There must be a camera somewhere. There had to be a hidden camera because otherwise this conversation, which currently wasn’t making any sense, would then make complete logical sense.
I burst out laughing. “I’m not moving in with you,” I said, shaking my head. I had a beautiful house by the lake, one he’d never know about because it was too big, too flashy, and just toomine. “Also, did you just break up with me?”
He nodded as if I’d made a perfectly logical point. “Yeah, but there’s a catch.”
He reached out for my hand, but I pulled back. “You better start explaining, Austin, because I’m this close to walking away.”
“Right, right.” He fidgeted with his hands, and for a moment, I almost felt bad for putting him on the spot. I could tell he was struggling to find the right words. “Okay, remember yesterday when you mentioned you’d eventually have to go back to Georgia, face your mom, and marry whoever she arranged for you to keep up appearances?”
“Yeah,” I said, narrowing my eyes as I tried to piece it all together. “That’s right, but I don’t see what that has to do with this.”
He grinned, his eyes bright. “Stick with me.”
“Alright, I’m listening.”
“Great,” he mumbled. “So, you don’t want that to happen, right?”
“You mean have my mother marry me off so I can live some dream that isn’t mine and have to fuck someone when I’d rather choke on chicken than imagine them naked?”
Austin paused as if digesting my words and then burst into laughter. “I wouldn’t want you to choke on chicken.”
“Me either,” I said very seriously and pursed my lips. I couldn’t help the smirk that followed.
“I have a proposition, then.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“I’ll marry you.”
L. Oh. L.
There was no fucking way I heard him correctly... Was there? He just asked me to marry him?
“No.” I stood up, feeling my patience slip away. “I had a great time with you, and it was fun getting to know you. I thought I was out of my mind for letting a guy grab me while I was swimming...in my birthday suit.” I leaned in, my voice dropping. “This? This is starting to get borderline stalker, and I’m not into that.”
I could already imagine the girls at school having a field day with the story.
Wait—wasn’t this exactly what he did with his ex-wife? Married her fast and then divorced her?
“Are you sober?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“What? Seriously?” He threw his hands up, looking exasperated. “Yes. I’m sober.”
“Good. Then this conversation is over. Have a nice life.” I spun on my heel to walk away, but before I could take more than a step, Austin grabbed my waist, pulling me with enough force that I was facing him again.
“Please let me explain.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I don’t need to?—”
“I need medicine. I need to marry you because I need my medicine, and I need someone with health insurance to help me get it. I can’t afford it out of pocket, so I wanted to ask if you wanted to marry me and we could be roommates. I’d help you out so that you can stay here long-term, and then as soon as I figure out a better solution for my insurance issue, we could get divorced.” He spilled the words out as quickly as he could.
He wanted to get married for... benefits? That was a thing? No? That was the reason insurance companies sometimes sent out brokers to newly married couples.
“We’d have to move in together,” I said as if somehow my brain was actually trying to rationalize this idea as a good one.
“We would. It’d be easier not to get caught that way.”
“I own my house.” I stomped my foot down for effect, but again, why was I contemplating this? “Wait. This is dumb. I’m not doing this.”
