by Toni Aleo
He looked over at her. “No, you’re not.”
She smiled sheepishly before standing up and pulling her shirt back against her stomach so it clung to her extended abdomen. That fucking hammer hit him again as he drank her in. There were moments when they were younger when Jensen thought about putting his own child in her. Watching her belly grow, but he never got that.
And he never would.
“I am,” she laughed, letting her shirt go before she sat down, brushing her long, dark hair off her shoulders. “And because of that, I need to be married.”
Still breathless, he nodded. “But won’t Winston and Elaine be pissed you got married without them knowing?”
She nodded. “They’re gonna be pissed about a lot of things, but at least I’ll be married and to the ‘father’ of my child.”
Looking down once more, he tried to collect his thoughts, but it wasn’t fucking working. This was too much all at once, and he almost couldn’t believe it was happening. “Wells will kill me.”
“I won’t let that happen.” He looked up to meet her gaze, and she shrugged. “I know it’s a lot to ask, and I’m sorry, really I am. But Vaughn told me I can’t hire a male escort, and I’d rather it be someone who knows my family, knows me, because it will be easier. I’m comfortable with you, and we can act like we’re desperately in love.”
He wouldn’t have to act.
But he didn’t miss that she felt she would. Swallowing hard, he held her gaze as he asked, “And we’ll end it once the baby comes?” When she went to answer, he held up his hand to stop her. “Do you know what it is?”
She nodded, a little grin pulling at her lips. “A boy.”
He closed his eyes, looking down as he drew in a breath, his heart aching in his chest.
Yeah, this was way too fucking much to take.
“But to answer your question, yes, maybe we’ll end it like a week or two after. I don’t know. We can discuss the timeline in more depth later. But don’t worry, we wouldn’t have to live together unless, for some reason, my family decides to pop in. We can pick a place, maybe put some things in one of our apartments to make it look like we live together there. And I’ll take all the blame, I’ll ruin us, but I just want to make sure that no matter what we stay friends because I’ll basically owe you everything. It’s mainly when we go home to Colorado that we have to look like we are truly in love, and then when the baby comes, ’cause I’m sure my mom will be here, and wow, I’m rambling again.” He swallowed hard once more as he nodded, taking in everything she was saying. “No one will hate you, though. I’ll take all the blame. I just need you to marry me and be my kid’s father for five months, tops.”
“Will we really get married?”
“Yeah, ’cause I have a feeling my dad will check.”
“And we’ll get divorced?”
When he looked up, her eyes were wide. “Maybe not divorced but annulled. I think we’ll be in the right time frame. You wouldn’t have to be divorced twice. I thought about that. I know you don’t want that.”
Looking away, he wrung his fingers together and thought about it for a moment. He had loved Wren almost his whole life. He had seen himself with her more times than he could count. This was his chance. He would be hers, and she would be his, but it would be a sham. All a fake love kind of thing. He would do anything for her. Anything. But could he do this to himself? It was essentially setting himself up for heartache and pain. Because watching her leave would be his downfall, and he wouldn’t be able to stay friends with her. Even if she claimed it would only be a week or two of them being “in love” as she kept saying.
It would break him.
More so than when Ophelia left him.
Looking up, he ran his hands along his face and took in a deep breath before meeting her gaze. “When do you need to know?”
Her mouth parted. “What?”
“When do you need an answer?”
Her eyes widened as she shrugged. “As soon as possible since the wedding is in a month.”
He nodded before getting up and pulling his wallet out. Throwing a hundred on the table, he went to her, kissing her cheek. Lingering longer than he should, he whispered, “I’ll be in touch.”
Pulling away, he turned and headed out because if he didn’t, he’d say yes to her terms.
He’d be damned if he was going to set himself up for failure.
He’d done it once.
And he wouldn’t do it a second time.
“I’m pregnant, Jensen.”
