“How could you do something like that?” I ask, pacing back and forth in the middle of the room. “I mean, I know this, all of this, is because you’ve dug yourself a big ass hole, but . . . fuck!”

It’s hours after the reception, and we’re back in our room. I think almost everyone else is asleep, but I’m still dressed in my wedding outfit. I’ve at least taken the time to strip off my bow tie and jacket, half unbuttoning my shirt to try and be able to breathe because I’m so pissed.

Mindy’s found the time to get out of her dress, pulling on a sexy little pair of sleep shorts and a large V-neck t-shirt that does nothing to hide the fact that she’s gorgeous. In fact, if I weren’t so mad, I’d be obsessed with showing her just how gorgeous I think she is.

She looks sad and conflicted. “They were all looking at me and depending on me. I knew I should have said no, but I couldn’t do it.”

“It’s pretty easy. No. Nyet. Nein. Non,” I bite back, forcing myself to take a deep breath when I see her lip tremble. I hate how angry I sound. But this came completely out of left field. I know I’ve been lying the whole time by saying I'm Mindy’s fiancé, but this was something that didn’t have to be. But on another hand, I don’t know why I’m so worked up. “You could have at least said you’d think about it, that you don’t want to answer without having a private conversation with me. Played it off or something. Not get us deeper into some shit . . .”

“I’m usually strong and independent, but when it comes to family—” she says softly, her voice cracking. She stops and starts again. “You don’t really want to marry me, I know. You hate me now.”

“I—” I try to reply, but I choke up. I can’t speak over the lump in my throat. Is that what she wants? A real wedding? Is that why she’s looking so miserable right this moment? Does she really think I hate her? “I don’t hate you. And I don’t know what I want, not while I’m this angry. Not while . . .”

Mindy nods, and I see the hurt in her eyes. But after a week of lies, of half-hidden comments and games back and forth, I can’t lie anymore. I’m too pissed off to really respond to that.

Still, I feel like shit because I can't assuage her pain. I know she’s trying to please her family. It’s noble from a certain point of view. And she isn’t the only one who’s guilty of lying. I know we’re both in too deep. But this seems like she stepped over the line. Save your mom’s feelings? Sure, I get it. Sham marriage? No, there’s got to be a line somewhere.

When she speaks again, her voice is small and filled with shame. “I’m sorry. I know I’m a terrible person, Oliver. I swear I’m normally not such a coward. It’s okay if you hate me. If you don’t want to talk to me ever again after this is over, I’ll understand.”

Not talk to her ever again? It hurts to even hear the words. And I don’t know why I can't just tell her it's okay, we’ll do it and just get through it. I guess I’m just still raw over everyone’s emotions, seeing them hope for Mindy, wanting us to consummate our love. Love that they don’t know is supposed to be fake.

“Don't say that,” I say more harshly than I should.

“Don’t say what?” she asks, her voice raw and choked with half held-back tears. “That you hate me? Go ahead and say it. At least someone this week knows the truth about me!”

“That’s not true—” I start, stopping when my thoughts start to tumble over each other. I hate the lies, but I can’t hate Mindy. And the truth about how I feel about her is so enormous, so insane, it scares me to even think about it, let alone say something about it.

“You’re so mad right now you can't even talk. You think I’m weak!” Mindy continues before I can get my head right, emotions sweeping her away and taking me with her like a lake that’s broken through a dam. We’re helpless in the rush, and all I can try to do is hold on for dear life.

She’s definitely not weak. She’s one of the strongest women I’ve ever known, and that’s what I love about her. She just puts others before herself a lot of times. I’ve seen it in everything Mindy’s done this week. From this whole charade to the stories she’s told me about her life back home, even the ways we’ve had sex, everything this woman does is to please others. Her deepest desire is the desire to see other people happy. She drinks it, survives on it like it’s her daily bread.

