Her Substitute Groom

Janice POV

I had so much fun today. I wasn’t expecting less when I knew it was Ace I was hanging out with, anyway. He has always been fun back then.

After we left the concert today, Ace lodged me at the nearest hotel since he had something to take care of and couldn’t drop me off at home. I would’ve gone by myself, but he insisted that it was dangerous so I should spend the night at the hotel and leave first thing tomorrow.

‘You can mess with every other woman and go scot-free, but not Janice. Stay the hell away from her!’ I’ve been trying to get those words off my head, I wanted to at least pretend that it wasn’t bothering me, but the more I tried to, the more I found myself thinking about it. It was fucking literally living rent-free in my head.

“Ugh! Don’t think about it. He was just messing around,” I rolled my eyes and dried my hair with the towel. As much as I wanted to deny this feeling, I couldn’t help but notice the way his eyes were filled with rage as he punched Ace. The way he was overly protective and possessive earlier, and the pain in his eyes when I told him to leave me the hell alone. Just the thought of it made me go crazy.

“Does he have feelings for me?” I asked myself, but that was the last thing I could expect from him. For a playboy, I didn’t think falling in love would be one of the things he would do.

“He must be messing around with me. I know Connor will never be in love with me,” I mumbled, convincing myself that it was not what I was thinking. I was still drying my hair when my phone beeped, so I paused and reached for it, swiping the unlock button, and a text popped on the screen.

‘I had fun today. I hope to hang out more with you sometime in the future and even back in LA. Have a lovely night’s rest. I’ll be there to pick you up first thing tomorrow morning. Just let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll be there’ I smiled when I read Ace’s text. I was about to reply to him, but my phone started to ring with Connor’s name displayed on the screen.

“What does he want now? I told him I won’t be home tonight,” I mumbled and rolled my eyes before swapping the answer button hesitantly.

“I told you I won’t be home tonight. Why are you still calling me?” I asked as soon as I answered the call, and I heard him scoff.

“Can you come to the police station now? I was arrested,” His voice was muffled a bit, and I scoffed.

“Is that a prank to get me back home?”

“Nobody is pranking you, Janice. Fucking come to the police station right away. I’m sending you the address…”All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

“It’s late. How can you expect me to come out there at this time of the…” I couldn’t finish my statement before the call dropped dead, and a message popped on the screen of my phone almost immediately.

“Is he kidding me? He is really at the police station? What the heck is he doing there?” I mumbled and sighed briefly. Even though I didn’t want to go, the only thing I could think of was if he was hurt. Am I worried about that jerk? I asked myself to be sure I hadn’t lost my mind yet, but all I could think of was him being in trouble.

I didn’t know before now that I was so fast in getting dressed, but I did today, and I was soon on my way out of the hotel. It’s a good thing that the hotel works twenty-four hours. It was past 11 p. m. but the night was still as young as always since Texas is always a busy city. From what I learned, it’s not that dangerous out here as the road is always busy.

Standing at the side of the road minutes later, I was able to get a cab in less than two minutes, and just like that, the journey to the so-called police station began.

How did he get arrested? Did he do something wrong? I thought he was at home, so how come he was arrested? Is he hurt? I couldn’t believe that I was so worried about him, and even when I wanted to deny that I was, deep inside me, I knew that I was really worried sick about him.

“We are here, Ms.,” The cabby’s voice pulled me back to reality, so I paid him and stepped out of the car immediately, sauntering toward the entrance door of the hospital. I walked in briskly, and there he was in the cop’s office. I stopped when I spotted him. For a moment, I wanted to burst into laughter because he was dressed funny. What the heck was he doing outside with a robe? Who does that? I asked myself, but on second thought, I thought of the possibility of him being arrested from his house which may be the reason he didn’t get to change his dress before he was taken away.

“Connor would never be that crazy to do that,” My subconscious mind objected, but that was not necessary right now.

“What happened?” I asked when I covered the distance between us, but he just scoffed and turned his face away.

“Good evening, Ms,” The cop who was in his late forties greeted me, and I turned my attention to him.

“Good evening, Sir,” I bowed a little.

“Who is he to you, please?” The cop asked me.

“Uhm… He is…”

“I’m her husband,” He cut the cop off, and I scoffed unbelievably. His wife? In his dreams.

“Oh. Well, your husband was roaming the street drunk driving not minding the risk in it. He didn’t just drunk drive, but violated the traffic rules. This is a crime that requires punishment according to the law,” The cop said to me, and I heard Connor scoff.

“I’m very sorry, Sir,” I apologized on his behalf.

“It’s fine. He’s been tested and the alcohol in his blood is not so much, so he will only be suspended from driving for the next ninety days. If before then he drives a car, he would be put behind bars for violating the law,” The cop said to me, and I nodded.

“Thank you so much, Sir. I’m grateful,” I said to the cop. After the process of bail, we finally left the station and I had to drive the car.

“What were you doing outside at that time of the night?” I didn’t want to talk to him, but when my curiosity kicked in, I was forced to, so I asked him.

“Nothing,” He replied to me bluntly, staring out of the window.

“I thought you were arrested at home. Had no idea it was outside. Why are you wearing that?” I looked at him from the rearview mirror, but he didn’t reply to me.

“Ugh! Are you going to ignore me like that? You are not even going to thank me for coming through for you? You made me come here this night, do you know that?” I complained, but he still remained silent, so I had to give up.

The drive back home took about fifteen minutes before we arrived, and he stepped out of the car before me once I pulled over at the parking lot.

“Are you not going to say anything to me, Connor? That’s not fair!” I held his hand and pulled him back when we got to the living room.

“What do you want me to say? Thank you for coming to save me when I was on the verge of getting arrested?” He scoffed as he faced me, his eyes filled with rage, and I couldn’t deny the fear that flashed through me.

“Well, thank you for coming through for me. Thank you for driving through the night and risking your life to save me from getting my ass jailed. Are you ok now?” He yelled at the top of his voice like he was going crazy, and I flinched fearfully.

“Are you angry because I didn’t allow you to spend the night with him? Are you angry because I didn’t let you fuck with him through the night the way you wanted to?” He scoffed and threw his head back, biting his bottom lip.

“Connor!”

“Just go back to him. You can take the car and go wherever you want to. Go and fucking spend the night with him. I’m not holding you back, Janice. Just fuck with whoever you wish to. It’s your body, after all. You can do whatever you want with it,” I couldn’t believe my ears.

“Connor…” He glared hard at me and walked away without sparing me another glance, and I huffed. What the fuck just happened?