Alcohol was the devil.
Aimie Jennison groaned as she lifted her head, the sunshine burning in her eyes. Whoever had been mean enough to open the curtains was going to die the moment she could move without her head exploding.
“Morning, sleeping beauty,” someone greeted her, and by the voice she was sure it wasn’t Tessa who shared a room with her. No, this voice was a little deeper, a little bossier.
“Hils?”
She pried open her eyes again, the glistening light burning her retinas and killing every single thought she had.
There was indeed a brunette sitting on her bed.
“Where’s Tessa?”
Hilary ignored her words and stretched instead, picking something up from the nightstand and holding it out to Aimie.
“Here, a glass of water and two aspirin, doctor’s orders.” It was only when Aimie sat up—and after her head stopped spinning—that she realized Hilary wasn’t grinning like she’d have expected.
“You’re not gloating over my hangover,” she pointed out and then swallowed the pills before emptying half the water.
“All of it, Aimie,” Hilary told her, tapping the glass. Aimie did as she was told even though her stomach nearly choked it all up again.
“Are you ready for breakfast? You need to eat, and I know you don’t exactly feel like it, but it’ll help the hung over feeling. Besides, we have a tour today, and you wouldn’t want to deny Tessa that, right?”
Hils’ tone was still more serious than Aimie could remember hearing in a while and she squinted. “What did I do?”
Hilary shook her head. “You? You didn’t do anything but drink. There are others, however, who have to deal with Tessa’s anger currently, so unless you want to get a piece of that, too, get up, Aimie.”
She didn’t want to because she felt nauseous, but didn’t say so. Instead she pushed herself to the corner of the bed and placed one foot on the cold tiles. It zapped through her like a shock and she swallowed as her body felt the need to make it to the bathroom.
“Keep the pills down,” Hilary ordered, as if that would make anything better.
“I am trying,” Aimie fussed. “If I didn’t do anything wrong, why are you mad at me?”
Hilary sighed and then started to rummage through Aimie’s clothes. She didn’t mind because she wasn’t sure if she wanted to bend down and pick her own clothing out.
“Go and shower, and I’ll put out clothes for you, okay? We need to hurry, we’re already late.”
Aimie decided not to reply. She didn’t get straight answers anyway, and hoped to find either EmJay or Evy to maybe get a decent answer. Although those two had been drinking with her and might not remember as much as she hoped.
The shower woke her up a little and maybe the pills were starting to work, too, because her head felt a little better, and looking into the light, she didn’t want to poke her own eyes out anymore.
Wrapping the towel around her body, she stepped toward the mirror, wiping a hand across it. She looked horrible, with runny make-up and a love bite on the side of her neck. She reached for her toothbrush when the last observation settled in fully.
“Who gave me a bloody love bite?” she called out, but either Hilary hadn’t heard her, or she had yet again decided to stay quiet.
Brushing her teeth faster than she’d ever done, her mind suddenly more than just alert, she left the bathroom, finding Hilary leaning against the window.
“Tell me Tessa isn’t here because she was up early, and not because I took someone to my room with me.” She half begged, half ordered, and Hilary’s expression softened.
“Tessa slept next to you, trust me. You came with that thing to my room.”
Aimie nodded, trying to figure out why she’d gone to Hils’ room instead of her own.
“Why?”
“Tessa and I left you at about two and decided to just watch some show on TV in my room. We didn’t feel like dancing anymore and Tessa felt a little sick, so I figured leaving her alone wasn’t a smart decision. You came at about three and Tessa took you straight back here.”
Aimie checked around for a clock. It was nine now.
“I barely slept,” she groaned and Hilary arched a brow.
“You snored like I never heard before. I’d say you were close to comatose. You need to pick your own underwear. I’m not going to do that for you.”
Aimie did, but that was because she needed to find Tessa. She bent, the sun shining and hitting something on her hand that made her stop right where she was.
“Hilary, what did I do between the time you left and the time I found you in your room?”
