Chapter 6
Nina
“This is insane. What are we going to do?” I said, staring at the marriage certificate. Cole had already stood up and started to put on his belt. He hadn’t been responding to any of my panicked questions.
“Seriously! This is insane!” I was repeating myself. When I turned to look at him again, his hair was brushed back and in place. Even though his shirt was crumpled, Cole looked impeccably dressed. There was no way of telling that he had just slept in those clothes.
“I know. Crazy, right?” he said and thrust his hands into the pockets of his pants.
“How can you be so calm about this?” I screamed. I still couldn’t recall a single moment of the previous night after we left the hotel. How had I blacked out like that? How could I not remember getting married?
“Because the only way is to move forward. Nothing will come of panicking,” he said with that same grin lingering on his face. A grin I wanted to smack right off. It may not have meant anything to him, but marriage meant a great deal to me. I had everything planned…my dream wedding to my dream man. And even though Cole looked like my dream man, in fact more handsome than any dream man I could have imagined, this was certainly not a marriage.
“Okay, so what are we going to do about it?” I asked him, crossing my arms over my breasts.
Cole extracted his hand, then holding his finger up, he slipped the cheap ring out of it and slid it back into his pocket.
“For starters, I’ll remove the ring to make you feel more comfortable. So that you don’t feel like I’ve trapped you in this thing,” he said casually and I rolled my eyes. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I had felt a dull pang in the pit of my stomach when I saw him taking the ring off. Maybe I didn’t want him to be so quick in dismissing it. I could dismiss it all I like, but what gave him the right to do it?
I thrust my chin up in the air, and looked down my nose at him.
“And then? I’ve never had a drunk wedding before, although you seem to be an expert at it,” I said and pursed my lips. That Cole Emery charm which seduced me into sleeping with him the previous night had returned. Even though I could see that he had a raging hangover, he looked delightfully poised and calm, and handsome of course.
“You’re mistaken, Nina. I’ve never done this before. And your reaction tells me that you’re disappointed by the nature of our wedding,” he said with a smug smile.
“You’re calling me superficial? You! And so what if I want a beautiful wedding? What’s wrong with that? This one is a sham anyway,” I was shrieking now, and I didn’t even want to think about how messy I looked, standing there with my makeup running and my hair a tangled mess.
Cole smiled again and shook his head.
“It’s a sham because we don’t know each other? Or it’s a sham because you didn’t get to invite all your friends and family to shake with envy as you walked down the aisle to silly soppy songs?” Cole’s voice had turned firm and curt, the smile had vanished. My brows crossed because I didn’t get his logic. Why was he suddenly so angry about this?
“It’s a sham because it wasn’t my sober decision,” I said and he laughed at me mockingly.
“You’re the one who suggested it,” he said and I threw my arms out in exasperation.
“I was clearly drunk!” I replied and Cole nodded his head, like he was indulging a naughty child.
“And…yes, as a matter of fact, this isn’t a marriage. We just met last night. I can’t even believe that I have to explain this to you,” I added and covered my face with my hands, the brass ring felt cold against my cheek.
“I’m only trying to understand why this is such a huge problem for you. I wasn’t going to ask you to keep house for me or bear my children. Your reaction told me that you give marriage too much importance,” he said and I dragged my hands away from my face. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The worst kind of conversation to have when hungover and married to a stranger!
“I do as a matter of fact. I believe in marriage as an institution and I think it’s important, and if you get it right, you only need to do it once,” I said, glaring at him. Cole smiled again and nodded.
“Your naive belief in the world is cute,” he said and my mouth fell open. He was being nasty and arrogant for no reason. Marrying a stranger, how was it not as crazy to him as it was to me?
“So, what is it Cole? You want to teach me a lesson in marriage and how meaningless it is?” I hissed at him, through gritted teeth. Cole stared at me, from under his sharp brows, studying my face.
“No. I’ll get my lawyers to take care of it, you can go now if you like,” he said and I saw the way he clenched his jaw, like he wanted to bite into something hard. With my nostrils still flared, and my breasts heaving, I whipped around from him and crossed the floor of the suite.
“Have a good life,” I lashed at him, before I opened the door and walked out, banging it shut behind me. Out in the deserted hallway of the lush hotel, I took a few moments to take some deep breaths before I went on my way.
It was clear that this made no difference to Cole, but to me, this had completely changed my world around. In all the wrong ways.