Only Him (Only One 1)

She chuckles, and the sound is so goddamn sweet. “I feel like I can finally breathe again. I can’t believe we’re really doing this—getting hitched,” she gushes.

“I told you we’d get through this together, and I meant it. Though I still want you to have the wedding of your dreams, sweetheart. The one you always talked about having when you were a teenager. I don’t want you to be robbed from that,” I say genuinely.

“I’d get married to you anywhere, Tyler. Courthouse. Church. Hell, even inside the deli if we had to. You’re enough for me and always have been,” she confirms. “As long as it’sus, I’ll be the happiest person alive.”

I chuckle, almost shocked by where this conversation has gone because it wasn’t promising ten minutes ago. “I promise to give you the wedding you deserve one day, but right now, we need to just make it legal. Let’s go to the courthouse on Monday. Maybe ask your dad if we can go in to work late. I’ll borrow Everleigh’s car and meet you in Birmingham so no one can tip Robert off. Since there’s no waiting period in Alabama, it’ll be official as soon as we sign and they file it,” I explain.

“That’s perfect. I’ll get with my dad and make sure we can get off. Then the only issue left is getting Robert out of town for a couple of days.”

I plop down on my bed and think this through. Knowing what I know about Robert, he’s easily deceived. When it comes to money, he’ll do anything. “I think I have another idea. What if he has a rich client out of town that he needs to meet? Think he’d fall for that?”

“Absolutely, as long as he thinks it’s worth his time. So it’d have to be a huge investment, someone with a lot of money. And I’ve been to so many of those boring dinners that I could literally write a guidebook on what to say.” I can tell she’s beaming by the tone of her voice. “He’s made this too easy for me.”

“Don’t get cocky.” I chuckle. “But who are we gonna have to do it? Someone who could pull it off. A man who could act and look the part.” After a moment of silence, it hits me. “Eric’s coming to town next Wednesday and owes me a favor from doing the deposition. He’d do it without a doubt.”

“Eric? Really? He’s already been through so much already.”

“He has, but he told me if I ever needed anything, he’d be happy to help. We can rent him a fancy car and buy him an expensive suit. You could coach him on what to say and how to act, and trust me, he’s got that douchebag vibe down. I hated him when we first met, so I’m sure Robert would adore him.”

Gemma laughs. “I’m sure he will. I’ll even use the money in Robert’s and my joint checking account to fund it.”

I chuckle as the adrenaline rush has me smiling nonstop. “Great, so I’ll talk to Eric, and you take care of your dad. Change my name in your phone to someone else, a girl's name or something, just to cover your tracks. If it gets too dangerous, call me. I’ll be there to beat his ass within ten minutes,” I say seriously.

“I’m sleeping in one of the spare rooms until the wedding, so I’ll be able to avoid him for a couple of weeks, but good idea. I’ll get things together on my end, and we’ll meet Monday. God, I’m so happy right now,” she adds at the end. “I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to repay you for rescuing me.”

I smirk. “I can think of a few ways.”

“Blow jobs every morning for a year?” she suggests.

“For eternity,” I add with a chuckle. “We’ve got this, babe. It’s all gonna work out, and in the end, it’s gonna taste like sweet, sweet victory.”

“It will,” she whispers. “I should let you go, though.”

“Okay, baby, please be safe. I love you,” I say.

“Love you more.”

The call ends, and I blow out a relaxed breath, trying to put all the pieces together. If this doesn’t work out, it could piss Robert off even more and then who knows what he’d do to get back at Gemma. But if we play our cards right, Robert would get a dose of his own manipulative medicine, something I would pay my life savings to see. He needs to be knocked down a few pegs, and I think we’ve found a way to beat the bastard at his own game. Now, I just need to call Eric and get him on board.

SEVEN DAYS EARLIER

It’s been twelve days since Gemma and I came up with our plan. In only two days, she’ll walk down the aisle and marry that stupid fucker. While I know it’s not real, it bothers me to no end that it’s not us getting the beautiful ceremony. Though after we filed the paperwork at the courthouse last Monday, I painted my lips across hers as if it might be the last time. Even though it wasn’t, it would be until this was all over.

We’ve kept up the act that we’re not together since the whole town is invited to the “wedding of the century.” Even when we aren’t in public, we’ve kept our distance. Neither of us trust that Robert wouldn’t have us followed again. It was better to play it safe, but it still doesn’t make it easy—especially seeing her every day at work.

Jerry has been in a bad mood over it all because Gemma told him she was marrying Robert despite him telling her not to. Everyone except him and her two best friends think they’re truly in love. They know about his ultimatum but not about our plan to pull the rug out from under him. We’re keeping it a secret just between us so there’s no chance of him finding out. Assuming everything goes smooth, we’ll share the news with them after it’s all done.

Each day that I see her at work and can’t kiss her pisses me off. Finally, just when we managed to find our way back together and be happy, this bastard barges in and takes it away from us. What he doesn’t realize is it will just make our reunion that much sweeter.

It’s surreal not to feel threatened by Victoria for the first time in years. All the pieces are finally starting to snap together, and I can’t wait to spend time with the love of my life once this is over. After that night, Eric flew back to Vegas to take care of some work stuff, but will be back tomorrow to start preparing for his meeting with Robert next week. He’s been texting with Gemma on how to fool Robert into thinking he’s a multi-billionaire interested in dozens of acres of land for development. It’s quite comical when I think about all those meeting Robert dragged Gemma to, and now she’s going to use it against him in the biggest fucking way. I can’t wait to see the look on his smug ass face.

No one will suspect a thing either because hardly anyone knew Eric came to town or what he’d done. Fortunately, the case was filed as a triple homicide just as he thought it’d be. Everleigh’s witness testimony also helped since she never saw Eric or me. The O’Leary family was completely outraged by the sheriff’s lack of investigation, but Todd’s a lazy asshole. He’ll close anything up to avoid more paperwork. Regardless, it’s no longer my problem, and it’s finally over. Right now, all I can focus on is getting through this next week and ensuring Gemma gets that deed. After my training session at the gym, I get a text from her.

Gemma: Robert just added a stipulation to our agreement. Two days before the wedding! I’m so furious, I can’t even think straight.

Tyler: I hate him more every day. What is it now?

Her text bubble pops up and disappears, and it takes her almost two minutes to send it.