RECAP:
This was it, the very day that would change his life forever.
Or at least for the next few months.
Yes, Austin was going to marry Mackie.
**
The sun was shining directly in Mackie's closed eyes. She stirred slightly, shifting the weirdly soft hotel sheets around her body. Mackie's head was pounding, a harsh ache on her temples and the front half of her forehead.
With a groan and heavy hand, she rubbed her forehead, trying to relieve the ache. So far, it wasn't working. Mackie had to get up, but she knew to do that, she'd have to open her eyes, and she was positive that was the one thing she really didn't want to do at that moment.
At all.
But, in order to get some drugs that would help, that would require her to get up and open her eyes. She was half tempted to just stay in bed and wait for Skylar to bring her water and some tylenol. Her best friend always knew exactly what would help. Due to her many years of partying starting from the age of twelve, when she first got boobs.
Mackie's lips twitched in a small smile as she braced herself to open her eyes. Gently, her lids fluttered open and when they were met with a bright light, she hissed as if she was part of the undead and groaned in pain.
The throbbing in her head caused her to moan and roll over so that her face was buried in the pillow. As she shifted to her stomach, it was then that she registered her state of undress. Her bare chest pressed into the sheets below her and her eyes shot open.
The brightness slowly dimmed as she stared there, her gaze falling on a dark brown headboard, one she didn't recognize. She leaned up on her elbows and glanced down to see black silk sheets tangled around her body. Her hair was down and fell across her pale skin. Panic rose in her throat and made her heart pound in her ears.
Gathering up all the courage she could muster, she sat up, her bare bottom pressing against the black sheets. Confusion was stronger than ever in her head. She looked around the room, registering two bedside tables on either side of the king size bed. There was a white comforter that was half way to the floor. The carpet was white, black rugs everywhere. The bed that she was sitting in had a black canopy above and many white and black silk pillows. There was a large dresser on the opposite end of the room where she could see her reflection, hugging the sheets around herself.
"What?" She whispered as she stared around the room. There was a door that lead out into a living room and another that was closed shut, light spilling out from under it and steam rising from the crack at the bottom.
"Please don't let it be a girl. Please don't let it be a girl." She whispered pleadingly. She reached up to run her hand through her hair but stopped when light was caught on the ring finger of her left hand. She froze, afraid to look down at her hand.
With a loud swallow, Mackie looked down and nearly screamed in shock to see a large solitaire diamond ring on her third finger. The band was sterling silver as it sat there. As if it owned the finger it rested upon. Or as a sign of doom, either way, Mackie was convinced it was a bad thing.
She looked around the room, and saw her purple dress sitting on the floor on the opposite side near the dark wood dresser. Her heels were somewhere in the room, hidden from her view. Her eyes fell to the closed door with light shining through and she began to panic. She needed to get out of there. And fast.
Just as she stood from the bed and got halfway across the room, the sheet still wrapped around her naked body, the door of the bathroom opened and Mackie squeaked in surprise. The steam poured from the bathroom dramatically as a figure emerged.
He was tall, about six foot three with light brown hair and brown eyes. Mackie's eyes scanned down his body. Broad shoulders, thick biceps and washboard abs. There was a small tattoo on his right hip and below that, just a towel.
This had Mackie frozen with shock. At least it wasn't a girl. Her mind whispered to her.
Austin hadn't yet glanced up, as he fidgeted with the white towel hanging on his hips. His mind was in a whirl, and the stress of the coming three days was getting to him little by little. As he ran a hand through his hair, he looked to the bed, just to see it empty.
His heart pounded in his chest as he looked to his right, a bare skinned girl standing in the middle of the room with a black sheet wrapped around her body. She was wide eyed as her eyes darted up and down his body and then around the room.
Automatically, a smirk stretched across his lips. His eyes travelled down her hastily covered skin appreciatively as he silently approved his choice of a wife. Then, Mackie did something that Austin never would have expected.
She screamed.
It wasn't a low scream, no, it was loud, high pitched and caused Austin's ears to ring. It was almost comical, the way that Austin shot to the otherside of the room and slammed a hand over her mouth to silence her cries. If he'd known she was going to be this much of a handful, he would have thought it over harder before he married her.
Mackie continued to scream around his hand, shouting incoherent sentences like, "Help!" "Stranger Danger!" and "Rape! Fire! Raping Fire!". Austin wanted to laugh at that last one, but he refrained from smiling goofily. At least she had a decent sense of humor.
