Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Tristan
I’d arranged to meet Dexter a little earlier than the rest of the guys.
And I’d told him to bring some engagement rings with him.
He arrived with a little panic in his eyes.
Then he closed the door to the private room that we always used and took a seat, looking at me like I was an exhibit in a museum.
“If people were going to practice dark arts, this would be a perfect spot,” I said.
Dexter was always teased for choosing this place—its deep red walls and golden sun ceiling. It was quirky and a little dark, and it suited Dexter perfectly.
“Is everything okay?” Dexter asked.
“Sure.”
He pulled out a velvet box from his pocket and laid it on the table. “I brought what you asked me to.”
I sucked in a breath. “Thanks.” If I was going to marry Parker, I needed a ring, right? Fake marriage or not, people were going to expect an engagement ring.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Well,” I said, sliding my hands down my jeans. “I’m thinking about proposing.”
“Fuck, Tristan. To who? I’ve not even heard you talk about anyone, and out of nowhere you’re marrying her?”
Before I could answer, Joshua poked his head around the door. “You two are early. I thought I’d be here on my own.” His eyes darted to the velvet box on the table. “What’s going on?”
“Tristan’s proposing,” Dexter said as Joshua sat.
I sighed. I hadn’t decided anything yet. And now I was going to have the Witches of Eastwick chipping in to tell me what they thought. I wanted to make my own decision on this. However much I loved them, my friends wouldn’t understand.
“Right,” Joshua said, clearly not believing a word of what Dexter was saying.
“I’m thinking about it. I thought seeing a ring would .
. .” I’d thought I could keep this just between me and Dexter.
That if I saw some rings, I’d either freak the fuck out and realize there was no way I could go through with Parker’s scheme, or it would be no big deal and I could do this because it would help Parker, please Arthur, and make a real difference in people’s lives.
“You thought seeing the rings would make up your mind?” Joshua asked. “Jesus, I think it should be about how you feel, not what the ring looks like.”
“These are great rings, but I agree with Joshua. You shouldn’t be deciding whether you propose by looking at rings.”
I wish I’d brought my headphones. Or not come.
It was like being pecked to death by a couple of overinvested starlings.
I pushed the box back toward Dexter. “Let’s skip this.
Forget I even asked. I wanted to meet you early so I didn’t get into this with the whole bunch of you. ” I shot Joshua a look.
“I’ll go and grab some wine for all of us. You two talk.” Joshua pushed out his chair and stood. “Then I’ll come back and you can repeat it. How about that?”
“Make sure you get the good stuff, you cheap bastard,” Dexter said as Joshua headed out. He turned back to me. “Sorry if I said something I shouldn’t have.”
“They were all going to find out soon enough anyway.” I’d invite them all to the ceremony, even if it wasn’t for real.
“So who is this woman you’re picking out rings for?”
I reached over for the velvet box and opened it. There must have been twenty rings staring back at me, but I was drawn to one immediately. A small emerald ring the same color as Parker’s eyes.
“This is pretty, right?” I looked up.
“Yes. It’s not traditional, but I love emeralds. And it’s about as good quality as you can get. The diamonds either side are the same. Not the most expensive of the rings here—not by a long shot—but really nice, just the same.”
“She wouldn’t want flash,” I replied. I picked out the ring from the box and looked at it more closely. It was small and a little quirky but pretty as hell. A lot like Parker.
“You want to tell me who she is?”
“It’s not what you think. I’m considering doing a friend a favor.”
Joshua poked his head around the door again.
“Come in. You might as well hear this from the horse’s mouth. You can be the second person to tell me I’m being an idiot.”
As Joshua poured out our wine, I began to tell them all about the auction, the date, and Parker’s proposition.
“But do you like her? Or at least want to bang her?” Joshua asked. “It could get complicated.”
If she wasn’t Arthur’s daughter, my answer would be a definite yes. But I couldn’t unlink her from the man to whom I owed so much.
“It won’t get complicated. Arthur means too much to me.”
“And he’s fine with it?” Dexter asked.
“More than fine. He’s positively encouraging me to do it.”
“And it’s just ninety days?”
“Yeah, we can split after then, although I think a divorce takes a year—We can’t get an annulment or the whole thing doesn’t work.”
“Are you okay with that?” Joshua asked.
“I’m trying to think of a reason why I wouldn’t be. You all will know. Arthur knows. I’d have to figure out something with my parents, but it’s doable. It doesn’t have to be a big deal if we don’t let it be a big deal. Right?”
“I guess,” Dexter said. “I just know that marrying Hollie felt . . . special.”
“But it doesn’t have to, right?” I asked. Just because it was one way for Dexter didn’t mean that it had to be that way for me.
“Nothing in the rule book says you have to marry for love,” Joshua said.
“Exactly, and it’s not like it’s forever. Worst-case scenario, it will be over in a year. We won’t have to live together after ninety days.”
“You have to live with each other?”
“The rules of the trust state that it has to be a proper marriage. If we don’t live together, how is that a marriage?
Anyway, as long as I keep her in bananas and chocolate-covered raisins, I think she’ll be fine.
” I grinned at her borderline obsession with the snack. I could think of worse obsessions.
“Chocolate-covered what now?”
“It doesn’t matter. Point is, she won’t be hard work to live with. She’s been staying with me the last couple days and she—”
“She’s staying with you? Why? Are you shagging?” Dexter asked.
“No. Definitely no shagging. She needed a place and—it’s not a big deal.”
Dexter and Joshua exchanged a look. It was clear they weren’t entirely approving.
I got it. They were both with women they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with.
My relationship with Parker wasn’t going to be that kind of marriage.
I was doing her a favor. A favor that had the potential to keep together families that would otherwise fall apart.
Love may be a good reason to get married, but I’d never heard of better reasons than the ones Parker and I would be marrying for.
All twenty-five million of them.