Chapter 1

"My mom picked this date after endless research, consulting a fortune teller, and even praying in church. I don't see what's wrong with it. It's always you and Jolene's group coming up with one excuse after another," I said.

Edward Colton had a friend group made up of two men and two women, with their own private group chat. Every time a wedding date was suggested, Edward would send it to the group, and suddenly, they'd have some plan pop up on that exact day—tickets to a musical, a yearly getaway, or a group vacation.

They'd have a plan for anything on that date, except a wedding.

Over two years, ten carefully selected dates had all ended with Edward saying, "Pick another date. We'll do it next time."

Watching me set my phone down after replying to my mom, Edward stood up from the couch. As he walked past me, he ruffled my hair in a patronizing way. "Good girl."

I suddenly felt the urge to ask, "Can you really never turn them down? Are your plans so important that you can't even spare a single day for us?"

He brushed off my question, so I pressed him twice more.

"Have you lost your mind?" The lazy look faded from his face.

He let out a cold scoff, as if I'd crossed a line, and said, "My bond with Jolene and the others is nothing like those meaningless friendships you have."

He sneered and continued, "Do you have any idea how many business deals we've closed on our past trips together? I'm not foolish enough to pass up millions of dollars just to marry you. My time is too valuable. I'm not going to sacrifice my career and friends for a wedding. Don't burden me."

"When have I ever burdened you?" My voice was so soft that it dissipated the second the door swung open.

Just then, Jolene Cooper casually strode inside.

Her fingerprint was registered on the smart lock of our home. I'd expressed my discomfort before. After all, there had been multiple occasions when she'd walked in on Edward and me being intimate.

"Jolene is like family," he'd told me. "Don't bring this up ever again."

So, she always came and went freely as if this were her own house.

"Eddie, the self-cleaning function on your bathtub seems broken. Come help me take a look."

She gave me a quick nod before grabbing Edward's arm to pull him away. "Sorry to borrow Eddie for a moment, Alison. I really can't handle this on my own."

There was an endless list of things she couldn't handle on her own. She needed rides home after overtime shifts. She needed someone to stay up with her when she couldn't sleep. She needed a helping hand whenever she had a problem.

Yet, Edward never once thought of her as a burden.