Chapter 2

 “Olivia, wake up,” a hand shakes me.

“Five more minutes.” I pull the sheets over my head. “Sister-in-law?” I jolted awake at the name to find Nate and Andrew in my room.

“What the hell are you guys doing here?” I ask, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. “Hi to you too, I’m good thanks for asking!” I ignore Nate and repeat my question again.

“What are you doing here so early in the morning?” I was hoping and planning to sleep the whole day, if possible. Maybe when I woke up, my parents will tell me that the marriage

thing is all a prank. “Sister-in-law, it’s one-thirty already. Were the dreams that good?” I grab a pillow and chuck it in Nate’s direction, but he ducks down in time and the pillow hits Andrew in the face.

“Oh, my God! I am so sorry.” I pull my lower lip between my teeth as Nate laughs his ass off. Andrew glares at Nate and says,

“It’s fine. We have to go to the jewelry shop to pick a ring. Tay said he will meet us there.” I quickly make my way to the bathroom and brush my teeth while the water warms up, take a quick shower, and wrap myself in a towel. I take out a jean, a grey Busty tank crop top, tennis shoes, and a white cardigan jacket. I quickly dress up and leave my hair to air dry.

“You look hot sister-in-law.” Nate compliments and throws himself on my bed. He doesn’t get time to get comfortable as Andrew quickly drags him off the bed and we walk out. We find Nora in the kitchen cooking. My stomach growls at the smell of food, reminding me I have eaten nothing yet.

“I see you guys got her lazy butt out of bed.” Nora comments.

“Yeah, does she always sleep this long?” Nate asks, treating my presence invisibly, and Nora nods.

“I’m starving.” I say while opening Nora’s pots.

“We are going.” Andrew drags me out of the kitchen.

“But, I’m hungry,” I whine as we walk out of the house. The cool breeze makes me sigh in contentment. There is a white Range Rover Evoque and a red Lamborghini in the driveway. I make my way to the Lamborghini.

“I told you she would choose my car.” Nate says with a smirk on his face and pats his brother on the shoulder.

“Want to drive?” Nate asks, throwing the car keys in my direction. I get into the driver’s seat and Nate climbs in the passenger seat. The sound of the engine roaring to life makes me smile and I drive out of my house’s drive way. The drive to the jewelry shop is short with Nate telling me about what he wants to do with his life. He’ll be turning nineteen next month, and he loves playing cricket to a point where he wants to take it as a career. From what Nate told me, Tay runs the family business.

We arrive at the Jewelry store minutes later. A valet opens the door for me, and I hand him the keys. Andrew climbs out of his car and makes his way to us, and the three of us walk into the store.

I spot Tay talking to someone; he is in a black suit and has a black wristwatch. His face turns into a ‘what the fuck are you wearing’ look when he sees me, and I ignore it.

“Hi.”

“What the hell are you wearing?” He says in a lower voice.

“Clothes, obviously.” I say, and Nate laughs, but stops when Tay glares at him.

“And you must be Olivia Ferguson?” A man wearing a blue suit says, more like confirming.

“Yes, and who might you be?” He takes my hand in his.

“Chad Brown. Dude, you didn’t tell me that your fiancée was this beautiful.” Chad comments and I stare at Tay for a reaction, but he says nothing and gets back to his phone.

“I heard you were graduating yesterday. How is that possible at such a young age?” Chad asks, and I smirk. It’s rare for a person to graduate at twenty.

“I skipped a couple of grades in high and middle school,” I inform him.

“Wow! Not only do you have a young, beautiful fiancée, but a smart one too,” Chad concludes, patting Tay’s shoulder and distracting him from his phone.

A lady in a semi-formal red suit shows us the rings. Nate sits next to me, looking at the rings while Tay is on the phone talking to someone. I end up choosing a custom engraved three-carat diamond ring and Nate puts it on my finger, and a small part of me wishes it was Tay.

Nate and Andrew force me into Tay’s car to have lunch. I wait for him as he finishes talking to Chad and walks towards the car. I buckle up, insert my headset on my phone, and listen to music. I don’t want to talk to him. He has no right to comment on anything I wear. It’s one thing about dealing with my mother and having other people criticizing me too.

A hard yet soft hand pulls my headset out and sends a shiver down my spine.

“What the…”

“I don’t want a wife that still dresses up like a high school girl.” He scolds, his eyes glued to the road. Anger fills me.

“Excuse me?” I raise my voice.

“You heard me. You need to change your childish behavior if you are going to be Mrs. Payne.”

“Too bad I don’t take orders from anyone.” except your mother, my subconscious reminds me.

“Stop acting like a child, Olivia.” His grip tightens on the steering wheel.