His brows came in. Confusion racked his body as he stared into his wife’s dark brown eyes. “But…really?”
Her eyes filled with tears, though not happy ones as she slowly shook her head. “But, it isn’t yours.”
Sitting in his car, Jensen looked around the parking lot of his apartment complex and wasn’t sure how he’d gotten there. He was thinking too hard. Why he was thinking of the end of his marriage would forever plague him. He didn’t do that anymore. He hadn’t in a really long time. Ophelia didn’t want him, couldn’t be with him, and that was fine. He forgave her, but sitting across from Wren, hearing everything she was saying, it all came back. With a vengeance.
Wren was pregnant.
And she wanted him to pose as the father and her husband.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he was completely surprised he hadn’t screamed yes at her. It was his chance. She would be his. But he knew it would end. Much faster than it began, and he might lose his family in the process. Winston and Elaine Lemiere were fiercely protective of their children, including him, but something like this, knocking up their daughter and then marrying her behind their backs, that would throw one hell of a wrench into their relationship.
And then there was Wells.
Fuck. Wells might kill him. He would usually be the one Jensen would call to talk something like this out. When Ophelia had told him she was pregnant by a guy at her work, Wells was the first one Jensen called. He loved Vaughn, he did, but until recently, Vaughn didn’t do love and relationships. Plus, Wells and Jensen just had a different kind of friendship. Jensen was the one Wells came out to when they were sixteen. Wells told Vaughn the following day, but Jensen knew first. They trusted each other, they loved each other like brothers, but this… This could ruin all of that.
But he couldn’t leave Wren hanging. Wouldn’t Wells want Jensen to help her? He understood the whole inheritance thing. It was dumb, and her grandfather was an idiot in his opinion, but it was what it was. With Wells giving up his portion since he decided to “stay gay,” as his father put it, Wren felt she had to get all of the money for both of them. Jensen would do the same thing in her position, but could he do this? Could he lie to the faces of the people he loved as much as he loved his own parents?
It was for the girl he had always loved.
Though, he couldn’t forget—she didn’t love him.
She just wanted a quick fix. Marry him, make him the “father,” and then ship him off at the end. Not only did he hate the way she was thinking, but he also didn’t like that she wanted to take all the blame. He would be the victim again, and man, what an ordeal it had been back then. Everyone all up in his business, trying to make sure that he was okay. It was suffocating. Plus, what if Winston and Elaine felt bad and stopped talking to him?
And what about the baby?
Would he be considered a deadbeat dad?
Fuck.
Throwing his door open, he got out, keeping himself from reaching for his phone and calling Wells. He wanted to, so badly, but he wouldn’t do that to Wren. Heading into his condo building, he chose the stairs to burn off some of the crazy that was making his brain hurt. It didn’t work, though. All it did was burn his legs, and when he reached Brie and Vaughn’s condo, he prayed she hadn’t cleaned out the fridge yet.
Knocking on the door, he could only hear Tricksie, their dog, going crazy, but no sign of them.
“Hey, buttface, we’re over here.”
<
br /> Turning, he found Vaughn in the doorway of his condo. “What are you doing?”
“Packing,” he said simply, pointing to the box. “How’d your date go?”
“Don’t,” was all Jensen said as he went by Vaughn and to his fridge, reaching for a beer. Pinning Vaughn with a look, he said, “So you knew?”
Vaughn’s brow lifted. “Knew what?”
“That Wren is pregnant.”
Vaughn’s mouth snapped closed as Brie said, “Yeah, she told me last night.”
Jensen pointed to Vaughn, his eyes on Brie. “She told him like six months ago.”
“What?” Brie asked, looking at Vaughn. He just shrugged, looking every bit like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “I thought you didn’t know.”
He cleared his throat. “No, I did.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I couldn’t.”
“Or me,” Jensen added.
Vaughn threw his hands up. “I couldn’t. She made me swear.”
