Page 54 of Filthy Commitments
Gulping down a glass of Scotch, I refilled it then took the wine and some glasses to the den where Asia had settled everyone. I found Asia showing her parents the wedding rings and smiling away as she told them that she also lied about how we met, a thing she also made me do. “You see, I’d snuck away with Joy to Los Angeles. I didn’t want you guys to know I did that. And I’m sorry. I really am. I didn’t think about what I was doing. I don’t know why I thought the truth would never catch up to me, but I didn’t. Can you guys ever forgive me?”
Her father looked at me with a frown. “In the future, could you please help our daughter to be more honest with us?”
I fell on the sofa and nodded as I took another drink. The guilt was trying to take over. I wanted to tell everyone it was me who was the huge lair. Asia was an innocent victim in my scam.
But she’d thrown herself on the sword, so to speak. How could I turn her virtuous sacrifice into just another pack of lies?
I couldn’t do that to her. But I’d do anything to make things up to her. Anything at all.
The hard part was figuring out what I’d need to do to rid myself of the tremendous guilt. Asia was taking the blame for everything when she wasn’t to blame for one damn thing.
I gulped my drink down. “I’m going to go call in something for lunch.”
“That sounds fantastic, son.” Mom waved at me as I left the room full of cheerful people. I walked to the kitchen to find the take out menus we’d accumulated since moving in.
Pulling up a barstool at the island, I looked through the things then felt a warm hand on my back. “You okay?”
I turned around and saw Asia’s sweet face. “You shouldn’t have. I could’ve just told the truth.”
She shook her head. “No, I couldn’t let you do that. My way was easier. We’ll figure things out later. For now, we’re back to being fake married in everyone’s eyes. If I’d never gone to South Dakota, we’d never have been in this situation. I had to do it. I had to keep up our deal.”
“I’m sorry, Asia. I truly am. Is there anything I can do for you? I’ll do anything at all that you want. You want a beach house in Malibu? I happen to have one of those. It’s yours, baby.”
She ran her arms around me and rubbed her nose against mine. “All I want is your love, Jett. That’s all I’ll ever need.”
“I could really make you my wife.” I held my breath, hoping she’d agree.
“No.”
With one word, she shut me down again. “Okay. I won’t argue with you about that. I won’t argue with you about a thing. Not after what you’ve done for me. I know that wasn’t easy.”
“Well, it wasn’t that hard.”
She wasn’t fooling me. I knew she wasn’t a liar. I knew she would never intentionally tell her family lies. I’d made that happen. Now Asia wasn’t only lying to strangers she never had to have anything to do with again if she didn’t want to. Now she was lying to the people who’d always be in her life.
I’d taken her down a bad road that was leading us both into sinful territory. I was making her credibility something people would question if the truth ever came out.
But she didn’t seem to care at that moment. She kissed me and told me everything would be alright. Things would work out. And I believed her.
Don’t ask me how I did. The web of lies I had going on just kept getting thicker. Stickier. Trapping us in a situation.
I didn’t want to feel trapped, and I definitely didn’t want Asia to feel that way. I wanted our love to be free. But I was beginning to wonder if it would ever be that way.
“Asia, if I could go all the way back to the first time I saw your sweet face on that website and talk to you, I’d change so many things.” I kissed her back.
She leaned her head against mine. “Hindsight is twenty, twenty, people say. What’s done is done. We can’t change a thing we’ve done.”
“I feel like we’re stuck.”
She nodded. “Yeah. It’s kind of like the glue that will hold us together, or it might just muck everything up. I guess we’ll find out with time which that is.”
Mom came into the kitchen and gave a quick clap to let us know she was there. “Hey, we had a great idea. Let’s all go out and eat. Your Dad and I are treating. And I wanted to remind you that you need to get with our human resource department and get Asia on your insurance plan. Have you taken her to the banks to get on your accounts? You’ll need to do all that too. As your wife, she needs that protection. If something happens to you, she’ll have a hell of a time getting through all that paperwork. You’re married now. You have lots to make sure gets done.”
I looked at Asia, and she smiled at me then at my mother. “We’ll have to get busy with that then, won’t we?”
It became crystal clear. I hadn’t thought anything through at all. Maybe I wasn’t as smart as I’d always thought I was.
It seemed so simple. One little lie would keep me from being hassled this summer about finding a girl and getting serious.