“Don’t yell at me!” I say aggressively. We both stay silent as he drives and later on, he pulls in front of a small restaurant. I unbuckle my seat belt and hop out. There are reporters everywhere. Tay makes his way to me and pushes me inside before the paparazzi can get to me. I spot Nate and Andrew at a table in the corner and make my way to them. I take a seat across from them. Tay runs his hand through Nate’s hair and sits next to me. I look at the menu while the three brothers talk among themselves.

A server takes our order. I order a vegan cheeseburger with French fries. Nate goes with balsamic glazed steak rolls. Andrew orders garlic sriracha pork with vegetables. Tay goes with venison meatloaf with garden veg and mash. I keep taping on the table as I wait for my order and listening to the brother’s talk. After what seemed like an eternity, the girl brings our orders back and I dig right into it.

“Someone is hungry,” Nate says laughingly.

“Shut up,” I say, and shove fries in his mouth. Tay chuckles, and we all turn to look at him. He has the most beautiful smile ever. He should smile often.

“Bitch!” a feminine voice yells from behind, and we all turn to look. It’s a girl in her early twenties, wearing a light pink solid half sleeve dress with six-inch black heels, staring at me. She is beautiful, got curves, and makes me look like an alien. If looks could kill, I would be six feet under the ground.

“Ria. What are you doing here?” Tay stands up from his seat.

“You left me for this slut?” Ria raises her voice, looking at me, and my blood boils.

“Excuse me?” I push my chair back and stand up, along with Nate and Andrew.

“You left me for this? Really! Tay?” Ria moves her hand up and down in my face. I inhale through my small nose, trying to not lose my cool.

Come on, Olivia. Don’t give in to her satisfaction. I say in my head.

“She looks like a hooker,” Ria comments with disgust on her face, and before I can even stop myself, I punch her.

“She did not!” Nate exclaims, his mouth wide open. Ria is holding her nose right now, screaming like it’s her last scream. My act still shocks the three brothers that none of them is paying attention to Ria.

“Are you nut? You are going to pay for this. I swear to God! You will pay.” Ria threatens and tries to hit me, but to my surprise, Tay stands in front of me, taking the blow that was meant for me. I look around and find people taking videos.

Great! Just great.

“Take Olivia to the house. I will meet you guys there.” Tay orders his brothers, and they drag me out of the restaurant. I slide into the back seat and the guys get in the front.

No one says anything during the drive, and I just look at the beautiful buildings through the dimmed window. I don’t know what has gotten into me. I’m not a violent person. Well, not until that night. High school was never easy for me. That night changed me to a point where I didn’t even recognize myself in the mirror for a long time. No one knows about the incident that happened to me during my years in high school.

Tay’s house is beautiful. Bigger than my parent’s house. The garage opens, and I gasp when I see different cars. I probably look like a fish outside its tank. I knew the Payne’s were billionaires, but this is insane. I get out of the car at the same time as Nate and Andrew.

“Welcome to the Payne brothers’ mansion, sister-in-law.” Nate says and pats my shoulder.

“Holy shit!” I exclaim.

“I know,” Nate chuckles, and we make our way to the door just two feet away.

“I didn’t know that you were good at punching people,” Nate comments, and Andrew smacks the back of his head.

“What the hell, dude?” Nate massages the back of his head as we walk in. The walls are all white and grey. There are two L-shaped sluggish grey couches with white cushions, and a black coffee table in the middle. A flat-screen television planted on the wall. The dining table is black. The furniture and the design of the house are ultra-modern. We walk to the kitchen and find a woman who looks like she is in her early sixties, in the enormous kitchen, busy cooking.

“Hey, Nana,” Nate hugs her from behind. She jumps like a kid and holds Nate by ears.

“What did I tell you about sneaking up on people, huh?” I chuckle. They look so adorable. Andrew plants a kiss on her cheek, and her smile grows.

“Nana? I want you to meet Olivia Ferguson, Tay’s fiancée.” Nana looks at me with a bright smile on her face. I extend my hand for a handshake, and she takes it.

“Nice to meet you,” I say.

“Call me Nana. You are so beautiful. It is so good to see that Tay has finally come to his senses. You are a natural beauty.” She caresses my cheek.

“And a badass too, Nana,” Nate adds.

“True. I saw the video online,” Nana says, looking at me, and my face turns red with embarrassment. People must think that I am a jealous fiancée. Oh, God!

“Don’t feel bad about it, dear. I have always wanted to give her a head smack, but you did a lot better than I would,” Nana says, giggling. She reminds me of Nora.

****

From what I could gathered, Nana raised the three brothers. They stay together in this house. They are the inseparable Payne brothers.

