CHAPTER SIX

MOLLY

––––––––

Knock, knock.

I glance up as Payton opens the door and peeks inside.

"Come in." I smile from the edge of the bed I'm sitting on, trying to untangle my phone charger.

She closes the door and walks over, sitting next to me.

"You okay, Molly? Is this all too much?" she asks, looking awkward.

Damn.

The last thing I want her to be thinking about on what should be the happiest day of her life is me. It's her wedding weekend. She's blissfully in love and about to become a wife and mother.

"Not at all. I mean the helicopter and ten-million-dollar property we're standing in is a lot but"—I grin at her—"it's amazing."

"Twenty. I think." Payton shrugs.

Holy hell. Twenty million?

"You serious?" I gasp quietly.

She giggles. "Is it bad that I googled it?"

I start giggling back. "Please don't change and become one of those dumb rich people."

She bumps my shoulder with hers. "Never, babe."

We both stare at the clump of cords in my hands silently for a moment.

"I missed you when you were in England," Payton says. "I know we talked most days on messenger, but my life has changed so much, and I feel...I dunno...like the ground under my feet is shaky."

I turn and tuck my leg under me.

"But you're happy right? I mean, you can call this off if it's all too soon." I encourage her. "No one will care. Well Knox might. Don't tell him it's my idea if he gets mad."

Payton goes from wide-eyed at my first comment to snorting.

"Mad? He would kidnap me and force me to marry him."

I stare.

"That's not healthy. You know that right?"

She lifts her shoulder, and I frown as she turns into a blushing Cinderella before my eyes. "He's possessive. It's hot."

I get the feeling it runs in the family.

And the vision of Atlas throwing me over his shoulder and doing lots of bad things to me makes me a little aroused.

How dare he make that comment earlier about Greg?

Goddamn him.

"I want to marry Knox. It's just happening so fast. One minute I'm trying not to fall in love with the grumpy man, next minute I'm living with him and wearing his ring."

A huge diamond ring for the record.

Blinding.

But then I noticed all the women in this family have enormous rocks on their finger.

Rich people stuff.

"I want this, Molly. I love Knox. Plus, we both want to be married when this little peanut is born."

I smile at the cute term.

"Do you know if it's a boy or girl yet?"

"No idea but Knox keeps calling it a boy. I hope he or she can't hear us." Payton rubs her tummy.

I am no expert so shrug.

I've not even thought about having kids yet. I'm twenty-four and figure it will be something I do in my mid thirties.

I've created a different baby to nurture for now: my business.

"Well it's my duty as your best friend and bridesmaid to tell you if you want to wait you can. It doesn't mean you don't want to marry him. Having a baby and starting a relationship is already a lot."

Payton nods and glances around the room as her mind ticks over and over.

I feel horrible voicing my concerns, but this is what a friend should do. Open the door should the bride not be entirely sure.

"I think I just needed you home. Is that selfish?"

It is, but not in the way Payton thinks it is.

Needing people is okay.

Depending on them is not.

I take it as a compliment. I cherish our friendship and missed her just as much. Our worlds have both changed the past two months and I know we'll find a way to remain close despite them.

"No. Of course not. I was ready to come home when I did." I take her hand. "You should've told me you were upset."

She sniffs. "I think it's pregnancy hormones. I cried at a stupid TV commercial last week. It was selling toilet paper."

I couldn't have stopped the laugh from escaping if I'd tried. But it works. Payton starts giggling and next minute we're hysterically laughing like hyenas with tears rolling down our faces.

She snorts and I bend over, gulping in some desperate air, as my door opens.

Knox stands there looking at us like we're aliens.

"Everything all right?" he asks, as we hold in our laughter like naughty kids.

With one glance at each other, we start laughing again.

"What is wrong with them?" Atlas asks as he joins his brother in the doorway.

Oh god.

"Move aside. I want what they're having," Levi says but both the men push him away.

"No you will not. You'll get kicked off the team if you take drugs." Knox growls.

"Oh my god. We're not on anything." Payton giggles. "I'm pregnant, remember."

I flop back on the bed and let the laughter roll through me. I haven't laughed like this in weeks. It feels good.

When Payton does the same I turn my head to grin at her and find my gaze locked with Atlas. His eyes sparkle, and I might be wrong, but he looks like he's as happy as I am to see me having fun.

What is that about?

"Okay well as long as you are okay." Knox pushes his brothers back and closes the door and we lay there snickering for a little while longer.

Then Payton turns her head. "So what happened with Greg?"

My smile fades.

"And how does Atlas know about it?"

Shit.

Greg is the son of a family my grandfather was close to. He helped Mom and me sell a bunch of things and trash whatever else we didn't want to take back to the US.

Mom had met my father when he was younger and visiting London, moving to the United States to have me.

When my grandmother died a few years ago, we knew Grandpa wouldn't want to move countries so Greg's family—Mom went to school with his mother —has been keeping an eye on him. He was a stubborn and independent man. I thought nothing would ever kill him, honestly.

But his heart just stopped.

"I think his heart broke when your grandma died." Greg said one night when we sat out in the garden drinking Pimm's and ginger ale.

It was my grandma's favorite drink that Grandpa made for her every Saturday evening. So in their honor, Greg and I decided to have one.

Damn it was good.

"Or he was just old." I shrug.

"You're not very romantic, are you?" Greg grinned at me.

"Not anymore."

"Why? Because it didn't work out with one guy?" he'd replied.

Greg, like all of our family friends, knew I was engaged and that it had ended. Not the part where Steve was married to another woman,.

When I glanced away, embarrassed, Greg had reached out and placed his hand on my arm.

"Hey. We all get our heart broken."

"I know. This is just...different. I..."

Then I told him.

Perhaps it was because I was grieving or that I needed to tell someone, but I told Greg what happened with Steve and to his credit I never saw judgment in his eyes.

"Who doesn't meet a man's family before accepting a marriage proposal?" I shook my head.

"Lots of people, I'm sure," Greg replied. "The question you should be asking is what kind of guy cheats on his wife and proposes to someone else? You are a victim here, Molly. You have no reason to be embarrassed."

"Well I am," I'd said and tossed back my Pimm's, standing to leave.

Greg stood and took my shoulders, looked me right in the eye, and in his sexy English accent said, "If you were my girl, I'd never look at another woman ever again, Molly Carter."

A shiver ran through me.

When I was younger I had a crush on Greg. It hadn't lasted for long. He's two years older than me and during my teen years I never saw him that often.

Only when we visited.

That night his gaze drifted across my lips and a door opened. I thought about how he's the kind of boyfriend any parent would be happy for you to bring home.

Aside from being a lawyer, he's the son who sticks close to his home and family, and I don't remember him ever getting in trouble when we were younger.

Successful, set up for life, and ready to choose a wife.

Greg is the kind of man you could trust and rely on. Proving he was a gentleman, he didn't kiss me, he simply brushed a lock of hair behind my ear and said, "Let me take you out for dinner. On a date."

What did I do?

Think of Atlas and how it felt to have him slide his fingers inside my panties.

A man like him would fuck me—well—and be on to the next girl. A billionaire playboy.

So I nodded and accepted the date. "Okay."

I turn my head away from Payton and stare at the ceiling.

"Nothing happened really," I tell Payton.

It's not the complete truth, but it's also not a lie.