Stormy
We’re back in Liam’s car, and my phone is blowing up.
Like I’m thinking it might actually explode… or just expire mid-notification. The back is hot to the touch and the battery lifeblood is draining at an alarming rate. Already down to seventy-three percent.
I gulp.
“You could turn it off,” Liam suggests, eyes on the road and hands loose at the wheel. He seems more relaxed than a guy who just outed his secret marriage and then packed up half his fake wife’s closet to move her into his pristine bachelor pad.
I hug my stomach, past my initial shock and outrage and well into my fresh new nervous breakdown.
Everyone knows.
Ray.
My family.
My friends.
The trill of my sister’s ringtone breaks through.
“Misty.” I’m more afraid to talk to her than I am to my parents.
“Yeah. Nichols has called sixteen times already.”
I stare out the window, my mind spinning with all the conversations I’m going to have to have. The order of the calls. What I’m going to have to say.
“God, what am I going to say? How did I think I could actually get away with this?”
Liam shifts in his seat, takes a breath, and then shakes his head and blows it out. “We’re going to keep it brief and vague.”
“You mean they don’t need to know about my refusal to use you for sex because you were too nice a guy?”
He grins and there’s something about it that stills the spinning thoughts. That calms the chaos in my head.
“Probably not.”
We barely make it inside before Derrick calls up from the lobby.
I’m not surprised that Noel and Misty are here. That’s my sister for you. And apparently her fiancé too.
But the fact that they brought my parents? Wow.
That hurts.
“I texted we were coming,” Misty says with a too-bright smile. Then, voice dripping with sarcasm, she adds, “Wouldn’t want to blindside you or anything.”
I groan, but what is there to say? She’s right. And besides, it’s not like I could get a word in edgewise with my parents barreling in, demanding answers.
“It’s not real—”
“You live with your sister—”
“No one’s even heard this guy’s name—”
“Dad,” I start, but he’s already brushing past me.
“There's no way she lives here. Look at this place,” my father accuses, pointing from one immaculate space to the next. “Where’s the junk? The Chia pets and twinkle lights? The goat yoga calendar and… piles. Where is Stormy in this apartment, because from the looks of it, she’s never even set foot in this place.”
He’s not too far off. Not that Liam is willing to admit it.
“She wasn’t officially living here before. But she’s moving in now.”
Misty’s eyes narrow. “Officially?”
Liam continues like she’s just high-fived him. “And actually, this is perfect. We’ve been trying to figure out the best way to share our news, get everyone together… and here you are.”
We were not talking about that, but I’m nodding my agreement.
“Yes, this is perfect,” I wheeze out.
Liam steps over to shake my dad’s hand, introducing himself, and then leans in to kiss my mom’s cheek, acting like we’ve invited them over for dinner as a couple instead of them showing up demanding answers about a wedding they didn’t know happened.
It’s official. I’m freaking out.
I can feel the breath starting to move too fast, my lungs work too hard for too little air.
Misty is shaking her head.
Noel is glaring at Liam.
My parents…
“And now you’re married—”
“But since when—”
I smile wider. Try to suck the air slower… harder… and it’s not working.
Beside me, Liam does a quick double take, catching what everyone else is too spun-up to notice.
“Nichols,” he cuts in, his voice clear, filled with authority and command. “Get Mr. and Mrs. Hendricks something to drink. I need Stormy for a few seconds.”
I’m pretty sure that Noel has never actually been here before, but he ushers my parents over to the thinking couch while Liam uses that firm hold to pull me around so I’m in front of him, his body blocking out the rest of the apartment.
“Look at me. Slow it down.”
I nod, but I can feel the tingling in my fingertips. “I don’t want them to know… it was… the same day.” My voice is thready, weak. My pulse is racing. It’s too pathetic. Everyone will know and— “Maybe we should… tell them the truth?”
I mean the words as they leave my mouth, but already my head is shaking no, please no.
“Stormy,” he says, my name a low rumble between us. And then he leans down, bowing his head so his eyes are level with mine. Steady. “The truth is we’re married. You’re my wife. And we’ve decided to give it a go.”
“I thought you didn’t lie.”
He stands a little straighter. “I won’t lie to you. But I will lie for you.”
It would be the most romantic thing a man has ever said to me, if the romance wasn’t part of the lie too. As it is, it’s enough to get me all choked up with wheezy, hiccupy gratitude.
“We’ve got this.” There’s just something so sure about the way he says it.
And staring into those deep brown eyes… I believe him. “Okay.”
“Take another breath, gorgeous. Long and slow.”
I do as he says, and when he smiles, the air starts to move through my lungs more freely.
