He narrowed his eyes. “What are you saying?”
“I’m wondering if this wasn’t an accident. Maybe there wasn’t a leak. Maybe you were trying to get out of this so-called marriage. Or Harvey wasn’t pleased with the way things were going so he thought he’d do something drastic to end it between us.”
Her suggestions were so ridiculous he could hardly see straight. “You really think I’d make myself look like a complete asshole and let everyone know I had to pay you to pretend to be my wife?”
“I don’t know what to think.” She stopped pacing, her shoulders slumped, her expression full of defeat. “People in this community know me, Jared. I work with them all the time. And now they’re going to find out my marriage to you wasn’t real. It’s humiliating.”
She was feeling humiliated. He could get it—after all, he wasn’t too thrilled at the idea of everyone thinking he couldn’t get a wife on his own, that he had to go out and buy one. The entire situation sucked.
But she thought
he
might’ve done it. She’d completely forgotten what he said to her earlier. Holy hell, he’d come way too close to admitting he was in love with her. In freaking love with her.
Because he was. And now their entire relationship was shot to hell.
“Harvey said they’re playing up the no-sex clause the most. He also mentioned that he knew we broke the clause,” he said quietly. “How would he know?”
She stood at the dresser, her head bent as she scrolled through her phone. “I left my phone on silent,” she murmured. “God, everyone’s been trying to reach me.”
“Sheridan.” He went to her, stood directly in front of her until she lifted her head and met his gaze. “How did Harvey know we broke the clause? Did you tell him?”
The troubled flicker in her gaze was telling. “Like I would confess to Harvey Price we’ve had sex.”
“Then how did he know?”
She slid her gaze away from his. “Maybe because he guessed? I mean, come on, it’s fairly obvious you’ve gone from sexually frustrated to extremely easygoing.”
Well, holy shit.
This was getting more unreal by the second. “Did you have sex with me in the hopes it would nullify the marriage?”
“What? No, of course not. It wasn’t like that. Not for me.” She shook her head, gave a little irritated sound. “I’m the one who asked for that clause. I wanted it there to protect myself from you.”
“What did you say?” He shook his suddenly cloudy head. “
You
wanted the clause? You’re the one who put it in the agreement?”
“Yes! I didn’t know if I’d be able to handle being intimate with you again, Jared. That first night we were together…I’d never felt like that before. So when this all went down I freaked out and wanted some protection for myself.”
“By asking for that clause.”
She nodded, looking miserable. “I thought it was a good idea at the time.”
“Sure it was.
Still
a great idea, now that you have the means to finish this marriage and collect all the money anyway,” he said bitterly.
Her cheeks colored and she grabbed her jeans, pulling them on, nearly falling over when she did so. “I can’t stay here and try and explain myself. You already think the worst of me.”
“Where are you going?” Panic swept through him despite his anger. “You can’t just leave.”
“I’m going to Willow’s.” She studied him, the tears shining in her eyes unmistakable. “This is bad, Jared. I don’t know how we’re going to come out of it unscathed.”
His chest cramping, he watched as she finished dressing, then pulled her hair into a sloppy ponytail. Damn it, he didn’t want her to go. He wanted to drag her back into that big bed and make love to her again. So they could shut themselves completely off from the real world and focus on what really mattered.
Each other.
Chapter Seventeen
“It’s been a little over a week,” Willow said gently, concern written all over her pretty face, glowing in the depths of her blue eyes. Reaching out, she shook Sheridan’s shoulder, her lips tightening the slightest bit. “You can’t hide forever.”
They were sitting on Willow’s couch in her living room, the both of them indulging in wine with a pizza on its way. Just another hot Friday night.
“I’m not hiding.” Sheridan jerked away from Willow’s grip, heard her friend’s frustrated sigh. “I’ve been going to the studio every day.”
“Work and here, that’s it. You won’t talk to anyone else. Your mom has called me every single day in the hopes that I’ve finally been able to convince you to call her.” Willow paused, exhaling loudly. “You really need to call her.”
