“I appreciate you coming. I know these parties aren’t your kind of thing, but I was able to convince Mom to buy some beer at least.” He leaned back and chuckled. “I think that was the first time she had ever purchased it. She asked how much they charged by the bottle.”
“Classic.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “She probably had to pray about it.”
“Speaking of that, have you given any thought to going to church with me on Sunday?” His eyebrows raised.
“You’re really going to ask me that again?” I shook my head and took a large gulp from my beer.
“I can’t help but ask. You need to give it a shot. It isn’t as bad as it was when we were kids.” My brother loved to use every opportunity to bring up religion. “They’re even cool if you wear jeans.”
“It ain’t happening.” I shook my head back and forth.
“I want you to know...” My brother hesitated for a moment. “Once I sign my contract, you won’t have to worry about anything ever again. We’re family and I’ll take care of you.”
“I don’t want your fucking charity.” I scoffed and narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m good.”
“Taking care of my family isn’t charity.” The look on his face suggested he was offended by what I said.
“Take care of Mom. Like I said—I’m good.” I finished my beer and stood up from the table, leaving him sitting there as I headed over to the fridge to get another beer.
The last thing I wanted from my brother was pity money. I didn’t give a shit if he made millions of dollars, bought a mansion in Beverly Hills, and swam around in his money—that life wasn’t for me. If our mother was taken care of, that was good enough. She had a hard life raising two boys on her own and if Dane could make her life easier, then she deserved it. I gave her money when I could while Dane was high school, but the college had taken care of everything she needed once he started throwing touchdown passes. The alumni association loved sending her random gifts that flew under the radar of what was legal and what wasn’t. That just meant I had more money to spend on booze, more money to waste on strippers, and occasionally I even gambled some of it away at one of the Casinos on the strip. I didn’t need more than that.
I got another beer and walked around the room, shaking hands with people who congratulated me like it was my wedding. Most of them I recognized from the church, but it had been a long time since I had seen them.
Fuck. I need to piss.
The beer was running through me like water and I needed to empty my bladder. There were so many people at my mother’s house that the bathroom had a line. I could have headed upstairs, but that would have meant pushing through the crowd that were gathered along the bottom of the steps looking at our family photos. I decided to just go outside and piss in the bushes like I had done on more than one occasion in my life. I walked out the back door and walked far enough down the side of the house that nobody inside could see me. When I turned the corner, I saw Monica outside with several of her friends. A couple of them were smoking and Monica even had a beer that she hid behind her back when she wasn’t taking quick drinks from it—so much for the good Christian values she resonated every time she was standing next to my brother.
I put a hand against the wall and unzipped my pants, letting my cock fall free as I started to piss. I could have probably filled a couple of beer bottles before I was done. Monica’s babble was nonsense most of the time, but as I started to zip up, I heard something that caught my attention.
“Everything is set. We’ll get married, he’ll sign his huge contract, and then I won’t have to worry about anything ever again.” She took a quick drink from her beer and then hid it behind her back.
“While the rest of us were trying to land doctors, you got the best one of all.” A brunette I didn’t recognize smiled and exhaled a stream of smoke. “I’m jealous.”
“So am I.” A blonde next to them shook her head quickly. “I fell in love—stupid me.”
“Charles is amazing.” The brunette let out a sigh. “I’d gladly say fuck the money if I could have what you guys have.”
“Poverty isn’t very attractive once you hit thirty.” The blonde rolled her eyes. “But I love him, so I guess I’m stuck with him.”
“I’ll be working on my second husband by thirty.” Monica laughed. “I’ll be a rich cougar.”
“Maybe I’ll be Dane’s second wife.” The brunette giggled. “Or his mistress.”
“I’ll leave a little money in the bank for you.” Monica winked. “Just don’t go getting pregnant with his bastard.”
The group of the women continued laughing. Hearing them talk about my brother like that sent anger coursing through my veins. Monica was definitely a gold digger. She didn’t love my brother, she just wanted to land a wealthy husband. There was a part of me that wanted to tuck my dick into my pants, storm around the corner of the house, and say what was on my mind. But as much fun as that would have been, it wouldn’t accomplish anything. Monica would run to my brother and tell him I was mean to him, and he would tell me to go sleep off the beer I had put away. There was no way to convince him she was everything I had told him she was all along without pissing him off, but my brain was spinning with a different idea. If he couldn’t see the black heart beating beneath her tits, then I would just have to find another way to show him the truth. Monica might have been a match for him, but I wasn’t a good Christian boy that played by the rules. I walked back towards the house with a smile on my face.
I’ll bring that shallow bitch down a few notches and I know just how to do it.
Chapter 3: Monica
One week ago
“I’m home.” My father opened the door and took a couple of steps into the living room before having to use the wall for support. “I hustled a few games of pool and made some money off the tourists. They even bought me a few drinks after they gave up trying to beat me.”
“Put it on the table.” I motioned to the dining room table where his food was waiting, although the spaghetti had gotten rather cold since he was two hours later than he promised.
