Page 13 of Tainted Tempos

“It has to be believable,” Aiden says softly.

Mckenna nods, hanging her head and letting her hair fall forward.

“She needs clothes,” I tell the room.

Jess nods. “I’m on it.” She’s already pressing buttons on her phone and bringing it to her ear.

“I’m not arranging excursions unless you tell me otherwise,” Kimberly says. Her eyes jump between Mckenna and me. “We want the public to think you’re busy with...other activities.”

Levi swears, and I take a few steps away from the group.

Aiden sighs. “Look, it’s obvious that this was a spur-of-the-moment thing.”

“You think?” I mutter.

“But there are legal implications now that you’re married,” he continues like I didn’t speak.

Fuck. I knew this was coming. Honestly, Mckenna can have every damn thing to my name. I don’t want it. I don’t want anything other than to see her smile. To know that I haven’t ruined her life. To have her want me the way she did last night and mean it. For real.

“We can get an—” I start.

“You’re not getting an annulment,” Kimberly shuts me down. “There’s too many photos and videos of you guys having the time of your life last night. You get an annulment, you blow the entire ruse of your fake dating in the first place. We have to be smart about this.”

“Then, she can have everything in our eventual divorce,” I continue, flicking my wrist in Mckenna’s direction.

Mckenna rears back like I hit her when I say it. The worddivorceechoes in the room. It blinks like a neon sign in my mind.

Divorce. Divorce. Divorce.

“You’re not getting one of those either,” Jess states. “At least, not yet. Right now, you’re going on a goddamn honeymoon, and you are going to be happy and in love and blissed the fuck out,” she reminds me, starting to lose her cool.

“We’ll talk about the legalities another time,” Aiden says, correctly reading the room. His eyes meet mine, and I nod, agreeing. He lowers his voice. “We have other things to discuss as well.” His look is meaningful.

I frown. Is he still stuck on the prenup? “I’ll reach out,” I say coolly. I don’t give a shit about any legal implications. I just care about my girl.

And right now, Mckenna can’t even meet my eyes, much less pose as my wife on a blissed-the-fuck-out honeymoon.

FOUR

MCKENNA

The Azores are beautiful.Breathtaking. A dream vacation with my dream guy.

And I can’t enjoy any of it.

Instead, I’m plagued by memories. Nightmares.

Forgotten seconds and stolen moments.

Branson Burtonhurtme.

I’m still trying to process that I blocked out that awful night and trauma for this long. I’m devastated that it happened.

And everything that occurred since—Branson’s taunts, our classes together, his messages and snide remarks—guts me.

“New bikinis are hanging in the closet,” Mav says, giving me a long look.

I glance up from the book I’m reading in our honeymoon suite. Ironically, it’s a romance. I have to keep up appearances even though there’s no happily-ever-after in my immediate future.

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