“I can’t. She’ll want every single detail and I’m not ready to discuss it yet.” She didn’t think she would ever be ready. The humiliation over what happened left a huge, gaping hole right in the center of her chest. The media had gone crazy over the story, making Jared look like a loser who couldn’t keep a woman unless he bought her, and making Sheridan look like a money-grubbing gold digger.
She wished she’d never met Jared Quinn.
Liar.
“You’re never going to feel ready to discuss it,” Willow said. “I understand that. But you need to face reality. You can’t hide from this forever.”
“I already told you, I’m not hiding from anything.”
“You’re hiding from your mom. And you’re hiding from Jared,” Willow said quietly.
Sheridan hated hearing his name. It made her entire body ache just to hear it, let alone think about him. He certainly wasn’t suffering. Nope, he was playing just fine, leading the Hawks to a massive victory after a devastating loss against the Raiders. Her husband—the Mighty Jared Quinn—was back on top of the world.
Sheridan grimaced. He wasn’t her husband, not in the truest sense of the word. She needed to stop thinking like that.
“I should talk to your dad and see what I need to do next,” Sheridan said, leaning back against the couch. It was a Friday evening, they were both tired, and Sheridan knew Willow would normally be going out and having fun.
But tonight, she was there for her friend, which meant the world to Sheridan.
Willow made a face. “I still can’t believe you two kept this from me.”
“I’m sorry.” She’d said it for what felt like a million times already. “You know I couldn’t tell you anything. And it was killing me, keeping this secret from you.”
“I know, I know. I’ll stop giving you a hard time, I promise.” Willow sighed. “Listen, you haven’t even talked to Jared. You should hear him out.”
“What else does he have to say? Sorry I made you look like a fool? Wish I would’ve never married you?” Sheridan sighed.
“He feels terrible.” Willow paused. “And used.”
“
What?
How do you know?” Used? Was she kidding? Who used whom in this situation?
“I’ve seen him.” Willow shrugged, deceptively casual.
Sheridan studied her with narrowed eyes. “When?”
“I was with, um, Nick.” Willow nibbled on her lower lip. “A few nights ago. When you were conducting your fall painting class.”
Great. So Sheridan was working her butt off and her friend was out socializing with Sheridan’s husband. Fabulous. “Spare me the details. I don’t want to hear them.”
“Well, too damn bad, you’re going to. I went to Nick’s house.” Willow’s eyes grew shadowed. It probably took everything for her to admit this. Whatever she had going on with Nick Hamilton she kept very close to her chest. “And while I was there, Jared showed up. He looked terrible.”
Why that gave Sheridan a small bit of satisfaction, she didn’t know. “So what?”
“Like
he hasn’t slept in days
terrible. His head is all messed up, semi-direct quote from Nick.” Willow rolled her eyes. “He used harsher language but I’m editing it for your benefit.”
“I can only imagine.” Sheridan shook her head. “He hasn’t tried to contact me. So I figured we were through communicating. What else am I supposed to think?”
“Maybe you should reach out to him,” Willow suggested.
“No way. I’m not setting myself up to fail. Or worse, face more humiliation. Besides, the paparazzi will spot us together and then we’re completely done for.”
It had been discovered the leak came from a lowly assistant within the Hawks publicity office. A curious college student who was interning for the season in hopes of getting a permanent job, who’d nursed a growing hatred for a certain Harvey Price. The intern had already known about the marriage agreement after finding the documents—which had been under lock and key in Harvey’s personal file cabinet in his office—and was slowly leaking information to the press trying to garner their attention.
Once the photos had appeared with Sheridan sans her wedding ring, the media had taken the bait. And paid the intern a ton of money for the outrageous story.
Luckily for Harvey, he hadn’t lost his job. The man must’ve been working overtime trying to do damage control and save Jared’s image. She’d talked to Harvey once, had listened to him beg for her to come back and pretend that she’d fallen in love with Jared and they could claim to the world that their marriage was real.
Sheridan had quietly told him “no,” and hung up.
The doorbell rang, indicating their pizza had arrived, and Willow went to take care of it. Sheridan grabbed her cell, saw that she had a missed phone call from an unfamiliar number and a voicemail waiting for her. Usually, it was a reporter asking her a bunch of questions. She normally deleted the voicemails without listening to them.
For whatever reason, she decided to listen to this one.