Mackie jerked away from him violently, falling to the floor while clutching the sheet tightly and scrambling away as fast as she could. Another piercing scream left her lips as she reached the dresser on the side of the room. There was a leather bible, a couple table lamps and other small objects. Almost immediately, Mackie picked up the bible and chucked it at Austin, narrowly missing his head.
"What the hell am I doing here!?" She screamed, hurling a couple of pillow mints and reaching for the table lamp on the right side of the dresser. Austin held out his hands in a surrendor motion while also trying to hold onto the loose towel hanging from his hips.
"Mackie!" He shouted, ducking as she picked up his shoe from the floor and aiming for his head. Austin's eyes got wide as he darted to the right while crouching, the towel slipping a little further down his waist. He hastily pulled it up and gripped it with one fist, while throwing out his arm to get Mackie to relax.
"How do you know my name!? Are you a stalker!?" She screamed, grabbing her tall stiletto heel from under a chair and throwing it harshly at him. If Austin hadn't been trying to protect his face and body, he would have marvelled at how strong her right arm was as she pitched things at him. But it wasn't the time for that.
"Mackie, Please! Let me explain!" Austin cried, dodging another one of his shoes as Mackie turned away and climbed up a chair, standing up and throwing things down at him. She was still clutching the black sheet to her body and screaming profanities at Austin.
"NO! Help! Someone please! Help me!" She screamed, reaching for a lamp and stepping onto the top of the flat dresser area. She grabbed the lamp with one hand and held it up threateningly, stepping back and leaning against the wall, her head near the ceiling.
"Mackie! Relax! I'm not going to hurt you!" Austin shouted. Mackie froze, her eyes wide and her arm pulled back to pitch the weighted lamp at the stranger's head. Her heart was thumping loudly in her ears as the edges of her vision were white. She was angry, scared, and completely confused.
"What do you want?" She cried, holding out the lamp defensively, so as to scare the man away from her. Although he didn't look so scared as much as amused. That made her even angrier, but confused her twice as much.
"Look. Put down the lamp, sit down, and I'll explain everything." Austin said. He lifted his hands up in surrender and flinched as Mackie jerked the lamp in her hand. Suddenly, Austin felt a cool breeze where there shouldn't be one, as his towel fell to the floor.
Mackie gasped and dropped the lamp, covering her eyes and screaming. She crouched down on top of the dresser, but made sure to keep herself covered, as her eyes practically burned and her memory scarred.
"OH MY GOD! COVER IT! COVER IT! EW!!" She cried. Austin chuckled a little, but reached down and tied the towel securely around his waist swiftly. He had a small half smile on his mouth as he watched Mackie mutter things under her breath.
"Mackie. Please just listen to me." Austin pleaded. Mackie shook her head violently and clamped her hand over her eyes even tighter. She continued to shake her head over and over again, whispering things about this all being a dream, or she was still drunk. Anything to get her mind away from the naked guy standing in the middle of the hotel room.
"No. I won't say a word to you until your 'Little Soldier' is all covered up!" She said stubbornly, turning away from Austin and clutching the ends of the sheet around her chest tightly. She was practically mortified. This just wasn't her day. Not to mention the pounding in her head had intensified as she screamed.
Austin just chuckled but made sure the towel was secure. He went over to the suitcase he brought to Vegas with him and then dug around, searching for a pair of boxers and pulled them on over the towel. Then, as he made sure they were secure, undid the towel and pulled on a pair of low slung jeans.
He tossed the towel on an empty chair and waited for Mackie to turn. At first, she just peaked through her fingers to ensure that he was indeed dressed, and then removed her whole hand and unscrunched her way into a sitting position. Very careful to not flash the mysterious man in any way, shape, or form. And needless to say, it proved quite a challenge to do so.
"Are you ready to talk like a normal person?" Austin asked. He crossed his arms as he stood on the other side of the room. His muscles flexed as he did so and it took a lot of Mackie's willpower to not drool over the action.
"I was talking like a normal person!" Mackie defended, her voice going up half an octave. Austin smirked, the edge of his lips twerking up in the slightest motion. He found the whole situation amusing, when Mackie wasn't screaming 'Rape!' at the top of her lungs, that was.
"Screaming 'Raping Fire' over and over isn't exactly a normal quality." Austin replied, leaning against the wall casually with his arms still crossed. Mackie watched worldessly, her eyes transfixed at the way his abdominal muscles rippled the slightest bit in the most attractive way.
