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A Marriage of Convenience The real James
“You have to be fucking kidding me James,” Marina scoffed from the other room while I lingered in the foyer of what used to be my home, “This has to be a joke.” Being here feels strange, despite it having been my home for so long. Nothing has changed as I walk around the perimeter of the room. The house still lacks warmth, void of a single personal touch. James must have dragged Marina away so that I wouldn’t be able to hear whatever he was saying to her. I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or worse. A large part of me is still so apprehensive about giving him another chance, but my heart seems to always win over my mind, and right now…. It’s screaming at me to try. The stitches on my arm itch as I stare at the wide hallway that leads to wherever James and Marina decided to take their conversation. Footsteps echo through the empty house before Marina’s angry face finds me from across the room. She stalks closer until we’re nearly toe to toe, but I refuse to cower in her pre
A Marriage of Convenience One step ahead
My phone blaring from the nightstand woke me from the most amazing dream. I was walking down the aisle again, seeing James at the end, but this time he was smiling. He was happy.I slept in the room that I had prior to leaving James’ home. Our home. I still don’t know exactly where we stand in our relationship, and to be honest, it feels like we’re just now getting to the dating stage of things.Reaching out, I grab the phone, answering without checking who was on the other side of the receiver, “Rosalind Colette Red,” my mother’s angry voice shouted, instantly sobering me from my sleepiness, “I expect you here for breakfast within the hour.”She left no room for argument. When my mother demanded something like this; you listened. Despite being an adult, most days she still treated me like a child. Like I was still beneath her thumb.“I’ll see you soon,” I muttered, feeling this uneasiness in my gut. The only other time that my mother had acted this way was when Chris ended up in jai
A Marriage of Convenience Stand here and take it
Every tabloid had a different cover story, but the one in the front, the one that my mother was most concerned about was the one that showed a photo taken out front of the Italian restaurant last week.Tears stained my cheeks as my fingers ran across my lips. James had just kissed me out front after chasing me down. There was a dramatized crack between the photo and the caption said Trouble in paradise. Billionaire romance coming to an end. Sealed divorce documents on page three.“Divorce Rosalind?!” my mother shrieked, “You cannot divorce James.”I wanted a hole to open up in the floor and swallow me whole.“Do you know how much money it’s going to cost your father to have these deemed as false rumors?” she shook her head, scoffing and tossing the stack of tabloids on the table in front of her, but the one hiding behind the top cover caught my eye.Billionaire James Wood purchases multimillion dollar penthouse for mistress amid ongoing divorce.I forced my feet to move, and I bent do
A Marriage of Convenience Mercy (James POV)
The moment that my eyes landed on the magazine picturing Marina and me, I knew I was royally fucked. I watched as Rosalind’s body grew rigid, her line of sight ignoring the first cover and settling on the second.But I think what was worse, is that only Marina knew that we would be there this morning. The woman I thought I knew for all these years continues to show her true colors.She had called the tabloids.She knew they’d eat up that story. Married billionaire James Wood escorting what appears to be his mistress into a lavish penthouse.And she knew Rosalind would see it. At first, I was fuming. The darkness that clouded my vision had me wanting to slam my fists into a wall, but the moment Rosa grabbed that paper with shaky hands; the only thing I could feel was shame.Her beautiful, golden doe eyes stared up at me, realizing that the photo was in fact from this morning. I expected her to cry. I’d seen the glassiness in her eyes… the slight tremble of her plush lower lip, but ins
A Marriage of Convenience Breakfast
Before I could utter a single question, James’ thumb dragged across my lower lip, “You shouldn’t allow your mother to speak to you that way.” I tilted my head slightly, “Even when she’s convincing me to stay married to you?” His lips curled slightly at the same time an eyebrow raised, “Convincing. That sounded more like demanding. And though I agree that you should remain my wife, I want you to want to be my wife. Not feel forced into it.” Was this the real James Wood? The one that I’d seen a tiny glimpse of before that photo shattered my reality all over again? James was typically one to make demands. Directly and indirectly. But does he believe that only he holds that power with me? Every time I find myself in this position with James, a tiny piece of the walls I try to keep strong chip away. His touch feels so comforting. It feels like home. The warmth of his fingers. The slight calloused tips to them from his exercising. It’s almost as if his touch electrifies my skin. The gre
A Marriage of Convenience Show me
“What do you mean ‘gone’?”James took a deep breath, staring once again down at his plate before pushing it to the side.“The night that I was brought to the hospital,” he strummed his fingers against the table top before reaching up and pushing them through his deep, brown hair, “Someone burnt the entire place to the ground.”I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand, “Why would someone do that?”He leaned against the cushion of the booth, “I’ve been trying to figure that out for years. That night,” James looked at me with a haunted expression, shaking his head, “Would you like to go see it?”I felt like everything around me had stopped. Like time had frozen around me, but James and I remained the same. All sound ceased to exist.James was giving me a morsel. A tiny glimpse into the life I knew nothing about.“If you’ll show me.”****When James told me that his town was gone; I never expected what we walked into.The town was in a remote area about fifty miles outside of Savannah. Th
