“Hey!” I snapped. “It’s not even mostly for me!”
Addison spun on me with a gasp. “So you admit it!”
Motherfucker.
I pressed my lips together in a flat line, refusing to say anything else because I was only going to dig myself deeper into this hole.
“Wait a second…” Brady said, tapping a finger on the counter. “Could this have anything to do with Dr. Dinsmore’s backward philosophy about women?”
“What do you mean?” Addison asked. “I know he’s a misogynistic asshole, but how is that relevant here?”
Brady lifted a shoulder. “I may have heard around town that the only reason Quinn agreed to take a position at the clinic was because Don’s close to retiring, and it went without saying that she’d be first in line to purchase it.”
“Don would fucking hate that,” Aiden said.
“Hate it enough to put some bullshit stipulations on it,” Brady said. “Like that Quinn had to be married before he’d consider an offer from her.”
Beck turned to me, shaking his head. “Never saw the marriage of convenience trope for you, man.”
“What the fuck,” I whispered to no one in particular. It’d taken them less than ten minutes to put it all together. We were wasting our time with this resort when clearly they should’ve been out solving crimes.
Addison gasped, her eyes darting between Beck and me. “Oh my God, we’reright.”
“No,” I said without hesitation. “No, you’re not right.” I glared at all of them, hoping they understood the unspoken threat threaded through my words. “I’mmarried. ToQuinn. That’s all you need to know. Got it?”
“Okay, got it.” Addison shot me an exaggerated wink and a thumbs-up. “So, how does this all work? For the love, please tell me you have a plan for keeping your…activities…on the DL while you’re married.”
I shot her a scowl and snapped, “I’m not going to fuck someone else while I’m married to Quinn. Jesus.”
“Doessheknow that?” Addison asked. “Better question, is she going to give you the same respect?”
Considering it had been three years since the last time Quinn had had sex, I didn’t think I needed to worry about it. But that didn’t stop the thought of her with another man from twisting something in my gut, a knot in my chest tightening until it felt like I could barely breathe.
I rubbed a hand over the spot, trying to ease the ache to no avail. “I don’t fucking know. We didn’t talk about it.”
“You didn’ttalkabout it?” Addison asked, eyes wide. “Well, then I guess I don’t have to be mad at you for not including me in this, because it’s clear you were both thinking out of your asses and didn’t bother to take anyone else into consideration.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Addison,” I said, heavy on the sarcasm, “thatmy wife and Ididn’t takeyourfeelings into consideration whenwedecided to get married.”
“Fakemarried,” Levi piped up from the back.
“Damn,” Beck said. “That sounds really fucking weird.”
“The weirdest,” Brady agreed.
“Can’t believe he’s the first one of us to get married,” Aiden said, shaking his head. “Didn’t see that one coming. What kind of alternate dimension have we jumped into?”
“One where we all have to work together to make sure this marriage doesn’t go off the rails,” Addison said. “I’ll do whatever I have to to make sure Quinn can take over for that asshole, including making sure you two can pull this off.”
She turned her attention to our brothers. “That means you’re all helping as well. From now on, we’re on Team Quord.”
“What the fuck is a Quord?” Levi asked.
“You know, Quinn plus Ford,” Addison said. “Like Brangelina or Bennifer. I could’ve flipped it, but I figured ‘Finn’ would get confusing.”
“Oh, but Beverly doesn’t?” Beck asked with an eye roll.
As I’d told him, that was the only logical name pairing for Beck and Everly, and he needed to get over the fact that his couple name was that of an old woman.