I’m unable to offer anything, not trusting myself to speak. I don’t really know what I can say. I’m angry, so angry that my fingers are trembling as I hold them behind my back just to give them something to do. I’m hurt. And worst of all, I think I’m madly in—

“I’ll just go fucking tell them,” she says, jumping to her feet. “Get this over with like I should have in the beginning. I don’t know why I did this.”

I step In her way. “Don’t,” I growl. As much as I wanted her to say no at the time, I don’t want to see her hurt more by telling her family and upsetting everyone. “We just need to carry this thing through at this point.”

She tries to step past me but I grab her by the arm. “Don’t,” I repeat, staring into her beautiful eyes that are now blazing in anger. “You’re not going out that door.”

She tries to twist out of my grasp, but my hand is like iron, and while I’m not squeezing her, I’m not releasing her either. “Let go of me!”

“No.” I step closer until we’re almost touching foreheads, my own anger growing. “You’re not going anywhere, Princess. You committed us to it, and we’re going to fucking do it.”

“But you don’t want to,” she hisses. “And you have that right. I shouldn’t have said yes. I'll just tell another lie,” she says, lowering her head in shame. “I’ll tell them we changed our minds, that your mom said she didn’t want you to have it without her.”

“No!” I repeat, pulling her back from the door. “We’re doing it, and that’s final. We’ll get an annulment as soon as we get back.”

She goes lax in my arms. The anger evaporates, leaving just a wounded hurt in her eyes. It’s like she’s upset that I’m going to annul our fake marriage. It’s what she wanted, wasn’t it? And how could I get married and stay married to someone I’ve only known for five days?

“What do you really owe Gavin?” she asks quietly out of nowhere after a long pause. “Why would you do this for him? And don’t try to tell me it’s nothing. I’ve been trying to figure out this whole time why a man like you would go through all of this, even for a friend, when I know you can’t be that close to him. Brianna and I are besties, and she knew nothing about you until that first day. So what is it? I haven’t been able to come up with a damn thing.”

My first reaction is to play it off, be evasive. She goes over to the bed and sits down, pulling her legs up to her chest and looking at me with a wide, trembling gaze.

I want to lie, but the way she’s looking at me is like a mute, desperate plea for some sort of truth, some way to understand in this world of lies. She’s drowning. I’m telling her that I demand to go through with a sham marriage after a sham week. As much as we’ve gotten to know each other, as much time as we’ve spent over the past week, I know she’ll know if I’m lying.

I can’t do it. I won’t lie. “I lost to him in a game of poker.”

“A game of poker?” She furrows her brow. “You’re doing this over a game of poker? Are you fucking nuts?”

I lick my lips. I hate to say this. “I wish it were that simple, that I’m insane. But it’s more than that. He beat me out of a little more than half a million dollars.”

The breath escapes her in surprise. “No wonder you agreed to do this,” she says when she regains her voice. She shakes her head angrily, then looks at me with venom in her smile. “Gavin fucking owns your soul, doesn’t he? So this whole week, you’ve been just trying to do what he asked, and I know what he asked of you. He said to show me a good time, be everything I could dream of. Be the perfect fiancé, and by God, you did it!”

“I agreed to be your fiancé,” I agree. “But since then—”

“So you telling me you loved me the other night, that was just part of you trying to get your half mil back, wasn’t it? I was such a fool. I even started to get lost in the whole damn thing. I was beginning to believe it. But now I know. This whole thing has been fucking fake. How much was that I love you worth, huh? A hundred thousand? Two?”

Anger tightens my chest. It’s like she’s accusing me being some sort of gigolo, a whore doing this for money, when she was the one who wanted and needed someone. “Isn’t that what this is supposed to be? Fake. Why are you acting like it was supposed to be anything else?”

I know my words are angry and hurtful, but I speak before I think. I’m out of control, the pain too damn much. “I did my job, Princess.”

She hangs her head, tears streaming down her cheeks to drip onto her thighs like diamonds on caramel. “You heartless son of a bitch.”