A Marriage of Convenience Doctor
James hasn’t spoken to me in three days. It feels like we took two steps forward, and three steps back. His days have consisted of spending as much time at the office as possible, or working out to the brink of exhaustion before he closes himself in his office. I thought that I felt something shift when he’d showed me the home that he grew up in, but it seems to have only driven a wedge between us. Today is my first day back at work, and I’m thankful for the distraction. It’s been lonely back at the house. It’s my first break in six hours, which means it’s time for a much needed coffee. The elevator feels as if it’s moving at a snails pace as we lower from the sixth floor down to the lobby. As I’m walking up to the line, I notice a familiar figure at the front, “Shawn?” His head whips around and his eyes immediately land on me, “I didn’t know you were back at work already,” he turned quickly, adding my favorite latte to his order before glancing over his shoulder, “Are you on br
A Marriage of Convenience Complicated
Shawn blew out a weighted breath, “I did.”I expected more from him. Anything more. Shawn was never one to be at a loss for words, but right now, the only thing he said was I did. It’s been five years since I sent that letter. Five years I wondered if he’d gotten it. And I told myself it wouldn’t matter if he did. But I hoped he didn’t, because I poured my heart into every word that went onto that page. Tears blurred the writing as I laid out a nine year long crush onto a single sheet of loose leaf paper. The last line I wrote on that paper was: With you, I am home. When I’d written that line, I meant it with every fiber of my being. Shawn was always there growing up. He got me like no one else did. And no matter how things were at home, he made it seem so insignificant. He was the one person in my life that truly felt like home. He still does. None of that matters now. I moved on with James. I’m married. I’m married. It was just a stupid letter that I’d written in the heat of
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A Marriage of Convenience Guilt
“I’ve increased security and will be checking in hourly. Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” James held my annoyed stare, knowing that nothing was getting in or out of these walls without him knowing.He held up his hands in mock surrender, “Fine. FINE. I get it,” he stepped towards me, his large frame crowding my space. My butt hit the counter and my crutches fell to the ground. James lifted me with ease and placing me atop the cool, granite countertop. A shiver rolled through my body as the chill seeped into my skin, “I’m allowed to worry about you, you know?”“Worry all you want, but don’t stop letting me live. Please. I’ll be fine and I trust that all of the additional security measures you’ve put in place will keep me extra safe,” I pecked his lips, attempting to pull away quickly, but he grabbed my face, crashing our lips together in a searing kiss.James held me there until we were both breathless, and my chest ached from the lack of oxygen.“The office can wait,” he growled
A Marriage of Convenience The Perfect Mate
James assisted me into a house, where the smell of bleach assaulted me the moment I walked through the threshold. A crew of cleaners froze as we walked inside, but a single look from James had them scurrying back to their jobs.The glass had been removed and the blood no longer stained the white porcelain. A new pane of glass shimmered beneath the midday sun, and I found myself frozen as I stared at the picture-perfect home.“It feels weird to see looking how it was before,” I whispered, still feeling the fear of that night swim through my veins. The large floor to ceiling window overlooked the forest in the backyard, and I silently wondered if that fear would multiply once the sun went down and the shadows of the night came out to play.James pressed his lips to my temple, “I replaced the glass from before with something graded to be bullet proof. Nothing will get through those windows again.”A shiver rolled down my spine. Either James replaced the window with bulletproof glass to m
A Marriage of Convenience Something is off
I was finally cleared to go home from the hospital, but I’m not quite sure how to feel about it. On one hand, I missed my bed and the comfort of my own home. On the other, I didn’t know how to feel about being there after the attack.Not to mention my mind has been running in circles since Marina showed up here yesterday.James came shortly after she left, but something seemed off, and I wanted to dissect everything that Marina had said before confronting James about it. But even more confusing was the fact that she’d specifically said a wolf bite, when she shouldn’t have known that small fact.She couldn’t have known that unless she orchestrated it or James had told her about it, but I was leaning towards her orchestrating the attack.“How’s Ahmed?” I glanced up at James as he wheeled me out to the awaiting car.“He’s awake and recovering. I’ve placed him on paid leave and instructed his wife to come to me if they need anything at all,” James’ voice held an edge to it, but I didn’t c
A Marriage of Convenience Cops(James POV)
