My Stupid Manwhore Husband Who Doesn’t Deserve Me
MY STUPID MANWHORE HUSBAND WHO DOESN’T DESERVE ME
PAIGE
Micah
Taylor
Be there or we will drag you by your pretty blonde hair.
Lottie
Why do you have to always get so violent, Tay?
Micah
I’ve been teaching her my ways.
Do I have a choice?
Taylor
No.
Micah
Absolutely not.
Lottie
We are overdue for the story, P.
I climbed into Lottie’s truck and buckled up before she took off down the two-lane country road in the direction of downtown Ashton Creek.
Taylor was Lottie’s age in school, but we grew close over the years since every time Lottie had plans, she invited me to tag along.
She was the sweetest person I’d ever met in my life, and she looked the part.
Her shoulder-length chestnut hair was always sun-kissed and curled, and she never met a floral sundress she didn’t love.
Taylor was there if you needed a shoulder to cry on or reasonable advice, and she was always the peacekeeper to break up fights between Lottie and me.
Taylor went to college in Washington, which is where she met Micah.
They were roommates their freshman year, and while Micah decided to drop out after that year, they remained best friends.
They lived together in Seattle for a few years after Taylor graduated before they both moved in with their boyfriends.
Micah came home to visit with Taylor during their first school break and the girl group was born. Now, every time Taylor came home, she brought Micah with her.
The drive to Taylor’s was mostly silent as music played in the background.
Lottie hadn’t said she was mad at me—but she really hadn’t said much at all since I got home yesterday.
It was out of character for my incredibly bold and outspoken sister.
I could usually read Lottie like a book, but for once I couldn’t tell where her head was at.
Taylor and Micah swung the door open before we even knocked and tackled us both in hugs.
“Come on, we have drinks,” Micah announced before grabbing us by the wrists and dragging us both inside.
Micah Shaw was one of the feistiest girl I’d ever met.
While Taylor was the girl you wanted to cry to about your breakup, Micah was the girl who would slash your exes tires and leave no evidence.
She also looked incredibly out of place in our group.
She had jet black hair, tattoos up her arms and legs, and piercings all over her body.
When the girl put on a cowgirl hat and boots, I swore the cowboys looked like they were going to cream their pants.
Micah dragged us into the kitchen where she had martini glasses lined up with bright pink liquid in it.
“I call it The Pink Paige.” She smiled, handing us each a glass. I took a small sip and hummed as the sweet strawberry flavored gin lit up my taste buds.
“I feel honored to be the subject of your latest concoction.” I smiled warmly at my friend.
Lottie, Taylor, Micah, and I were sort of known for our girls’ nights.
Micah was a bartender in Seattle and she was always trying out new drinks on us.
On more than one occasion, they were so strong the guys had to come to our rescue.
Cash had dragged me out of this house more times than I cared to admit.
Maybe it was weird to always call him, but my brothers were protective.
When I needed a ride or someone to lean on, it was easier to call Cash.
I knew without a doubt that he would show up every time.
Cash and I would argue and tease each other, but when it came to my safety he never passed judgment.
“Okay, enough small talk. Tell us about the boy,” Taylor clapped as she settled onto a stool at the kitchen island, cupping her drink. She glanced around the room and smiled. “You know…this is giving me déjà vu to last summer.” She laughed.
Last summer when Lottie brought Owen home for the first time, we had a girls’ night where we all grilled her about her new, mysterious fiancé.
We didn’t know it at the time, but it turned out that Lottie and Owen had constructed this whole fake engagement so Lottie wouldn’t be pressured to get back together with her gross childhood sweetheart.
In the time they spent convincing everyone that their fake engagement was completely legit, they fell in real love.
I was shocked when I found out that Lottie and Owen were old friends who hadn’t talked in over a decade.
She spontaneously dragged the virtual stranger up to Montana to meet her entire family.
It hurt that she felt like she couldn’t tell me the truth before it all blew up. She couldn’t trust me with that secret.
I guess it worked out for some people—the secrets and lies.
I took a moment to settle my nerves and faced my friends.
“We just kind of realized we had always been in love but we were afraid to tell everyone. I mean, Walker punched Cash in the face, so the assumption that people would be angry was right.”
“And?” Taylor gestured for me to continue.
I shrugged. “We didn’t see a point in waiting. Neither of us wanted a wedding really,” I lied. “So we figured why not just do it?”
Micah laughed out loud before taking a sip of her drink. “You’re kind of wild for that, P.”
“I just knew you guys liked each other,” Taylor gushed.
The girls had teased me for years about the suspected crush I had on Cash.
They used to insist that our fighting was some form of fucked-up foreplay.
They weren’t questioning my stories because they loved knowing they were right.
To them, this entire marriage was inevitable.
But, there was one person in the room that I feared could see through my bullshit.
I risked a glance at Lottie, who was suspiciously quiet. Lottie was the type who could never keep her opinions to herself. She was bold and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind so her silence was a bad sign.
“What was with you guys hating each other, though? You really sold that for sure,” Taylor asked.