“Why’d she tell you?” Brie asked, leaning on the bar as Jensen did the same, wondering what his best friend would tell his fiancée.
“Um, well, she wanted me to marry her and act like the father.”
Oh, Vaughn went with the truth. His buddy was growing up. “Really? But we were together.”
“I know,” he said quickly, holding his hands up. “Thanks, jackass,” he spat at Jensen before going over to his soon-to-be bride. “She was going to pay off me and you. But I said no, because I only love you and wouldn’t hurt you like that.”
Her eyebrow quirked. “Pay you? How much?”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because if it’s a lot, then take it.”
“Brie!”
She snickered, her eyes bright. “I’m kidding.”
Vaughn rolled his eyes while Jensen let out a long breath. “So, now, she’s asked me.”
They both looked over at him. Vaughn shook his head. “I told her not to.”
“Why!” Jensen and Brie said at the same time.
Holding his hands out like it was obvious, he said, “Because, duh, I knew what she wanted. She doesn’t want forever, dude. She wants a quick four months, tops. Then you divorce, and we all know how you are about that. Next thing you know, we find Jenny on the ground, drowning in a pool of his own tears, and I’m standing above him, unsure what to do because I don’t do man tears, and yeah, no. I told her no. For you.”
Rolling his eyes, Jensen glanced at Brie. “You’re marrying and having a kid with this fool?”
“He’s really great in bed.”
Vaughn glared. “You know it’s true!”
“I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself,” Jensen added dryly, but Vaughn shook his head.
“With anyone else, yeah, I totally agree with you, but this is Wren. Wren Josephine Lemiere. You know I know how you feel about her. How you’ve loved her since the moment she told you something about hammering something or some stupid shit like that—”
“Hammering something?” Brie asked, and Jensen nodded.
“It’s a really great story—”
“It’s wack and dumb.”
“It is not,” Jensen snapped, shaking his head. “It’s a great story!”
“Well, out with it, then,” Brie said before Vaughn could complain more.
Jensen smiled. “We were working on some houses for NateWay1, and she comes over in these short as sin shorts and an even tighter shirt.” His lips pursed as he could see her vividly at that moment. “She was stunning, beautiful, and, of course, I was already crushing hard on her.”
“He’s crushed on her since we were kids.”
“I have,” Jensen agreed. Though, Brie was just grinning, enraptured by the story. “She was standing there, just looking pretty on her phone, and I asked her to hand me a hammer. She looked at me with this grin and said, ‘So you can bang the hell out of that nail?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s what you do.’” When Vaughn rolled his eyes, Jensen glared, but he couldn’t help the chuckle that left his lips. “She laughed and laughed, and then goes, ‘I was trying to be suggestive, Jenny, come on.’ She walked away like it was nothing, but I swear I fell in love with her at that moment.”
Brie blinked. “Because she made a joke about a nail?”
Two peas in a pod, Vaughn and Brie were, but before Jensen could reiterate how much Wren meant to him, Vaughn said, “Don’t listen to him, he’s a weirdo. But know he loves the chick, and she is going to break him if he does this. Like, in two. For real, bro. Don’t do it.”
Jensen set him with a look. “Like you said, it’s Wren. I can’t not do it. She needs my help.”
“Let her tell the damn truth!”
“You know how much that inherence means to them. They were spending that money even when they didn’t have it. They need it. Both of them.”
“That’s her own damn fault.”
“Vaughn.” Vaughn looked up as Jensen glared. “They both gave you a lot of money when that whore took all of yours. That was on credit cards, I know that for a fact.”
“That’s not fair.”
“And you never paid them back.”
“They told me I didn’t have to!”
“Because they knew this money was coming,” Jensen said simply. “I can’t not help, but I sure as hell don’t like how she wants to end it.”
“That’s what I’m saying, dude. She’s gonna break you.”
Biting his lip, Jensen stared down at the counter, trying to think it through. “What if I came up with my own terms?”
