Marriage by Law (12 page)

I squinted against the bright sun, focusing my eyes on a shiny object. Was that a shell? I dropped my bag and walked toward the object that was closer to the forest than the beach. As I got closer, I realised that the object was indeed a shell.

I picked it up and brushed the sand off. I saw the nearly rainbow-like colours on the pearl-like shell. I turned it around in my hands and noticed the letter engraved into it and froze.

10 months ago

“What are you doing?”

I looked up and pulled the shell under me. “Nothing,” I sang. James raised an eyebrow.

“Show me,” he said, grasping my sides and rolling me over. I lay back on the sand hiding the shell in my hand.

“Over my dead body.”

He made a grab for me but I stood up quickly and made a run for it.

“Iv!” he yelled. I looked over my shoulder to see him running after me.

I yelped, running faster, but he was faster. I felt two hands around my waist, pulling me back against his chest.

“Ivory,” said the stern voice.

Laughter bubbled from me as he held me against him and I leaned in his hands trying to pull out.

“Let me go!” I laughed, trying to get away. He spun me around so now I was looking into his eyes.

“Ivory.”

“Yes?”

“Show me,” he said. With one arm wrapped around my waist, he leaned in, his mouth centimetres away from mine.

“Is that all you going to say?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. He chuckled and I could feel the rumble from his chest.

“What is it?” he asked. My eyes fluttered close as he traced my lips and stroked my cheek, running his finger down the nape of my neck across to my shoulder and down my arm till he reached my palm where I was holding the shell.

“You going to tell me, little Ivory?” he asked. I opened my eyes to look at him.

“It’s a shell.”

“I figured,” he said with a laugh.

“With our initials engraved,” I said.

He smiled. “Show me.” His fingers tried opening mine and I released them, giving him the shell. It was a colourful shell, one I’ve never seen before. He turned it over in his palm, a smile etching onto his face.

“I love it,” he said, quickly pecking my lips.

“Mine,” I snapped as I reached for it. He held it above my head beyond my reach. With a frown I folded my hands across my chest, or tried to, since he was still holding me and I leaned back.

“Nope, I’m going to keep it forever,” he said.

“Forever?” I said, scoffing. He leaned forward and I leaned back as far as I could.

“Forever,” he said, his lips so close I could nearly feel them.

Present Time

“Hey!”

I blinked back several times and found myself looking into a pair of green eyes. It was so sudden that I yelped and leaped backwards, tripping over to the sand. I looked up at Darius who was staring at me.

“What the heck. You scared the shit out of me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You were standing there like a frozen idiot for the past three minutes while I was talking.”

“You were talking?” I asked, standing up and brushing the dust off my dress.

“Yes, what’s that?” he asked, nodding toward my hand.

“Nothing. Just a shell,” I said, holding it up. The initials weren’t ours, and it wasn’t the exact shell I had but it was so close it reminded me of the time I wanted to forget.

“Anyway, we should go.”

“Huh?” I asked.

“It’s nearly time for the football match,” he said. I nodded with a smile and grabbed the bag of shells he was holding for me.

“By the way, you’re loading the car,” he said, smirking and walking off. I looked at him in disbelief.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” I yelled at his retreating figure.

Chapter fifteen

Like a man of his word, which I don’t appreciate, he had made me pack the whole car up. I shouldn't have brought all that stuff if I wasn't going to use it.

How was I meant to know! I thought I would use all that stuff. Sheesh.

           "What are all those for, anyway?" He was referring to the three bags on my lap. I smiled, looking down at the seashells as he pulled into our driveway.

"Oh, we’ll us-" I stopped mid sentence, my mouth hanging open as I took in the scene in front of me.

"Is there a party that we are unaware of?" I asked. Darius looked at me with the same look of confusion etched onto his face. In our driveway - well,
 
the
 
driveway for this week – were three cars I had never ever seen before. 

Darius swore under his breath, braking the car suddenly that I flew forward before my seat belt pulled me back. 

