Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Asad
Hanging out with his brother was a lot easier when their parents weren’t around. He didn’t know what his mom and dad were up to this afternoon, probably some kind of preparations for the weekend, but he was glad to get the breather. Especially since he didn’t have Morgan by his side to play buffer.
Everyone was more relaxed without his parents there, including Cyrus and Anna. They were cuddled up to each other in the booth, practically cooing with little hearts floating around their heads. It was sickening but also really cute. Should he be doing that with Morgan to really sell their act?
Could be fun.
With any other woman, the idea would have sent him running, but since it was fake with Morgan, it felt like a possibility.
Not because he wanted to coo and have hearts in his eyes for a woman so much as after watching Cyrus and Anna together, he was curious what it would be like.
Granted, some of his friends acted very similarly with their girlfriends, and he’d never had that reaction before, but he’d never had a fake girlfriend he could try it out on before.
“If you two want to go get a room somewhere, I’m sure Asad and I can entertain ourselves.” Mason’s tone was dry and tinged with amusement as Cyrus and Anna played kissy-face again. Rather than taking insult, Cyrus grinned as he turned back to their cousin.
“Maybe we like an audience,” he teased, then grunted as Anna elbowed him in the side.
“Oh my God, don’t say things like that!” Anna covered her face with her hands. “They’re family. You want them to think you want your family watching us?”
The phrasing of her response was throwing him off. Asad couldn’t tell whether or not they were actually exhibitionists—was it just that they were family that she objected to or was she just worried they would take Cyrus seriously when he said he liked an audience?
He’d heard that kink had a genetic component, which was something he really didn’t want to think about, especially when it came to his parents.
One of the other Doms at Stronghold had recently found out the hard way that his parents were kinky—his dad owned the BDSM club up here in Pittsburgh, called the Outlands.
Poor Mitch hadn’t known until his dad came down to visit Stronghold to talk business with Master Patrick.
How likely was it that his brother and Anna were kinky just because he was?
Next to him, Mason shook his head.
“I could write up an entire psych profile on you two.”
“You say that about everyone.” Cyrus rolled his eyes, then turned his attention to Asad. “Though if you were going to write one up about anyone, I think it should be Asad.”
“What? Why me? I’m not interesting.” Out of all of them, he was the most normal.
Sure, his parents had been way more focused on Cyrus than him during their childhood, but it hadn’t been all bad.
He hadn’t had to overcome a deadly illness when he was just a kid, and he hadn’t gone into the army and seen the kind of shit Mason had.
Plus, Mason was way too interested in killers and what made them tick.
Asad was just a normal guy who’d gotten his GED, gone to college, gotten a job, and was now living the bachelor life. Well, and brought a fake girlfriend home to meet his family, but that was the most interesting thing about him, and they didn’t know she was a fake girlfriend.
“Because I want to know why you’re here with a woman who isn’t actually your girlfriend.”
“Excuse me?” The words popped out of his mouth as he sat up straight in his seat, his arms automatically crossing over his chest as he leaned back. Fuck. His brother knew. And had said so in front of Mason. He was so fucked.
“Oh, come on, Asad.” Cyrus’ eyes were full of something that looked a lot like pity, and it made every part of him bristle.
He didn’t like his little brother looking at him like that.
“You show up to my wedding with a woman we’ve never heard of, and you expect us to believe you’re in a serious relationship with her?
I mean, you’re doing all the right things with her, and I can tell you’re friends, but I don’t remember PDA particularly bothering you, and while you hold her hand a lot, you barely touch her otherwise. ”
“Have you considered that it might bother her?” Asad snapped back.
His phone buzzed, but he ignored it. Why he was digging his heels in instead of admitting that he’d been caught out?
Yeah, he didn’t want it accidentally getting back to his parents, and no he didn’t entirely trust Mason to be able to keep it a secret from his mother, but that wasn’t all of it.
Something about the way Cyrus had said it was putting his hackles up.
It didn’t matter that Cyrus was right.
Or maybe it made it worse that he was.
