Chapter 19 Validity

Wren

"So how are things with Mag?"

I was back at the safe house in Los Angeles after spending the last three days with Magnum in San Diego. It was Valentine's Day, and the magic show was scheduled to start later that evening.

Stella sat opposite me as my hand soaked in bubbly warm water on a small table between us. I'd never had a manicure before, and it seemed extravagant, but she'd insisted we had to do this before getting dressed for the event.

"Good. We've been so busy preparing for tonight that I haven't had much time to stress." Luckily, being with Mag had helped me relax and the skin on my arms had healed enough to wear the sleeveless dress we'd purchased on Rodeo Drive. We'd been lucky enough to find a vintage Versace gown that fit me perfectly. I only hoped I could do it justice tonight.

"What have you guys been doing?" Brandy sat on the bed that was off to the side of the little manicure station Stella had set up outside the bathroom.

At the office, I didn't have a chance to chat with the girls about stuff, so this was nice, and we had privacy. "We went over all the possibilities for tonight. He explained how he'd be wired with a microphone but no gun. The team is pretty sure there will be a lot of people there, and we'll be safe. If we arrive, and there are no other guests, we're not going in. "

"Sounds like a plan," Stella said calmly like she did stuff like this all the time.

"If there are other guests, we go in as Gavin and Wren Beaumont. Gavin is a tech guy and we're married. If Kenny asks about the money, Gavin will tell him that we planned to pay him, but our computers and phones were hacked. That way if Gavin did hack him, it makes us look like we were victims too."

"Clever." Stella removed my right hand from the water and plopped my left hand in. She dried my right hand with a towel and began to rub lotion on my fingers.

"We're supposed to be confidently united and appear wealthy. We're trying to send a message that Gavin is in the game now, and we want to form an alliance with Kenny. Mostly, we want him to be intimidated by Gavin so he's less likely to attack me again."

"Should work." Stella took a round stick with an angled end and started pushing my cuticles back.

"How did you learn to do nails?" I asked her.

"I did a stint in a salon before my days at KS." That made sense considering she always had stylish hair and makeup.

"That sounds like fun."

"What else have you been doing with Mag?" Brandy asked.

"Well, he took me to the gun range. I had a safety lesson and shot a few rounds."

"How did it feel?" Brandy leaned forward and her eyes sparkled.

"Powerful." I grinned back at her .

"Hmm. Interesting." She sat back on the bed like she was plotting her own request for Steel to teach her how to shoot.

"But Mag made it clear this is a recon mission only to gather intel. He doesn't expect any violence. We're also looking for any signs of Gavin and trying to figure out if they know Magnum isn't really Gavin. I'm not supposed to offer any additional information if Kenny asks me something directly."

Stella paused and peered up at me. "That's good, but I was really asking what's going on with Mag with respect to sleeping at his apartment."

"Oh that."

"Yes, that. Give me the deets." She finished my right hand and started working on the cuticles on my left hand. "I haven't had you alone since you left my place."

"Staying at Mag's is mostly fine. I haven't unpacked my stuff or anything. It's clearly temporary. I'm very grateful. He was ordering all his meals, so I started making some home cooked dinners and restocked the pantry. It's very expensive ordering food like that."

Stella rolled her hands that I should keep sharing.

"Takeout food also has a lot of fat and hidden sugar, so I make healthy stuff with organic vegetables and protein."

"And what does he say when he's eating?" Brandy asked.

"Nothing." Magnum stayed surprisingly quiet while eating.

"What does he do after he eats?" Stella asked, like this was a critical question.

I didn't understand her curiosity exactly, and I had to think carefully how to answer. "He clears the plates and cleans the kitchen. He puts the leftovers in the fridge." It all seemed very normal. "Then he usually compliments my cooking."

Stella grinned. "Now we're getting somewhere. What happens after dinner?"

"We talk for hours. Sometimes late into the night and early morning. I just find him fascinating. There's a limit to what he can tell me because of the secret military stuff, but I feel like I know him infinitely better now. We both like spicy food and action movies. At first I thought we were so different, but we actually have a lot of common ground. I taught him how to eat with chopsticks." I looked up and realized I was smiling and I'd gone on about it too long. All of this with Magnum had been simmering inside, and it felt good to share it with my new friends.

Stella and Brandy seemed interested so I kept going. "We both like to run, but he can run a lot farther and faster than me, so he does the first lap with me and then goes out again by himself. He's got a great sense of humor." I grinned remembering some of the inside jokes we had now. "And he's really close with his siblings. He let me say hello to his sister Sylvie and her kids over his weekly video call. Those kids are adorable."

"Hmm-hmm, and what are the sleeping arrangements?" Stella asked as she cleared the water bath and wiped the table down.

"He always offers to sleep on the couch, but I've had some nightmares lately." I hadn't told the girls about my repressed memory. I was still processing it myself and wasn't ready to share it yet. "So, mostly he sleeps in the bed with me, but there's no kissing."

Stella, who had been nodding along, froze and stared at me. "You sleep in Mag's bed with no kissing?"

I didn't know how to explain it all, and my face felt hot. "It's so embarrassing. At first, I kinda made a move." I shrugged. "It was lame. I shouldn't have even tried it." I didn't want to disclose the private things between me and Mag, but I also really needed to discuss the painful rejection that had been burning a hole in my heart the last few days.

Stella and Brandy shared a disbelieving look. "Tried what?" Stella asked.

