
The instant I’d pushed down on the handle, Owen barged inside, his face red.
“Explain yourself,” he demanded, shaking his phone at me. “Why are you pulling stunts?”
Lila appeared behind him, stepping into the room quietly, her face grave.
At the sight, I was hit with another wave of embarrassment. I’d married my ex’s best friend. During said ex’s engagement celebration weekend. I studied my hands, unable to even open my mouth, let alone come up with an explanation.
“You couldn’t let Lila and me be happy, could you? You’re jealous, so instead of standing back and doing the mature thing, you went and ruined it. And the worst part is that you dragged Willa along with you.”
I gritted my teeth. Why the fuck did he have to bring Willa into this? She had enough to deal with.
My gut churned. Of all my fuck-ups, this came close to topping them all. And for all the shitty days I’d suffered through, this one might have been the worst. Not only had I screwed things up for Willa—a genuinely kind person who’d made me feel as if I wasn’t such an embarrassment—but now my brother and ex-girlfriend hated my guts too. Excellent.
“I told you to stay away from her,” he gritted out, his nostrils flaring as he got in my face. “How on earth did you convince her to marry you?”
Just like that, the progress that we’d made these last few months evaporated. It was clear in this moment that Owen would always hate me. Not because he was marrying my ex-girlfriend, but because we were too different, and the past had imprinted too deeply on us.
I shouldn’t have even come. I should have stayed home and said no thank you. I was destined to fuck everything up and cause problems from the get-go.
“I can’t believe you.” Sneering, he shook his head.
“Owen, stop,” Lila pleaded, grasping his arm. “There has to be an explanation.”
She looked at me. Those big brown eyes pleading for me to make this make sense. Lila was too kind and trusting for her own good. Her whole life, she’d looked for the best in everyone. Especially me.
As much as Owen’s anger hurt me, her disappointment hurt so much worse.
My tongue was heavy, as if it had swollen in my mouth, making it impossible to speak. And shame, red hot and powerful, flooded my nervous system. I’d love to say I was a stranger to this sensation, but it had become all too familiar lately.
Owen paced from one side of the room to the other, his hands on his hips. “I can’t believe you. Though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Of course you’d pull a stunt like this.”
As my throat swelled and my gut burned, I lowered my head and let him fume. There was no reasonable explanation for last night. Even if it had nothing to do with Owen or Lila, I’d still gotten swept away, stupidity winning out.
I wasn’t trying to cause embarrassment or hurt. I’d only wanted to cheer up a pretty girl.
Owen stopped in front of me, his chest puffing out, and crossed his arms. “You’re a fucking disgrace,” he spat, shaking his head.
“Excuse me,” a distant voice said. The sound was so soft I could barely hear it over the string of self-loathing comments running through my mind.
I was still enshrouded in the thoughts when Willa stepped between Owen and me and poked a finger into his chest.
“You need to apologize.” Her voice was calm, but her body was tense.
Owen grunted. “This has nothing to do with you.”
I stepped to Willa’s side, ready to push Owen back if he said another shitty thing to her.
Beside me, she narrowed her eyes and pulled her shoulders back. Willa was usually kind and pleasant, but furious Willa was terrifying. Those plump pink lips pressed into a hard line, and those dark eyes were practically black with anger. “Okay,” she said, her tone eerily tranquil, “I guess I’ll have to repeat myself. Please calm down and apologize to your brother. Then we can have an adult conversation.”
Owen’s jaw went rigid, his focus locking on me. “This is between me and my brother. I told him to stay away from you. I told him to behave.”
“Behave?” Finally, irritation bled into her voice. “Do you hear yourself right now?”
Lila stepped up next to my brother. “Guys, let’s sit down.”
It was as if Owen hadn’t heard her. He was gaining momentum, already tugging at his hair, his face turning redder by the minute. “Of all the dumb shit for you to do, you had to drag poor Willa into it with you.”
I’d heard far worse, especially after my drunken vandalism spree, from my family, as well as the county judge. This kind of disappointment wasn’t new. Owen would run out of steam eventually and leave. Then I could wallow alone. It was a fairly predictable pattern, and one that I only had myself to blame for.
But before he could go on a full dad rant, Willa planted her hands on her hips and said, “It was my idea.”
Lila, who’d had her head bowed and was picking at her nails, went ramrod straight, and her gray-blue eyes went wide. “What?”
Willa grasped my hand and gave it a firm squeeze. “Cole and I have been seeing each other in secret.”
Owen’s mouth fell open, and he blinked at Willa, as if trying to make sense of this new information.
“We kept it a secret,” she continued, her lip curled in disdain as she scrutinized my brother, “for obvious reasons.”
A smarter man would speak up, tell her she didn’t have to cover for me, apologize, and set to work fixing this mess. But clearly, I was not that man. Instead, I stood, rooted to the thin carpet, while my wife of eleven hours stared down my older brother.
“We did not pull a stunt. We were not thinking about you and your precious engagement, but way to show us how self-centered you are,” she said to my brother, her tone syrupy sweet. “We got swept up in our passionate love for one another.” She squeezed my hand again, the small gesture like a life raft during a hurricane.
