The Six Month Contract

Who Loves Who?

I frown as Daniella passes me the chocolate chip pieces. "Is he always like this?" I ask.

"Who, my brother?" Daniella asks and I merely nod my confirmation as I knead the dough. "He can be. I wouldn't worry about it though."

I throw a few of the chocolate chip pieces into my mouth. "He's still not home yet."

"Careful," Daniella says. "Or else we might actually think you care about him," she says jokingly.

I sigh. "Can I be honest?"

"Always."

"I need to get out of this contract," I tell her.

This time, she's the one who frowns. "That bad, huh?"

I nod but say nothing further.

Beside me Daniella rolls the dough into little balls and places them on the baking tray. I set the oven up for her and we place our creation in to bake.

My phone chimes. It's a text. I quickly wash my hands and run for my phone. I love you.

My eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. That easily he lost. Are you drunk?

His reply comes a few minutes later. Clearly, if I'm texting you that I love you.

I frown. Not funny.

Not supposed to be.

When I look around, Daniella is no longer in the kitchen. She must be in the living room. What's it supposed to be?

The truth.

I frown. Rocky is clearly messing with me. I type a longer than usual text and hit send. Are  you telling me you genuinely love me. Believe it or not, I think I won. Now that that is cleared, release me from said contract.

Rocky's text comes through immediately. Why would I do that? What kind of person tells someone they love them only to let them go?

I cringe. I want to win. The good, selfless kind.

Luckily I'm neither good nor selfless.

I watch the cookies for a second before turning and heading for the living room. Daniella has her legs perched against the sofa as she watches me walk over.

"You okay?" She asks.

"Your brother," is all I reply.

"Oh," she mutters and looks back at the TV.

Suddenly Rocky walks in. He looks more exhausted then usual but I pretend like I don't notice. He was texting me a mere few minutes ago. He must've been outside or something.

When his eyes meet me, a small smile appears. I look away because I don't like the way he looks at me, it makes me nervous.

When I look back up, he signals me upstairs. I frown and subtly shake my head in hopes that Daniella doesn't see.

His smile disappears and turns into a frown. He points upstairs but I hold my finger out and indicate 'no' to him.

"Okay," Daniella says slamming her hands against the sofa. "You know I can see your reflection against the TV, you guys. Just go upstairs and deal with it. I do not need to see my brother romance his wife."

My head snaps in Daniella's direction and I give her a disgusted look. She mouths "sorry," and then smiles mischievously in our direction. I am going to kill her.

As Rocky heads upstairs, I follow. For a second I'm glad that things are good between Daniella and I. I practically thought she hated my guts, but after the talk, everything was sorted.

When Rocky gets to our bedroom, he stops to open the door for me and moves out of the way to give me access. With no reaction whatsoever, I walk in.

"Yes?" I ask.

He leans forward. "Should I expect you often in my office?"

I shake my head. "Absolutely not!"

"Why not?" He asks. "You're my wife. Plus I happened to enjoy today."

"Enjoy?" I cough out. "What's there to enjoy? The whole office watched us create a scene."

"The kissing, the flirting and your very sexy body pressed against mine," Rocky replies.

I shake my head in disgust. "Is that what you called me here for?"

He smirks before leaning into me. "Maybe we should continue where we left off."

I place a hand on his chest. "What happens in the office, stays in the office."

"Exactly," he says. "Hence why you should visit the office often."

I roll my eyes as I attempt to leave. "You're a filthy pig."

Rocky grabs my hand and pulls me closer before I can protest. "If that's how you see me, then fine. Although after everything I've said, if that's how you feel then that's a shame."

I cringe. "Said what, huh?"

"My text, my emotions. Even that night at the..." he says catching himself.

"What night?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing."

"No," I tell him. "What night? You're clearly hiding something."

When Rocky distances himself from me, the reaction is weird. Usually I'm the one who pulls away. I grab his hand before he turns.

"Tell me the truth. What happened that night?"

Rocky turns to face me. "Go to sleep, Sky. You must be exhausted."

"You keep avoiding the situation," I tell him.

He looks at me in shock. "I avoid the situation?! Are you kidding me," he says. "I'm the one who has been honest about the whole damn thing. See when I say I love you, I tend to mean it. I don't just say it at a damn party when I'm drunk because I won't remember it the next day. I don't make promises that we'll work things through and make the relationship work only to wake up the next morning hating my partner's guts."

I frown because I've never seen him that angry. "Are you telling me that that night at the party, I promised you we'd make this work and then didn't?"

I think back to the morning after. He kissed me on the lips like we were a happy couple and the gesture had taken me by surprise. He was shocked when I had told him I didn't remember what had happened. His whole flirty demeanour had changed in a matter of seconds.

Rocky sighs before sitting on the bed. "You told me to fight for you. You told me that night was how it was supposed to be."

I watch him carefully. I was hoping it wasn't true. Somehow this is a lot worse than me thinking I had slept with him.

Taking a deep breath, I ease myself down on the bed beside him. "I don't remember," I say honestly.

He nods. "I know you don't."

"I'm not that bad of a person to walk away from this deal," I tell him. "I know I want to but I promise I'll be a good wife for the duration of this contract and then we go our own ways."

It's not what he wanted to hear, I can tell by his expressions but at least he knows it's much better than what he currently has.

Part of me feels bad that I said those things that night. Made promises I can't keep. Those were so unlike me and I need to ensure I don't do that again.

I hold his hand and the action takes me by surprise. I cannot believe I just did that. "You know, this would've worked if it was a fairytale."

Rocky nods. "I've heard that one before."