The inside of the house looked like a massacre. Tiny shards of glass decorated the floor like snow. Some of the larger bits were painted with a deep, blackish crimson from the dried blood, and the smell was nauseating.‘These were definitely rogues,’ Onyx spat through gritted teeth, his anger blending with mine the more we assessed the scene.Through it all, I could smell Rosalind’s blood, and the thought of them hurting her while I was off chasing some ignorant lead on Marina made my blood boil with anger. But the anger was directed at myself.I should have been here. I should have been the one to protect her, and Ahmed did his best, but one man against multiple wolves just didn’t succeed.Rainwater had flooded most of the evidence, causing it to spread before drying. The cops wouldn’t be able to pull anything from this mess. Not anything concrete anyways.I’d learned the hard way how easily evidence can be destroyed. If you’re not on the scene within a tiny window of time, your succ
A Marriage of Convenience Our. Home
“Rosalind,” Chris shouted, shouldering through a group of nurses who were conveniently gossiping about James. They still couldn’t believe he was married to a woman like me. Sure, I was a doctor, but that wasn’t anything special when the most eligible, billionaire bachelor in Georgia was in the running. He was like a God around here. And me? Well, I was simply an average looking woman who also happened to be a doctor. My status as a Red didn’t mean a damn thing, because I wasn’t a hot man who also happened to have enough money to buy the entire United States and not blink an eye. “What the fuck?” Chris muttered; eyes wide as he stared at my elevated leg. Blood had seeped through the bandages because they couldn’t seal the wound and for someone who doesn’t see this kind of thing on a regular basis, it was pretty disgusting. “Close the curtain,” I whispered, and he did quickly, rushing back to my side.“Was that,” he pointed at my injury, “From one of them.”“We are one of them,” I n
A Marriage of Convenience Cross me(James POV)
Pure, unfiltered rage didn’t even begin to describe the poisonous feeling flooding through my veins. The anger feels like a living, breathing thing.Like a Goddamned snake slithering its way beneath my skin, releasing toxic poison in the form of fury that bleeds into every square inch of my body.I want the heads of every single person who stepped foot on my property last night. I don’t give a shit who they were or what they were doing there. If they accidentally stumbled upon the forest at the back of the property…. I’m going to find them and make them pay.Since my driver is now fighting for his life in the hospital with Rosalind, I’m forced to call and wait for a driving service to offer me a temp replacement for Ahmed.A few painstaking minutes pass while I pace a hole in the cement out front of the hospital, sweating from the sweltering, humid Georgia heat before the damn driver finally shows up.‘He is clearly incompetent,’ Onyx spats in my head, ‘Ahmed would never keep us waiti
A Marriage of Convenience No one in or out
“Rosa,” James’ voice filters through the darkness, “Rosalind, baby.”My body shakes softly on my shoulders and my eyelids flutter. The lashes on my left eye are stuck to my face, and after a few attempts, they tear free.Bright lights above my head blind me as I blink away my disorientation.The sound of multiple different voices has my eyes panning around the room. EMS workers move quickly, rushing inside the small space and focusing their attention on Ahmed. I recognize a few of the faces rushing around me, but a relieved sigh falls from my lips as I finally focus on James.“What’s going on?”My voice sounds foreign and gravelly.“Are you injured?” James rushes out, coming back to my side and ignoring the emergency personnel shouting at him to back up.“My…” I start, trying to move the leg that had gotten bit, but it felt numb and stiff, “My leg and my ribs.”“What happened here?” The gold flecks in James’ eyes glitter beneath the harsh lights of the elevator, and his eyes soften as
A Marriage of Convenience Creatures
A loud noise jars me awake and my eyes struggle to focus in my disoriented state. The sky is nearly black and rain pelts against the floor to ceiling windows at the rear of the house.The television remains on, but the show I’d been watching has long ended. Glancing at my phone, I blink away the sleepiness seeing that somehow, I’d managed to nap for the last five hours.Another loud crack startles me as the sky lights up with a flash of lightning. A few seconds later, the power goes out, causing complete darkness to blanket me. The storm raging outside is the only sound I hear, and I quickly grab my phone, illuminating the flashlight as I walk towards the rear windows.The backyard leading into the forest looks eerie blanketed in complete darkness. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and the feeling of being watched envelopes me as I squint my eyes, trying to see anything through the heavy sheets of rain.Another flash of lightning illuminates the sky, and I swear I saw someth
A Marriage of Convenience Liar
James left early this morning for work and forbade me from going into the hospital. I called in with a family emergency, and there was no questioning. They knew if I was taking off, it was necessary, even though it didn't feel that way. Chris remained passed out on the back patio, and I’m not sure if I should force him awake or let him sleep off the shockwave that was yesterday. I still don't even know if I've managed to brush off the reality that I've been a werewolf my entire life and everyone I loved kept it from me..... and I've had weeks to process it.My phone buzzing against the countertop startles me, and I glance over to see that my father is calling.Begrudgingly, I grab the phone, hesitating as my finger hovers over the small green button. I’ve been avoiding talking to either of them. Since my meeting with my father and my mother’s explosion over the scathing interview I did with Mr. Arden; I’m not sure they even consider me a member of the Red family.“Hey dad,” I finally