“What terms?”
“I don’t know,” he said simply, shaking his head. “But something…something so I don’t get hurt.”
“You gonna tell her you love her? Because unless she says it back, you’re gonna get hurt.”
“Shut up,” Jensen said, waving him off before he started to look for a pen and paper. “What if I did it for the chance that she would, though?” he said once he found a pen. Looking up, he met Vaughn’s worried gaze. Brie stood beside him, her face twisted with her own concern.
“What if that backfires? What if she says she’s trying, but she doesn’t?” she asked slowly. “We all know how Wren feels about relationships.”
Swallowing hard, he nodded as he found some paper. “But what if I can change the way she thinks?”
“Jensen, come on. That’s insane. It’s Wren. You’re walking into a clusterfuck, dude. This could be so bad,” Vaughn tried, but Jensen was shaking his head.
“Or it could be so good.”
“So you’re gonna play daddy to some douche’s kid?”
Holding the paper and pen in his hand, Jensen met his best friend’s gaze, tears clouding his eyes as he nodded slowly. “What if this is the only chance I get?”
Vaughn’s shoulders dropped. “Jenny. Come on.”
But Jensen shook his head, heading toward his room and shutting his door.
He understood Vaughn’s apprehension, hell, he had some of his own, but he knew from the moment Wren had asked for his help, he was going to help her.
He just wanted it on his terms.
Staring down at the sheet of notebook paper that had his terms listed, Jensen felt his heart in his throat. That was, until Tricksie licked half his face off before scooting beneath him to look down at the paper too. As she inhaled very dramatically, taking after her father, he smiled.
“I’m with you, girl,” he muttered as she leaned her head up, licking his jaw.
Tricksie was as annoying as her father, but like he did with Vaughn, Jensen thought the world of her. She was a good girl, and he’d probably miss her more than he missed Vaughn when they moved. He wasn’t sure how he got stuck watching her while they ran some things over to the new house, but he didn’t mind. She was nice company.
“What should I do, Tricksie?” She whimpered up at him, cuddling against his chest. “Yeah, I don’t know either.”
As he stare
d down at each bullet point, he knew Wren wouldn’t like it. As Vaughn had said, she might even agree just to get through it, but might never intend on sticking to their agreement. She wouldn’t screw him, but she wouldn’t even try to entertain his terms. She was a hard sell, Wren was. She had been hurt a billion times by assholes who only wanted sex. She had never in her life been loved right by a man. She always fooled with the guys who wanted to hide her since she was a little heavier or who just plain wanted to fuck her. No matter how many times everyone told her she was attracted to douches, she still went after them.
And got her heart broken.
He knew this, and he knew going into this wouldn’t be easy, but he had no choice.
He had to help her.
When his phone sounded, he looked down to see that it was his mom. His lips curved as he answered, “Hey, Mum.”
“Mon chou, how are you?”
Usually, if he couldn’t get ahold of Wells, he’d call his mom for help. But even he couldn’t ask her for help on this. She would lose her mind and probably call Elaine. “I’ve been better.”
“What? What do you mean? You just won the Cup, you’re coming home in a couple weeks, and we’re having a big party. You should be happy.”
“I mean, I am, but I’m in a predicament.”
He could basically hear the gears in her head turning. “What do you mean?”
“I can’t really talk about it, Mum. I’m sorry.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Are Vaughn and Wells okay?”
“They are,” he answered with a smile. They were as much her kids as he was. “I’ll figure it out.”
“I can help.”
“I know,” he said softly, running his hands along Tricksie’s dark fur. “I gotta do it on my own, though.”
“Okay. Well, like I always say, follow your heart, okay?”
He nodded, pressing his nose into Tricksie’s head. His heart said to do it, not to look back and just to help her. But his brain was begging him to make sure he protected that crazy thing that was his fragile heart. His heart had a habit of making him look like a dumbass. “Okay, Mum.”