“You’re going to call me names now? I’ll let you fucking know that I have more than enough money. Losing that much is never fun, but I didn’t need that money, Mindy. And I told Gavin to kiss my ass with his request and was just going to pay up until I saw . . .” my voice trails off, my voice blocked again.

“Saw what?” she asks, getting off the bed to look in my face. She’s hopeful, I can see it, but I’m too afraid of what I’m trying to say.

Instead, I swallow it all back, forcing it into the depths of my stomach where it sits like a sour pill, roiling and churning at my gut. “Nothing. You have no right to be mad. Yeah, at first I was doing this because of money, but all of that changed when I got to know you. I’ve had a good time, regardless of the fact that it wasn’t supposed to be real at first.”

She crosses her arms, scowling at me.

“It’s the truth. I don’t make up lies to save my ass.” Fuck. I regret the words as soon as they leave my mouth. I wish like hell I could take them back. “I didn’t mean—”

Mindy’s hand lashes out, unthinking and fueled by the hurt and shame that’s boiling inside her. She hits me with every ounce of fury in her tiny body, probably even before she knows she’s doing it, whipping my face to the side.

“I hate you!” she hisses, spit flying from her curled lips to splatter on my cheeks. Her manicured nails, shaped and done just for the wedding today, slide down my face as she pulls away, and I feel red hot fire as they almost break my skin. “Fuck you!”

It doesn’t really hurt . . . stings a little, but not truly painful. What hurts more are the words, and anger boils up within my stomach. She hates me? She thinks I don’t fucking care about her? When I’m willing to go through this whole charade for her and even do this sham wedding?

“Fuck me, Princess?” I hiss, grabbing her by the arms. “Whatever you might think, that wasn’t part of the deal. I could have slept on the fucking floor this past week. So if anyone wants to talk about fucking, it should be you, because you’ve loved every damn minute of it!”

“You fucking . . .” Mindy rasps furiously, but I cut her off by pulling her into me and smashing my lips into hers in an angry kiss. For a moment, she resists, but then she seems to melt into me.

“Fucking?” I growl when we pull back, my hand wrapped in her hair. Her green eyes are blazing in want and fury as I push her onto the bed, grabbing her t-shirt and pulling. It tears like tissue paper, and her lithe, sexy body tenses as she pants. “I’m going to show you fucking.”

“Asshole.” Mindy hisses like a cat as I pounce on her. I pin her arms above her head in one powerful hand, giving her another bruising, battling kiss before I use my free hand to maul her breasts, squeezing and pinching her nipples until she’s moaning and whining at the same time as her tongue duels with mine. I kiss down her neck to her left breast, sucking hard as I let go of her wrists. My tongue runs over and around her stiff nipple as I reach down, yanking her panties to the side and slamming two fingers deep inside her in one vicious thrust, wiggling them up and down inside her wet pussy.

Mindy claws and yanks at my hair while I relentlessly finger fuck her, pumping my fingers in and out of her pussy while I rub her clit with my thumb, but I barely feel it. The sting of her fingernails on my skin just makes me thrust harder and harder, adding a third finger. Soon, most of my hand is pounding her soaking wet pussy as I bite and chew on her nipples, and she’s not fighting anymore. Instead, I feel her hips thrust into my hand even as I push harder, and she’s clawing at me, wanting more.

I bite down hard on Mindy’s right nipple, pulling back as she howls, her back arching as she coats my fingers in her wetness, coming hard on my hand and her feet beating into the bed over and over.

I’m merciless, rubbing my thumb roughly over her clit even as she comes, pulling away from her breast to stare in her eyes. “I’ve given a lot to you,” I growl into her face, yanking my fingers out and shoving them in her mouth. “But it’s my time to take.”

Mindy sucks on my fingers, tears in her eyes as my words sink in, but I’m too angry, too driven as I pull them out and lift her leg, getting between her legs and staring in her eyes as she sneers at me in anticipation of what’s going to happen. “Take? Is that all you’ve got?”

