by Nicole Casey
“Asha? Are you going to tell him or should I?” Rustin asked lazily and my gaze sank to the floor.
“Tell me what?” Adare demanded, looking from me to his brother.
“She’s not going anywhere with you because she made her decision already,” Rustin explained. “That’s why she married me.”
7
Rustin
Did I feel bad about tricking Asha into the union? More than I wanted to admit. Being caught by Adare before we’d had a chance to tell everyone didn’t make matters better, of course. Asha was furious, of course and that was the last thing I’d wanted. In my mind, I had envisioned me breaking the truth to her in a bubble bath, sharing a bottle of champagne. I hadn’t anticipated being made to address my deception so bluntly.
Did I feel bad that I’d upset my brother? Not really. I mean, my goal was not to hurt Adare. He was still my brother and I loved him but he needed to understand that Asha would be miserable with him.
He hadn’t spoken to me in over a week and I had to admit that it was almost peaceful. For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel like I had a human shadow. If only I could get Asha to see the benefit of what I’d done, I was sure I could get Adare to come around too.
Honestly, I hadn’t thought through the aftermath too much. Blame it on the alcohol or the intense power that Asha seemed to have over me that night but I didn’t anticipate that she would be screaming for an annulment the following day.
It had resulted in a rather tense family meeting, which was nothing short of awkward.
My father was pissed off, to say the least and Adare was still foaming at the mouth but no one was as incensed as Asha who refused to sit with the rest of us. Instead, she stood, glowering at everyone, her arms firmly crossed over her chest and I was sure fire was going to spray from her nose, engulfing me in a fiery pit.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Morris hissed at me. “You stole your brother’s ID?”
“That’s your main concern?” Asha barked, eyeing my father in disbelief. “He tricked me into marrying him! I want an annulment!”
“Let’s not be too hasty, hon,” James Preston said, giving his perfectly coiffed wife a look I didn’t understand. “You were going to marry into the family anyway.”
Asha’s mouth gaped in shock.
“I was going to marry Adare!” she shouted, her face coloring three different shades of red. “Not his man-whoring brother!”
I took offense to that and said so.
“I’m not a man-whore,” I protested. “I’m just not a prude.”
The expression on Asha’s face was enough to melt diamonds but I held her gaze. How could she forget the night we’d had? Granted, I hadn’t been forthcoming but really, what was the difference if she married me or Adare? Clearly she liked me better, even if she couldn’t see it now. I was sure that in time, she’d get over it.
Provided she didn’t divorce me first.
“Well technically, she’s married to Adare,” my father offered, his brow furrowing as he tried to make sense of what had happened. “So really, there’s no—”
“I want no part of any of this wretched family!” Asha interjected. “I want out of this marriage and I don’t want to set eyes on any of you again.”
The silence that fell over the room was thick and tense.
I didn’t need to know what everyone was thinking—the sentiments were obvious. Without the marriage, my father wouldn’t entertain merging Sphinx and Sons with JRP. He considered the union insurance, antediluvian as the thought might be.
“Asha,” I sighed, knowing I was probably the best person to talk some sense into her. “I know you’re mad—”
“You don’t know the first fucking thing about me!” she roared and I was taken aback. I hadn’t realized she was capable of such fury.
Why did that turn me on?
I should have been ashamed of myself but I couldn’t muster the guilt. Maybe because I knew that beneath all that anger was a woman who wanted me, despite the circumstances. Our eyes met and she confirmed my suspicions, the hurt visible underneath it all. She was the first to look away.
“We had an arrangement,” Morris growled, speaking to the Prestons but my eyes were still locked on Asha.
“It’s only an arrangement if I agree to it!” she fired out before her parents could respond.
“Asha,” Adare tried. “We were going to go through with the marriage anyway. Forget about my idiot brother and we’ll pretend like this never happened, all right?”
“I don’t agree with that,” I offered.
“You have no say in the matter!” Adare howled. “You can’t trick someone into marrying you with a fake ID!”
“I didn’t trick her. She was of sound mind when I asked her to elope. Ask her.”
“Only because she thought you were me!” Adare howled.
“She thought I was a better version of you,” I replied shortly. “Which I am.”
“You bastard—”
“That’s enough!” Morris’ face twisted in contempt. “You two morons can fight about your dick sizes later. Right now, this is a business matter. If Asha doesn’t want to remain married to either one of you, there’s nothing we can do about that.”
“You can give us a minute with our daughter,” Collette Preston said, speaking for the first time.
“Mom, there’s nothing you can say which will make me change my mind!”
“Oh no?” Collette arched an eyebrow and studied her daughter. Under her mother’s withering look, Asha seemed to balk and shrink.
“Think of what a scandal this would be,” Collette continued. “Think of how this would shame our family and the Sphinxes if you were to annul a marriage you so hastily jumped into.”
“I don’t care!” Asha muttered but I could see she was lying. She was relenting right before our eyes.
Why did that make me uncomfortable? What were the Prestons subtly threatening her with?