"Well, when you're stark ass naked, and a man walks in with only a towel on from the shower, you tend to feel a little overwhelmed. Especially when you wake up in an unfamiliar place with no memory of the night before." Mackie retorted, cautiously watching Austin as he moved. She was nervous around him, that just now registering since she wasn't shouting at the top of her lungs.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. So, I'll be in the living room, you get dressed, and then we'll talk." Austin said. He reached over into his suitcase and pulled on a white v-neck t-shirt and then left the room, whistling a happy tune. As he sauntered past Mackie, she tensed, catching a whiff of an attractive manly smell-also known as cologne. And she could tell it was the expensive kind.
He sent her a bright smile as he approached the door. Then with a quick, "Don't take too long." he, exited the room and pulled the door shut behind him. Mackie let out a whoosh of breath she didn't realize she was holding and ran to the telephone on the bedside table, cursing herself for not thinking of it before.
The directory on the table showed a picture of the hotel and how to dial an out of bounds call as she picked up the telephone. Her finger hovered over the keys as she quickly punched in the ten digit number. When the dial tone began to ring, she held her breath, hoping that the other person would answer.
"Hello?" The groggy voice on the other end said. Mackie sighed with relief and rubbed her temple, using her elbow to hold on to the sheet still casually wrapped around her body. She really needed to change back into her clothes, and pronto. But also, she couldn't help but wonder if she had done anything with the man sitting out in the living room. The thought of a stranger seeing her body in the most intimate way had her grating her teeth with shame.
She never should have gotten so drunk the night before.
"Skylar? It's me, Mack." Mackie said into the phone. She heard a sharp intake of breath on the other end and then Skylar was rambling faster than the speed of light as she shot question after question at Mackie.
"Sky. Chill. Slow down." Mackie said. Skyler relaxed and took a deep breath, centering herself before slowly asking each question clearly. Mackie wondered if her friend had been awake worrying all night, she knew that she would have if Skylar had gone home with some mysterious man.
"I'm sorry for leaving you at the club. It was stupid of me. I was thinking. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you need an ambulance? Do you need the police? Where are you? I'll be on my way over in two minutes." Skylar said. Mackie smiled at the concern her best friend showed for her. Mackie took a deep breath.
"I'm in this really posh hotel. Some guy is here. When I woke up, I was stark naked laying in bed with a massive hangover. Then he came out of the bathroom. I started throwing things at him and shouting but he didn't attack me. He was trying to talk to me but I wouldn't listen, and then his towel fell and I saw his Little Man and screamed at him to cover it up. He got dressed, then left the room saying he was going to talk to me. I don't know what to do. I'm not hurt, or injured. Hell, I'm not even sure if I slept with him or if he's a serial killer. But he seems to have money and I'm really confused and I don't know what to do." Mackie said, answering all the questions as quickly as possible. Skylar was quiet on the other end and Mackie held the phone closer.
"Sky?" Mackie asked, then she heard vigorous coughing and loud wheezing. Mackie half expected Skylar to being going into an asthma attack, but she knew better. Skylar was just shocked and didn't know what to say. So she opted for coughing to avoid answering.
"Come on, I really don't know what to do." Mackie pleaded. She was frightened at the situation. Along with a smidge of embarrassment and mortification. She knew she wouldn't leave this place without a few emotional and mental scars and a mad migraine.
"I don't know, Mack. That kind of thing has never happened before. What do you want me to do about it?" She asked. Mackie groaned.
"I don't know! Should I just go talk to him and find out what happened last night? Do I call the police? Please, I really need help and I'm scared. I don't know what to do, as my best friend, you're supposed to tell me!" Mackie said, desperation clingly tightly to her words. Skylar knew this was difficult for her best friend and then made her decision then.
"Just talk to him. See what is going on. If it's threatening, just run to the master room and lock the door, then call the police. I'll be there soon. What's the name of the hotel?" She asked. Mackie rattled off the name of the hotel and Skylar whistled long and low.
"Swanky. That place is expensive. Can you look out the window and estimate how far up you are?" Skylar asked. Mackie set the phone down on the table and rushed over to the window, thrusting the curtains open and looking down at the Las Vegas strip down below. As she tried to get a view of the concrete, it fully registered how high up she was and she began to feel sick.
Quickly, she pulled away from the window and clutched the black fabric tighter around herself as she went back to the phone. She picked it up, all the while trying to calm her racing heart as she focused on the task at hand.
"Close to the top, I'm guessing. I'm too far up to see the sidewalk clearly." Mackie answered. Skylar went silent and then whistled again. Mackie was beginning to get annoyed but then there was a light knock on the door.
"Are you ready?" Austin called from the other side of the door. Mackie's heart jumped to her throat as she hurriedly whispered into the reciever. "He's knocking on the door, I have to go. Please, be here soon. Even if you have to run! Bye!" Mackie set the phone back onto the dock and called to the door, "In just a minute!"
