Page 18 of Affinity

“I hate that for you. At least you get to come here with Luke, and you’re not apart like you were before you got married.”

Jumping into the water, Alex grabbed my ring and pulled me to the other end of the pool away from Mason. Hanging her arms over the edge, she gave me a pointed look. “Stop stalling.”

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I looked inside the house. “Promise you won’t say anything to anybody.”

“I would never betray you. I’ll make sure Luke knows not to say anything as well.”

“In all honesty, neither of us remember that night,” I let that sink in before I dropped the bomb, “or even meeting each other.”

Her head whipped up, and I swear if she wasn’t holding onto my raft, she would have drowned from shock. “You didn’t know her before two days ago?” Her voice was high and squeaky. When I started to answer, she continued. “Why don’t you get an annulment?”

Staring down into the water, I answered her. I couldn’t look her in the face. If I saw her disappointment, it would kill me. “You don’t know what all went down after Poppy. You know some of it, but I pretty much tanked my career. No one wanted to hire me, so when I was approached to do a Netflix show, Catherine said I needed to take it and prove that I had changed. That I was the old Reeves Jenner, so I took it.”

Tears brimmed in her eyes. “Jenner, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I’m ashamed that I let what happened with Poppy turn me into the man I had become. I arrived in Vegas with Levi and had one drink up in my room. I wasn’t going to drink in public and let someone get a photo.”

“Why were you even drinking to begin with?”

“It may seem like I have a problem with drinking, but I don’t. I know the public perceives that I do, so I don’t want to be caught out drinking. I had non-alcoholic drinks downstairs, and then I don’t remember. All I know is there were champagne bottles all over my suite, and I woke up married to Abbi. Catherine thinks maybe we were drugged because what’s the possibility of the both of us not remembering?”

Resting her head on the tube, Alex closed her eyes. “I hate to say it, but it’s possible someone drugged you. I’m sure they didn’t mean for you to marry some random girl, though.” Turning her head to the side, her eyes were full of sadness. “So, all this is an arrangement?”

Lifting my left hand, I flashed her my wedding band. “For a year, and I can’t take this fucking thing off the entire time. Yesterday, after Catherine dropped off the rings and said once we put it on we couldn’t take it off, it brought up a lot of shit. I ended up sleeping all day and night, and now we’re here.”

“If you had a choice, what would you want to do?”

“I’d keep my job, get a blockbuster movie, and keep making movies for as long as I could,” I answered truthfully.

“What about Abbi?”

“I wouldn’t be married. I don’t even know her. Hell, for all I know, she might have a man.”

“Is that what bothers you? That she might have a boyfriend? Because everyone has seen the video, andifshe had a man, they’re no longer together.”

“I can assure you that’s not it. I never thought I would get married again, and now to be forced to stay married doesn’t make me happy.”

Pushing off the tube, Alex floated on her back. “No one is telling you that you have to be married in the house. You don’t have to have sex with her or any other husbandly duties.”

She did have a point. “I can’t have sex with anyone else until we divorce, and at least once a week, we have to be seen out in public holding hands.”

“For Christ’s sake, you’re an actor. It’s not going to kill you to hold her hand once a week. She looks like a sweet girl.”

I barked out a laugh. “Looks can be deceiving.”

Climbing onto the flamingo, Alex rested her foot on my raft to stay grounded. “What does she get out of this arrangement?”

“Besides living in my house for a year? She gets to keep her job, and—”

“What do you mean she gets to keep her job?” Sitting up, she waited for an answer.

“She has a job at CJJ but hasn’t started yet. Now she has a second job babysitting me.”

“Did you ever think she doesn’t want to be stuck in this marriage or babysit you just as much as you?”

I hadn’t thought about what Abbi must be feeling. I’d only thought about myself and being pushed into the corner after fucking up. Now that I thought about it, it was obvious Abbi wasn’t happy with this situation and only wanted to keep her job.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Abbi yelled from the side of the pool. How had we not noticed her? “You weren’t supposed to tell anyone, and the first person you see, you blab your fucking mouth.”

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