“You made all this?” He raised his eyebrows as he added to the pile of money beside his plate.
“It’s the holiday season, so things were crazy at the mall.” I shrugged and flipped the channel on the television in front of me. “I pawned everything I was able to steal.”
“This should be enough to keep the loan shark away for another week.” He nodded and sat down at the table. “Thank you, baby. I’m sorry I put us in such a tough spot.”
“This will all be over once I marry Dane and he signs his contract.” I sighed and pushed the button to change the channel again.
My father started eating and I kept trying to find something on television to distract me. I loved my father. He tried to do the right thing, but his moral compass didn’t point in the right direction most of the time. It always seemed to get him into trouble and his latest predicament was one that had put him in real danger. He borrowed money to gamble on a horse race after he heard the favorite was out of the race with an injury. He got his bet in before the bookies updated their odds, but the injured horse made a miraculous recovery and won the race. The man he normally borrowed money from had always been good to him as long as he made an effort to pay his debts. It was a cycle we just couldn’t seem to escape.
My father did okay hustling pool and making small bets in a friendly game of poker, but he was always looking for the big score—the one that would let him retire. Every time he managed to get his debt paid off, he was borrowing money again because he had a new plan to get rich and I was caught in the middle. I either had to help him or hope he wouldn’t end up with his legs broken somewhere, and I loved him too much to let him get hurt.
“Dinner was delicious. Thank you.” My father grabbed a beer out of the fridge and sat down beside me.
“You’re going to have to find someone else to cook for you once I get married.” I forced a smile and looked over at
him.
“You really don’t have to go through with this wedding.” His face clouded and I saw a tear form in the corner of his eye. “It isn’t fair that you have to marry someone you don’t love because of me.”
“It’s okay.” I scooted closer and put my hand on his shoulder. “I love you and I’ll always be there for you. So, what if I don’t love Dane? I just need to stick around long enough to get my hands-on half of that multi-million dollar contract when I file for divorce.”
“It really isn’t fair to him either.” My father sighed deeply. “He’s a good guy. If you did love him, he would make a damn good husband.”
“I know...” I looked down at the carpet and felt tears forming in my eyes as well.
Dane was amazing in all the wrong ways. There was nothing that connected us except the fact he was coming into money and I needed it. We met by happenstance when he got coaxed into attending a frat party that I was at. I was there to steal money from people who passed out and get some free drinks, but once I realized who he was, plans changed. I really did like him at first, but that was all it ever became. Even when I tried, we were just too different for love to blossom.
I didn’t have much experience with guys, but I knew Dane wasn’t going to be the one I fell in love with. I had dated a few guys over the years, but it seemed like I was always too busy taking care of my father’s issues to commit to anyone. Dane was different than most of the others who only seemed interested in me because they wanted sex. He wanted the exact opposite. He wanted us both to be virgins when we took our vows and began our lives together. I was fine playing his dutiful wife and remaining faithful to him if it meant I got my hands on half of his money when the marriage was over. He was the answer to all my problems, but I knew I was a horrible person because of what I intended to do.
Present day
“TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED, sweetheart.” My father wrapped his arms around me. “Why are you wearing a wedding dress? Did I miss the wedding?”
“Not the one that mattered.” I put my head against his chest and started bawling. “I got drunk last night—at least I think that’s what happened. I married Dane’s brother.”
“Oh, baby—I’m sorry.” He let out a sigh. “It’s okay. If you love Dane’s brother, I would much rather you marry someone you care about. We’ll figure the rest of it out.”
“I don’t love him!” I pulled back from my father’s embrace. “He found out what I was planning to do to his brother and he ruined everything! Dane won’t even return my calls now!”
“Maybe this is for the best.” He put his hands on my shoulders. “I didn’t like this to begin with. If Dane knows the truth, you can get this marriage annulled and get on with your life. You’re getting too old to worry about me all the time.”
“I’ll never be too old for that. How are we going to pay off this debt if I don’t marry Dane? This is a disaster! You can’t keep hustling pool and I certainly can’t keep shoplifting just to pay them enough each week to keep you out of trouble.” The tears were getting faster as they streamed down my face.
“Let me figure that part out. You need to go get cleaned up.” He rubbed my arms again and sighed as he pointed towards the bathroom.
I walked into the bathroom and stripped off the wedding dress I was wearing before climbing into the shower. The tears didn’t stop, even with the water running down my face. Patches of memories started return as I stood there, but they flashed like still images instead of connecting together. I remembered being in a car with Grady. I remembered laughing with a bottle of champagne in my hand. I remembered following him up the steps of the chapel and I could even feel the excitement I had felt at the time, but the thought made me want to throw up.
There had to be more to it than what I could remember. I had no connection to Grady and there would have been no reason for me to leave with him, much less marry him. I would have remembered how important it was to marry Dane. It certainly wasn’t something I would have forgotten after a few drinks. I took my time in the shower, staying in it until the water was cold before I finally shut it off. I wrapped a towel around my body and walked to my bedroom, digging around in my closet for something to wear.