She flung the sheet onto the bed and then searched for her undergarments, which lay under the king size bed. She hastily clipped her bra and pulled on her underwear before jumping into her tight purple dress. She grabbed her four inch heels and pulled them onto her feet, before walking over to the door and opening it.
Austin was leaning against the door frame, inspecting a small tattoo on the inside of his wrist. When Mackie stood before him, he looked up, a large smile spreading across his cheeks. Mackie's heart sped up and she returned a shaky smile.
"Alright. Are you hungry? We could get something to eat first, and then we can talk or we can talk and then eat. Your choice." he said, pushing away from the door frame and walking into the largely posh living and dining room with a kitchen. Her jaw dropped but she followed him anyway, as she stared around herself in awe.
"I'd rather talk first. I don't eat breakfast with people I hardly know." Mackie replied. Austin stopped his approach to the door and nodded before walking into the living room and flopping carelessly down onto the black leather couch.
"Well come on then, take a seat and we'll get started." Austin replied, opening a little booklet filled with tv show times and schedules. Mackie slowly walked over to the couch, her heels lightly clicking on the lenolium beneath her feet.
She sat on a recliner across from the dark couch and tried to make herself comfortable, but the prospect of this random man possibly having slept with her made her feel even more out of place around him and in the fancy suite. She kept her face calm and tried to regulate her breathing, all the while resisting the urge to run for the door.
"Do you have any questions before I get started?" Austin asked. Mackie looked up at him, biting her lip gently and running over all the questions in her mind why this handsome stranger has held her captive. Then she scolded herself for using the word 'handsome'.
"What's your name?" She asked. Austin smiled and then laughed a little. Mackie wasn't sure what was so funny about her question but then shrugged it off, waiting for him to answer.
"My name is Austin. But my last name will have to wait until I get into my explaination as to why that ring is on your finger." he pointed to the solitaire resting on her third finger, and her curiosity was spiked wildly. Suddenly, she had to know everything abou this mysterious man.
"Alright Austin, I'm ready. Hit me with your best shot." Mackie said, bracing herself for the worst. Austin chuckled again and Mackie was about ready to hit him with the nearest thing just to get him to stop finding everything so damn amusing.
"Okay then. I saw you at the club on top of the Cosmo last night, dancing and talking with your friend. To be honest, I wasn't looking for a sexual partner last night, I was looking for the perfect girl. And that's where you came in. I didn't peg you as a party girl right away, because it seemed like that was your first time getting hammered. So, when you're friend left and you started dancing with the crowd, I walked over and we had a brief conversation. We left, and you came willingly just to be clear. I didn't force you into anything. I asked if you would do me a favor and you said yes." Mackie was surprised to hear this, mostly because she couldn't remember any such things, but she was taking his word for it. Because who else was she supposed to believe at this point?
"We drove around for a while and arrived at a chapel. I asked if you would say a few words and then sign a couple sheets of paper, which you did willingly. As I said, I neer forced you into anything. Twenty minutes later, we were married and I took you to a jeweler and got you that solitaire. You picked the most expensive thing in the store because you thought it was pretty. Afterwards, I brought you here to sober up before I told you anything. From that point you tried your hand at stripping for me. It wasn't the best, I'll tell you that." He chuckled and Mackie's face turned a bright red.
"I took you to the room as you were pulling your clothes off and made you go to sleep. I slept on the couch because I didn't want you to regret absolutely everything. And I didn't want you to freak out on me like you did a while ago. You just passed out naked. But for the record, I wasn't complaining about what you showed me." He laughed again and Mackie covered her face in mortification. She was never going to drink alcohol again. At all.
"But this morning after I woke up, I went in to take a shower and when I came out, you were awake, and, well, you know the rest." He finished. Mackie's head was whirling and she thought she'd fall over. Married. She was married to a guy she didn't even know.
"I can't believe this." She whispered, rubbing her temples as the harsh ache returned. Her mind was spinning and she was sure she just watched her life crash land into the side of a mountain. She was only twenty three for God's sake! She was too young to be married! And kids. Oh, kids, that was so not happening!
"Well believe it sweetheart because here comes the good part." Austin leaned back against the couch, looking completely at ease. Mackie felt disgusted with the situation, and with herself. Just a few drinks and she was off getting married at a random chapel on the Las Vegas strip! Mackie groaned with Austin's words and gave him a wave to continue.