When she glanced at her friend, she found her shrugging, her expression somber.
“Tell me I didn’t do what I think I did.” Aimie’s voice was quivering.
“Well, so far neither Tess nor I really found that out because you were barely coherent and no one else was with you when you came to my door, so…”
Aimie sat back on her heels, the towel held in place by her unoccupied hand. “Where exactly is Tessa right now?”
“Get dressed, Aimie, and then we’ll go down to breakfast. Everything else hopefully will solve itself then.”
Nope, Aimie didn’t like that answer at all.
* * *
I have no words.”
For all that you have plenty to say, Dr. Ryan Spencer thought as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. He smirked at the bruise on his neck. Well, the love bite as non-medical people would say.
“Can I at least finish my bathroom routine before you fuss more at me?” he asked, hearing a low thump.
“I have half a mind to lock you in that room and never let you out again,” Tessa announced and he heard another low thumping sound as she rested her back against the door.
“If you lock me in, nothing will change,” he told her, knowing that even if she didn’t, it wouldn’t. He had no intention of taking back what had happened last night.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Tessa asked and he decided against shaving, instead just brushing his teeth. She didn’t really expect an answer anyway.
“I cannot believe you did that. How long did you wait for Hilary and me to leave, huh? I mean, were you already hoping and praying we’d go without her? Jesus, Ryan, you were supposed to be responsible, and not do shit like that. Plus, you stopped drinking before we left.”
He spit out once. “What makes you think I didn’t pick it up again? I was totally drunk at the end of the night.”
“I’m blonde, but not stupid. I’m serious. You aren’t hung over, and if you had been drinking the way you say, you’d at least look like shit.”
He grinned to himself, wondering if she realized she’d just paid him a compliment.
He shouldn’t be feeling so smug with a raging blonde on the other side of the door and no way to escape her. He knew the calm she was currently displaying would be nothing compared to what he’d hear the moment he stepped out.
Hoping to disarm her, he pulled on boxers and then stepped out as he was, the door giving way the moment he nudged a little more.
The thing was, he should’ve known she wouldn’t be distracted by anything. Tessa didn’t see any guys as guys any longer. She loved Jazz and only him. Everyone else was like a great girlfriend for her, no matter the gender.
He hadn’t anticipated the slap he felt the moment her hand connected with his cheek. “What the fuck have you been thinking?” she repeated as if he hadn’t heard her the first time. “She was drunk and you took advantage of her. I want to kill you right now, Ryan. I cannot fathom what caused a decent doctor like you to drag a girl in front of a fake flower altar and make her sign a marriage certificate. Aimie is… fuck, she was already drunk when we left. I should’ve taken her, but guess what? I trusted you!”
She glared at him, her blue eyes blazing, and he couldn’t help but think he knew exactly why Jazz had fallen for her. As much as she was gentle, she could be a hellcat, and it was sexy.
Not that Ryan wanted anything more from her than the friendship he had risked last night, but it didn’t matter. She couldn’t understand and he wasn’t sure he should even try to explain himself.
Instead he replied, “Dragged? She went willingly, Tessa. She stared at her ring afterward and giggled herself half crazy. And remember, Evy and Emma were there as well. We had witnesses.”
Tessa nodded, her hands on her hips. “Those two are next on my list. How does it feel knowing your wife can’t fucking remember getting married to you? She was drunk, Ryan, and—”
“She’s my wife now, meaning she can stay. You don’t have to let her go again, and that was what you and what she wanted. The writing she’d picked up during the last months she can do here as well. She’s still staying for some months and we can apply for all the papers and whatnot. Aimie will be allowed to stay in the U.S. in no time.”
Tessa gaped at him, the anger not leaving her eyes. He sighed and passed her, reaching for his jeans and a shirt.
“Taking you was a mistake. I should’ve listened when Aimie told me it was a stupid idea.”