Sheridan, this is Jim Walsh. I need to talk to you. It’s about Jared. I, uh, I need your help. Please call me.
Willow came back into the room, setting the pizza box onto the coffee table in front of the couch along with a couple of paper plates and a thick stack of napkins. “Pizza and wine, nothing better on a Friday night.” She paused, caught sight of Sheridan’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“Coach Walsh left me a voice mail. He wants to talk to me. Says it’s about Jared.”
“Are you going to call him?” Willow nibbled on a piece of pizza, watching her carefully.
“I…I don’t know.” She reached into the box and grabbed a slice, dropping it on the plate. “How can I be of any help?”
“Come on, Sheridan.” Willow set her plate on the table. “Jared needs you. He’s angry and hurt and he misses you.”
“He just played the best game of his life. He definitely doesn’t miss me.” He couldn’t. He hadn’t called her, hadn’t tried to reach out once. Like he’d forgotten all about her.
“Doesn’t mean he doesn’t need you. And you need him. The two of you are just too stubborn to admit it.”
Willow had a valid point, as much as she hated to admit it.
“Fine. I’ll call Walsh.” Sheridan’s curiosity won out. For her, it always had. That’s how she got into this mess in the first place. “But first, I’m eating some pizza. I’m starving.”
“Jared’s a wreck, Sheridan. He gets out on that field and somehow makes amazing plays but off the field, he’s a complete ass. Pardon,” Jim said to her, his tone weary.
“You don’t have to watch your language around me.” She paced Willow’s back patio, the cold night air wrapping around her, making her shiver. She’d had two glasses of wine and stuffed her face full of pizza because depression made her hungry. And thirsty. That had equaled more than enough liquid courage to get her to call Coach Walsh. “But I don’t know how I can help.”
“I do. He needs to see your face, damn it. He’s missing you. Not that he would ever admit it.” She started to protest but the coach cut her off. “He wants to do right by his team, feels like he needs to carry all of them and make them better and he’s been playing fine. Great, even. But his head’s not all the way in the game. And Foley may be full of raw talent, but our Golden Boy is young—he makes stupid mistakes. The team would rather have Jared in there leading them anyway.”
“So you want me to show up so I can help you win a football game,” she said sarcastically, wishing she hadn’t called him. The way the man rambled on about his team, he didn’t need her help.
Walsh blew out a harsh breath. “That’s not what I’m saying. Jared needs you. Your marriage might’ve started out fake but I think that boy fell for you. I might be wrong, but I doubt it. My instincts are rarely wrong.”
“Jared didn’t fall for me,” she automatically said. But then his words came back to her, that very morning before they found out their marriage contract had been exposed.
You need to know I’m falling for you, baby.
Her heart tripped over itself, remembering how he’d whispered those words in her ear. How sweet he’d been then, how close she’d felt to him. The reverent way he’d touched her, looked at her, kissed her. It rated right up there as one of the best sexual experiences she’d had with Jared, and there were plenty to choose from.
But that morning had been different. She’d fallen in love with him even more.
Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply. “I want to help you, Coach. I swear. But I don’t know if I can see him right now.” She didn’t know if she could stand another rejection.
“Just…consider it. Please? This game is huge. A win will guarantee we make the playoffs, and I need him to stay positive. He’s been amazing this week at practice. More focused. Stronger. He knows his career is on the line and he’s trying his damnedest, but he needs your support.”
“What do you mean, his career is on the line?” Dread filled her.
“Monroe’s threatening to get rid of him when the season’s over.”
“Oh no,” she breathed.
“I’ll do everything I can not to let that happen. Jared’s number one in the league. Monroe would be a fool to let him go.”
“So why the threat?”
“I don’t know, because he can? Damn Monroe, trying to do my job,” Walsh muttered.
Resolve filled her. No way would she let this fiasco cause Jared to lose his confidence and, potentially, his job. To have that sort of pressure had to be almost debilitating. Monroe made him do it. And because of a mistake out of his control, Monroe was going to push him off the team? It wasn’t right. “I’ll do it. I’ll come and talk to him before the game.”
“You will?” The hope in his voice almost made her smile.
“Yes. I want to be there. For Jared.”