My Unexpected Vow: California Billionaires Book 2 by Harlow James (children's ebooks free online TXT) 📗

“Yeah, she’s made her hatred of this situation perfectly known, but we’ve actually been surprisingly civil since she moved in.”

He reaches up and wipes the corner of his mouth with a napkin before dropping another hammer to my chest. “Remember, I’ve done the mistaken marriage, Hayes. And the divorce that follows. You made your decision, now own up to it. I think six months will work, which is perfect because Shayla and I decided on a June wedding in Aruba. You two will play nice, you won’t drag me or Shayla in the middle of it, and then we’ll move past this. Make it to my wedding and then decide what you’re going to do.”

I swallow the bite of my sandwich while soaking in his words. No wonder his reaction is so strong—he has firsthand knowledge of making a shitty marriage decision and then dealing with the aftermath. However, I guess if I have to find some silver lining in all of this, it’s that I married Waverly, and not some random person I don’t know the first thing about. I mean, we aren’t exactly close, but she’s familiar, she has a vested interest in our end goals just as much as I do, and now with Wes breathing down our necks, that gives me all the more reason to prove to him that I’m not a complete fuck-up.

“But mark my words—hurt her or go back on your word, and you will answer to me. Not my parents, not her—me.”

“I hear you. I’m sorry, man.”

“You and my sister?” he asks incredulously and then starts laughing, which catches me off-guard. “Man, I wish I had cameras to watch what’ll go down in your house between the two of you.”

I can’t help but smile with a semblance of relief. “What do you think is going to happen?”

Tilting his head to the side, he ponders his response. “I think I’m just going to let this play out and then tell you later when I’m proven right.”

“What? How’s that fair? You’re not going to warn me about living with her? Does she do something that’s going to make me wind up in a straitjacket?”

He shrugs and goes back to eating his burger. “You’re just going to have to figure that out for yourself, Hayes. Welcome to being in an adult relationship. I may not have much experience, but I recently discovered what it’s like to fall in love and want to spend every waking moment with Shayla, despite her little idiosyncrasies that drive me crazy,” he explains on a laugh. “But you and my sister are going to have to navigate those seas all on your own, and if my gut is right, I think this entire predicament will end up surprising you.”

“I’m not sure I like your vagueness right now.”

“Tough shit. You’re lucky I haven’t reached across the table and decked you in the nose for doing what you did.”

My shoulders fall with his reminder. “Believe me, no one is more grateful for that than me. Again, Wes… I’m so fucking sorry.”

“Stop apologizing and show me you can handle this. Then all will be forgiven.”

I nod, thankful that our lifelong friendship isn’t permanently destroyed. “I will. But if Waverly kills me in my sleep, I want you to deliver my eulogy, alright?”

He throws his head back in laughter. “Oh, I think I can do that. I have plenty of blackmail to release upon your untimely death.”

“What the hell? You’d do that while my cold corpse is lying in a casket in front of my family and friends?” I’m not sure I’m entirely comfortable with the rollercoaster version of my best friend I’m encountering right now. Maybe this marriage thing is making him go crazy a bit too.

He smirks while popping a fry in his mouth. “Nah. But just know that if you fuck this up, I have worse ways to get revenge, my friend.”

“Noted,” I reply, shoving that last corner of my sandwich in my mouth before turning the conversation back to business—the only thing we can discuss right now that will alleviate some of the tension.

Fuck. Now the stakes are even higher. I can’t let Wes down any more than I already have, but I know Waverly isn’t going to make this easy, not that anything that requires work is.

* * *

Waverly

“Alright, you have some explaining to do, and since we can’t physically be together, this group Facetime will have to do.”

Shayla and Chloe’s faces stare back at me on the screen of my phone as I cross my legs and lean back on Hayes’s couch in the living room—his extremely comfortable couch that I don’t even want to know how much money he spent on, not that it matters to him at all. But this is seriously the best couch I’ve ever sat on.

“Yeah, Waverly. What the hell?” Chloe interjects. “Shayla called me a few days ago and said you and Hayes got married, and I spit my wine all over the floor. If it were April, I’d think she was playing an April Fool’s joke on me, but it’s only the second week of January. What the hell happened?”

I draw my lips in my mouth while closing my eyes, preparing to explain what happened to the first people I’ve told since Vegas. “Tequila, Vegas, and New Year’s happened, you guys.”

“I knew tequila had to be involved,” Chloe chimes in. “That’s why Shayla and I don’t drink that shit. The last time I drank tequila, I tried peeling off my clothes on the sidewalk in front of our apartment complex and taking a shower in the sprinklers.”

I snort at the visual she provided. “Classy.”

“Hey, it wasn’t a drunken wedding, but embarrassing nonetheless.”

“Start at the beginning,” Shayla encourages as I take a deep breath and recall the details from that night—why I was there, what happened when Hayes showed up, the picture we found the next morning.

“A blue