Page 18 of Colin (The Doherty Mafia)
“And if you’re really lucky, then you’ll convince her to perform her wifely duties,” Aidan continued with a snicker.
I glared at him and he shook his head.
“What?”
“I don’t think we’re seeing each other again,” I replied hoarsely.
“And that bothers you?”
“No, it doesn’t!” I snapped.
“Then what is the matter with you, man? You look like your soul has been drained out of you. It’s a sham wedding. It means nothing.”
Those words felt like punches in the gut.
I knew it was a sham wedding. I knew it meant nothing. I didn’t even know her last name. I wouldn’t have known how to go looking for her if I wanted to see her again. I kept checking my phone all day to see if she’d texted me and she hadn’t.
It was obvious that Marley had taken the news much worse than I did. And I thought I was allergic to settling down.
“I’m just hungover, all right?” I growled at Aidan.
“Yeah, okay. We all hear you. You had too much to drink. You banged a chick all night and ended up marrying her. You regret it in the morning. Get over it. It’s Killian’s weekend, remember?”
He finally walked away and it looked like he was going to leave me alone. I needed to be left alone.
I didn’t know how long I had before one of the others came looking for me, so I just stood there and drank some more of the water.
Aidan was right about everything. What was the big deal?
Why couldn’t we have fun? Why did I care so much about what happened with her? Technically, she meant nothing to me. But today, she clouded my every thought like a shadow.
Yeah, it was a stupid move. I never planned on getting married—she said she didn’t either. But why couldn’t we make the best of a bad situation?
I kept thinking about Marley in the shower. Her wet body, her milky smooth skin and dark luscious hair. I wanted her again.
I didn’t want any other girl. Not tonight.
Wasn’t a man entitled to have his woman whenever he wanted? And she was my woman by law. At least for a few more weeks.
But I was just kidding myself, because I had no idea when I would see her again. Chances were that she had no plans of seeing me either, and I would just have to make my peace with it.
Eleven
Marley
I shouldn’t have gone into work that day. Not when I was feeling this shit. Not when I was almost blinded by the hangover still raging around my brain.
But stupidly, I thought if I went to the precinct it would keep my mind off everything else.
Thankfully, I remembered to take the ring off my finger before I walked into the office. The last thing I needed was someone noticing it and spreading the news around. They loved tormenting me there.
It was midday and I was several hours late, so I kept my head down when I arrived. I hoped nobody would notice me slip in, but obviously they did.
Apparently they didn’t have someone to do the coffee-run in the morning and that had put them in a funk. For a change, some of them had to go get their own coffees.
“I had to drink the disgusting stuff from the machine,” one of them complained, shaking his head at me like I had disappointed him.
“I wasn’t feeling very well,” I responded, slumping down in my chair and hoping to gain some sympathy.
“Yeah, you look like shit. You got a bug or something?” another guy asked.
I switched on my computer, hoping they would soon leave me alone and I’d be able to stare blankly at the screen for hours.
“It’s not a bug. Don’t worry. You’re not going to get sick,” I murmured.
“We should send her out to that taco place for our lunch,” someone suggested. I felt a pang of anger in the middle of my chest.
They were already discussing tacos between themselves. This was a whole new low. I was a qualified detective who was being treated as nothing better than a food delivery service.
“You better write this down, Price,” one of the guys shouted at me like he was losing his patience. “Or you’ll get the orders all wrong.”
I blinked at him and eventually realized what he meant. They wanted to give me their taco orders. They were serious about this.
“I have stuff to do. I’m behind,” I tried.
“Stuff like what? What are you working on, Price?” another one asked with a snicker.
They all knew I wasn’t working on a case. I hadn’t been involved in anything substantial. They were all in on the scheme together—to keep me from doing anything productive.
I could feel the rage coursing through my veins.
If only they knew what I knew. If they had seen what I saw—they would be foaming at the mouth with greed.