Andrew is sensitive and mature. He gives excellent advises to his brothers, even though they make fun of him sometimes. Andrew has a different mother—who died when he was young. Despite losing a mother, Andrew gained another mother. Carmen loves him like the rest of her other children. Nana just laughed when she told me about Nate.

Nate is immature, doesn’t think before doing anything. He loves fame and cars. By the time she finishes telling me about the brothers, it was in the afternoon. Tay hasn’t shown up, and I can’t help but wonder what if he is still with Ria, and if so, what are they doing? I shake my head at my own thoughts.

I want to take a shower, but I have nothing comfortable to change into. As if Nana can sense my tiredness, she says,

“Go take a shower upstairs. There is a room on your left on the stairs. Use it.” I place the coffee mug on the kitchen counter—take off my boots and head upstairs. There is ultra-modern bed in the middle of the room covered with dark black silk sheets. The floor is dark hardwood with a grey matt at the end of the bed. A black chair with a small coffee table next to the balcony. I bet the view is incredible at night. I place my boots on the floor and walk to the balcony. I can see the whole of Sandton from here. I sigh and walk back into the room. I make my way to the bathroom. There’s an enormous bathtub in the middle, a shower at the corner facing the door. I take a long, relaxing shower. The scalding water makes me wince in pain, and I look at my knuckles to find them a bit swollen.

Well, that’s what you get when you punch people. My subconscious mocks me.

I wash my hair with shampoo and wait until all the shampoo is washed off from my body. I close the tap and push my hair back — releasing water at the end. I wrap my body with a towel and grab another one to dry my hair. I walk out of the bathroom to find a white t-shirt and box briefs on the bed. I dry myself and dress up. The t-shirt reaches my mid-thigh, hiding behind the box briefs. I slip into grey soft slippers near the bed and walk to the balcony again.

****

An hour later, I walk back inside, since it’s dark and cold. I rub my hands together and pad out of the room. The house is quiet and I take it as the brothers are not back yet. I make my way to the refrigerator. I notice a small container of ice cream at the top and try to reach for it, but I’m too short. I try to reach for it again and fail. I sigh in defeat and seconds later, something really hard presses against me at my back — I release a small gasp. A hand touches mine and sends a shiver down my spine.

“Here.” a deep, attractive voice declares. A voice I am already familiar with which makes my stimulus to take an eternity to respond.

I want to react, but my stimulus hasn’t caught up with my brain yet. I turn to find Tay staring at me. His pinkish lips are just perfect. I realize that I have never seen him so close before. His brown eyes are very captivating—and are the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. Anyone can see that he is a bit built-in that suit. I wonder if he works out and if he works out, how does he look with sweat. I shake my head, surprised by my thoughts. My t-shirt has gone up revealing my thighs a little. Tay is still holding the container, and I look back at him out of words.

A deep voice clears their throat from behind, bringing us back to the living world. Tay backs away like I burned him — and a small frown forms on my face. I look behind him to find Andrew resting his hands on the kitchen counter with a bright smile on his face. Tay clears his throat and walks away from me. “Um, Tay?” Andrew says when Tay passes him.

“Yes?” He asks, a little disoriented.

“Ice cream,” Andrew says, his voice held in amusement.

“Huh?” He is confused, that’s for sure. Andrew chuckles and takes the ice cream container from his brother and pats his shoulder.

“Oh brother,” Tay catches on and gathers himself up.

****

I’m sitting on the bed in the room Nana offered me—busy on my tablet. Nora brought it a while back with some clothes. My house is surrounded by paparazzi and I’m the most hated bitch on the internet because of what I did to RIA—so I’m going to stay with the Payne brothers for some time since they can’t get in here.

I check the time at the corner of the tablet. It’s midnight. I need milk to sleep—just for tonight. I drag myself off the bed and walk out of the room. The lights are dimmed, but it scares the hell out of me. I fear the dark. After that night, I could never sleep in the dark. The kitchen is dark, I have to shut my eyes and reach for the switch on the wall.

“Shit!” a deep voice cuss, and I let out a small scream.

I calm myself down when I see Tay sitting on a barstool at the kitchen counter with his head down, trying to avoid the light. “You scared the hell out of me! What are you doing sitting in the dark?” I place my hand on my pounding chest and make my way to the refrigerator. I take out a bottle of milk and pour the liquid into a glass.

“I was working, but got tired, so I came down for a cup of coffee.” He takes a sip, and I turn to look at him. Holy hell! He is shirtless. How did I miss that?

I notice him gawking at me from the corner of my eye and wonder if I have something on my face. I move along with his eyes, and they land on my thighs.

Shit!

“I take Nana, is the one who gave you my clothes?”

Double shit!

I don’t answer but grab my milk and rush out of the kitchen and make my way to my room.