I growl, tearing my shirt off before pushing my pants down, freeing my cock and grinding myself against her. “You’ve been cock drunk on me since before you ever saw this fucking thing,” I taunt back. “I’m the best you've ever had, and I’m the best you ever will have.”

“Then prove it,” Mindy says, clawing at my back again. I grab her hair and pin her to the pillow as I wet the head of my cock with her juices before thrusting in hard. She howls in pain and pleasure as I go all the way in with one deep stroke, slamming into her pussy and driving the breath out of her.

“Like that?” I hiss as I pull back and thrust deep into her again, grinding my cock into her. I thrust in again, her pussy squeezing me even as she sneers at me. “Tell me you love it.”

“No . . .” Mindy whispers, her eyes brimming with tears. They pierce my fog of rage enough that I let go of her hair enough to plant my hands on each side of her head, staring into her eyes. I kiss her hard, our tongues fighting as she claws at my neck and back, my cock hammering her pussy hard. The only sounds in the room are our moans and the harsh smack of our hips as I fuck her hard and deep.

Mindy gasps in pain but at the same time pushes up into me, challenging me. “You’ve gotta earn it, you son of a bitch.”

Mindy mewls, pulling her knees up as I push her up harder, staring her in the eyes still. “Say it! Tell me you love it!”

I pull back, thrusting in hard again, and as I speed up a little, I growl, my anger pouring out through my cock and my voice as I fuck her. My cock drives deep into her body again and again, pounding her with everything I have as I grab her around the throat lightly. She moans, staring right into my eyes.

“I never hated you,” I pause and whisper before I start thrusting into her again. My hips slap against hers hard as she scratches down my back, the pain making me speed up. “I wanted the impossible, to have you after this too. Even if you are ungrateful.”

“I’m sorry,” Mindy manages, her fingers not letting up on my back, and I wonder if she’s drawing blood.

I growl, squeezing tighter as I speed up, hammering her into the bed until my cock is throbbing deep inside her. Mindy’s squirming, and I speed up until she screams, her pussy clamping tightly around my cock as she comes again. I keep going, ignoring her moans until my cock is ready, and I pull out, groaning as I come and spray her chest with my seed, crying out as the last of my anger is gone and all that’s left is . . . I don’t know.

I sag, sitting on the bed and shaking my head, saying nothing. I lie down and stare at the ceiling, both guilty and totally shaken to my core. I’ve never been that rough before, and I certainly have never come that hard before. My heart aches in my chest, my thighs tremble, and I don’t know what to say.

Tell her you love her, you damn idiot! Tell her that somewhere along the line, maybe Tuesday or so, you fell in love with her for real! Tell her that she’s worth more than all that money, she’s worth the entire fucking world!

I roll to the side, but before I can say anything, Mindy gets up. Reaching down, she finds the shredded remains of her shirt and wipes herself off before balling it up and tossing it uncaringly in the chair. “Mindy . . .”

She looks at me, and in her eyes, I see something that chills me all the way to the depths of my soul. She looks dead. Her doll’s eyes have no emotion left in them. “I’m sorry for lashing out at you,” she says almost robotically. “I know this was all supposed to be fake. But somewhere along the line, I started to feel like it was real. It was a mistake, and though we just had sex, I know it was just sex. But . . . I just don’t want to fight anymore. So please, no more words tonight, Oliver. No more pain.”

I open my mouth to tell her that I do truly love her and that if she loves me too, maybe we can make something out of this fucking mess. But before I can, she turns away. “After the wedding, you’re free to never speak to me again. Actually . . . after we get back home, I don’t want to see you again. It’ll hurt too goddamn much.”

She walks into the bathroom and closes the door, leaving me feeling like I just got punched in the chest, and I roll onto my back, covering my eyes. I lie there for a moment before getting up, pulling on my boxers, and going out to the balcony to stare up at the moon, which doesn’t have any answers either.