Maybe Dane has tried to call—or return my text. I need to charge my phone.
I plugged my phone in and sat down on the side of the bed until it got enough power to turn on. I had a lot of text messages, but none of them were from Dane. My friends were obviously as shocked as I was with how everything transpired. I spent more time culling my social media accounts, making sure every trace of what happened was gone.
The pounding in my head had finally started to subside some and my thoughts were getting clearer. I walked back over to my closet and finished dressing. All I wanted to do was crawl under the covers and forget everything. My life was in complete shambles thanks to Grady and I would have to work even harder to get my father’s debt paid off. I let my head rest against the pillow and found that my eyes were heavy. I drifted off to sleep, barely dozing off before a noise startled me.
I sat up in bed and blinked a couple of times before I heard another sound—a crash. I got out of bed and ran to the living room where I saw my father on the floor and a large, brutish man standing over him.
“Leave him alone!” I rushed to his side.
“Stay of this.” The man glared at me. “Like I told him—we’re done with this weekly payment shit. You either pay us what you owe or I’m breaking a bone for every dollar you haven’t paid!”
“What the hell?” My father sat up and spit blood out on the floor. “Walter has never had a problem with how I pay him.”
“Walter Grant has a different philosophy now—one that has been a long time coming.” The man snarled and lifted his boot, but I quickly moved in front of my father.
“No! We’ll find a way to pay you!” I held up my hands and he let his foot rest against the floor.
“Maybe after I get done breaking your father’s bones, you and I can spend some quality time together.” He winked at me.
“No!” My father pushed me away and started to stand. “You’ll have to kill me before you ever lay a hand on my daughter.”
“I got no problem with that, old man.” He turned towards the door and looked over his shoulder. “One week—then I’ll be back for both of you.”
Once the man was gone, I helped my father over to his chair. It didn’t appear that anything was broken, but he was in pretty rough shape. Based on the red marks on his chest and face that were sure to bruise, it looked like the man had treated him like a human punching bag before I intervened. My father wasn’t weak by any means and could normally hold his own, but the man I found standing over him was nearly twice his size.
I tended to his wounds the best that I could and gave him a couple of pain pills that he had leftover from his hernia surgery. He washed them down with a beer and it wasn’t long until they started to make him sleepy. I got him to the couch before he finally passed out. Everything was spiraling out of control and I felt like I had no way to stop it.
Chapter 4: Grady
I pulled my wedding band off and tossed it in a bowl on the kitchen table once I got back to my apartment. I definitely wasn’t going to stay married to Monica. The marriage was a sham built on nothing but her devious plans and a couple of Rohypnol pills. I wasn’t sure what would happen when I dosed her drink, but the plan had went better than expected. She was legally my wife and that meant she would never marry my brother. Even if he was foolish enough to believe she was drunk and didn’t mean to marry me, he would no longer be able to look at her like the sweet little virgin she pretended to be. I knew she wasn’t sweet and I doubted she was even a virgin. It just seemed like another part of the ploy that she used to get my brother wrapped around her finger.
I hoped my brother would thank me one day, but I knew he would hate me for a while. My family might even disown me. I grabbed a beer out of the fridge and sat down on the couch, flipping through c
hannels on the television. My phone lit up and I leaned over to see my mother’s number.
“Hey Mom.” I slid my finger across the screen and put the phone to my ear.
“How could you?” It sounded like she had been crying, but she was also very angry. “Your brother is a wreck!”
“Monica is nothing but a gold digger. She didn’t love Dane. She just wanted to get her hands on his money once he signed his contract.” I let out a sigh and leaned back against the couch.
“She was a sweet girl before you ruined her!” My mother’s voice had a bite to it that I hadn’t heard in years.
“I didn’t ruin her. She was ruined before any of us ever met her.” I let out another sigh. “I know you don’t understand it right now, but I did Dane a favor.”
“Well consider yourself uninvited to the NFL draft!” The phone went dead.
I wasn’t going to that anyway.
A FEW DAYS WENT BY and things seemed to settle down. I stopped getting angry messages from members of my family and Dane’s friends. I hit up the strip club a few times and watched Maria dance, lusting after her as she took off her clothes for the crowd. I was surprised I didn’t hear anything from Monica. I expected to have a lawyer serve me with divorce papers within twenty-four hours, but it was complete silence on her end. I didn’t really use social media, but I searched out her profile and saw that she hadn’t posted anything since before we got married. Everything I had convinced her to load while she was wasted was gone.
I flipped over to my brother’s profile and saw nothing but religious quotes about betrayal, love, and infidelity. He was taking things about as well as I expected, but at least he had his faith to keep him company while he got over Monica. I continued drinking beer and watching television until it was almost time for bed. I picked up my phone and flipped through it as I walked towards my bedroom. I landed back on Monica’s page and I saw that she had posted something.
Vegas Revenge Wedding Page 2
