Page 3 of Married to the Beasts
Tears sting behind my eyes, and my head throbs. “I think … I think I got married last night.”
HAZEL
“We’ll be right there,” Ember says, and I feel several things all at once: relief that my big sister is ready to ride to the rescue; a bit of resentment (completely illogical, I know) that I would need her to rescue me; and uncertainty as to whether I actually want her to come.
“But I don’t know where I am.”
“You can use your phone to check your location.”
“Oh … right.” I’m an idiot for not thinking of that, but with the way my head hurts, and with the series of shocks I’ve faced since I woke up, maybe I can’t be blamed for being slow on the uptake right now.
I open the map app, and the blue dot immediately tells me what I need to know. “I’m at the GoldenStar. I’m pretty sure I’m in the penthouse suite, from the look of things.”
“The penthouse suite?” The surprise in my sister’s voice is plain. “Who did you marry, Hazel?”
Still looking at my ring, I bite my lip so hard, I wince. This isn’t the kind of information you just spring on someone. Especially when you’re not sure you can believe your own eyes. “You know what … maybe I shouldn’t have called. I’m sure I can sort this out myself.”
“Hazel—”
I need to know what happened last night, but I don’t need my supremely efficient sister coming in and taking charge. When I interrupt her, I’m pleased to hear that my voice is stronger and sounds fairly normal. “I’ll call you back once I figure out what’s going on here.”
“No!” Now my sister is the panicky one.
“Ember, I’m okay, really. I freaked out a little when I first woke up, but I’m not hurt or anything. I’ll call you back, I promise.”
She draws in a breath, and I’m sure she’s about to protest, but then she says, “Hang on. Mom’s calling.”
My uneasy stomach tightens like a fist. “Please don’t tell her I called you, Ember. I don’t want her to worry … Ember?”
While I wait for her to come back on the line, I check my calls and find that my mom already tried to reach me several times before I woke up. There are only two reasons that would happen: there’s some kind of family emergency, or my mom somehow knows that I got married last night … which means the whole world probably knows.
I set my phone down and rub my hands over my face. The later part of last night is still lost to me, but more pieces of the earlier part are starting to fill in.
The limo picked Bliss and me up and took us to a casino, where we had dinner in a private dining room, saw a wild and risqué show, and gambled at high roller tables, with the Curran brothers bankrolling all of it.
Conal had his arm around me for much of the evening, but his brothers also paid me a lot of attention; I get flashes of moments when I’m surrounded by the three of them, floating on a heady cloud of potent masculinity.
As midnight drew close, though, Conal had both arms around my shoulders, so it was just me andhim, even as people around us were shouting out the countdown. He had the sexiest grin, and he kept looking at my mouth with those golden-brown eyes of his.
As everyone was cheering the new year, and noisemakers were going off all around us, he finally leaned in, brushing his lips gently over mine, then claiming my mouth with a kiss that grew deeper and deeper, as his hard body pressed against me, making me ache.
Then—nothing. An incredible kiss, where I can distinctly remember the way my body responded, how I clung to him and kissed him back, and how I never wanted to let him go … and I have no idea what happened next.
How did I go from one kiss, no matter how hot, to letting a man I’d just met put a ring on my finger? Why was I in bed with not just him, but also his two brothers?
Ember’s voice murmurs against the marble countertop, and I reach for my phone in time to hear only part of what she’s saying. “…some rock star last night.”
“What?”
“Mom says you married some rock star last night. Is that true?” She still sounds worried, but her voicehas taken on overtones of big-sister disapproval. There’s a lecture coming. Sure enough, she says, “You were drinking?” She’s trying to sound understanding and supportive, but That Tone is coming through loud and clear.
Ember is perfect. She’s the ultimate high achiever, who knew exactly what she wanted and worked hard to get it. I’ve tried hard to live up to the example she set, but I never had perfect grades, and I struggled to find a career path that interested me.
Finally, I chose an accounting major, intending to be a CPA, since I was good at math and it seemed like a respectable job that my mom could be proud of. Not that Mom has ever treated me differently or even hinted at “Why can’t you be more like your sister,” but I can’t help comparing myself. Growing up in a single-parent household, I'm keenly aware of needing to do my share and not be a burden to our mom.
The problem—the thing I haven’t told anyone in my family—is that by the time I finished my degree, I’d become incredibly bored with accounting, to the point where I almost hated it. I can’t stand the thought of doing it for the rest of my life.
And now I’ve finally graduated, an accomplishment I could at least be proud of even if I’m not very excited about it, but apparently, I’ve gone andmarried a total stranger, and don’t even remember doing it. And perfect Ember is ready to help, which is only going to make me feel more inadequate.
