A collective gasp filled my living area.
“Is this true?” Emery asked.
“It’s the paper, baby. They don’t know what the truth is,” Lex said.
“It is…true,” I said.
They all stared at me expectantly.
I sighed and reached for my drink, surprised they didn’t stop me.
“Lior and I had a deal. He needed to marry to keep his father’s company, and I needed someone with connections to help me help my friends at Star Finders Youth. We connected but decided this was a business transaction. It wasn’t too bad spending time with someone you liked if we both got something out of the deal, right?”
“What does Lior think of this?” Emery asked, pointing at the paper.
I deadpanned. “He’s not here, is he?” The sexy bastard had believed the lies a stranger had delivered in that brown envelope. And somehow, I still couldn’t hate him.
“So everything you said about you two was a lie?” Adam asked, furrowing his brows.
I shook my head. “I loved him already when we told the family. I think I have for a long time. The reason I was so scared to tell you all was because it would make it too real. Having to pretend to be in love when I wasn’t pretending at all was the hardest thing.”
Ellie tilted her head. “Hmm, I don’t buy it.”
“What don’t you buy?”
“I saw you two. You couldn’t keep your hands off each other that weekend. The way he looked at you? No way there isn’t more between you.”
“We have insane chemistry, but that’s it. He didn’t catch feelings like I did because I’m stupid.”
“How do you know?”
I opened the other drawer and slapped the photos on the table.
Adam grabbed them to look closer. “You cheated on him?”
“I’m so confused right now,” River said.
“He believed those are real.”
“They’re not?” Adam asked.
“No! Do you think I’d be here drinking hard liquor and trying to hold it together while facing the end of my marriage to the man I love if I’d cheated on him?”
“Good point. Wow, this is like that book I borrowed from River from A. Lawton, except Lior isn’t a prince and you’re not his loyal secretary.”
We all stared at him while River tried to contain a snort and failed.
“What?”
One of these days, Adam was going to discover that he liked dick, and I was so going to be here for it. Shame it was also unlikely to happen with Victoria in the picture. Also, I had my own crisis to deal with.
Lex stood and walked behind the couch. “We need to rewind a little. This article claims your marriage is fake, but you did get married.”
“Yes. And the photo with Jax is a misunderstanding. It was loud at the bar. We were close so we wouldn’t be overheard by people.”
“So how do they know it’s fake?” River asked.
I shrugged. “Beats me. We’ve been spending all our time together, fucking like it’s going out of fashion?—”
