Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run

Jackson was the first one to react. He shot up from his seat and practically yelled, "No way!" His voice cracked from the shock.

"What the hell is this? Am I seeing things? Dylan, pinch me or something—am I dreaming?!"

But while Jackson was freaking out, Richard's face just went dark. He could tell right away this was bad. Really bad.

Jackson grabbed the marriage certificate and flipped it open. The moment he saw the name, he cursed again, even louder.

"Clara?! Clara?!! You married Clara?! When did that happen?! No freaking way! I must be seeing things. Hang on, you've always liked her, right? So if you were going to marry anyone, of course it'd be Clara. So you went behind everyone's back, kept it from the whole Ferguson family, and just went and got married to Clara without telling a soul?!"

He'd barely finished when Nicholas, who'd just taken a sip of his drink, totally lost it and spat whiskey all over the table.

"What did you just say?"

The look in his eyes was pure disbelief, like he literally couldn't process what he'd just heard.

Wait, who likes Clara?

Dylan likes Clara?

he hearing things? There was no way

napkin and wiped his mouth, still staring. "Jackson, say that

the marriage certificate for a full minute, making absolutely sure he wasn't hallucinating. When he finally accepted it was real, he put it down with hands that were still shaking, reached for a cigarette,

if Walter finds out about this, you know you're

lightly. The whole Ferguson family would

for himself. He stared at the names like if he looked hard enough, they'd change.

imagined

over, looking for any sign it was fake. At last, he

everyone knew Dylan wasn't the type to joke about something like

the certificate back down, and for a second, he actually looked kind of relieved. "I get it. You just want to tie Clara down, make her miserable forever. This is your way of getting back

help but wince at that.

of this had ended up exposing his

just sat there on the table, bright

the first to move. He pulled out a card-God knows how much money was

he said, like it was

here's your wedding

him like he'd grown a second head. "Wait, that's it? You're just... cool with this? Richard, aren't