Cyrus blinked at Asad’s vehement response, as if no, he hadn’t considered that before. Next to Asad, Mason remained silent, watching both of them carefully. It was hard not to be hyperaware of his far-too-observant cousin whose focus was now on him, but Asad ignored him as best he could.
“It didn’t occur to you that maybe Morgan doesn’t want me all over her in front of my family, who she just met, especially my parents?
” Granted, he had no idea how Morgan would actually feel about that, though he was pretty sure she would have gone along with whatever he suggested. That wasn’t the point.
“Told you so,” Anna muttered under her breath, elbowing Cyrus again.
His side had to be hurting by now, even though he didn’t say anything.
He did reach under his arm to catch her elbow and pin it to his side, so she didn’t have so much leverage, but his focus remained on Asad.
He was frowning thoughtfully, but he clearly wasn’t convinced yet.
While Cyrus was thinking, Asad picked up his phone to check it. Morgan had texted to let him know she was on her way down from their room.
“She’s on her way down from the room,” he said, turning the phone back off and looking at Mason. His cousin immediately began to move out of the way to let Asad out of the booth. “If you could refrain from casting aspersions on our relationship in front of her, that would be great.”
Getting to his feet, he ignored his brother as Anna whispered something furiously to him.
Cyrus looked like he was pouting a little.
Good. He didn’t know why Cyrus being correct had gotten under his skin the way it had, but he was still full of completely unjustified indignation. And Mason was still watching him.
He hadn’t taken more than a couple steps away from the booth when Morgan walked into the bar.
As always, she looked stunning. She was dressed the same way she had been that morning, in a flirty blue dress with tiny sleeves that flared out around her knees.
It had a wide neckline but wasn’t low cut enough to show more than a hint of cleavage.
Against her auburn hair and creamy skin, the pale blue looked incredible.
Striding up to her, he pulled her against him. Her eyes widened in surprise as she tipped her head back to see his expression.
“Just go with it,” he whispered as he lowered his lips to hers for a searing kiss.
No need to fake anything. Morgan’s hands pressed against his chest, then slid up around his neck as she kissed him back.
The urge to reach down and cup her ass was there, but he ignored it.
First of all because he really wasn’t sure how she felt about full-on PDA in public—in the club was entirely different—and also because he’d just finished telling his brother that she wasn’t completely comfortable with PDA.
“Hello,” she said, eyes sparkling when he lifted his head. She kept her arms around his neck, but her gaze flickered to the side, cluing him in to the fact that someone was coming up behind him. “Miss me?”
“Of course. Poor Anna and I had to put up with Mason and Cyrus without you. Now that you’re here, we’ll outnumber them.”
Morgan laughed as he stepped back, letting go of her hold on his neck. He slid his hand around to twine her fingers through his, turning to see Cyrus coming up behind him. No longer pouting, he looked more anxious than anything else.
“Hey, Morgan,” he said, his gaze flickering back and forth between them.
“Hi.” Her reply was cheerful but didn’t invite further conversation.
Asad almost snickered. His brother didn’t know exactly how to respond to her guileless greeting.
“Sorry, but uh,”—he cleared his throat—“do you mind if I steal Asad away for a moment? Mason and Anna are right over there.” He turned slightly to point back at the booth they’d both come from.
Morgan looked up at Asad for direction.
“Go on, baby. We’ll be there in a minute.” He gave her hand a squeeze. Cyrus wanted to talk to him alone, so he’d give him that. “I’ll go get you a drink. White wine?”
“Yes, please.” Her smile was dazzling. She leaned over, going up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek before letting go of his hand and sauntering away. Her ass looked great in that dress.
Cyrus muttered something under his breath.
“What was that?” Asad arched an eyebrow at his little brother before turning to head to the bar, so Cyrus had to follow after him. He could hear Cyrus’ sigh as he had to hurry to catch up.
“I was just wishing I hadn’t said anything,” Cyrus admitted as he fell in to step beside Asad.
Raking his hand through his hair, he gave Asad a nervous side glance.
“I just… I don’t know. Anna thinks I’m upset because you showing up with a girlfriend I didn’t know about makes me feel like I don’t know what’s going on in your life at all. ”
That was fair. Though, truthfully, there was a lot Cyrus and their parents didn’t know about Asad’s life, and he preferred it that way.
