Chapter 1

ONE

Owen

O liver hadn't even been gone three days when my parents cornered me.

"It's your duty to carry on the family name." My mother stands with a glass of wine in her hand, looking down her nose like she had a bad taste in her mouth, but if she had to swallow this, so did I.

"I'm not Oliver. I'll never be who you want me to be."

"Listen, none of us wanted to be in this situation, but with Oliver's marriage to Isaac, we don't have a choice." My father sits with his arms crossed like he was here under duress as well.

I shoot him a glance. "Then why are we in it?"

"We have an arrangement to uphold," my father says through his teeth.

I lift a brow. "So get out of it if this isn't what you want."

"We can't walk it back now. Too much depends on this alliance."

The walls start closing in. I pull at my tie, unable to breathe. My lungs won't inflate. They're frozen in time, like I'm about to be married off to a fucking child.

My parents say something about having dinner with Cassie next week so we can ‘get to know each other better'. Bile rises in my throat.

Before I know what I'm doing, I'm shoving past the butler and out of the door. Out onto the street on the quiet Upper East Side street. I hail a cab, knowing they won't be able to trace it like they do our car service.

"Where to?" the cabbie asks.

Anywhere but here.

"LaGuardia," I say without thinking. I'd never been on a commercial flight, but there is a first time for everything.

I walk up to the ticket counter and slap my card down on the counter. "Give me the next first-class ticket."

"Where to?" the lady doesn't even look at me.

"I don't care. The next flight out."

That gets her attention, and she looks up at me. "Running away?"

I hand her my ID. "I'm a legal adult, so it's not running away."

"We have a first-class seat to Las Vegas in an hour." She picks up my ID.

I nod. "Book it."

She leans my ID against her screen to type in my information while I glance around, feeling like I'm being followed. In two minutes flat, she hands me back my license and the ticket.

"Where do I go?" I ask.

"To security?" She looks at me like I'm a moron.

"I've never done this before. Where is that?"

"You've never been on a flight?" she asks, giving me a once-over.

"No, I've been on plenty of those. I've never been on a commercial flight."

She narrows her eyes. "What?"

"Never mind. I'll google it."

No one would expect me to be sitting in a smoky bar in Las Vegas, so I jump when Colin slides into the seat next to me.

"How did you find me?"

"Oliver made the mistake of sharing your phone location with me."

"Motherfucker." I throw my phone in the trash can next to me. "No one can be trusted, can they?"

"If you marry Cassie, I'll kill you."

"Do it then."

Colin blinks, clearly not having expected that answer. "I'm not joking. If you marry my sister, I will kill you. She's not ready."

"If I don't marry your sister, my parents will disinherit me. Can you imagine me paying for my own therapy and medication? So do your worst, not like I wanted to live to thirty, anyway." I wave him on.

Colin grinds his teeth.

"Are you going to do it, or can I return to trying to kill myself with alcohol?" I ask, picking up my fruity cocktail to slurp the last out of the bottom of the glass.

He slams his fist down on the bar top. "I need a drink."

"Good idea. We'll both drink until I get up the courage to throw myself off a building." I look at the bartender. "Put it on my tab and add another one of these."

Colin side-eyes me. "You're not really going to throw yourself off a building, are you?"

"I haven't decided yet. Better than marrying a teenager." I gag a little. "And I can't be on the run forever. It's shocking my parents haven't caught up with me yet." I glance over my shoulder, expecting guys dressed in all black to drag me back to New York any second.

"No one is following us. What are you, a paranoid schizophrenic?"

"You don't know my parents," I mutter around my straw.

Colin gives me a strange look. "Seriously?"

"They have money or something on the line with this. They wouldn't be so insistent if not. But I can't figure out what."

"You think it's that deep?"

I nod. "My parents don't do anything that doesn't benefit them, let alone insist on it. Why else would they want to tie us to you? You don't have anywhere near the wealth or name they do." I grit my teeth. "Sorry, no offense."