Ryan turned back to her, his own anger flaring now. “Aimie told you that because she knows there are sparks between us. She felt them last night, too, I know that. Hilary came to the bar because Aimie looked ready to be kissed, and I hesitated too long. I should’ve done it.”
Tessa didn’t back down, not even when he got louder.
“You don’t marry someone just because they are remotely attracted to you,” she raged. “You marry someone because you want to spend your entire life with them, and you marry them when they are coherent. We’re going to get that marriage annulled the moment Aimie doesn’t smell like a bar anymore.”
Tessa turned away, but Ryan grabbed her arm. “We will the moment she tells me she wants that and I believe her,” he told her, meaning it.
There was a big part of him thinking the chances for that were high because, well, he kind of had caught her off-guard, but a tiny part of him was almost sure Aimie wouldn’t want the marriage annulled, no matter what.
“Oh please, you don’t want to believe her, so your argument is invalid, and I swear, Ryan, I’ll help her sue you if you refuse to sign your name under that annulment.”
“I’m your friend, Tessa Rowan,” he stated, exasperated.
Finally the anger on her face softened, making room for disappointment. “Exactly; you are, and I don’t understand how you could do that. However, she was there and said yes, and it is on her for getting as drunk as she was, so…come and let’s have breakfast.”
“You won’t forgive me,” he said quietly, wondering why he hadn’t waited until the last night with this, because then he wouldn’t have three more days with at least two seriously pissed girls. He knew Hilary, remembered her from back when Jazz was in his care, and had gotten to know her a little more over the last months, and he knew if she decided to actually go off on him, he might be castrated in no time at all.
That woman had impeccable aim.
“No, but I cannot blame you alone, and you are my friend,” she replied, her shoulders slouching in defeat.
“Have you spoken to Aimie yet?”
Tessa shook her head. “Hils got her out of bed. We’ll see them down at breakfast.”
Ryan hesitated a moment, calling Tessa back when she was at the door. “For what it’s worth, Tess, this was never about you. None of this, okay? She’s grown and so am I. We can settle that alone. This is not something you and Hilary have to get in the middle of.”
When Tessa looked at him this time, there was regret in her eyes. “I don’t know what you’ve been telling yourself, Ryan, but there is nothing to get in the middle of. That’s the whole point. Hurry, I’m hungry.”
He pulled on socks and sneakers, grabbed his keycard and then joined her side. “What if she’s secretly in love with me and this makes her happy? What if I make her fall in love with me?”
Tessa glanced at him, her blue eyes full of doubt. “What are we? A freaking romance novel? Ryan, this is real life, and whatever you imagined you see and feel between Aimie and you isn’t there. I’m one of her best friends. I’d know.”
He smiled smugly. “Unless she didn’t want to admit to it because she didn’t think it was possible.”
Tessa just snorted, shaking her head, but Ryan had a feeling he wasn’t as far off as Aimie’s best friend was.
There was no denying that he wished Aimie would remember. When he’d asked her along the night before he’d been sure she’d be okay. Hell, he hadn’t paused to consider how it would feel if she wouldn’t recall anything of it, and he certainly wouldn’t have gone through with it had she not been over the moon by the suggestion.
God, maybe he should be wishing he could take it back, but until Aimie had seen him and he could gauge her reaction, he decided to not worry. There’d always be time for that later.
* * *
Aimie followed Hilary into the breakfast room, but instead of crossing over to the breakfast buffet, she spotted Evy and Emma at a table in the back, making her way there. Her friends looked almost like she felt, but when they saw her, both started grinning.
“Mrs. Dr. Ryan Spencer. We’re so happy to see you,” Emma winked and Aimie grabbed a chair as relief and utter panic flooded her.
She’d married Ryan, thank God. And on the heels of that thought, she swallowed. She’d married Ryan!
“Why didn’t you two stop me?” she asked, sitting down.
