Introductions

The sun shining through the window woke Aiden up. He groaned in pain as he tried to move his stiff and aching muscles. He managed to sit up and notice that the man from before, Derek, was gone. He wasn't all that surprised. Isn't that what usually happens after one-night-stands? He normally wouldn't do something like he had last night but he just couldn't help it. The man was just too good looking.

Aiden sighed and tried to stand up. His back hurt like hell and his legs were weak and wobbly like a baby deer. It took him a lot longer than it should have to get to the bathroom and on his way there he felt something wet running down the inside of his legs. He blushed when he realized what it was and hurried to get in the shower. After about an hour, he managed to clean himself up and get dressed. He checked his phone and saw that it was 9:30 a.m. He was supposed to have that lunch thing around one and he would need to patch up the bite marks and cover himself in makeup before then so he didn't get caught. He'd never hear the end of it if any of his so-called family knew what he'd done

After making sure he hadn't forgotten anything, Aiden left the room and went down to the lobby. He turned in the hotel key card and rushed to catch a bus. Twenty minutes later, he sneaked into the house and went directly to his room. He closed the door and locked it, heaving a sigh of relief after not running into anyone in the hallway. His body was extremely sore so he took some pain medicine and soaked in the bathtub for a while.

When he got out, it was already eleven. He cringed looking at his reflection in the mirror. Aiden took out a first aid kit from his closet and got to work covering the bite marks. There were three on his left side, two on the right, one on his stomach, two on his shoulder, and one on his neck. He felt like a chew toy after seeing them all.

Next, he carefully selected an outfit that would cover the most skin while still working for summer weather and the dress code of the fancy restaurant they were supposed to meet at. It wasn't an easy thing to do. In the end, he wore black skinny jeans with white high heels and a sleeveless, black turtleneck shirt with a white suit jacket over it. The jacket was light so it wouldn't be too hot and tailor-made to hug his waist. For accessories, he put on a long, silver necklace, a small silver watch, and carried a white clutch.

When he was done, Aiden sat down at his vanity table and used makeup to hide the shadows under his eyes and the look of pure exhaustion on his face. He kept it as natural looking as possible and only applied it where he absolutely needed to. He checked the time again and it was a little after twelve. He got up and just as he was about to leave his room he heard a shout from the first floor.

"Aiden! Get your lazy ass down here right now! I swear if you make us late I'll make sure you regret it!" Aiden rolled his eyes and walked down the stairs and to the front door. He winced when he saw what Lyla and one of her demon spawn were wearing.

Lyla had obviously dressed up and tried to look stylish but she failed miserably. She had on a red pencil skirt with a low-cut frilly pink dress shirt that was tucked in. Her pink heels matched the color of her shirt and her red lipstick matched the skirt. She had tied her blonde hair up and put on dangling red heart earrings. Add to that her bright pink handbag and she looked like a walking Valentine's Day advertisement. One of her kids wasn't much better.

Spencer was definitely trying too hard. He wore a normal black suit jacket and pants which would have been fine if he hadn't paired it with an ugly green and blue patterned shirt and black tie. His pants also showed his socks which unfortunately matched his shirt. He slicked his hair back trying to look cool but instead he looked like one of those con-artist used car salesmen.

"Hurry up! Everyone get in the cab." Lyla ushered her two kids out the door, ignoring Aiden. He followed after closing and locking the door. Aiden sat in the passenger seat of the cab while the others all sat in the back. Lyla gave the cab driver the address and it took almost forty minutes to arrive. They all climbed out of the cab in front of a huge, expensive restaurant. The people around them stared at them as if they were animals in a zoo. Aiden looked over and sighed. Lyla had her hand down the front of her shirt fixing her bra. Spencer was smoothing his hair back repeatedly with both hands and Becca was obnoxiously popping her bubble gum while texting on her phone.

"What name is the reservation under?" Aiden asked. He didn't want to be associated with the three of them any more than he already was. His only option was to hurry inside.

"Huh? Oh, it's Montgomery," Lyla responded off handedly. She was still preoccupied with fixing her clothes otherwise she wouldn't have told him. Aiden walked inside and straight to the reservation podium before she could notice that it was him who asked.

"Do you have a reservation?" The employee asked.

"Yes, it's under Montgomery." The employee glanced at the book in front of him and then at Aiden.

"It says here there should be three others. Did they not arrive with you?" Aiden sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He then looked apologetically at the employee and pointed outside.

"They're over there." The man looked out the window and saw the three buffoons. He looked at Aiden with pity.

"I see." The employee then smiled at him warmly. "Well then, since they're not ready yet, why don't I lead you to the room first?" Aiden's eyes lit up and he smiled.

"That would be wonderful. Thank you so much." The employee nodded and led him up a set of stairs and down a hallway to a private room.

"The other member of your party is already inside. A waiter will come and take your orders once…the other three show up." Aiden nodded and walked inside, closing the door behind him. He looked over to see who had been roped into marrying Lyla but froze when he saw a familiar man sitting at the table with an astonished look on his face. The broad shoulders, the long black hair, and those piercing gray eyes.

"You!?" Aiden couldn't help but shout. When he realized how loud he'd been, he quickly covered his mouth and glanced at the door. A few seconds passed in silence and when no one came to check on them, Aiden lowered his hand and spun back around. He quickly made his way to the table in the middle of the room and lowered his voice to speak. "What are you doing here? There's no way you're the brainless idiot who ended up marrying my aunt, right!?" Derek raised an eyebrow and frowned.

"Who's your aunt?"

"...Lyla Winters."

"Then I am the one who got married to her but I wouldn't call myself a brainless idiot."

"Ha!" Aiden smirked and sat down in one of the chairs. "You should since you married a person like her."

"I wasn't exactly left with another option."

"I knew it!" He leaned forward and asked, "What's she blackmailing you with?" Derek, who had just taken a drink of water, choked and started coughing. When he finally stopped, he looked at Aiden sternly.

"I'm not being blackmailed."

"Then what the hell happened?"

"It's complicated."

"More complicated than having sex with your new wife's nephew?" Derek closed his eyes and sighed.

"No, not more complicated than that. Just a different kind of complicated." Derek glanced at Aiden, his brow furrowed. "While we're on the subject, I think it's best if we forget what happened last night."

"Oh I have no intention of forgetting but I get it, mums the word."

"And another thing…"

"Hm?"

"...What's your name?" Aiden stared blankly for a second and then burst out laughing.

"Ha ha ha! Oh my god, that's great! Ha ha! This whole time, even with last night, you never knew my name. Ha ha ha!" Aiden struggled to stop laughing and wiped tears from the corners of his eyes. "Haah, my bad. I completely forgot to introduce myself." He held out a hand toward Derek, who slowly took it in return, and they shook hands. "I'm Aiden Hale." Aiden smiled brightly.

"Derek Montgomery. So where are the other's?" Aiden's smile vanished.

"Ugh, they were still outside when I was led here."

"Why?"

"You don't want to know. More importantly, you should start explaining how you ended up married to Lyla."

"It's a long story."

"So give me the short version."

"...Fine. The short version is, I needed to get married for certain reasons but I also needed someone incompetent so as to not alarm certain individuals. I met Lyla at a cafe. She was ranting that the barista wouldn't hand over her coffee because she was ten cents short on the bill and walking with toilet paper stuck to her shoe so I asked her to marry me. A contract marriage though."

"Well if you were looking for incompetent, you definitely found it," Aiden chuckled. Right after he said that, the door swung open and Lyla, Spencer, and Becca walked in.