It had been exactly a week and a half since we had returned from the movie premiere in London. A week and a half since all the tabloids made the picture of me—the one nobody could seem to stop talking about—their cover. While Jason never even mentioned the existence of it, Megan had been fuming. She had called me more than a few times just to make sure I was aware of how much I was screwing things up for Jason. After that specific conversation, I’d expected to get a call from the man himself where he would gently let me know that our fake wedding thing was off.
That call never came.
While we barely saw each other the week after getting home, I’d kept myself busy with packing and writing the first few pages of my new novel. As much as I was happy that my muse was back, I was just as unhappy about the fact that I couldn’t tell my mom and dad or even Dylan about what was going on in my life. At first, they hadn’t believed that something was going on between Jason and me and chose not to listen to the press, but after they saw the photos of the premiere, they had called and asked me point blank if everything was true. I hated lying to them, but I had no other option if I wanted a chance to make things real with Jason.
Needless to say, neither one of them were happy with me. While my dad only spoke to me for a few seconds, my mom was…she was sad and worried that I was making a mistake. Because the filming for Soul Ache was about to start, I couldn’t even go to them until Jason had free time to come with me because there was no way I was facing them alone. No way in hell.
So, that morning, in Jason Thorn’s millions of dollars’ worth of Bel Air home, I had officially become Olive Thorn. Other than Lucy, Tom, and Megan, there were no witnesses to our holy matrimony. Even Char couldn’t make it because she had a full day of exams.
Two hours after our ‘wedding’, Jason had left me with Lucy because he had to be on set for rehearsals and some other stuff. A while after that, Lucy had had to leave for a class.
Which left my newly married ass all alone in Jason’s home. As the hours passed, I gave myself a tour of his house and happily discovered that he had a huge media room with incredibly comfortable leather seats. After walking around aimlessly, in and out of his house, I forced myself to sit down next to the pool with my laptop and get some words in.
When the sky started to darken and I was still alone, I decided that it would be a good idea to start celebrating my very own wedding day with a drink. Then one drink led to another, and then another.
I did awesome. Happy fucking honeymoon to me!
The next thing I knew I was dialing Lucy’s number.
“Being Jason Thorn’s wife is not”—I hiccupped—“as glamorous as I thought it would be.”
“Are you drunk?” Lucy asked.
“So what? So what if I am? Were you having sex with Jameson? Because if you were, good for you. Good for everyone who is having sex. Technically it’s my honeymoon, and do you know how much sex I’m having right now? Nada. Zilch. Exactly that much. Think about that. Your mind is blown, right?”
Lucy laughed for a good minute. “Yours sounds blown, all right,” she said, still chuckling. “I think you should slow down on the drinks.”
“You would think that, right? I mean, if Jason Thorn can’t blow your mind, who the heck will? But is he here blowing my mind right now? Nope. My vagina is perfectly untouched by a Jason Thorn penis. Hell, even my lips are untouched.”
“I thought he would come back by now.” There was a rustling at the end of her line and she murmured something to someone.
“You were having sex with Jameson! I knew it! Everyone is having sex right now!”
“Do you want me to come? And just for the record, you horny newlywed, I wasn’t having sex with Jameson. We were…we were just lying in bed. He is sleeping actually.”
I sat up straighter and almost knocked down my champagne glass. “You’re falling in love with him!”
“Okay, now you’re just rambling nonsense. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“No,” I whined, taking the last gulp of my champagne. “I wanna come to you. I’m seconds away from going to his room and just rubbing myself all over his sheets. I can’t stay here for long.”
“It sounds like you already did that.”
“Not exactly. Soooo, would you like to tell me about how you are in love with Jameson but pretty much scared out of your mind to hope?”
Silence.
“Ok. Hold tight. I’m coming to get you.”
***
“He smells so, so good, Lucy. I smelled everything in his room. It was so, so good. Why don’t you smell like him?” I leaned forward in her arms and tried to sniff her hair. “You still don’t smell like him.”
“I’m thinking that’s a good thing right now. Try to stay still for a minute! We’re gonna fall down the stairs then you’ll never get to smell him again.”
“I can’t fall. I want to smell him and lick him all over.”
“Good, then help me a little so we can get you up these last few steps and in a bed.”
I hummed a song that was stuck in my head and managed to make it in front of our apartment’s door with Lucy’s help. “I did it!” I yelled, lifting up my arms. “I did it! Now, what do I win? One night with Jason?”
Lucy’s hand clamped down on my mouth. “Be quiet for god’s sake,” she hissed, and instead of taking out her key, she knocked on the door.
Marcus opened it. “What is going on—”
“Marcus,” I cried and threw myself in his arms.
Catching me at the last second, he glanced at Lucy before looking down at me.
“I got married,” I announced as I shoved my ring in his face. “See?”
“I do see,” he said, pulling me up in his arms as I started to slide down.
“What’s wrong with her?” he asked to someone over my shoulder. I looked back and remembered that Lucy had brought me back home. Then I noticed that my hands were touching bare skin.
I frowned at Marcus’ naked chest. “Why are you not wearing anything?”
“I think you lost the privilege to ask that, don’t you think?”
My frown deepened. “Why should I lost privy-le…privilg—”
“Oh, stop it you two,” Lucy exclaimed from behind my back. “Either help me get her in, or get out of our way so I can—”
Before she could finish her words, I was up and in Marcus’ arms.
“Whoaaaa,” I chuckled. “You never carried me before, Marky. Why didn’t you ever carry me? I don’t think I’m feeling so good,” I added, resting my head on his shoulder.
Charlotte was leaning against her doorframe, her face unreadable. “Char, I missed you today,” I said, holding out my hand to her, but she shook her head and closed her door.
“Where are you going?” asked Lucy, following us hurriedly. “Take her to my room.”
“What’s wrong with Char?” I asked, but both Marcus and Lucy ignored me.
“Marcus, are you hearing me?” she repeated.
Marcus opened his door, carried me to his bed, and gently placed me in the middle.
I curled into myself and murmured, “My stomach is doing something inside.”
“What do you think you are doing, Marcus?”
“I’m taking care of her. Someone has to.”
“What the hell do you think I was doing?”
“You’re being too loud,” I said, cringing and grabbing on to the sheets so I could stop spinning.
“Come on, Olive. Let’s go to my room.”
“Let her be,” interjected Marcus. “Jameson is still in your room and Olive’s room is practically empty. She needs to sleep it off. Where the hell is her so-called husband?”
“That’s none of your concern, Marcus,” I heard Lucy say.
Someone sat down beside me and started to brush the hair away from my face. It felt nice. Why couldn’t Jason brush my hair away, too? It must’ve been Marcus. I couldn’t remember Lucy having such big hands. “I think it is. Doesn’t look like you are doing a very good job of looking after her, Lucy.”
I groaned and turned my back to them. I was too tired to listen to them bicker.
