“Oh, my…”
Before I can finish my exclamation, Knight knocks on the door, and it’s opened almost immediately by a smiling Bonnie Barnett, her stomach swollen with a baby.
“Hello, Knight, how are you?” she says, then spotting me, she squeals. “Octy, you’re back.”
Still focused on the gorgeous ring Knight put on my finger without an ounce of fanfare, I let him curl his arm around me and walk me into the house without being completely cognizant of what is happening.
“Octavia and I got married.”
At the sound of his voice, I slowly turn to stare at him, my lips parted in shock at the way he just announced we got married, just like that.
For a long moment, the entire room is silent before it explodes into noise.
My ears ring, and even though I can hear the shocked well-wishes and offers of congratulations, I feel like I’m underwater until the sound of Knight’s voice drags me to the surface.
“I’m confident that my wife will be impregnated in the next two to three months.”
Impregnated. Me. Is he talking about knocking me up? What the actual fuck? We haven’t talked about babies. Babies have never been mentioned. And I get the Depo shot. I can’t get pregnant.
Since we met, Knight and I haven’t ever been careful. Jesus, we haven’t even had theI’m cleanchat. He told me it’s been two years since the last time he had sex, and I got tested after I broke up with Abel, but we definitely should have talked about it before we started the four-day sexathon we’ve been having since he came to get me from Rapid City.
A baby.
He wants a baby, and now, by the sounds of it. It’s too soon. Far too soon. Years too soon.
“You got married,” Betty hisses, appearing right in front of me, her eyes so wide they’re practically bugging out of her head.
“Err…yeah. It just kind of happened,” I admit, feeling embarrassed at how stupid that sounds.
“This fucking town,” Betty says on an exhale, with none of the anger from a few days ago in her voice. “Are you allowed to come and talk to me, or is Knight going to lose his shit?” she asks sarcastically.
As if he were listening to mine and Betty’s conversation, Knight tightens his grip on me, then slowly releases me. It’s clear he’s giving me some space to go and talk to my friend, but there’s something about him willingly letting me go that makes a fresh batch of butterflies flutter to life in my stomach.
“What the hell is going on?” Betty asks once she takes a seat on the massive sofa, her pregnant belly stretching the fabric of her shirt.
Parting my lips, I try to speak, but nothing comes out.
“Octy?” Betty says, her pitch getting higher as her agitation rises.
“We got married,” I say lamely.
“So I heard. But I want to know what the hell is going on. The last I heard, you were in Rapid City, then you and Knight show up here, and he’s all over you, growling like a freaking beast. I try to talk to you, and he carts you out of here over his shoulder,and you disappear for days. Now you show up again wearing a wedding ring. So I’ll ask again. What the hell is going on?”
Inhaling sharply, I slowly exhale. “He turned up at the Airbnb I was staying in. He said he was taking me home, but instead of bringing me here, he took me to his house. It’s beautiful. Did you know he owns the land next door? Thousands of acres.”
“Who cares about fields?” Betty snaps. “Explain how he went from your ride to your husband.”
“He told me he built the house for us. That he knew the moment he saw me that he was mine and that I was his wife.”
“He called you his wife when you were here last time. So when exactly did you get married?” she demands.
“He had a judge come to the house Wednesday morning. We got married in the garden,” I say, with a dream-like quality to my voice, because this all does feel a little like a dream, or maybe a nightmare.
“Octy, did he force you? Coerce you? Do you want this…him?”
“He didn’t force me, I don’t think. I said I do.”
“You don’t sound that sure about that. Blink twice if he’s holding you hostage, or three times if he’s got something over you and he blackmailed you into marrying him.”
