Her Arranged Husband (mmmf)

Chapter 24: The Rules

Evelyn's POV:
Over the past few days Josh and Zach had been acting strange toward me. Not unkindly but just strange.

Zach had said all of that stuff about me being beautiful and now seemed to disappear anytime I came into the room.

I'd thought Josh and I were becoming friends but when I tried to start a conversation about the book I was reading yesterday he'd said he had to get to work and left the room.

I felt like I had upset them somehow but I couldn't figure out what I might have done.

This morning even Ash had been acting strange and after breakfast he asked me to meet him in his office.

I knocked on his door and immediately he told me to come in.

Once I was seated across from him Ash turned to look at me.

"I need to talk to you but before I do I need to reiterate that the things I tell you must be kept secret. I know we had this discussion your first day here about not sharing anything about me or the house but this information is very sensitive. I need you to promise me you won't tell anyone the things I'm about to tell you. Under no circumstances can you tell someone. Can you promise that?" He asked

I nodded. "I promise. I won't tell anyone."

"Alright. I need to talk to you about why I married you. You're a smart woman and I'm sure you've wondered about it before because while you marrying me lifts your family's social status, me marrying you doesn't seem to offer many benefits on my side." He said.

I nodded. I had wondered before for those exact reasons. And I had a theory about why he did it.

"Does my father have something on you? Some kind of blackmail?" I asked, hoping I was completely wrong.

Ash raised his eyebrows in surprise. "How did you know?"

"Because that's the kind of thing he does." I replied, feeling sick at the idea of my father blackmailing Ash.

"Yes, your father blackmailed me into marrying you. He has pictures that I do not want released and the company I hired can't seem to find them so he still has his leverage." He said.

I wanted to ask about the pictures but if he didn't want them shared he probably wouldn't want to tell me. I didn't want to ask because I didn't want him to say he didn't trust me enough.

"I want to explain all of this to you because I didn't want you to feel like I've been hiding something. The pictures he has are of me, Zach, and Josh together. Sexually." He said.

My eyes widened in surprise.

I hadn't realized they had that kind of relationship.

"He has pictures of you guys all together? Like...having sex with each other." I asked.

Ash nodded.

My mind conjured an image of the three of them together, naked, kissing and touching each other. I found the idea far too appealing.

But that image was quickly replaced by hurt. He hadn't told me he was seeing them as well. We'd only been together about a week but still I felt betrayed. I was under the assumption we were exclusive but I guess we weren't.

That explained why Josh and Zach had been acting so weird, they knew Ash was cheating on me with them. And they hadn't said anything either.

I couldn't really be mad, he had never said we were exclusive and I hadn't asked. Still I felt like he should have told me. I felt hurt and betrayed.

"So that's why they've been acting so weird around me. Because you're seeing them too?" I asked, my voice breaking on the last word.

Maybe I shouldn't be feeling this upset, we'd only been together a week. But I'd grown attached to him quickly and now hearing he was sleeping with other people...