My mind was still spinning, my heart pounding. But with Willa at my side like this, I already felt less shitty. Not because she was lying—in fact, I hated that she felt the need to lie for me—but because she was defending me. No one ever defended me. No one ever took my side. Even if this was only for a moment and a total lie, it filled me with more gratitude than I’d felt for anyone but Debbie in years.
Lila sputtered, “So—so you two…?”
“Yes.” Holding her gaze, I picked up our joined hands and kissed the top of Willa’s. “For a few months.”
Lila nodded, her face a mask of confusion but also curiosity.
Willa shrugged, affecting a challenging expression. “Sorry if this is an inconvenience for you.” She was staring straight at Owen, who was now the one frozen to the spot. “I realize that the timing was not ideal, and that is my fault.” She peered up at me and gave me a warm smile. All for show, of course. “I’ve been in love with Cole for years, and the opportunity arose, so we took it.”
“You never told me,” Lila said softly, hurt swimming in her eyes.
Fuck, I hated myself for my role in all this. The two of them had been friends since childhood, and I was the asshole coming between them.
Willa stepped forward and hugged her friend hard. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way. But what you and Owen have is incredible. Yes, we got married last night, but we’re still here to celebrate the two of you.”
Lila hugged her back. The sight sent a pang of jealousy through me. While they were settling things, my own brother was still staring at me suspiciously.
“So,” Willa said, fixing her focus on my brother again. Her tone was friendly, but her facial expression was glacial. “Feel free to apologize for verbally assaulting my husband.”
With a jerky nod, Owen growled out a “sorry” and clutched Lila’s hand.
“We’ll see you at dinner,” Willa said, threading her arm through my elbow and leaning against my bicep.
As the door shut behind them, we stood, frozen, waiting for their footsteps to fade down the hallway.
When the room was deadly silent, I turned to her. “What was that?”
Her cool fa?ade instantly crumbled, and she covered her face with her hands. “I don’t know why I did that. I was so mad. The way he was talking to you pissed me off.” She stomped her foot for emphasis.
I had to bite back the smirk threatening to overtake me. She really was gorgeous when she was angry.
“He spoke to you like you were a—”
“Loser?” I interrupted. “The family shame? Not his real brother?” I had no idea why I was baring all my deep insecurities, but the woman had just gone to bat for me in a huge way, so what the hell?
It was strange, to have an ally like this. When it came down to it, my brothers would always side with Owen. He was the responsible, reasonable one. He commanded respect.
I was the runt, the leftover, the half brother. And after this morning, I had no doubt that all the progress we’d made over the last few months was slipping away. I had nothing and no one, and I only had myself to blame for it.
She crossed her arms over her ample chest—even in this moment of upset, I couldn’t help but notice how ample—and glared at me.
“Cut that shit, Cole. We got into this mess together, and we’ll get out of it together. Owen can suck an egg.”
A laugh rumbled through me unexpectedly. I hadn’t heard that expression in years. “But we still have to get the marriage annulled. Or get divorced or whatever. Deal with the legal stuff.”
Pressing her lips together, she studied my face for a moment. Then she waved a hand. “We will, of course.”
The pause made my heart skip a beat. The reaction confused me, but it was hard to deny that I wanted to spend more time with Willa. Get to know her. Maybe even become friends. Because she was fucking awesome.
How the hell had I never noticed before?
“But in the meantime,” she said, “no one treats you like that and gets away with it. Got it?”
“I’m used to it. Everyone hates me,” I admitted. “For what happened with Lila and then how badly I behaved after…” I trailed off, not in the mood to recite my rap sheet again.
She narrowed her eyes. “What happened with Lila? That’s not fair. You were wrong for each other, and you both made mistakes.”
Huh. That was unexpected. I was used to being the asshole who broke the heart of the sunshine beauty queen. She broke up with me, but that didn’t stop the town gossips from spreading the word of my misdeeds.
“Thank you for saying that.”
She nodded. “I get it. You wanted different things. Lila told me everything. About how you really want kids and she doesn’t. So while you hurt my best friend, and I’m allowed to be mad at you for that, I can’t hate you. Relationships end, people move on, and hopefully, we all learn something in the process.”
Chastised but also a little amused, I nodded.
“And—” Now she was poking me in the chest. I was easily a foot taller than her, but clearly, my size didn’t intimidate her. “I can’t believe you stood there and let Owen speak to you like that. You tower over him. You could take him out with one punch.”
“I’m not a fighter,” I said, spreading my arms. Even as a kid, I was huge. Everyone had always been afraid of me, on and off the ice. But I’d never been a violent or aggressive guy. Maybe if I had been, I’d have had a longer pro career.
Head tilted, she smiled. “Good. Toxic masculinity is such a turn-off.”
Heat crept into my cheeks at the comment and the way she assessed me. This conversation had taken an interesting turn.
“Really?” I said, taking a step toward her. “And what are your turn-ons?”
She spun and strutted toward the bedroom, her ass swaying in the fluffy robe. “Stop flirting, Hebert,” she called over her shoulder. “We’ve got damage control to do. Now order more coffee from room service. I’ve got to work up the courage to call my parents.”