“I thought your impulsive days were behind us, Asha,” Collette continued slowly and Asha turned white, her eyes widening. She seemed to be pleading silently with her mother to stop talking.
“How many more times are we going to have to cover for you?” she continued.
“Collette, that will do!” James Preston interrupted, his cheeks pink but my curiosity was piqued. What had Asha done in her past that needed covering?
“This isn’t my fault,” Asha whispered, emotion welling in her eyes. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You eloped without telling anyone your plans,” James said and I felt a wave of shame and pity entrench me. I couldn’t let them gang up on her and I wasn’t going to trap her into staying with me but she certainly wasn’t going to marry Adare either.
“You can’t force her to stay married to me,” I said stiffly, rising from my chair. “I won’t fight her if she wants an annulment but you can’t make her marry Adare either.”
“You have no right to make any demands on me!” Asha barked but she was lashing out at anyone, the unfairness of the situation overwhelming her. I suddenly wanted to gather her in my arms and beg her forgiveness, the vulnerability in her face stabbing me in the heart.
“You’re right,” I told her softly. “I lied to you. But that doesn’t change how I feel about you.”
She scoffed and rolled her eyes but I could see my words were having an effect on her.
“Shut up, Rust,” Adare growled.
“Asha, you need to figure out what you want to do,” James urged her. “If you’re going to stay married to Rustin, we need to intercept the paperwork from the courthouse and change the names otherwise you’re still technically married to Adare.”
“NO! She’s supposed to be my wife!” Adare snapped. “This is ridiculous!”
I glared at my brother.
“Don’t you get it, Dare? She’s not marrying you, no matter what happens. She’s either divorcing me or remaining my wife. You’re not part of the equation. She
doesn’t want you.”
“I don’t want any of you,” Asha agreed bitterly but her eyes danced between all the players. I could see her weighing the situation, thinking about the companies and family ties at stake.
“Dad, you can’t let this happen!” Adare insisted. “This wasn’t the plan! He wasn’t part of the plan!”
“Adare, sit down,” Morris hissed. “You’re no longer part of this discussion.”
I exhaled with relief. At least that was one less enemy to combat that afternoon. If only I could convince Asha that I wasn’t a bad guy.
I stared at her imploringly, waiting for her to think about what her next move would be but she didn’t look at me.
“Maybe we should give her some time to think about this,” Adare piped up, still trying to get an edge in with her but everyone shook their heads in unison.
“There’s no time,” Morris said firmly. “The paperwork is already in play for the merger and we need to intercept the marriage certificate. She’s had a week to consider this. I’m sorry, Asha but you need to tell us what you want to do.”
She bit on her lower lip and looked at the floor, her fingers twisting in front of her.
“I guess I really don’t have much of a choice, do I?” she muttered.
“You do,” I said before anyone could agree with her. “Of course you do, Asha.”
Slowly, she raised her head to look at me, the malice on her face tangible. My blood ran slightly cold. Maybe I was wrong about her. Maybe there was no feeling of desire left in her now that she realized what I’d done.
“Well?” Collette demanded, sounding impatient. “Are you staying married to Rustin or aren’t you?”
“Yeah,” she breathed, spinning to storm out of the office. “I guess I am.”
The door slammed behind her and I ran to catch up with her in the hallway as she strode toward the elevator banks.
“Asha—”
“Don’t follow me,” she spat. “I don’t want to see you.”
“I won’t follow you,” I told her, grabbing her arm. “But I want to make sure you’re okay.”
She scoffed.
“Are you kidding me?”
“You know what I mean, Asha.”
“What do you want me to say? I’m great being used as a toy in our families’ greed! Thanks for asking.”
“You’re not a toy,” I insisted and she yanked her arm out of mine.
“Save your sweet talking for one of your whores, Rustin. I’m your wife on paper only. I don’t care what you do from here on out. Just don’t humiliate me any more than you already have. Think you can manage that?”
My jaw locked as she stomped toward the stairs, forsaking the lifts and I watched her go.
She’s wrong about me, I thought grimly. I’ll just have to prove it to her.
I grabbed the elevator down and to my surprise, I found her in the lobby, pacing before the bank. She glared at me when I appeared and I realized she had been waiting for me.
“There is something I want from you,” she told me and I felt a twinge of relief. Maybe she was already mellowing.
“Anything,” I promised.
“I want a suite at your house.”
I blinked, my brow arching slightly at the strange request. From an optics point, it would certainly look strange if we weren’t living together but the idea that she might want to live at the Sphinx estate was bizarre to me. After all, Adare lived there too.
“S-sure,” I managed. “May I ask why?”
She scowled so deeply, I worried that her face might stay that way permanently.
“You want to know why?” she hissed. “Because I’m not even as mad at you as I am my parents. You don’t owe me anything. You aren’t supposed to love me. You didn’t essentially sell me to increase your company’s value.”
My stomach lurched when I heard the naked pain in her voice.