"We had some accidental contact, and I asked him to kiss me." My tummy flipped at the memory of his massive body pinning me to the bed, his hand on my neck, his rusty voice rippling through the dark. The chemistry between us was so freaking intense. "He got angry and said he's not a cheater."

Stella's brows smooshed together. "Who would be cheating on who?"

I was surprised at her question. To me, it was obvious. "I'm legally married to Gavin. Magnum just signed his name. This is such a mess. It was stupid of me to even suggest he kiss me. Why would a man like him want anything to do with a girl like me anyway?"

Stella and Brandy continued their silent staring contest but added a lot of eyebrow wiggling and nodding.

"Tell me why you're making faces. This is bad. Isn't it?"

Finally, Brandy spoke. "I looked into it. I mean, I'm not a lawyer yet, but I checked it out." Brandy had told me she was planning to go to law school after she finished her degree in criminal justice. "In California, if the groom isn't physically there, and someone signs his name without pre-arranging for it, the marriage isn't legally binding. You're technically not married to Gavin." She wiped her palms together like she was brushing off dust, and my marriage to Gavin was dissolved.

Panic bubbled up in my throat, and I pulled my hands away. "Yes, we are. Gavin signed the marriage license, and Mag signed his name at the ceremony."

"Nope," Brandy said. "You're not. Gavin has to be there in person at the courthouse and sign his own name in order for the marriage to be legal."

"I'm not married to Gavin?"

"Not legally. All you'd have to do is tell the court that Gavin didn't really sign it, and the whole marriage isn't valid. You need both parts, the license and the certified ceremony with the justice of the peace." She spoke softly but intelligently, and I believed she was telling me the truth.

"Oh my God. What does this mean?" Chaotic thoughts began to spin in my head like hamsters on a wheel. "Does Magnum know? Wait. Wait. What if Magnum knew this, and he was just using it as an excuse to brush me off?"

"What do you mean?" Stella asked.

"What if all this time Magnum knew the marriage wasn't valid, but he told me it was so he wouldn't have to deal with my crush on him? Oh gosh. This is terrible." I covered my face with my hands and tears started to well in my eyes. "I'm already so stressed about the magic show. Adding this extra rejection onto it would just be too much. "

Brandy came over to me and placed an arm over my shoulders. "I don't think he knows, and I don't think he'd lie to you about it."

I looked into her eyes, seeking reassurance. She was so pretty and nice. "He promised me at the ceremony that he wouldn't lie to me."

She stepped back and smiled. "Aww, really? Magnum's full of surprises lately. Well, when he told us the story last Sunday, I got the impression he believed you and Gavin were legally married. At the very least, he believes you're Gavin's girl."

"Mag is a card-carrying manwhore," Stella added, and I gasped at her bluntness. "But he doesn't cheat and he doesn't chase after women that are taken. Gotta give him credit for that."

I brushed off the manwhore comment and focused on what Brandy was implying. "So, even if I'm not legally married to Gavin, he still thinks I'm Gavin's girl?"

"Are you?" Stella asked. "What's the situation with him?"

Ugh. The big question. "I don't know. We'd been dating for a few months. I liked Gavin. He was nice but a little awkward and erratic. Then I suddenly needed him to marry me, and he agreed to do it. He got me a ring." I raised my left hand and they glanced at the ring, but their faces remained impassive. "He'd even said he loved me, but it was all under incredible pressure because of Kenny. Then he didn't show, and we don't know if he got cold feet and left me at the altar or if Kenny has him tied up somewhere or even if he's dead." I took a breath and sighed. "Then Magnum stepped in, and I'm surprised how much I like him, but I really don't think he likes me."

They were both quiet for an infinite second.

"Did Mag give you a nickname?" Stella asked.

Her question seemed out of left field, and I had to think about it. "Actually, he calls me Rebel. And sometimes Little Bird."

She smiled and tapped her lips. "Okay. Here's one suggestion." Stella took my hands again and continued her work on my nails. "You get dolled up tonight for the magic show. Hair, nails, smelling good, looking hot. You accept that it's going to be both awesome and terrifying. You don't talk to Magnum about the marriage legalities or your feelings toward Gavin. It's too much all at once. Just get through this show and let it play out as if you're pretending to be married, which you are. He's basically working a mission right now, so he'll be in warrior mode anyway, so it's best not to distract the little general." She lowered her chin and leveled her gaze on me.

I had to laugh at her calling anything on Magnum little.

"Later, when the dust has settled, you have a heart to heart with Mag about your feelings and see if he wants to move forward with you." She looked through her box of supplies. "Just one suggestion. You do you, girl."

A big lump formed in my throat at the thought of moving forward with Magnum in any way. I liked the idea of not dealing with this now and having some time to think it through before I talked to Mag about it. "Okay. I'm on board with that. "

"Oh, this is going to be epic, and you're gonna have a good story to tell us tomorrow." Stella picked up a nail file and started working on my real nails first. "And you better tell us. No more making me drag it out of you."

Nervous laughter tumbled from my lips. "I'll tell you."

"Good. Now, I'm thinking of doing a full set of acrylics on you. Have you ever had them before?"

"No." She started fitting opaque fake nails over my real ones. We couldn't afford things like that, and my grandfather wouldn't have allowed it in the bakery.

"Do you want them? Warning. They're addictive, and they do weaken your real nails underneath. We could also do some temp press-ons just for tonight, but they could break during the event and that would suck."

"Let's go for it."

"Sure, honey. It'll look so good." She patted my hand with hers. "Don't worry. This is all going to work out fine."

I wanted to believe her, and Mag had said similar things, but I was still terrified.