Page 34 of Riding the High

VIXEN

Nope. Picked some real winners didn’t I?

It’s okay, they always said it wouldn’t last.

I watch as text bubbles pop up, then disappear, then pop up again.

VIXEN

But seriously, thank you, Cole.

For what?

VIXEN

Sorting all this out. If I had to accidentally marry anyone, I’m glad it was you. PICs still?

Always, Vixen

I finish folding my laundry and try to figure out how she’s never been on a date—she always seemed to have a boyfriend. But they were short-term and, like she said, they weren’t exactly banner choices, and fuck, now we’ve gone and gotten married? How could I let this happen? I set my phone down, breathing out a sigh. I lean back against the sofa and close my eyes. Exhausted doesn’t even cover how I feel right now after the last two days.

Tomorrow I’ll get the process started. Tomorrow everything will go back to normal. Tomorrow I can stop thinking about the way her silky skin felt under my hands.

But tonight? I just want to remember.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Cole

“What do you mean, ‘don’t get it annulled’?” I ask, completely baffled as to why Bev would suggest I stay married.

“Because I don’t actually think you can annul it, at least not as easily as you think.”

She waits for me to speak up. I don’t. Instead, I take my hat off and place it on my knee.

She leans forward, pressing on. “Because you would be lying, kid. There’s no way you got that drunk, got married and kept it in your pants. Sorry.” Bev says all this in a whisper even though her office door is shut. She leans back in her chair, and folds her arms over her chest, her short white hair shining under the fluorescent lights.

“Fuck sakes,” I say, taking a sip of my water.

“I haven’t always been old, okay? The town is small and nobody ever stops talking. I hear things too,” she says, looking coy.

I pick up my buzzing phone. It’s Brent, so I silence it. He’ll just call me back in an hour anyway. I’m lucky if a day goes by where he doesn’t call me ten times. I look back at Bev.

“You didn’t deny it. So, the way I see it, you’ve got threeoptions to get you through the next few months. I’ve done all the research you asked for this morning, so here goes. And listen up, I don’t repeat myself.”

I nod. Noted.

“One. You can get an exemption due to intoxication, but you have to prove you were drunk. It’s a lengthy process that isn’t done quietly.” She looks at me sternly “Two. You can just flat-out lie and say you didn’t consummate the marriage. Which is fine, but that sorta goes against everything you stand for, you know? The law? There’s also always the chance your new wife gets angry at you because you want an annulment, and she had feelings for you. She then tells someone who tells someone, et cetera—”

“Ginger doesn’t feel like that about me.” I cut her off.

She looks at me like my mother would in this instance, like she knows a fuck ton more than I do.

“Honey, you never know how a woman really feels. It’s a possibility, trust me.”

I turn my head to the side and roll my eyes at her assessment, but images of us on the dance floor, against the shower wall of the bathroom in Vegas, Ginger on her knees in front of me, all roll through my mind, and I shift in my seat.

Okay, maybe she feltsomething.

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