Chapter 3

"We won't play anything too explosive this round, since everybody's got a boyfriend or girlfriend now, right?"

"Then what are we playing?"

"Bryce is so nervous about tomorrow's wedding, isn't he? So let's give him a little early rehearsal tonight."

"That way we cure his cold feet and have some fun ourselves."

"Same rules as always. Whoever loses gets married to the final winner right here."

"And the wedding night?"

"That one's pay-per-view."

"Ha, you're wicked. You said nothing explosive, but this is more explosive than a French kiss."

I truly wanted to leave, but they blocked my way and flatly refused to let me go.

They dragged me back down into a chair to join the game.

I lost, as always, and Bryce lost too, right on cue, going down to Tilda in the final round.

At once the group shoved Bryce into Tilda, laughing. "Marry her, marry her, marry her!"

Bryce smiled, all shy and coy, then walked over to me with his face flushed.

"Evie, take the wedding ring off and give it to me."

I fixed my eyes on him, hoping to read in his face some sign that he'd stop before it went too far.

There was none.

He'd designed that ring himself, and its meaning was one life, one lifetime, two people as one, never to part, never to abandon.

The vow he made the night of our engagement, when he slid it onto my ring finger, was still in my ears.

And now all of it had become nothing but passing smoke.

I reached to slip the ring off, but it had gone on easily and would not come off easily.

The bone in my finger ached until I frowned, and Bryce, who had always cared so much about me, had no interest in my expression now. He only wanted me to hurry up and get it off.

"Bryce, you designed this ring yourself. You should know it goes on easily and comes off hard."

"But nobody here has a wedding ring, and without one we can't play the marriage game."

His words made it click for me all at once.

This so-called game had been aimed at the ring on my hand from the start.

Bryce wanted Tilda to put it on and go through a wedding ceremony with him.

He'd really gone to a lot of trouble, laying all this groundwork.

He'd run out of patience. He grabbed my hand and yanked hard, until the skin around my finger went red with pain.

For a moment Bryce hesitated, until one of his friends said something.

"You only get one wedding in a lifetime. Of course you can't leave any regrets!"

That line filled him with a must-have determination, and he set out to pull the ring off my finger no matter what.

Finally, Tilda stood up.

"Don't make it hard on Eva. Can't you see how much pain she's in?"

"If you really want it off, I have a way."

With that, she took a bottle of lubricant out of her jacket.

Every single person there knew exactly what that thing was for.

Someone was more than happy to stir the pot.

"Whoa, Tilda, you're single and you keep this stuff in your pocket?"

"Please, maybe Tilda's had someone in her heart for a while now and just won't say who." Tilda smiled, delighted, and kept sneaking glances at Bryce. "I have a boyfriend." "We were just being sweet on each other a minute ago." "Ha, and what kind of sweet were you two being?"

"Quit being naughty. You know exactly what I mean."

The room burst out laughing again, and when their eyes turned to me, the mockery in them was almost impossible to hide.

Tilda said nothing more. She even picked up the lubricant and gave it a sniff, which set Bryce beside me stirring restlessly.