TWO LIV #2
At first, I was mad. How could they both betray me like that?
But was I really betrayed? He didn’t cheat on me.
They didn’t do anything behind my back. How could I be mad if, now I realize, I didn’t really love him?
We weren’t meant to be. While there is nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home wife and mother, it was never something I wanted to do.
Designing buildings was my dream, and if he loved me, truly loved me, he wouldn’t have asked me to change that.
“Is this awkward?” Evelyn breaks up my thoughts and stands. “Oh my God, this is awkward. Liv, I am so sorry.”
I follow suit, rising to my feet and bringing her in for another embrace. “No! No, of course not. I’m so happy for you.”
She grips me tighter before pulling back to look at me. “Good! Because I want you to be my maid of honor.”
This gives me the first genuine smile of the day. “You do?”
She nods. “Of course I do. You’re my big sister. I want you by my side at the wedding. It would mean the world to me.”
“I’d love to, Ev!”
Clapping her hands giddily, she squeals again. “Okay! So, our engagement party is this Friday on The Spirit of Norfolk. Seven o’clock, but you need to be there early for pictures.”
Furrowing my eyebrows in confusion, I ask, “The Spirit of Norfolk? Evelyn, that books out months in advance. How are you able to get the Spirit on such short notice?”
Her face turns pink. “Well, Trey and I may or may not have been planning this for a while.”
“You’ve been planning what for a while?” I step back. Their entire relationship wasn’t hidden from me, but now I feel like maybe I might have missed something. Something major.
“We’ve been engaged for six months.”
I gasp.
What the fuck?
“Six months?” I ask. “You’ve been engaged for six months and didn’t tell me?”
She shrugs, but it’s far from carefree. “We just wanted to wait. See if maybe you’d meet someone so we wouldn’t feel so bad flaunting our wedding planning in front of you, but we just couldn’t wait any longer.”
“I’m sorry.” My head shakes back and forth in disbelief. “I just don’t understand.”
“Well.” Evelyn starts, ignoring the fact that she just blew my mind, and not in a good way.
“Trey proposed on Christmas while we were at his parents’ house.
Everyone knows. We were waiting for the right time, and it just never came up.
I honestly thought you’d get a boyfriend or something by now so you could have a date for everything. ”
Anger surges through my body, but I hold it down. I won’t give her the satisfaction of getting me upset. “I’ll have a date,” I blurt out without thinking it through.
Her eyes light up like she didn’t just tell me she, in fact, betrayed me the past six months. Hid her ring, hid her planning, and hid her lies! “You’re seeing someone?” she asks, almost in disbelief.
I stand tall, embracing the lie I just told. “I am.”
“Well, you never told me you were dating a guy!” She acts offended.
I point to her ring. “You didn’t tell me you were engaged.”
Evelyn giggles and starts walking toward the door. “Touché! I guess we both have our secrets.” With her hand on the doorknob, she looks back at me. “Bring him Friday. I can’t wait to meet him.”
With those parting words, she is gone, leaving me to drown in the bullshit she just dumped on me.
I can’t believe they have been engaged since Christmas and didn’t bother to say anything.
I never thought my sister would keep something like that from me, and to say it was because she was hoping I’d be dating someone. What kind of shit is that?
My throat suddenly dries up. A lump forming so large that it’s hard to swallow.
Now I need a date. I have four days to find someone willing to escort me to an engagement party for my sister and potentially for her wedding.
I mentally go through the list of men I’ve casually seen over the past couple of years.
Besides knowing that none of them would be on board with it, I don’t want to see them either.
They are in the past for a reason. I just don’t think I have a choice.
One glance at my schedule for the day tells me that I have just over an hour before my next appointment.
I take my cell phone off the charger and start scrolling through my endless list of contacts.
Each time I come across a name of someone I think may be willing to do this for me, I write down the name on a notepad.
Fifteen minutes later, I’ve compiled a list of five names.
I walk to the door of my office and close it so Mason doesn’t hear me begging.
No, not begging, asking for help. While strong independent people don’t lie to their sisters so they don’t look like a loser, they do ask for help when needed.
Or they could’ve just told the fucking truth.
Nevertheless, I take on the task of calling them one by one. Ticking them off as I go.
David is now married.
Jude has moved to California.
Victor, a friend from high school, has a girlfriend.
Steve has changed his number.
The fifth and final guy that I might have been able to convince to help me has joined the military and is now deployed.
After crossing off the last name on my “pretend to date me for the wedding” list, I let my head fall onto the desk. I’m so frustrated. This really sucks.
A few minutes later, I pick up my coffee cup, the contents now cold, and decide I need a walk to the breakroom for a fresh cup.
I don’t normally drink anything caffeinated so close to the afternoon, but if I’m going to call my sister and tell her what a damn liar I am, then I’m going to need all the energy I can get.
When I return to my office, I find Mason smirking at his phone.
I should tell him that now isn’t the time to screw around, but to be honest, I just don’t have it in me to get into it with him.
Placing the cup of hot coffee on my desk, I take a seat and grip the list of guys in my hands, ready to roll it into a ball and throw it in the trash can, but something catches my eye.
It’s a sixth name. One I didn’t add to the list myself… Mason.
Confused, I look up to the doorway, finding my assistant leaning into it. When he stands like that, his hand in his pocket and looks like he has no care in the world, it does something to me. Butterflies begin to flutter in my stomach.
“Do you need something?” I ask, not yet putting two and two together.
He points at the white sheet I hold in my hand. “I’ll be your date.”
I laugh. A loud, boisterous laugh. I take a timid sip of my coffee. “You’re crazy, Mason. That won’t work.”
He pushes further into the office. “Why not, Liv? You need a date, and I’m willing to do it on two conditions.”
“No.”
His head cocks to the side, his brown eyes looking amused. “I don’t see why not. I’m the perfect solution.”
I lean back into my chair. “How so? We hate one another.”
“That’s completely false, Livvy.” He counters, stepping closer to my desk. “I heard it all. You need a date for the engagement party and the wedding. With that, you also need someone believable. Someone who can’t keep their hands off you. Someone you are as attracted to as they are to you.”
This earns him an even bigger laugh. “Okay, Mason. Now you’re not only crazy but you're delusional. I am not attracted to you.”
I don’t move as he walks around my desk, situating himself behind me.
A shiver runs down my spine when he whispers in my ear, “God, Liv. Every time you walk into view, I get so fucking hard. If you ever gave me the opportunity, I would destroy your pussy with my tongue.” He licks my ear. “And with my cock. You’d be ruined.”
My chest heaves up and down. His fingers begin to untwist my bun. He grabs a handful of hair and continues. “You’re trembling. Tell me I’m wrong. Say it won’t work.”
I can’t disagree. He’s right. Despite our arguing in the workplace, I know that out in public we would be believable. “Okay.”
Startling me, he stands up straight and begins to exit my office. “On two conditions.”