"None taken. Not my money." Colin taps a finger on the counter. "So what are we going to do?"

"I thought you were going to kill me? Sounds like the best option."

Colin glares. "Stop being so dramatic."

"I'm not. Nothingness sounds wonderful right now," I mutter.

Colin growls, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. What a strange reaction. Bodies are so weird. I would have to explore that later. I'm much too drunk to think about it now.

"Then I'm out of ideas. So you tell me."

"How many drinks have you had? You're slurring."

I shrug immediately, sticking the straw of the mixed drink between my lips the second it's set in front of me. "I lost count."

"We need shots," Colin states when he gets his drink. He orders four and pushes two in my direction.

I do them both in quick succession and something hits. The whole casino rocks, and I nearly fall off my stool. "Fuck."

Colin laughs, dimples showing in his cheeks. He looks a lot better smiling than when he puts on his ‘I'm gonna out gay you' face. "Is killing your parents off the table?"

"Who's hiring a hit man? I don't think I'd enjoy jail." I wrinkle my nose.

"You'd never be convicted." Colin orders more shots. "I need to catch up. You look like you're feeling good."

My eyes slip closed. "For now."

"I think I'd enjoy jail. Talk about getting railed whenever you want."

I open one eye. "Can't be that good."

"It is. You have no idea." Colin almost hums the words.

"I don't really get what the big deal about sex is," I admit, not sure why I'm saying so much.

"You should try it."

"There isn't really anyone I want to try it again with."

"I'd let you fuck me."

I spit out my drink, thankfully missing the bartender. "What? Why?"

"You and Oliver are identical, right? I've seen his dick. If you're hung like him…it would be a pleasure." Colin looks at me like he was ready to get on his knees in the bar and suck my dick, bystanders be damned.

A spark runs down my spine, curiosity spiking. But why? I'd never liked men. It must be the alcohol…it has to be the alcohol. Or maybe the idea of being watched…

"Well?" Colin asks, licking his lips.

I lift both hands. "No, no, thank you. I don't think I want to try that again. It was too sticky."

Colin shrugs, not looking deterred. "If you ever change your mind, just call me."

"We need to focus." More like I need to not think about how warm it suddenly got in here. "How are we getting me out of this?"

"So if killing your parents is off that table, maybe we can get to the bottom of why your parents and mine need each other?"

"And then what?" I sigh. "Killing me is still the best option."

Colin rolls his eyes. "Unless I'm choking you to death with my dick, not going to happen."

"How long does that take?"

Colin turns towards me, staring. "Interesting."

"What? Then we both get what we want."

He narrows his eyes. "I'd much rather be the choke-e than the choker. Way less fun. And I'm not killing you!"

"You're no fun." I reach over and steal a cherry, putting it between my lips to pull the stem off.

"You can't just be doing that!"

"Huh?" I ask.

"Ugh. Why do hot guys have to be all ‘I don't know how hot I am'." Colin rolls his eyes, then laughs.

"The cherry thing?" I ask, putting it together.

"Obviously. Your lips…"

"Choking me to death with your cock is sounding better and better, isn't it?" I grin.

He laughs and shoves me playfully. "Fuck off."

I don't know why Oliver can't stand Colin. He isn't so bad. "It's in your brain now. You're going to be thinking about it."

"Stop! If I tell my therapist I'm into snuff films, they will commit me for sure."

"Maybe that's what I need to do…no, they'd probably just have the wedding at the asylum." I put my forehead on the bar, resigned to my fate. "I'm so fucked."

"Wait…I know how we can get you out of this."

I sit up turning toward him eagerly. "How?"

"Marry me."

I sputter. "Excuse me?"

"It can be a sham. But how are they going to marry you to Cassie if you're already married?" Colin is on to something.

I'd give my parents a fucking alliance with the Covingtons, but not the one they wanted.