Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
“Is this normal?” I hoped nothing was wrong. And that had to be the case because no way could anyone know about us.
“Jesus…” Elliott said, his voice sending shivers down my spine. I’d never heard him sound so serious.
“What?”
“How the fuck do they know?”
“Wait. Who? How?”
“My dad is texting me. He’s asking what’s going on, says there are reports I got married…”
The dizziness hit me again. When Elliott collapsed onto the edge of the bed, I managed to make my way over too. I grabbed my phone and sat beside him. Mine was on silent, but I had five missed calls from Marcus and texts as well.
Elliott cursed again, holding his phone out so I could see.
ELLIOTT WEAVER, SON OF HOUSE MEMBER MALCOLM WEAVER, MARRIES MYSTERY MAN IN LAS VEGAS!
ELLIOTT WEAVER UP TO HIS OLD STUNTS
ELLIOTT WEAVER EMBARRASSMENT TO MALCOLM AND CATALINA WEAVER
FIRST STOP SEX ONLINE, SECOND STOP LAS VEGAS WEDDING
This time, I really thought I was going to be sick. How could they have found out so quickly? Or at all.
“Excuse me for a moment.” Elliott stood, went to the bathroom, and closed the door. I heard the lock click in place behind him.
CHAPTER FIVE
Elliott
I hated letting people down. I wanted to be liked and do the right thing and…I hadn’t…so many times. Like I’d told Parker last night—like I’d told my husband last night—I was so fucking lucky I had parents who loved me so much, who stuck by my side and always had my back no matter how many times I’d screwed up or embarrassed them. And this was how I repaid them? By getting drunk-married in Las Vegas?
I’d embarrassed my parents again—embarrassed myself. What in the hell had we been thinking?
More than that, I knew I’d disappointed them. Relationships and marriage were big to my mom. When you married someone, you married their family. In her eyes, she should know and meet and be close to anyone I had those feelings for, and I knew this would hurt her.
I looked up the articles again, this time clicking on headlines, and there we were…Parker and I dancing, laughing. There was a photo of him throwing his bouquet and jumping into my arms and…well, shit, that looked like one hell of a kiss.
I didn’t remember the ceremony, but from the photos, people had been there. The officiant also gave an interview, not mentioning our inebriation, maybe because he could have gotten in trouble for it, but talking about the ceremony and how well we got along. Pfft, that wasn’t the case at all, but looking at the photos, you’d never know it. Probably because getting married was Parker’s dream, only in that dream I wasn’t his husband and clearly he already had the whole thing planned out and Vegas wasn’t it.
My phone buzzed with another text. This one was from my mom.
Are you okay? Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.
Christ, they were the fucking best. The thing was, I knew they would defend me in this. They would make excuses for my behavior, but I didn’t want them to have to. I hated that I’d fucked up again.
Parker knocked on the door. “Elliott…are you okay?”
I cleared my throat. “I’ll be right out.” After throwing some water on my face, I walked out. He was sitting in the middle of the bed, legs crossed, looking at his phone, his body heavy with sadness.
“I look happy. I can’t believe it. I guess just because that’s what I always wanted? And in my drunken state, I didn’t realize it was to the last person I should be marrying.”
Ouch, that hurt. Not that I wanted to be married to him either, but I didn’t think he was the last person I should have said I do with.
“Oh God, Elliott. You don’t think I did this on purpose, do you? That I trapped you into a marriage because I’m a crazy romantic who doesn’t know how to be on his own.”
“What?” I sat beside him. “No. I don’t think that. First, you know how to be on your own just fine. Second, we were both there. We both drank like crazy, and we both made the decision to get married. It’s not your fault.” I rubbed a hand over my face, feeling the wedding ring there.
“My dad is going to hate this. He and my mom, they loved each other so much that it’s like…I don’t know, it feels like mocking love in a way. Like I don’t have respect for it or marriage. I also know that most of his sadness will be for me…because he wants me to have what they had.”
“I’m sorry.” I awkwardly patted his thigh. How did one comfort their husband? I didn’t know how to do this. “I feel like I’m putting another scandal on my parents. Especially as a gay man. Straight people can and do fuck up marriage every single day, but we had to fight for this right, and it just feels really gross that we didn’t take it seriously…”