Chapter 31
Chapter 31
~BLAIR~
Tessa was still reenacting it.
4
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She stood in the middle of Olivia’s room with her hands clasped in front of her like a man trying very hard to look composed while his entire worldview collapsed, eyes wide, mouth slightly open.
Then she staggered back a step and whispered, in a terrible imitation of Ethan’s voice, “You’re the guy that cheated on my sister.”
After imitating our brother, she went back to acting like Chase. Showing his expression when he realized I was the real Blair Monroe. Then she started acting like Sophie. It was the highlight of my night.
Olivia screamed with laughter and fell sideways into the couch cushions. I tried, and failed, not to smile.
“You’re both children,” I said.
“And you,” Tessa pointed at me, still grinning, “are a billionaire who somehow dated a man for six years without him noticing. The bar is in hell.”
Olivia wiped under her eyes and sat up. “The face, though. The exact second Ethan said it. I thought Chase was going to pass out into the appetizers. And Sophie-oh my, Sophie’s face. She went so stiff I thought someone had unplugged her.”
I rolled my eyes and reached for my drink. “I still can’t believe it took him that long. I married Grayson Shaw in front of half the league and the press. I walked around with Monroe as my last name on every official document. And he still needed Ethan to say it out loud before it clicked.”
“Because men hear what they want,” Olivia said. “He wanted the version where you were ordinary and he upgraded. The truth is way more embarrassing for him.”
Tessa flopped onto the rug. “Do you think he went home and stared at his ceiling replaying every bill you ever paid? I never understood why you did that.”
‘I hope so,” I said, and meant it more than I should have.
Olivia kicked her legs up over the arm of the couch. “Sophie looked like she was doing mental math the entire time. Like she was trying to calculate how much richer you actually are than her and short-circuiting. t was beautiful. They both couldn’t wait to get the hell out of that event!”
‘You’re enjoying this too much.”
‘I’m enjoying it the exact right amount.” Olivia turned her head toward me, smile turning,sly. “Speaking of men who cause problems-how’s married life with the perfect human ice sculpture? Still pretending you don’t notice him, or have we moved on to active denial?”
Perfect human ice sculpture? What the hell was she even saying?
My face warmed immediately. “We are not doing this.”
‘We are absolutely doing this,” Tessa said. “You went on a honeymoon, came back early because of the articles, and still get weird whenever someone says his name. That’s not nothing.”
‘It’s an arrangement. What we have. Nothing more.”
Olivia snorted. “An arrangement you defended to Dad when he basically offered you an exit. An arrangement you watch like it’s the only thing happening on the ice. An arrangement that makes when your sister calls your husband hot.”
“I did not blush.”
“You did,” they said at the same time.
Successfully unlocked!
I groaned and pressed a throw pillow over my face. Their laughter only got louder.
you blush
Chapter 31
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When I finally lowered it, Olivia was watching me with the soft, relentless curiosity only a sister could get
way with. “For what it’s worth, I still think you got lucky. Forced or not. Grayson is…a lot. But he’s not Chase. That already puts him ahead.”
“Low bar,” Tessa added.
“The lowest,” Olivia agreed.
I threw the pillow at her. She caught it, grinning.
Before they could dig any further into my marriage, I pointed at Olivia. “Speaking of complicated and off- limits-how’s Roman?”
Olivia’s entire face changed color.
Tessa sat up so fast she nearly knocked over her drink. “Oh my goodness. Yes. Please. Let’s talk about Roman Vale.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Olivia said, suddenly very interested in a loose thread on the couch.
“Ethan’s best friend,” I continued, enjoying myself now. “All-Star guard. Famous basketball player. Unreachable. Explicitly banned from sister consideration for dating. The same Roman Vale you somehow always end up standing next to at family events even though the rooms are huge.”
“That is not true.”
“It is extremely true,” Tessa said. “You went pink the second Blair said his name. You’re pink right now.”
“I am not pink.” Olivia was definitely pink. “I don’t have a crush on him. He’s Ethan’s friend. He’s older. He’s- he’s not an option. Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?” I asked innocently.
“Like you just scored.”
“I did just score.”
Tessa flopped backward again, cackling. “This family is a disaster. One sister accidentally married a hockey captain. One sister is in denial about a basketball star, I’m going to date a librarian for my own safety.”
Olivia threw the pillow back at me, missing on purpose. “I hate both of you.”
“You love both of us,” I said.
“Unfortunately.”
We fell into laughter again, the kind that only happened in rooms where no one was performing for cameras or league narratives.
For a little while the articles, the complicated man, waiting at the other end of my marriage, and the stunned look on Chase’s face all felt manageable. Smaller. Survivable.
Tessa eventually ordered food. Olivia put on a show none of us actually watched. I curled into the corner of the couch and let their voices fill the space, warm and ridiculous and exactly what I needed.
When my phone buzzed later with a short message from Grayson-You home?-I stared at it longer than necessary before typing back a simple no.
Olivia noticed, of course.
She didn’t say anything.
She just smiled into her drink like a woman filing away evidence for later,
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.