“That’s good.”
“Okay. I’m okay.” And my family is waiting.
He takes my hand and leads me back into the living room where my parents are sitting together, their untouched wine on the oblong coffee table in front of them.
Noel’s at the island, one elbow on the counter, and Misty is behind him, opening cabinets and drawers, fingering through his stuff like she lives here.
I don’t even live here.
Everyone is looking at me, waiting for an explanation I’m not ready to give. “Guys, I’m sorry you had to find out like this.”
My mother coughs, her eyes immediately filling with tears.
My father shakes his head, his eyes wounded. “It’s true?”
“It’s true,” I croak, and Liam pulls me in front of him, his big hands stroking over my arms, his body a comforting presence behind me.
“We met in Vegas over the summer,” he offers with an affectionate warmth in his voice that has me looking back to see the matching smile he’s wearing.
“This summer?” Misty comes around to the seating area, Noel a step behind her.
She knows.
She knows I went to Vegas the day of my wedding.
She knows that’s when I met Liam and that I didn’t see him again until he showed up on Christmas Eve. And now she knows I’ve been lying to her for more than a year.
My father shakes his head, taking my mother’s hand. “Stormy.”
Lips pursed, Misty drops into the corner of the couch.
I beg her with my eyes to go along with this. “That weekend I left in July.” The one she knows I spent in Seattle with my roommate from college. “I needed a break and… so I booked a quick trip to get some space.”
She makes me wait, underscoring how pissed she is. Very.
“Yeah, I remember. But I thought you said you were just looking for a quick rebound lay?”
My mom makes a sound I’ve never heard before, and my dad’s face gets two shades darker.
Misty pulls a face and adds, “Sorry.”
Okay, so make that very, very pissed.
“No, no. I think maybe that’s what you assumed. But I needed—”
“Some ‘strange,’ Right? Yeah, we were in your room, and you were putting that economy-sized box of condoms in your suitcase.”
“Misty!” I cough, unable to look at the man who’s gone unnaturally still behind me. Like he’s not even breathing. “Mom, Dad, she’s—”
Not done, apparently. “I was teasing you because who buys endurance-strength marshmallow flavor?”
“Christ,” Liam mutters quietly as Noel says something about remembering not to piss her off and, now that they’ve caught on, my parents make annoyed noises.
“Misty, I’m sorry. I should have told you.”
“Yeah, you should have,” she snaps, but it’s hurt, not anger, behind her words. Noel pulls her in closer and kisses the side of her head.
“It won’t happen again.” There’s a beat filled with narrow-eyed sisterly silence. And she finally gives me a tight nod, our unspoken agreement struck.
From here on out, no more secrets. I’ll give her the truth. All of it.
She rolls her eyes and starts to lie for me. “Yeah, yeah, I remember. You wanted to decompress. Alone. So, Vegas.”
Liam relaxes behind me and clears his throat. I turn because it almost sounds like he’s trying not to… laugh? But maybe I’m wrong because he looks completely composed. Restrained.
Controlled. So very not the man from my office this morning.
“Neither of us were looking for what happened, but we just connected.” Liam sits back on the arm of the chair, drawing me into his side. “It was kind of instantaneous. And the more we talked, the more we found we had in common.”
True.
“We got caught up in it.” He smiles at me like we’re taking a stroll down some cute, romantic memory lane. “Drank too much and made an impulsive decision. And in the light of day, we… well—” He chuffs out a laugh and looks around before meeting my eyes again. “We freaked out a little.”
I start nodding again. I know it’s too fast, but I can’t make myself slow down. Because, yes! What he said.
“We freaked out,” I echo.
The arm that was behind my back shifts and then his hand is in my hair… Kinda tight?
Right, the nodding.
Noel holds up a finger, leveling Liam with a nasty look. The guy is taking his impending brother-in-law duties seriously. “You’ve been married… for six months?”
“Stormy and I didn’t tell anyone about the marriage because we wanted to figure things out ourselves. And we wanted to do it privately. Which we have.”
His fingers flex, and I nod. Once.
“I’m sorry about how it came out. We wanted to tell you this weekend, privately. Celebrate together. But that Ray—” He makes this sort of strangled laugh noise. “That guy pushes my buttons.”
My parents blink, shifting uncomfortably.
Liam is completely believable.
I swallow and try to force some brightness into my voice. “This is the real deal. Mom, Dad… meet my husband. Liam Diesel.”
Mom winces. “So, your name is Stormy… Diesel?”
And for the first time since Ray walked into my office this morning, there’s a lightness in my chest. Because I know exactly what she’s thinking.
As if it didn’t sound like a stripper name before.