But he hadn’t meant to hurt his brother’s feelings.
At least, he didn’t think he meant to, but hearing Cyrus admit to it gave him a little feeling of satisfaction he didn’t want to examine too closely.
“I don’t really talk about my relationships because I don’t want mom getting ideas in her head.” And also because he didn’t actually have relationships. He doubted his family wanted to know the details on his most recent fuck.
“But you brought your girlfriend to a family wedding? Mom is definitely getting ideas.” They reached the bar, and Asad raised his hand to catch the bartender’s attention. “She’s not even mad that this was the first she’d heard about Morgan.”
Asad shrugged because he didn’t really have a good answer for that. Thankfully, putting in the order for a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and paying for it meant he didn’t have to answer his brother right away. Cyrus was still watching him when he had his card back and the wine glass in his head.
“I figured it was better to introduce Morgan than to have mom trying to hook me up with someone when I already have a girlfriend.” That was close enough to the truth to feel realistic. “I don’t think Morgan would have taken that well.”
“Huh.” Cyrus cleared his throat as they headed back to the table. “Well. Anyway. I just wanted to say I’m sorry, and you don’t have to worry about me saying anything rude to Morgan. I like her. She seems good for you.”
Asad didn’t quite know what to say to that, so he didn’t.
He also wasn’t amused to get back to the table and find that Mason had scooted into the booth, so Morgan could sit next to him, and he was holding her hand…
completely platonically, he was admiring her nails—as if the bastard cared anything about nail polish.
“Hey,” Asad said, setting the wine down on the table and sliding into the booth next to Morgan. He reached his arm around her, pulling her against him, which had the happy side effect of pulling her hand from Mason’s. “If you want a woman, get your own. Stop touching mine.”
He was joking, but a hint of irritability had come out in his voice, enough that Mason raised his eyebrows and his hands in surrender.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Anna and Cyrus exchanging glances over his display of jealousy.
It wasn’t entirely an act. He’d always been competitive with Mason.
That was all. Mason didn’t know that his relationship was fake, so he shouldn’t be flirting with Asad’s girlfriend.
“I was just admiring her nails. They’re very pretty.”
“Uh huh.” Asad gave his cousin the dirty eyeball over the top of Morgan’s head while she snuggled into him and reached for her wine. “Planning on getting yours done sometime soon?”
“I get a manicure every other week, thank you. It’s why my hands are so soft.”
“They are very soft,” Morgan chimed in, because of course she did.
Asad shook his head and sighed.
“Are you saying I need a manicure?” he teased, settling comfortably into the seat.
It felt strangely right to be sitting there with her, Cyrus and Anna across from him.
He’d thought he was relaxed before, but he was even more so now.
Having her as a buffer really did make a huge difference for how comfortable he was.
“Oh no, I like your hands rough. I mean…” Her cheeks turned very, very pink as everyone laughed.
Anna elbowed his brother again as if to say ‘see?’ At least his soon-to-be sister-in-law was on his side.
He was going to make sure she never found out he was lying to them.
He liked Anna and didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
“Let’s talk about something else before we embarrass Morgan too badly,” Anna said, smiling kindly. “What’s everyone up to tomorrow before the rehearsal dinner? I know there’s a couple options to choose from unless you’re going out on your own.”
“Yeah, what’s with all the activities?” Mason asked. “I figured I’d have some more downtime, but every time I turn around, something’s been added to the schedule.”
Anna and Cyrus both grimaced.
“It’s the parents,” Cyrus explained. “It’s like a competition to see who’s the best host, except they’re not being cutthroat about it.”
“It’s like the nicest game of one-upmanship ever.” Anna rolled her eyes, then shrugged. “But it makes them happy. It’ll all be over after this weekend, then we can escape to our cruise and shut out the rest of the world for a week.”
Yeah, that sounded just like his parents. It was also a good ice breaker.
Relaxing in the booth, his arm around Morgan, Asad sat back and enjoyed and afternoon with his family. Later, he’d reward her for being such a great fake girlfriend. An orgasm or two should do it.