"Okay? Care to share?" I asked. This person beside me, who was finally acting like a real human the past days, turned back to his old self. Cold. Businesslike. I can sense that this wasn’t going to be good.

The moment the car came to a full stop, he jumped out and I looked at him before he slammed the door in my face. Well, that's nice.

"Wait for me," I muttered, putting my bags on the floor of the car and unbuckling myself with some difficulty. Rushing out of the car, I turned around to follow him when something tugged at my clothes. I turned back to realise that I had closed the door on myself. I grumbled as I tugged at my shirt. 

Perfect.

I ran into the house after him. I heard voices and rushed toward the lounge room.

"Wh-oh god," I muttered, seeing the people before me. It was no other than both our parents sitting on the couch. Darius didn't look any happier, leaning against the far wall away from them like they were infectious.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, looking at my parents. My mother feigned a gasp while my father cracked a smile as he stood up.

"There's my girl. We were in town and we decided to stop by," he said, looking at my in-laws then at me. I raised an eyebrow, 
in town
?

They do realise that was hard to believe. Did ‘in town’ mean travelling for more than half a day?

"We have decided to stay with you for the last two days," said my mother matter-of-factly. I imagined my jaw hitting the ground in surprise.

"Absolutely not!"

"Now, now, Darius. That's no way to speak to your mother-in-law," said his father, standing up. I looked back and forth between father and son who were having a stare down. 

I only just realised how much they looked alike. Apart from getting his mother's stunning eyes and sharp features, Darius’ strong build and height came from his father.

Wait, did I just check them both out?

Gross.

Instead, I turned to stare at my parents.

"We will be like...invisible. You guys continue," said my mother, waving her hands. Invisible? My mother? The center of attention. I scoffed, unladylike, and she glared at me.

"We'll just be in the guests rooms and you guys just continue. We want to see this town as well."

If they were going to take the guest rooms, where would I sleep?

"I'm out," I said, putting my hands up and stepping backwards.

"I'm not finished talking to you, Ivory" It was my mother.

I half-turned to face them and glared. "I am. I have a footy match to get to."

I saw my dad's smile and my mum’s horrified face.

"That horrible thing is not a place for a lady to go. It’s full of barbarous bogans," she said, muttering the last word in absolute disgust. I saw my father smile. I had never heard her say it out loud like that.

"And I, for one, like it," I replied before turning around and heading upstairs. 

"This is all your fault," I heard my mother snap at my dad as I was heading upstairs and rolled my eyes. My dad was the reason I loved football in the first place. He had taken me to my first live match when I was sixteen and I had fallen in love with the sport. 

Walking up to 'my' room, I grabbed jeans and a blue top and quickly changed into them. I grabbed my scarf before heading back downstairs.

"What are you doing?"

I stopped in the corridor upon hearing Darius. He was holding a stack of business folders. 

Of course, he was working on business, again. Did the man ever take a break.

“Going to the football match. Unlike some people, I keep my word.”

He scratched the back of his neck.

“We can go another day. I have work to do.”

“Oh no, you don’t worry. You can go another day. I have a team and I’m going today. And you? You can do your work,” I snapped. It took just one phone call for him to be back to his boring business self.

Men.

Grabbing my coat this time - never again will I forget that - I stormed out of the house. I didn’t know why I was so angry.

If it wasn't bad enough that both our parents decided to come visit us, he turned back to the robotic business freak.

Either way, I was going to the damn match.

Heading to the driveway, I beckoned for the driver to come over.

Who says one can’t enjoy a footy game by themselves?

 I smiled as the halftime buzzer went down. Hell yes! We were leading by three full goals and that was enough to make me forget about the horrible family waiting for me back home.

But there was one thing I hated. The fact that the seats were not segregated according to the team being betted on meant that I was surrounded by enemy fans who were glaring at me like there was no tomorrow. I would and should say it’s only a game. But who was I kidding? It was much more than that.

 
So what did I do? I smiled smugly in my attempt to rub it in their faces.

The seat next to mine squeaked as someone sat down and I looked over and did a double take, astonished.

