Page 41 of Deal with Mr. Cruel

Mae took a sip of wine. As much as she wanted to talk to her friend, she all of a sudden felt nervous to tell her about the arrangement with Jonas. Lindsay knew how much he had hurt her. She hoped she wouldn’t judge her too harshly.

As if reading her mind, Lindsay touched Mae’s arm. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. I know you didn’t drag me out of the suburbs for nothing.”

Mae looked down at her lap before raising her left hand.

“Mae! What is that?” Lindsay grabbed her hand excitedly, examining the ring.

“Surprise,” said Mae warily.

“It’s huge! This probably costs more than my house! Wait, there’s a wedding band…”

“I kinda got married.”

“What?!” shouted Lindsay.

“Shhhh,” said Mae, giving her a little shove.

“When?”

“A few weeks ago.”

“Excuseme? And I’m just now finding out. And wait, why wasn’t I invited?”

“We eloped.”

Lindsay nodded as if trying to process all this new information. Mae sat with bated breath as she waited for the next question.

“Well, who is he?” Lindsay raised an eyebrow.

“You know him, actually.”

“I do?”

“Mhmm.” Mae nervously took a sip of wine as she watched Lindsay put the pieces into place.

“The only person I know who could afford that,” said Lindsay slowly, eyeing the ring, “is an asshole who you said you would never give another chance to.”

“I did say that…”

“Mae!” shouted Lindsay again.

“Let me explain!”

Mae told her the entire thing. How Jonas had approached her with this arrangement and how he threatened Nico’s career. How she lives with him and how they’re going to go public soon.

“He is diabolical.” Lindsay shook her head.

“He’s really not that bad,” said Mae softly.

“He basically blackmailed you into marrying him. Fake marrying him. Whatever this is. And he’s notthatbad?”

“He seems different from before.”

“Please, tell me you’re not falling for him again?”

“No, but we did share a moment the other night.”

“Tell me you did not have sex with him.”