I don’t get to finish before Carter rolls her eyes. “Really, Mase? Who is she this time and how much is it going to cost?”
“Hey! Emelia was not my fault—” I protest.
“I’m not exactly sure what you did with her, but if you had sexual relations with that woman, then itisyour fault,” Carter states, sounding very much like the CEO she wants to be.
I really don’t have an argument for that. “How do you know there’s a she?” I ask instead. “Have you heard anything?” All those notifications on my phone—but if there were something there, Carter would have been the one calling me, most likely in the middle of the night.
“What happened, Mase?” Riese is a combo of excitement and empathy, always an interesting mix.
“Of course, there’s a woman involved!” Carter says in a huff, ignoring Riese’s question. “Why else would you call at nine-thirty in the morning when you’re in Vegas. Do you need an extraction?”
“No! This isn’t some secret mission. I don’t need that… I don’t know what I need.”
I want my sisters to know what’s going on in my life because me getting married is the most important thing I’ve ever done.
But—big, badass baseball player me—I’m kind of afraid to actually tell them. Keeping my hands off Fiona in public has been tough, but other than that, it’s been pretty easy to keep quiet about Fiona and me.
“Who is she?” Riese’s tone is so much nicer than Carter’s. I wish I’d gotten Riese on her own. Carter is helpful when I need something but never good on matters of the heart.
Possibly because she takes after Grandfather and is missing one of her own.
I take a deep breath and stare at the closed door, praying Fiona is still sleeping. “Bexley’s best friend.”
“So, explain the situation. What’s the problem?” Carter asks in a clipped voice. “Will she not leave? Are there pictures? Video? Please tell me there’s not a video again.”
“Of course, there’s no video!”
“Mase. Are you sure? You got lucky the last time—”
“There’s nothing,” I say, exasperation heavy in my tone. “Fiona wouldn’t do anything like that.”
“Uh-huh,” Carter dismisses my assurance. “Whatdidshe do, then?”
“She didn’t do anything. We did—we got married,” I say, pushing the pride in my voice to offset Carter’s reaction.
She doesn’t disappoint. “You did what?!”
I cringe at the volume of her voice—there’s no way Fiona couldn’t have heard Carter’s voice coming from my phone if she was awake, even with two closed doors between us.
“You gotmarried?” Riese’s eyes and mouth are round O’s of delight. It’s nice to have someone happy for me.
“I didn’t mean to—”
“Of course, you didn’t mean to get married because who would decide on a spur-of-the-moment wedding just because he was bored or horny, and who would do such an idiotic thingwithout a pre-nup?” Carter rages. “An idiot, that’s who. An idiotic idiot. My brother, the idiot!”
“Don’t call him that,” Riese chides. “Maybe he loves her.”
“More like he wanted to get laid, and she saw dollar signs,” Carter says, heavy on the disappointment and disgust. “And I can call him anything I want because I’m going to have to clean up his mess.”
“There’s no mess,” I’m quick to add. “This is a good thing.”
“It’s never a good thing. How much does she want?”
“Carter, stop. Fiona doesn’t want anything.”
“They all what something, brother dear. You’d think you’d have learned that by now.” For a moment I wonder what Carter has been through to make her so cynical. It’s true that I’ve been in my share of messes, but I’m not the only heir to the Stirling money. Both of us do what we can to protect and shield Riese, but Carter is pretty closed-mouth when it comes to her personal life. “Have you offered her anything?” she demands. “What did you offer her?”
“Nothing. I bought her a cheap ring and some shoes.”