Don’t Mind If “I Do” by Everly Ashton
Eight
Nick
I have to be hearing things. There’s no way Mazzy has shown up a decade after our friendship crashed and burned, demanding that I make good on some stupid marriage pact we made almost twenty years ago?
“You’re out of your mind,” I say. “Maybe you have syphilis and not chlamydia because you’re clearly not thinking straight.”
She hops off the table and walks toward me. I wish I didn’t notice how good her legs look with her designer stilettos or the way her dress shows off her curves. “I don’t have anything, Nick, and I’m serious. I need for the two of us to get married.”
I stare at her, waiting for her to laugh and tell me the punchline of this joke. But when she continues to gaze at me with her puppy dog eyes, I realize she’s serious.
“One ex-husband isn’t enough?” I’m a bastard for saying it, but what does she expect?
I push back my guilt when she swallows hard before saying, “One is one too many, thanks.”
“Then why the hell do you want to marry me?” I toss her file on the nearby counter and cross my arms, waiting for her answer.
“I have my reasons.”
I raise a brow because if she thinks I’m going to marry her just because I said I would when I was seventeen, she’s wrong. “Which are?”
She bites her lips, the confidence she had earlier obviously falling to pieces. But she still doesn’t speak.
“All right, this has been a great reunion and all, but I have shit to do. Let’s do this again in another ten years.” I turn to leave, but her hand lands on my forearm and I freeze, circling back to face her slowly, pulling my arm away.
“My grandfather passed away.” Her grief is evident in the shakiness of her tone.
“I heard. I’m sorry.”
Mazzy and her grandfather were always close, closer than even her and her father. I assume that must have continued over the years I’ve been absent from her life.
She nods. “I was at the will reading last week, and apparently my grandfather left pretty much everything to me. My parents only got some real estate and other smaller things. But his share in Pembrooke and the rest of his wealth all went to me.”
I blink a couple of times. That’s a shit-ton of money. “Congratulations. You must be thrilled to have accomplished your life’s mission of eternal wealth.”
I’m careful to keep my voice neutral, but it’s clear my words sting her. I don’t care. It’s the least of what she deserves.
“I was as surprised as anyone by what my grandfather did. And you know better than anyone that my life’s goal isn’t wealth.”
“Oh, what is it these days? Making the gossip section of the Herald?”
Her tiny fists bunch and I smirk. I’ve gotten under her skin.
“I see you’re still not over what happened. It’s been how long, Nick?”
My smirk falls. “Nor will I ever be. Goodbye, Mazzy.” I spin around.
“No, wait. I need you.”
My eyes squeeze shut. I wish hearing those words from her mouth didn’t do something to me, but my dick stirs regardless. Fucking traitor. I turn back around to face her, some of my anger spilling out. “Why? Why do you need me?”
“Because I won’t get any of the money from my grandfather’s estate until I’m married for six months.”
I shake my head, chuckling. I was an idiot to think for even a second that she might have had a greater purpose. “What’s wrong, did you blow all your trust fund at Sak’s?” I stick out my bottom lip in a fake pout.
Her eyes narrow. “No, that’s not why I need it.”
“Why then?”
Her chest heaves. “I just do.”
“And that’s my cue. Take care, Mazzy. It’s been real.”
She doesn’t try to stop me this time, and I march down the hallway to the break room, which is thankfully empty. I sit in a chair to compose myself. It’s not every day the woman who broke your heart shows up asking to be your wife.