“It’s weird, right?” Lottie piped up suddenly, looking at Taylor and Micah, but avoiding my eyes. “I mean, to go to such extremes to lie to your family about hating the guy you’re in love with is weird.”
“Say what’s really on your mind, Lo.”
If she wanted to have it out, then we just needed to do it. I couldn’t handle the silence and passive aggressiveness anymore.
“You could have told me,” she spat.
“I couldn’t tell anyone.”
“You lied to me for an entire year.” The hurt in my sister’s eyes broke my heart.
I hadn’t lied to her for a year, but I sure as hell was lying to her now.
“I didn’t lie, exactly. Cash pisses me the fuck off like ninety percent of the time.”
Taylor laughed at that, but Lottie’s face remained serious as she asked, “When did you get married?”
This was it. This was the moment that the full truth was actually going to break my sister’s heart.
“In Vegas,” I whispered.
“What?” Lottie sputtered as she blinked in surprise.
Micah and Taylor whipped their heads to me. Everyone had assumed we went to a courthouse and got married in front of a judge in some hick town on our rodeo tour, but no one had actually asked us where we tied the knot.
“We got married in Vegas,” I said with a little more confidence because it was one of the only truths I had.
Micah placed four shot glasses on the counter and uncorked the bottle of gin, pouring up the shots and shoving them in front of us. She read the explosive tension in the room and knew this conversation was going to need something strong.
I picked mine up quickly and threw it back. I needed all the courage I could get.
Lottie took her shot and gestured for another, taking it before placing the glass down and looking at me with a terrifying anger in her eyes. I wanted to shrink away and say it was all a lie. I wanted to save our relationship that was quickly deteriorating in front of my eyes.
“Which night in Vegas?” Her voice was so quiet it was practically lethal.
I swallowed hard. “The first night.”
“You’ve got to me fucking kidding me.” She laughed maniacally. “The night you ditched us to hook up with a stranger, you actually married Cash?”
I nodded as she hit the nail on the head.
Lottie laughed harder, but there was no joy behind it. I think she might’ve been having a nervous break.
“There was a creepy guy at the club who tried to drag me away. I was upset so I called Cash. We went out to a country bar and got consumed by the moment. It wasn’t premeditated, I promise.” I was pleading, throwing my truths out there like a lifeline.
She wouldn’t look at me. My words about it being a spontaneous decision weren’t being heard through the roaring anger brewing inside of her.
“I fucking defended you. I told everyone that you were just young and got lost in the moment by recklessly getting married, but the entire time you were only thinking about yourself. Just like you always do.”
“That’s not true. It was one reckless moment. That doesn’t define who I am.” I could feel the tears forming behind my eyes.
“Oh? It doesn’t? You didn’t disappear during my bachelorette party to marry your secret boyfriend and then lie about it?”
“I mean, I did, but—”
“No”—Lottie held up her hand—“no more fucking excuses. I thought we told each other everything.”
“Like you told me about Owen last summer?” I snapped back at her.
“That was different!” Lottie shouted as she stood, picking up her drink.
“Please, tell me how that was different?”
“Owen and I weren’t dating. We were going to be here for a month and then break up. None of it was real.”
“And if I came to you and said I was dating Cash, what would you have said?”
Taylor and Micah remained silent as their eyes bounced between Lottie and me at a rapid pace like they were watching a tennis match.
“I would’ve said I love him but he’s a fucking manwhore who tortured you for years. He doesn’t deserve you.”
“Exactly. So why would I say anything? No one would understand.”
“I would have learned to be okay with it.”
I laughed at her. “You would have learned? Answer this: when was the last time you or anyone else asked me about a boy? When was the last time any of you asked if I was dating?”
The three of them went deathly silent.
“No one has ever given a shit about what I’m doing or who I’m doing it with—except Cash. He has always cared.”
“I care,” Lottie said defensively. “You just never mentioned any guys so I figured if there was an important one then you would tell me.”
“And why do I always have to volunteer it for you to take an interest?”
“That’s not what I meant.” She shook her head.
“Yes it is, Lo.”
“I don’t know what you want from me, Paige. I have my own life and I’m busy. I don’t have time to ask pointless questions.”
I scoffed. “Exactly my point. It’s always about you and anything about my life is pointless because it doesn’t compare to Lottie.
Lottie is moving to LA. Lottie is going to get married.
Lottie is going to take over the ranch properties.
Lottie is going to have babies and be the legacy of the Brooks family. ”
“You think I wanted all of that?” she shouted. “I took all the criticism so you could be young and stupid with no consequences. You could have a childhood because I took all of the pressure.”
“Yeah, that’s why you moved away and started a new life without looking back.”
“I didn’t have a choice!”
“You may not have before, but you sure as fuck did last summer. You fell in love—I understand that—but you chose his life and his family over your own. Over me.”
Lottie opened her mouth like she was going to say something but closed it.
I shook my head, tears freely streaming down my face.
“I’m done. You go back to your fancy new life with your perfect new family. Stay out of mine with my stupid manwhore husband who doesn’t deserve me.”
I grabbed my purse and stormed to the front door. I could hear Taylor and Micah calling after me but I ignored them as I swung the door open and let it slam behind me.