“Only because Mason and Landon were there,” she wheezed, her voice sounding like she’d been sucking on some helium.
“This is not even the main part of the story. It’s just so you understand why I did what I did.”
“Not the main part? Are you trying to kill me? How is you getting kidnapped not the main part? Get on with it or I’m going to pass out.”
“Just remember to take deep breaths. At least until I’ve told you everything. Anyway, so in the end I agreed to marry David.”
Whew, I felt better finally having told someone. And it didn’t sound so bad when I said it out loud. Just a little crazy. But not like there was no coming back from it crazy.
“You got engaged without me? And to a guy who labels his underwear with the days of the week?” Willa yelled and then there was a crashing sound. I guess she dropped the phone.
“Stella? It’s Jameson, we’ll call you back in a few minutes. Don’t do anything else that seemed like a good idea at the time but will come back and bite you in the ass. Just sit down somewhere until Willa stops hyperventilating and I can get her back on the phone.”
He hung up, and I fell back on the bed with a groan. Great, that couldn’t have gone any worse. David wasn’t so bad. He just liked order in all aspects of his life. He had an outfit for each day of the week and probably labeled his underwear. But each to their own. Who was I to judge?
My phone rang again five minutes later. I picked it up from where I had flung it on the bed next to me and sat up.
“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” I said before Willa could get a word out.
“I agree. It’s worse,” she said and released a very long and drawn-out sigh. “But we can get you out of this. Send me the contract, and I’ll get Jameson’s lawyer to look over it.”
“I’m not going to send you the contract because I have no intention of getting out of this. I gave my word and signature and that means something to me. And besides, why not go through with it? I have nothing else going for me except my last name. I have no job, no future, and I’m petrified of making the same mistakes over and over again. It’s an endless loop with my mother and this is the only way of getting myself out of it. It’s a good idea, Willa. Please don’t be mad, it’s not like he popped the question and you missed it. This is a contract agreement, not a romantic proposal. We talked about it, came to an agreement, he gave me a ring.”
A look at my hand confirmed that the ring was still as obnoxious and in-your-face as it had been when David gave it to me when we got to his house. He didn’t waste any time making things official. Not sure where he got the ring from on such short notice but since I didn’t care what it looked like I didn’t care where it came from.
“You’re petrified?” Willa whispered.
Fuck me and my big mouth.Too much honesty, Stella.
“I can’t go back to the person I was when I was living with her,” I said, my voice wavering. This was harder than I thought it would be.
“Estrella, why didn’t you talk to me?” Willa’s voice was breaking on the last word, and I felt tears pooling in my eyes.
“I’m sorry, Wills, I just couldn’t. And this is not something that I want to talk to you about on the phone. Or with Jameson in the room. No offence, Jameson.”
“None taken, honey,” Jameson’s deep, rumbly voice answered.
“I’m coming home,” Willa declared, her voice still wavering.
“No, you’re not. You still have a few weeks left, and I would feel incredibly guilty if you came home early because of me. Please don’t. I’m fine. Things are fine. We’ll talk when you get back. At the time that you’re supposed to come back.”
“I don’t like it. We are so not done talking about this.”
“I know. And we will talk about it. Just not now. Because now I have to go downstairs and figure out how I’m going to pretend to be happily engaged to David.”
“I love you. Always.”
“And I love you. Always. Now go and do something fun.”
We hung up and I swallowed a few times, trying to dislodge the lump in my throat.
I sent another message to Maisie, hoping she would answer. Usually her phone was attached to her hand. Not answering my messages was very unlike her.
It was time to sort out how this arrangement was going to work, and I went downstairs in search of David. He was in his office, sitting behind his large desk, staring at something on his computer screen.
He looked up when he heard me come in. “All settled in?”
“Getting there. What are you up to?” I cringed at the false cheer in my voice. I sure was dreadful at small talk.
