Marek (Cold Fury Hockey #11)(15)
Lilly runs off to her bedroom and I take a quick moment to slip on some presentable clothing. After Marek’s open ogling of me last night, I know that I have to dress a little more presentably when I’m downstairs.
Just as I’m wrapping my hair up into a messy bun on top of my head, my phone rings. My muscles tense as I recognize Owen’s ringtone. His texts to me have been getting more insistent that we talk, and I’ve been avoiding doing so because it’s the easiest thing to do.
But I don’t like that he’s been going to my parents’ house and I’m sure bullying them, so I decide to take the bull by the horns. Knowing that I’ll end up stringing him along once again, I square my shoulders and pick up my phone.
“Owen,” I say softly into the phone, making it sound almost as if I’m relieved he called me.
“It’s about time you answered my calls,” he responds tersely.
“I’m sorry,” I flat-out lie to him. “It’s been a little difficult to get some alone time.”
“Because you’re spending time with Marek?” he asks curiously, and there’s something completely wrong about the fact there’s not a jealous tinge to his tone. He’s not threatened by Marek because he knows Marek dumped me. He’s completely ignorant about what Marek and I had together, mainly because the man could never understand such a deep love. It’s beyond his capacity. He also believes his leverage over me and my parents is so great that I’d never consider anything else other than returning to him.
Conceited prick.
“I’m facilitating time with Marek and Lilly,” I reply, correcting his assumption.
“How’s that going?” he asks grudgingly, and it’s the only credit I’ll ever give this man. While he never became overly close to Lilly while we were dating, he was always kind to her. I guess his bullish, manipulative ways didn’t extend to kids. He never had to use Lilly to get to me because he already had me by the metaphorical short hairs, so all Owen ever had to do was be nice to Lilly. Over time, Owen actually enjoyed being with Lilly, and he behaved decently around her. Or rather, he wore his sheep’s clothing very well.
“It’s going as well as can be expected,” I tell him, my first truth of the conversation. “Lilly’s starting to understand who he is, and Marek’s trying to learn how to be a father.”
Owen grunts in acknowledgment, and then he’s done with Lilly. He throws the sheep’s skin off a little too easily. “When are you coming back? I’d like to get this wedding done.”
My skin crawls and my stomach churns. “I don’t know. Maybe a few months.”
“Unacceptable,” he says darkly. “I’m a patient man, but not that patient, Gracen. You agreed to be my wife, and when you said you were going to North Carolina with him, you promised it would only be temporary. Until you could get custody worked out with him.”
I close my eyes and rub the bridge of my nose with my free hand. I had to promise him that. I had to give him hope I’d come back so he’d leave my parents alone until I could figure something out.
“Listen.” My voice comes off too desperate and I hate it. It shows him my weakness. “I’ve not been able to exactly talk to Marek about custody. He’s still really pissed at me for keeping Lilly secret, and well…he’s not been the easiest to deal with. I just need a little time—”
“The note’s been accelerated,” Owen cuts in on me and my heart sinks that he’d stoop that low. “I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”
He lets the last few words trail off, leaving the possibility that maybe, just maybe he can help.
The meaning is clear. There’s nothing he’ll do to stave off my parents’ home being foreclosed on unless I come back and marry him.
“I’ve told you, Gracen,” he says in a low voice, rumbling with satisfaction he has me cornered with nowhere to go. “Once we’re married, your parents are my family. I’ll pay off the second mortgage and their house will stay safe.”
I swallow hard, afraid to say anything because I might start crying.
He doesn’t need me to talk, though. He only wants me to listen as he continues. “If the marriage is off, then…well, it’s going to go into foreclosure immediately.”
Fucking bastard. He wants to act like my savior, but the asshole is the one who put my parents in this predicament to begin with. All because he wants me on his arm to show off to our community. I’m nothing more than a pretty possession to him. When I hedged on his marriage proposal, he pulled the strings necessary to remove my parents’ second mortgage—the ones they took out to finance my nursing degree—from a temporary deferral because my father got laid off from his job. The asshole whose father is president of the local bank that had gladly loaned my parents money a few years prior was now pressing his thumb down on them to get me to agree to marry him.
“Can you please get another deferral for them, Owen?” I plead, swallowing hard against the bile my next words produce. “I’ll get my stuff wrapped up here as quickly as I can. I promise. I’m just trying to be delicate where Lilly’s concerned. This is hard on her, so I don’t want to cause any waves with Marek.”
I’m going to hell for lying. I know it, and yet I can’t help it. I’m getting one mess temporarily straightened up so I can deal with another, only to hope the first mess doesn’t implode on me.