Page 7 of Pretend

“I need you to pretend to be my wife.”

When she could only sit there, struggling to wrap her mind around what he was saying, Eric continued. “I don’t want to have to keep explaining why I’m on my honeymoon without my wife,” Eric said as he pulled out the larger of the two black wedding bands and slid it onto his finger while Morgan sat there, telling herself that this was all a dream, a really horrible dream and that she would wake up at any moment.

“I don’t think you’ll have that problem,” Morgan mumbled, wondering why he was doing this to her. She-

“We wanted to do something special for your honeymoon,” the wonderful woman that Morgan adored said as another platter of baked goods was placed on the coffee table in front of her seconds before a small navy-blue duffle bag was placed on her lap.

“Congratulations,” came the warm words as Morgan’s attention moved to the bag in her lap.

“Thank you,” Morgan mumbled absently, unable to help but frown as she opened the bag and-

Gasped when she saw the neck pillow waiting for her. Wondering what else awaited her, Morgan tore through the bag, barely aware that Eric had taken her hand in his or that he’d slid the other ring on her finger as she took in all the free goodies, a notebook, a lovely pen that would come in handy, a thin blanket, several chocolate bars, and…was that a tee-shirt?

Yes, yes, it was, Morgan thought with a satisfied sigh as she pulled out the neatly folded tee-shirt and-

Glared when the large bastard plucked it from her hands and shoved it in his bag.

“I need you to focus,” Eric said, dropping his bag on the floor before helping himself to another danish.

“And I’m going to need you to stop pissing me off,” Morgan grumbled, admittedly pouting as she reached over and grabbed another danish as she sent one last wistful look at Eric’s bag before shifting her attention back to the bag on her lap and-

Were those headphones?

Yes, they were, Morgan thought as she reached into the bag and-

Once again found herself glaring at the large bastard toying with her emotions as he placed the bag that was rightfully hers on the floor behind him. When she only sat there, glaring at him, Eric reached over and plucked the danish out of her hand and finished it off in one bite.

“I’m not doing this,” Morgan found herself mumbling hollowly as she stared helplessly down at the black wedding band on her finger, forcing herself to ignore just how good it felt.

“So, you’re breaking your promise?” Eric asked with a look that let her know how badly he needed her to do this.

Swallowing hard, Morgan found herself wondering what she was doing here. She should have made a run for it when she had the chance. It would have been so easy. As soon as Eric stepped into the bathroom to grab a shower, she should have followed through with her plan. Her bags were packed, her gas tank was full, and-

She couldn’t do that to him.

She also couldn’t pretend like this wasn’t going to end badly or that this wasn’t going to destroy her when it was all over. She thought that she could do this and even told herself that this was a good idea, but now, she-

God, she really was a pushover, Morgan thought as she absently traced the wedding band on her finger. She could be in New Jersey right now, wallowing in self-pity while she vowed never to touch another drop of alcohol. Instead, she decided that it was a good idea to go on the ruined honeymoon with the man that she’d never planned on seeing again because she’d somehow convinced herself that this was the right thing to do.

She really was an idiot, Morgan decided as she once again told herself that she could do this. Not that she was delusional enough to truly believe that this was a good idea. She was fully aware that this was going to end badly, but even knowing that wasn’t enough to make her walk away.

Instead of finally putting herself out of her misery and taking the escape that she’d worked so damn hard for over the past year, she was going along with this plan, knowing how this was going to end.

Badly.

At least, for her.

Eric, on the other hand, would probably move on to the next woman that he didn’t love, telling himself that this could finally be the one and-

She really didn’t want to think about the next one, Morgan thought even as she realized how incredibly stupid this was. She couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t. She needed to tell him that this was a bad idea, tell him that she changed her mind, anything to get out of here before it was too late and as soon as she made her escape, she would keep going.

Except…

She couldn’t do that to him, Morgan reminded herself because no matter how much this hurt, she just…she couldn’t break her promise. It was stupid, but they’d always been there for each other and they never broke a promise. She’d always been able to count on him.

Always.

Eric had been there for her in kindergarten when Jacob Harris decided to pour green paint on her during naptime by shoving Jacob’s head in a bucket of paste and followed that up by shoving his head in a box of green glitter. When their neighbor yelled at her because her kickball rolled onto his property and made her cry, Eric decided to earn extra money by walking all the dogs in the neighborhood, ensuring that Mr. Andrews had something special to step in every morning for the next two years. That was followed by making sure the girls that were making her life a living hell in high school-