“Because you were all giddy at the idea, and Aimie, we’re young only once. Why shouldn’t we make stupid, intuitive decisions at least once? Plus, if you want to, you can have it annulled any given hour, you were fucking drunk. We’d vouch for it,” Evy offered quietly, her eyes on something behind Aimie. “You better be ready for a) your husband and b) Tessa,” she then added and Aimie felt like making herself small.
She didn’t mind seeing Ryan. In fact, she had every intention of falling around his neck giddily because it was him and not some stranger, but Tessa? That was an entirely different story.
Turning and standing, she found Ryan grinning smugly, walking behind Tessa who looked ready to break something.
“I’m so glad it’s you,” Aimie muttered the moment the two reached them, blushing as Ryan leaned in to kiss her cheek with a grin.
“Good morning, wife. I admit, I imagined our wedding night a little differently, but—”
“Cut the shit, Ryan,” Tessa interrupted and Ryan shrugged. He looked way too good for someone hung over.
“Did you take the pills and drink the entire glass of water?” he asked as if Tessa wasn’t there.
“Did, Doctor,” she agreed, realizing Hilary had had a pretty clear idea who she’d married the night before because she’d made a doctor comment, hadn’t she?
“You need something in your stomach and something more to drink. Let’s go to the buffet and pick up some stuff,” he suggested and Aimie found herself nodding, conscious of Tessa’s eyes on her.
“Go, I’ll be right there,” she told Ryan and then turned to her friend when he was out of earshot.
“Let’s act as if last night wasn’t anything special, okay? Let me and Ryan sort this out and…just be normal, okay?”
Aimie was proud of herself. She almost sounded as if she knew what she was doing.
“Aimie,” Tessa started, but Aimie just hugged her.
“My husband’s waiting, so I better go. We’ll talk later, okay? Promise me to act normal,” she pleaded and waited for Tessa’s nod before she turned away, finding Ryan next to the plates.
“Well, Mrs. Spencer, what’s your breakfast of choice?” he asked and she glanced around before meeting his dark brown eyes.
“Why did you do that, Ryan?”
He licked his lips, running a hand through his blond hair, leaving it mussed, and she felt her heart skip a beat. Jesus, the guy was handsome.
“I don’t know,” he admitted and she arched a brow at him.
“I was sure you were in love with Tessa,” she whispered quietly. “Am I a weird rebound?”
Ryan blinked, his jaw dropping. “Tessa? In love with Tessa? Why would anyone fall in love with Tessa?”
Aimie gaped at him, taking a deep breath to defend her friend when he seemingly realized how that sounded. “I mean, everyone who meets her sees and realizes she’s head over heels in love with someone else. I mean, why would anyone invest feelings in a woman who’s taken? Jesus, no one can be as much in love as Tessa is. I knew that the very first time I met her. However, I admire her, I won’t lie. The devotion and patience it took to get Jazz where he is now…” Ryan shook his head, surprising Aimie by taking her hand. “You’re not a rebound. For that, I’d have to be recently split up, remember? However, I know you want to stay. I can hear it each time you talk about going back, and if we’re married, you can stay.”
“So… you’re a good Samaritan?”
He grinned, half of his mouth lifting. “You haven’t heard my conditions yet,” he teased and she blushed, wondering what he was aiming at. He squeezed her hand gently.
“Nothing like that, Mrs. Spencer,” he laughed and then pulled her along, carrying a tray with two plates, putting on pancakes, toast, and some fruit. He also got two glasses of orange juice and Aimie followed him, not caring what he put on the plate because she had no intention of eating. Her stomach wasn’t up to par yet.
“Ready?” he asked and she stared at her empty hands, grinning at him.
“Absolutely, hubby.”
Maybe she shouldn’t be teasing him with it as much as she did because deep down she knew she couldn’t stay married to him, no matter what.
Ryan wasn’t the least bit surprised by the silence spreading around the table. He’d even expected tension, but Emma and Evy were grinning at him as if they knew something he didn’t know.
“So, sky diving today, I’m so—” Emma started when Ryan noticed Tessa moving uneasily in her chair.
