to save my ass. “Dating is fun and all, but I gotta say, I’m getting bored with it. It’s becoming too easy, no challenge.”
This time, they all nod in unison.
“And we all like challenges, don’t we?”
They nod again.
“So, why don’t we just—”
“Make a pact to find girlfriends?” Logan cuts me off. His tone is mocking and the furrow between his brows is born out of disgust at my proposal. “You can’t be fucking serious.”
“Not girlfriends—wives!” I insist. “That’s the challenge. Finding someone we’re happy to share our wealth with.”
I get up from my seat with the intention to refill my tumbler. The world starts spinning as soon as I’m standing on my feet. Okay, I might be a bit drunk, but that doesn’t make this proposition any less interesting. A new challenge. We could all need that!
“Someone who’ll bear an heir,” Aston interjects as I walk over to the little bar table that Aston’s butler arranged for us.
“Well, um, that, too,” I say, while topping off my glass with a good amount of Bourbon. “If you’re into that sort of thing.”
“That sort of thing?” Aston repeats, and both him and Chase throw me a surprised look.
“You don’t want children?” Chase wants to know.
“I… I don’t know, I never thought about it,” I reply, taking a swig from my Bourbon before I retreat to my seat.
“Well, I have and I know for damn sure I don’t want that,” Logan states. “Diapers, crying all night, throwing up all over you—fuck that shit.”
“Dude, no one’s forcing you to,” Chase assures him.
“Yeah, I’m not talking about a baby pact here, I just tho—”
“You just want an excuse to get back with Ella!” Logan yells out, pointing an accusing finger at me.
I shake my head with intent, raising my own finger at him. “Why the hell would you think that?”
Now all three of them explode in laughter, and even Aston casts me a look as if to say “who are you trying to fool?” while I drown my anger in another sip of Bourbon. This is not at all where I wanted this conversation to go.
“You couldn’t be more wrong!” I insist. “If anything, this would give me a very strong reason to look for someone else! To find someone…”
“Someone real,” Aston completes my sentence. “Someone who lasts.”
“Yeah, a wife,” Chase agrees. “I’m down! Certainly something new to try.”
Classic Chase. For him, it’s not so much the prospect of having a wife, but the competitive aspect that sparks his interest.
“Let’s do it, then,” Aston proposes, raising his drink with a shaking hand. He’s anything but sober either. “Let’s have another pact.”
“A pact to settle down, find a wife,” Chase elaborates, raising his tumbler as well.
Logan just grunts and side-eyes me.
“Fine,” he grumbles through gritted teeth, before he raises his glass as well. “A pact to seal the deal.”
“With anyone but Ella,” Aston remarks.
They all look at me, eyebrows raised expectantly.
“Anyone but Ella,” I agree—before I raise my glass to clink with theirs.
Chapter 7
Ella
I thought three days would be enough for me to get over my gigantic fuckup at the proposal meeting, but I could not have been more wrong. The shame is still holding me in its unforgiving grip as I walk through the doors of the World Resources Institute on Monday morning.
This past weekend was one of the worst in my entire life. Even my roommate Alaina didn’t manage to cheer me up with her attempts at distraction. She’s the most cheerful social butterfly I have ever met, which is part of the reason why I was so excited to move in with her when I got to DC a couple of months ago. After all, I didn’t know anybody in town.
Well, no one but Gabe.
I violently shake my head when his face pops up before my inner eye. Again. I can’t think of him right now. I don’t want to think of him! It’s bad enough that he managed to get into my head at all.
I take a deep breath before I step out of the elevator on my department’s floor and head toward my desk in the open office area right next to the entrance. It’s still early and I’m the first one here, just like every day. As the only intern at the department, it’s my responsibility to make sure the coffee is brewed and the tea water boiling hot by the time the main staff arrives.
Today I’m quite happy about having a few moments to myself before I have to