"I am the heir to a large company. I'm sure you've heard of it, Dame and Company." Sadly, Mackie had, they were the largest distributer of electronics and computer chips in the entire world. (A/N Just to be quick, this is all fake. Alright, continue reading ;) )
"Anyway, my father has asked that I marry our rival companies daughter. He won't let me take over the company otherwise. To be honest, marriage really isn't on top of my priority list, so I thought a fake marriage would do just fine for my mother. If you can convince her, you're golden." He said. Mackie got wide eyed.
"Woah woah woah! I never agreed to any of this." She said. Austin smiled.
"Oh, but you did. And you signed a contract. It was one of the pages I pushed you." He whipped out a slightly thick packet of papers and tossed it on the coffee table in the center of the room. Her name was highlighted and Mackie leaned forward. Sure enough, there was her name Mackenzie Richards. It was sloppy, probably due to her incoherent and intoxicated state, but it was there.
"I am not doing this. I know I sold my soul to the devil to have a good and successful life, but not this early. I'm twenty three! I'm way to young to get married. And besides, I'm pretty sure this contract isn't valid due to my intoxicated state last night." Mackie crossed her arms stubbornly and Austin faught the urge to laugh.
"It's foolproof. I got a call this morning about your background check," Mackie's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "And aparently you need the money to get your new buisness off the ground. You never told anyone you loved to bake did you?" He asked. Mackie's face turned pink. It was true, she was an excellent baker and always dreamed about having her own bakery, or even chain of bakeries.
But just like everything else in the world, you needed money to do so. Which was what Mackie was, sadly, lacking in that area. It was going to cost about five hundred grand for her business to be even slightly successful.
"It was just a hobby. I was never serious about it, so I don't know what you're getting at." Mackie crossed her arms in front of her chest tightly. Austin tsked and Mackie's heart nearly pounded out of her chest.
"Don't lie. So here's the deal. You play pretty little housewife for two months, long enough for me to take over the company and to woo my father and mother with your charm, and I'll pay for your business to get up off the ground. No strings attatched. You'll get your divorce exactly two months from now, and we'll go our seperate ways. Do we have a deal?" He asked, getting straight to the point.
"I don't think so. You just fucked me over and you expect me to be cool with it? What if someone finds out it's fake? What will Skylar say? What will my mother say? Are you fucking crazy? There's no way we're getting away with this. At all. I hate to burst your bubble, Mr. Dame, but I am not the kind of girl to get completely drunk and get married. I'm also not the kind of girl to go through with a drunken agreement." Mackie said.
"Oh, but you are that kind of girl, Mackie. Because last night, you did. You signed the contract and my making a deal with you while you're sober is just my being polite. You have to go through with it whether you like it or not." Austin smirked and Mackie glared at him.
"I don't have any other choice?" She asked, her will quickly crumbling. The last thing she wanted to was to be married. Let alone to this arrogant and pompous jerk. It was also the farthest thing from her mind, other things hitting the top of the list. And at the same time, why her? How did she get to be so unlucky.
"Nope. No choice. As I said, I was just being polite and considerate by asking you, but when it comes down to it, you really can't say no. You don't want to know what happens if you say no and breach the contract." Austin said, uttering a serious tone. Mackie was speechless.
But hopefully, this whole thing wouldn't be so bad. After all, Austin was really wealthy, and all she really has to do is find someway to break the contract without actually breaching it. A lightbulb went on in her mind and she began to formulate a plot. She was going to make him so angry, and so frustrated that he rips up the contract and she'll be free of him, all the while him keeping his end and she getting her business.
Oh yes, she had a plan. Reluctantly Mackie stuck out her hand stiffly and Austin met her half way, they shook on it. "I'll do it. But I expect a divorce exactly two months from now, and my five hundred thousand dollars at the end of so. You must promise me that much." She said. Austin nodded.
"Of course. But since we're discussing this, no more strip teases until you get better at it. You really do suck." Austin said, his smile falling from his face. Mackie glared and jerked her hand away. It had been exactly ten seconds since they made the deal and already he was getting on her nerves.
For a minute, she wondered if she was making the biggets mistake of her life.
Deep down, she knew she was.
But hopefully it wouldn't be as bad as she thought it would be.
"Let's go eat, I'm hungry." Austin said, grabbing his coat from the couch and pulling it on. With a sigh and eye roll, Mackie followed.
***
A/N This chapter made me laugh a few times. "COVER IT UP! COVER IT UP!" LOL! Well you guys know the drill. Comment, Vote; it really isn't all that hard, I swear. Fan and don't forget to follow me on Twitter! @JoLeeXD1
Also, don't forget to check out Princess Perfect or I Knew You Were Trouble.
Thanks for reading, Lovelies!
Lotsa Love,
C