You’re getting in too deep, bro. You should let her keep her secrets.
“Okay, I’m just going to start, and if you want to judge me, then that’s fine,” she started, pulling back and walking around the small storage room. The lone light hanging down in the middle of the room barely illuminated her delicate features, but I could still see the hesitation in her eye.
I leaned against the cool, metal door, smelling the antiseptic cleaner and paper products, which did nothing to distract me from smelling her. I crossed my arms over my chest, watching her pace back and forth.
“So... things in my world are a little different from yours.” My ears perked, and thoughts were rolling around in my head.
“Like... what?”
She shook her long hair out. “Like…” She huffed. “Okay, so I’m just going to say it. Derek and I are kind of in an arranged marriage.”
I raised an eyebrow but let her continue.
“Basically, in our world—in our society—you only marry someone that is equally as wealthy as you or… at least from the same hemisphere. I mean, it has always been that way. I attended a high-end preschool, a private wear-plaid-skirts high school, and was only allowed to mingle with certain people that were in my family’s social circle. I was pushed into debutante balls from age fifteen to eighteen, my parents trying desperately to get me to wed some eligible bachelor of their choosing. I was taught proper etiquette at age five, forced into fancy dresses with large bows, and I was basically bred only to be a corporate wife. That’s just how it is in our family. My mother’s family, my father’s family, my grandparents’, et cetera. We only associate with those in our social circle, in our class. Otherwise, you’re considered trash.”
I sighed, my spit feeling thick in my mouth. “So, you’re in an arranged marriage to some man who is in your family’s social circle?”
Fallon sighed. “Yes. I’d been given the chance to find someone that I actually loved. My parents literally threw parties, which basically consisted of them courting me around and introducing me to all the guys my age. That started when I was in high school, when I kept bringing home boys that were deemed inappropriate. My parents forced me to mingle with sixteen-year-old boys who were trust-fund babies and nothing more. It was torture. Then, I went to college–a prestigious college of their choosing—and although it mostly consisted of people like me, there were some people I met along the way that taught me more about the outside world. Basically, my roommate sat me down and told me my family was insane, and although I agreed with her, it was kind of all I had ever known. I’d always just gone along with it. I mean, sure, I’d been difficult and rebellious, but I knew that, in the end, I’d do what I was supposed to. Because if not…”
My heart was pounding in my chest. My mind was going a million different directions, confusion being the sole adjective I could use to describe what I was feeling. “So, basically, you couldn’t find a man you loved in your ‘inner circle,’ so your parents found someone for you. Derek?”
Fallon’s tiny head bobbed up and down, her chestnut hair flying past her face. “Yes, and the thing is… I was fine with it.” She wrung her hands out and started to pace again. “I mean, I wasn’t fine with it, but I was indifferent. It was whatever. I knew it was coming eventually, but then…” Her light eyes flew to mine, and the only thing I wanted to do was crush her body to mine and kiss her senseless. I just wanted to take away everything she was telling me. “Then I met you, and… I didn’t know I could feel this way about someone. I was settling for Derek because I didn’t think there was much hope anywhere else. And then I met you and things started happening so fast, and now… I feel stuck.”
My heart felt as if it were made out of flames. I felt feverishly protective all of a sudden. I took a deep breath, clearing the lodge in my throat. “So, what? What if you just say no? What are they going to do?”
Fallon’s shoulders dropped, and she stopped right in front of me. I hated that her playful, flirty little smile was gone. I hated that she looked serious and almost fearful. “There was a time when my brother tried to get out of the family business. My father was dead set on both of my brothers following in his footsteps: to marry someone made to be a corporate wife—some type of eye candy to hang on their arm at functions and parties—while they ran the business and eventually took over. My brother, Samuel, didn’t want to be in the insurance business. He wanted to be a doctor.” Fallon shrugged while rolling her eyes. “My father flipped out. As if being a doctor was a bad thing or something. They got in a massive fight. I can still remember it. I was young, maybe twelve or so, but I remember the look on my father’s face when he told my brother to get out.” She peered up into my eyes, taking herself out of the memory. “My father kicked him out of the family, Emmett. I mean, he took everything: his car, his money. He wasn’t allowed back in our house. Nothing. He was starting his freshman year at college, and my father wouldn’t pay for his tuition. My brother had no one to turn to, because, of course, word spread to all our family and friends, and they just turned their backs on him.”
I swallowed, still staring down into Fallon’s eyes. “So what happened?”
“He came back, because there was no other way. He’s now one of the top insurance men in the business, almost beating my father’s number of clients, and he married a pretty girl who fits into our family perfectly.”
I clenched my jaw and crossed my arms over my chest. “So, you’re saying that if you say no, your father will do the same to you?”
She let out a harsh laugh. “Yes. He just reminded me of that tonight. He knows I have nothing without them. He’s set me up for failure, Emmett. Sure, I have a college degree that he can’t take away from me, but even if I did just call it quits, I would have nowhere to go. No money. No car. Nothing. And then I’d turn out just like they figured I would. I’ve always been a disappointment to them, and for once, I just wanted it to stop. I wanted to stop being the terrible daughter they think I am. So I went on a few dates with Derek, and now wedding bells are ringing in the background.”
I glanced away, running my hand through my hair. “Then what’s the sudden problem tonight? Why did you come running here?”
Fallon bit her lip, wiggling it back and forth between her teeth. “He… um.” Her face turned bright red. “He kind of saw you and me at the gala a few weeks ago.”
I choked on air.
“He saw you under my dress.”
Oh, fuck.
My expression must have matched my thought, because Fallon smashed her lips together and faked a smile. “Yep. He saw you under my dress. So, basically, you can never show your face in front of my father… if ever given the chance.”
I rolled my eyes. Her father didn’t scare me. He sounded like a piece of shit—one that I would love to step in.
“Okay… so…”
“Right, back to the story. So, basically, I’m stuck. I have nowhere to go. I’ve accepted it, but I just found myself hurt and frustrated, so I got in my car and came to you.” A small, barely there smile found its way onto Fallon’s face. “You somehow make things better, Emmett. You make me forget.”
I desperately pushed down the feeling in my chest and tried to give her a solution—an obvious one. “Why don’t you just get a job, and you can stay with me until you get on your feet? You’re not alone, Fallon. You have us over here in Oak Hill.”
Fallon put her hand up to her chin, rubbing it back and forth softly. I could see the million thoughts pilling in one after another behind her blue eyes, and I was hoping she’d just agree with me. It was clear what she needed to do. Marrying someone just because her parents said so was insanely out of this world. If her family didn’t love and respect her enough to stick by her side, regardless of her choosing of men or what she wanted to do for the rest of her life, then she was better off without them. It was like they were setting her up for a life full of emptiness, on purpose. Eventually, Fallon removed her hand and peered up at me through her dark eyelashes.
“Emmett?”