Ch 1: The end of beginning

Adolf Hitler the second said “Your life can change in a second.”

Now I believe that statement, I also believe that it’s Adolf Hitler words.

The coffee is out of the jar, into the air and landing directly on his face before I could think twice.

The scrawny man screeches so loud the whole restaurant stops, eyes on us.

“You sick bitch! You poured me hot coffee!” The nerve of him…

“You grabbed my breast” I spat out, my chest heaving, tears gathering at the rim of my eyes waiting to fall.

My manager dashed out faster that I have ever seen him respond. Straight at us.

Long story short…I am Fired. I am the one who gets assaulted and also fired for retaliating.

Hey there, my name is Sage Moreno and I am a broke twenty two year old.

I am pushing through the scratch doors of O’Malley drenched to the tip of my shoes. The warm, bitter stench of whiskey and crowd perfume fills my lungs. Reminding me that no matter how life gets shitty, O’Malley will always be open.

Fuck today, Fuck my manager Shane for not listening to me, and fuck his shitty Job that I put my unrelenting energy in…and fuck my Mother for being filled with more Vodka that blood in her body.

I scan the bar with blurry eyes, landing on a familiar mass of black, curly hair.

Cassidy.

My one safe place.

I drag my feet to her, not minding my shoes that were definitely soaking the tiles.

“Oh—Jesus.” She jerks, resting her right palm on her chest. “You look like a 1959’s drug addict house wife who just found out her husband is cheating on her.”

I slid into the booth, shivering and too disheveled to think of a response to her.

“Are you okay?” Her voice softens already taking off her jackets to hand it to me.

I take it. Hands tightening on its fabric soft, warm fabrics.

I place the jacket on the table and start tugging off my soaked shirt—at this rate I think you can call me shameless.

“Lost my Job, Lost my apartment, lost my mind somewhere between the the two.”

Oh—yes. I also lost my apartment today. Went home and saw a huge EVICTED sign in the door. I am officially homeless.

Cassy whistles leaning back. “That’s a lot.”

I know I’d take some time for her to process the information.

I finally get the jacket on, it’s sweet scent wafting through my nostrils, giving me a little relief from the cold.

“Are you fine.” She asks.

Let’s see…I am drowning in debt and chaos, life is more shitty than it was last year and I wasn’t given my paycheck for the week.

How can I possibly be?

“I just want to drink till I drop honestly.” I choose to say.

“I am fully in support of that choice, girl; your life is in shit.” She blurts—a little too loud—telling me she’s drank a little already.

I massage my head harshly, an attempt to relieve my pounding headache.

She signals for the bar tender and an hour later, she’s wasted.

Not me…I couldn’t drink. I don’t know why, I just found myself sipping on a glass of water. While she kept on drinking—for both of us.

Across from me Cassy leans on the table, her eyes glassy with tequila—yep she’s definitely out.

“You are at rock bottom,” She says out of the blue.

“Geez… say it louder so the people outside will hear.” I shush her looking around at the bar; most of the people who came sober are already drunk.

She points at me, wobbly but determined. “No, seriously. Sage. You have the worst luck of anyone I know.”

I flinch, at the tiny pang of pain that pierce my heart.

I know she doesn’t mean it badly—we make worse brutal joke that this—it’s our coping mechanism.

Just that… I am just not mentally ready for it yet—too soon.

A harsh slam jolts me from my thoughts.

“ No more pity party,” she slurs loudly.

“You know what you need? A wild, reckless, completely irresponsible idea.” She picks up the bottle and starts to chug it directly.

I reach across to take it from her. “Unless that idea brings money, I’m not interested.” I honestly don’t even know why I’m still responding to her.

“What do you think you can do for money,” Cassy asks, staring at me straight in my eyes. She’s drunk…she’s just trying to pretend she’s not.

I hold her stare “Anything.”

“What if I told you to rob a bank.”

“I will do it.” I say not even giving myself a moment to think. With how desperate I am this moment…it’s scary the lines I won’t cross.

“What if I told you to marry a stranger for money—would you say yes?” She says again.

I pause—giving it a thought “Yeah. I would.”

Cassy burst into a laugh so hard she was running out of breath.

She tilts to the left, her drunk senses making her lose her stamina.

I reach forward to steady her, my hands holding her head in place as I lift her back to sitting.

I feel its stare before I see it. A dark haze splitting slowly through the neon light. The sound of its heels striding with purpose, moving closer and closer to my direction and when it’s gets to my table…it halts.

I look up at the figure my breath hitching in my throat.

He looks like deceit putting on a suit—tight and fitted like it was stitched directly into his body. Jet black hair, that would give the black suit and run for its money. Tall, muscled

Strong jaw, straight nose, full lips and those eyes—dark, seductive and dangerous.

His hands is in his pocket. He projects the aura of a man can go doesn’t ask for anything. He decides and the world adjust.

His head tilts slightly, gaze dragging down my damp clothes, back to my bun barely holding my hair up. I straightened my posture to fix my appearance while my damp, messy bun and jacket mocked my faux composure.

“You’d say yes?” His voice is smooth…like a melodious harp. I almost close my eyes at the sound before my brain registered he was talking to me. Moreover asking a question—a rather weird one at that.

I squint my eyes at him. My neck aching me from the angle at which I crooked it to look at him.

He doesn’t repeat himself like a normal person would. Instead he kept staring at me.

I nod. Why has this man decided to join in on our conversation? I pick up my glass of water from the table sipping it to dampen my dry throat—you got me— I took it because I didn’t have anything better to do.

He heaved a sigh “Will three million dollars be enough?”

A rush of burn pulses behind my ribs as the water returns back outside, cold drops spilling down my chin and into Cassidy’s jacket.

My eyes dart to his face, looking for the joke. But his expression doesn’t change.

I look around in search of his camera crew to jump out and say it is all a prank. But all I see are drunk people stepping out.

Cassidy mumbles beside me, eyes barely open. “She was… joking…”

I didn’t even know she was still awake.

“I am not.” His responds those dark eyes intense never leaving mine.

“I need a wife.” He states his hands darting to his watch. He looks back at me like he can’t believe he has to give me more context. “Fast.” He completes.

My head begins to feel like it’s floating.

“I don’t even know your name.” I stammer barely above a whisper.

“You don’t have to,” he stretches his hands for me to take. “You just have to say ‘I Do’.”

I can’t decide what is scarier. The fact that he is serious or the fact that I am considering.

I may be reckless—sometime.

I am desperate.

But in no universe am I going to get married impromptu—to a stranger I just met!

I am not that desperate.