Page 54 of Inconvenient Marriage
To do so would be to admit that I was a stupid, silly, little girl who fell for the wrong man and made way too many mistakes. It would be to put Sebastien in Eric’s crosshairs, and while I’m sure that my fake husband wouldn’t be afraid of my former lover,Iam.
That’s the truth. I’m afraid of Eric, and I don’t want to drag Sebastien into my mess any more than I have.
So, rather than trust him and answer him, I shake my head, still staring ahead. “I can’t.”
He raps his left hand on his steering wheel. With a sigh, he rips his gaze from my profile. “I know. Still, it was worth a try.”
Sebastien goes quiet for a moment. Then, “You’re right, you know?” At my questioning look, he adds, “Iwashiding you. Keeping you all to myself. But not because I’m ashamed to be your husband. I’m proud of my wife, and I want to show her off.So if you’re comfortable going to the King’s Court tonight, I’d like you to go in with me on my arm.”
The Court… this is what I wanted. Even better, Eric won’t be there. That’s why I went there in the first place after he made his threats. As his mistress, I was meant to go to him. He would never skulk around the Court. It’s actually the younger Owed that spend their evenings at the gentleman’s club.
Like Sebastien.
And he wantsmeon his arm?
“Okay,” I whisper. “I’d like it if you took me.”
His smile is slow and wicked and warm as he slides his gaze toward me again.
“Good.”
SEVENTEEN
UNDERSTAND
ANNALIESE
Ihave to admit: the King’s Court looks different when I’m not here to sell myself.
Last time, I came alone, walking in terrified and desperate, holding my head up high to hide it while praying no one recognized who I was—or how ruined I considered myself to be.
I expected them to grab me, hold me down, and, on Eric’s orders, put the Order’s sigil on my neck so that everyone in Harmony Heights knew I was one of the Used. Instead, Sebastien found me, and when I proposed to him—only the second man I ever slept with—he actually saidyes.
And that’s why, this time, I’m finally walking into the Court on Sebastien Reynolds’ arm, and it seems like every single head turns. I’m being facetious. So many of the Owed are involved in their own vices, but there are enough who recognized my fake husband and have to wonder about the identity of the woman he’s entering the gentleman’s club with instead of leaving it.
I cling to him. The music thrums deep in the floorboards, bass vibrating up my high heels, shades of gold—from the goldensconces on the dark wood walls— washing over the dark red booths and polished bar. It smells like rich alcohol, even richer cologne, and something that screams ‘money’.
Sebastien’s hand rests warmly on my hip as he leans in, brushing a quick kiss to my temple.
“Breathe, love,” he murmurs. “I’ve got you.”
I know, and that’s the only reason why I can walk easily with him as we head right for the bar. For a heartbeat, I’m not sure why he’s leading me there. Sure, the first night at the Last Prayer, he had hunkered down on one of the stools; that’s where I found him, after all. But when he went back, he tucked me inside of a booth. I’d expected the same treatment here, though I’ll go wherever he wants me to go.
Then, as he guides me around the bar, pointing at the couple with their heads bowed together in conversation as they sit on the same side of the booth, I understand.
It’s Adrian and Loni Heller.
Adrian’s leaning back against the prime leather seat like he owns the damn club—and, who knows, maybe he does—with one arm around his wife’s shoulders, the other playing with a lock of her strawberry-blonde hair. Like the day I met him at the wedding, he has an unlit cigarette tucked behind his ear, and a soft look in his pale green eyes as he gazes down on her.
Loni’s curled up against him, soft in a way I don’t think anyone except for her husband ever gets to see.
Sebastien clears his throat right before he guides me to slip into the empty seat opposite the married couple.
Adrian glances up. His features shadow over, like he’s pissed to have been interrupted, though the darkness fades away when he recognizes that Sebastien is climbing in to sit next to me.
“Bas. It’s you,” Adrian greets, flicking his eyes over me with calculating interest before he nods at Sebastien. “Should’veknown better. You’re always early. Perfect. We can go have a chat real quick.”
Huh?