“Tess and I aren’t coming. Heights and all, you know?” Hilary interrupted and Tessa pressed her lips together, drawing circles on the table with her fingertip.
“Well, we’re coming, but we’re not jumping out of that plane,” Tessa added, not lifting her eyes. There was something going on and Ryan wondered if the others picked up on it. “Also, the climbing we planned for today? Uhm…it had to be canceled. Something about winds up so high,” she then stated and he glanced around, finding Aimie’s eyes on him with an arched brow.
“That’s not because of last night, is it?” she asked, not looking at her friends.
Ryan saw Tessa smirk. “No, it’s not. We’re going to do a helicopter ride and a river float instead,” she explained.
Next to him Aimie released a quiet breath and he turned to her. “You didn’t want to climb tree tops?” he asked so only she could hear it.
“I’m okay with being inside a helicopter, but heights outside? No. I’d have done it for Tessa, but…”
Ryan nodded, still surprised it had been cancelled, because Tessa had planned it in the first place. Although he had a sneaking suspicion what was going on. Out of courtesy for Tessa he didn’t say anything though.
“Oh man, I was looking forward to the sky diving.”
“You can still go, EmJay,” Hilary stated. “We didn’t cancel that, we just took two people out.”
Ryan grinned as Emma paled. “You know, without you up there it’ll be only half as much fun, so I think you kinda… I mean, you know, let’s all stay on the ground.”
“Yes, I mean, I’m with Emma on this,” Aimie instantly rushed out and Ryan grinned even more.
“You know, if it was for me we could still jump,” he shrugged and felt Aimie punch him.
“Fine, we’ll go and everyone watches you jump to your death,” Evy decided.
“I’ll be a widow without ever having been a real wife,” Aimie complained. “We have to have sex before.”
Ryan, who’d just taken a sip of his orange juice, coughed, the juice having gone down the wrong pipe as he gasped in disbelief.
The girls nearly toppled off their chairs, laughing.
“Wow, I…” He cleared his throat, his neck burning. “Aimie.”
She shrugged innocently, sipping from her juice while winking at him.
“She got you. You do realize you have manly duties to fulfill, right? That’s what marriage is about. Cuddling whenever she wants to, bringing her a ruby-red survival pack, sleeping with her whenever she wants to, cooking, cleaning the house, providing for her. You know, all of that,” Emma pointed out.
He swallowed, wanting to say something, but Aimie was faster. “Stop it. I was joking. Ryan would never sleep with me or he would have long since,” she stated and then stood. “I need more juice.”
She left the table and Ryan felt all eyes on him, wondering what the girls were waiting for. The problem was, he couldn’t say the right thing.
“I’d totally sleep with her, okay?” he decided to say and Hilary gave him a hard look.
“You better not, buddy. She’s not really your wife. Just give her a chance to realize the only reason why she didn’t run to get it annulled right away was because you weren’t a stranger like she first thought. Ask her if she remembers last night. God, Ryan, for her that didn’t happen.”
He knew it had because she was wearing his ring. He’d seen it sparkle on her finger.
“She was into that wedding kiss, trust me,” Emma pointed out and Ryan grinned to himself. It was true because Aimie had been absolutely into the kiss, letting him pick her up while he kissed her.
“Ask her if she remembers it,” Hilary repeated and Ryan sobered considerably.
Last night this had seemed to be the best thing ever, but Hilary was right. Aimie not remembering anything made this weirdly one-sided.
Tessa met his eyes, the blue strangely dark.
“I know your secret,” he whispered so low, she practically had to read it from his lips, but he didn’t care. If he had to blackmail her to be on his side, he was going to do just that.
“I know yours, too,” she gave back and he licked his lips.
“You’re bluffing.”
She leaned in. “No, I watched you last night, buddy.”
He sighed, leaning back in his chair while rolling up a pancake to put something into his stomach. This was absolutely not how he’d wanted things to turn out.