“What are you doing here?”

Darius looked at me with a raised eyebrow and held up his ticket. “Couldn’t let fifty bucks go to waste now, could we?” he said. “Now how does this game work?” He looked at the field as the players came back on.

 
I couldn’t help smiling and I turned my attention to him.

“Okay, this is how it goes,” I said, starting off by explaining the foundations to him. Half way his phone started ringing and I raised an eyebrow.

"Work's calling," I said, a bit annoyed that the ringing cut me off. He shrugged, waving a hand. "So the side ones are only worth one?" he asked. I nodded. 

"Aren’t you going to get that?" I was referring to his phone.

He shrugged once again. "They can wait."

"Why don't you just switch it off then?" I asked, pretending to tie my scarf  when I was really trying to hide the smile that was taking over my face.

"Then I won't know how many times they called, now will I?" he said, winking and leaning back in his seat. He placed a hand on the back of the chair behind mine and the one next to him. My heart had nearly stopped when he winked. Let me just say that that was the sexiest wink I had ever seen.

Oh god.

I looked away and realised that the people in our stalls were staring at him. I could tell the girls were clearly checking him out and the guys were sizing him up, seeing how their dates or girlfriends were looking at him. But I hoped it was because he looked so out of place in his little fancy business suit surrounded by people wearing their team colours. 

"What?" he asked, looking at me. I realised I was glaring and frowning at him.

"You're wearing black and white," I said. He looked down, knotting his eyebrows. "And?" he asked.

"Our team is
blue
and white," I said, shaking my head and leaning back. I heard him chuckle and saw him shaking his head from the corner of my eye. Great, he looked like another Collinwood supporter.

I felt a tug around my neck and looked down to see my scarf slowly disappear. I looked at him as he pulled it on.

"What do you think you are doing?" I asked, grabbing the end and tugging it back.

"You said I needed blue," he said, pulling it out of my hands.

I bit my lip and shrugged

The game resumed. I yelled at the top of my lungs, shifting my attention as the players came out again. Oh, we are so going to win!

 "I can't believe we lost," I groaned, standing up. We were leading by a massive margin and out of nowhere it had dropped.

"This is all 
your
 
fault," I told him as he smiled, still sitting down.

"Mine?" he asked, pointing to himself.

"Yea. We lost the second you came. Till then we were winning!" I stated. The people sitting in front of us sent me smug stares and I resisted the urge to give them the fingers.  It didn’t feel good with them rubbing it in my face.

"Maybe they just suck?"

I turned my attention to Darius. "You did not just say that," I replied, grabbing my bag off the floor. He stood up while buttoning his jacket, seeming all business–like again. "Maybe they had an off match," he said.

"They were doing fine till you came," I said, reminding him. 

The crowd always took forever when leaving the bleachers.

"I still can't believe we lost," I said, looking at the other depressed Geelong players. We totally deserved it. I turned to Darius to tell him something but he beat me to it.

"I know, my fault," he said, his face easily cracking into a grin, and he put his hands up in surrender. I nodded. No need to look so smug about it. 

 Eventually we got out and I started walking to the car park.

"Where are you going?" he asked. I saw him reaching for my hand but he pulled back the last minute. Smart choice. I would have punched him square in the jaw. I was just not in the mood right now. 

"Home?"

"The car's this way," he said, pointing toward the car park. I was surprised he even managed to find a spot, especially since he came in late.

"But the driv-"

"I sent him home," he said, shrugging. Swinging my bag over my shoulder, I followed him to the car park. I was actually surprised the guy even knew how to drive. Didn't he have drivers to drive him around?

I saw a group of Collingwood fans walking past us, making sounds and jeering at me.

"Oh shut up, you s-"

I felt a hand around my waist and mouth pulling me back and the guys started laughing. Damn him. I could have totally beat their asses, punched them to pulp. We were up by three goals, which meant eighteen points, and then the evil Darius had come.

I pushed him away and I stormed to the car. 

"Please tell me our parents are gone," I said, getting into the passenger seat.