Triplets Make Five

At that moment, a crash startled me out of my skin. That definitely came from the office, and the voices rose to shouts behind the door. I crept forward to listen, but I couldn’t make out a sound. I dared to press my ear to the door.

“Forget it!” Gray shouted. “I’m not doing it, and you can’t make me. Shut up! I don’t take orders from you. I’ve had enough of this shit, and I’m not doing it anymore.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. He didn’t want to do this anymore. He didn’t want me after all, so what were those roses all about? What should I do?

“You cocksucker!” he boomed. “I’ve done everything you said. I’ve bowed and scraped. You’ve made me a laughing stock in front of the whole world. Well, this is my goddamn life! Do you hear me? Forget it.”

A laughing stock? Is that what this marriage meant to him? He never cared about me. He never wanted anything from me but sex. I should have known.

Who was he talking to that way? What could he be talking about if not this fake marriage? He must be talking to his team—maybe Tanya. Tanya would come over in a few minutes, and that would be the end of Gabriela Landon.

Something smashed behind that door again. “No! Are you listening to a word I said? Yes, I heard you, and now you’re gonna listen to me. I won’t do it. I won’t go through with this, so just forget it. You can’t make me. Do you know what you’re asking? You want to ruin my life even more than it’s already been ruined. I never should have listened to you. I never should have gone through with this in the first place. I would have been a lot better off.”

Cold hard sadness crept over my body. He would have been a lot better off he never married me. That’s what he really meant. This marriage ruined his life. I ruined his life. He wouldn’t go through with this. That’s what the roses meant. He wanted to break it off, and that was his way of softening the blow.

17

Gray

I sprinkled the roses around the bedroom as quietly as I could so I wouldn’t wake her up. I checked the ring in my pocket for the hundredth time. It sparkled in the pre-dawn light. She would love it. I had the whole thing planned out. I would go down on one knee and propose the way I should have done in the first place.

I had to beg her on my knees to honor me with her hand in holy matrimony. Nothing else made sense now. I only regretted I didn’t do it this way in the first place, but that couldn’t be helped now. I could only make it up to her.

We were having a baby, and I loved her more than life. What could be more perfect than marrying the woman of my dreams and making this official? I would take her on a whirlwind honeymoon before the baby came. We would set the world on fire in one last hurrah before we settled down to becoming Mr. and Mrs. Joe Average.

Those words sounded so nice to me now. I wanted to curl up on the couch with her and the kid at the end of the day. I wanted to take walks in the park and have arguments about who was supposed to put the stroller in the back seat of the minivan.

I snuck out of the bedroom so I could pace around the living room and wait. I kept taking the ring out of my pocket and looking at it. Was it big enough? Was the setting nice enough for her? I snapped the box shut and shoved it into my pocket again. I wrung my hands while I crossed and recrossed the room.

When would she wake up? The tension killed me. I never experienced this kind of anxiety in the riskiest business ventures. They always excited me. This made me want to fall apart.

I almost lost it when my phone buzzed. Before I got it out of my pocket, it buzzed again...and again. It kept buzzing until I answered it. I didn’t have a chance to say hello before Jason screeched in my ear. “What did you do? You’ve ruined everything. It’s all over.”

I scooted across the room to my office and took refuge behind the door. I couldn’t let Gabi hear this. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“It’s all over the freakin’ tabloids, man!” Jason roared. “You boned that girl in the coat check closet at the gala last night.”

I froze. “What did you just say?”

“Some pimple-faced photographer got a picture of you. He followed you when you left the party with her, and when he heard you getting it on, he snapped a candid camera of you two leaving the closet. Don’t tell me you didn’t do it with her, ‘cuz no one in their right mind could mistake that picture. You blew it, man. You blew the whole thing out of the water. Four whole months of work and God knows how many dollars—all gone down the crapper. I hope you’re happy.”

“Listen, Jason,” I began.

“Don’t ‘listen, Jason’ me, Mister,” he shot back. “It’s over. Do you hear me? It’s all over. Even though you guys are married, the press will somehow spin this back to your bad boy days and how you are corrupting her. Your brother knows, and he’s pissed.”

I brought his fist down on the desk. “But she is my fucking wife!”

“Not anymore,” Jason returned. “This nullifies the contract. You broke her clean image. The tabloids are already starting to call out if she was as clean and good as they thought she was. We’ve got to do some damage control. We’ve got to get you as far away from her as we can, and maybe we can come up with Plan B.”

“I’m not breaking up with her, and that’s final. I don’t care what you say.”

“Are you trying to ruin your career and your brother’s?” Jason spat. “When the public sees this, they’ll spit roast you. Got it? You’re history. You might as well get yourself a house in the suburbs. You’re finished in this town if you don’t do exactly what I say.”

I stiffened. “I would rather live in a house in the suburbs that go through with this. I’m not splitting up with her.”

“You can’t honestly want to keep doing this,” Jason countered. “Where are your balls, man? I thought you’d be chomping at the bit to get rid of her.”

“Well, things changed.”