“So you are the lesser of two evils, even if I have to see your father and brother every day to remind me of how little I’m worth to all you people.”
A muscle in my jaw twitched.
“In that case, no, you can’t come and stay at the estate,” I said. Her face contorted in anguish.
“Why the hell not?” she spat. “I told you, I don’t care about your whores—”
“Stop saying that!” I snapped. “There are no whores.”
At least there won’t be any, going forward. It’s just you and me, Ash. You’ll see.
She folded her arms under her chest and glared at me disbelievingly.
“Then why not?”
“Because I think that you and I should get a place of our own, away from both our families.”
Confusion overshadowed the contempt and she gaped at me for a silent few seconds.
“Y-you would move out of your family home?” she muttered uncomprehendingly.
“I would buy my bride a home, yes,” I replied smoothly, giving her charming smile and a wink. She smirked but it didn’t quite meet her eyes, which were still filled with sadness.
“More like you don’t want to see your brother after what you did to him,” she offered and I bristled.
“If that was the case, Asha, I would have already moved out,” I told her, checking my temper. “My brother and I are twins. We’ll get past this like we’ve gotten past a thousand other spats we’ve had.”
Asha laughed aloud, a genuine amusement touching her face.
“A spat? Is that what this is?”
“No,” I told her tenderly, longing to pull her into my chest. “You’re my wife and Dare is going to have to learn to accept that.”
She stared at me, the fusion of confusion and doubt clouding her beautiful face.
“Whatever,” she mumbled as she spun away but there was a little less anger in her tone.
8
Asha
It wasn’t a mansion per se but it was certainly big enough to be one.
Rustin had given me free reign over what to buy and to be honest, I’m not even sure if he liked it. A petty part of me hoped he despised it. He had seen it only once before I had him purchase the place for cash and he made no negative comments but somehow I knew it wasn’t exactly his style.
I still wanted to hurt him as much as he had hurt me but when we moved our belongings into the ranch-style house in Ventura two months later, I could see him eying the surroundings with a mild dissatisfaction, a fact that didn’t escape his friends who had come to help.
We could have hired movers to do everything but I wanted to be hands on, to make the house my own. Despite the circumstances, I found myself growing more and more excited as the closing date neared. After all, I’d never lived away from my parents before.
“This is charming,” Geneva said, looking around as I busied myself putting dishes away in the kitchen cupboards. “This isn’t exactly the kind of place I would have envisioned for Rust though.”
I ignored the opening to discuss my husband. Geneva had been around a fair bit in the past two months and while I did my best to separate myself from any part of Rustin’s life, I couldn’t help but like the doe-eyed singer.
Her and her husband were internationally known and compared to the other artists I’d known in my circles, I found her much more down-to-earth.
Even though she was Rustin’s friend, I found it impossible not to warm up to her. And God knew, I needed friends.
“How are things going?” Geneva asked pointedly when I didn’t speak. “Any progress?”
I turned my head casually to look at her.
“What does that mean?” I asked. “Progress with what?”
I couldn’t keep the defensiveness from lacing my words but Geneva was unfazed, maybe because she was used to my reactions whenever she brought up my relationship with Rustin.
“Oh, I was just wondering if you two were sleeping in the same bed,” she replied smoothly and I gawked at her.
Southern girls really had no shame whatsoever. Why did that secretly amuse
me?
Maybe because after two months of trying to stay angry, I was having a hard time maintaining the façade. Between the new house and work, I didn’t have the time to focus the fury I’d had before on my husband.
And Rust made it hard for me to stay furious.
It wasn’t just that he had bought me the house without question. He gave me space to fume without pushing his agenda on me and I think I’d learned to appreciate that over time.
I didn’t miss the subtle ways he tried to reach me, ensuring that my favorite snacks were stocked in the pantry and leaving flowers for me by my bedroom door every morning.
I half expected him to serenade me by the patio doors.
He was doing his best to break down my resolve to hate him and I loathed to admit, he was succeeding.
“Hardly. Ours is not a marriage of romance,” I retorted dryly. “In case you haven’t noticed.”
I had no idea what Rust had told her about how we’d ended up married but I had the feeling that Geneva didn’t know everything.
“Actually, if I didn’t know you two, I’d say you had just started dating,” Geneva commented.
“What?” I laughed. “How’s that?”
“Rustin always stares after you when you’re in the same room and you purposely look away like you’re playing hard to get.”
“I do not!” I gasped, my cheeks flushing as I wondered how much truth there was to that observation.
“Are you seeing someone else?” Geneva asked nonchalantly.
I stared at her, dumbfounded.
“I’m married,” I answered although I don’t know why I said that. Like I’d just mentioned, ours wasn’t a marriage of romance. Still, I wasn’t a cheat. It hadn’t even occurred to me to date someone else.
Not when I still think about the night Rust and I spent together. All the damn time.
God, I was weak. How could I still want a man like that?
“I was under the impression that you and Rust had an open thing going on,” Geneva explained, looking contrite. “Sorry if I understood wrong.”
