Forced to Marry My Brother's Best Friend

Chapter 1

Today

Jennifer woke up before her alarm went off for the day. It took her a minute to realize what had woken her up before she remembered the nightmare she was having that must have woken her. She didn't have them often anymore, but before big events like Christmas or her birthday, which happened to be today, the nightmares tended to come back. Her therapist had assured her that it wasn't strange and it didn't mean she was regressing. Rather, the importance surrounding these moments made her think back to the night she lost everything, well almost everything. James was still with her, his face had been badly burned and scarred and sometimes she felt like she was losing him when he sank into a depression, but he always came back. He promised he wouldn't leave her too.

Today was her 24th birthday. She should be getting a phone call from her parents, she should be celebrating with cookies from her favorite bakery and spaghetti and meatballs like she chose for her dinner and dessert every year, but that wouldn't be happening this year. It hadn't happened since she was 10, since her parents were taken from her in a car crash that irrevocably changed her and James' lives forever. She missed her parents every day but she was thankful that she had James, and that together they had the O'Connors. After the accident on Christmas 14 years ago, the O'Connors had taken them in. James lived with them for a short time before he got his own apartment with Shawn near campus. After graduation, they had moved to an apartment closer to downtown and the O'Connor office buildings where they both now worked, although Shawn was training to take over as the CEO and James worked as the head of accounting. Jennifer had stayed with the O'Connors until she started college. She graduated three years ago with a degree in the baking and pastry arts and had been working as the pastry chef at a local restaurant, but was saving up to lease her own store front.

Grace and Tim had offered numerous times to give her the money but Jennifer and her brother had never wanted to take anything from them. Neither of them wanted to feel like they were taking advantage of the family that had taken them in and treated them as their own. They also had enough money from the insurance company, life insurance, and a small inheritance each to pay their way through college and rent their apartments. Jennifer knew that James was making decent money now so he might not have had to dip into his inheritance as much, but she used her money to support herself while she looked for a job after college. She had about $10,000 left but she didn't want to use that to start her shop. She wanted to save that in her emergency fund in case anything catastrophic happened to her again.

Since she was already up she decided to get started on her day. She had the day off so she had planned to meet up with her friend Bianca for brunch later, and her brother promised to come over for dinner tonight. She wasn't quite looking forward to that, well she was, but she knew he would most likely bring Shawn and he would most likely bring his new girlfriend. She had never quite gotten over her crush on him. They hadn't spent as much time together after the accident as he headed off to college then moved closer to the city but he was still around for the holidays and all of their birthdays. Even now that she lived in the city she rarely saw him unless James was coming to see her and brought him. She still felt like he just looked at her like a child and she always hated meeting his slew of girlfriends. He was a serial dater and one of the most eligible bachelors in the city, so he was never hurting for female company.

Her phone started to ring and she picked up without looking to see who it was as she figured she already knew, and when the voice on the other end started talking she knew she was right, "Good morning sweet girl, what are you doing up so early on your day off?" Grace asked.

"I couldn't sleep, but if I was sleeping your call would probably have woken me up" Jennifer chuckled at Grace as she answered her.

"Oh silly me, I just always assume everyone has their phones on silent when they are sleeping and I wanted you to wake up to a birthday message. I guess it's okay since you're already up! Do you have plans today?"

"I do, I'm going out to brunch with Bianca in a few hours and then James and I assume Shawn are coming over for dinner tonight."

"Oh that sounds lovely. What about this weekend. Do you have any plans?"

"Nope, just work. I'm working Friday, Saturday, and Sunday but I should be out around 2 each day."

"Oh perfect, how would you like to come over on Saturday for a little birthday celebration? I will invite the boys to come too so maybe they can pick you up on the way."

"That sounds perfect Grace I'd love to come over. It's been a couple months since I've seen you and Tim. I've just been so busy I haven't had a chance to get back there."

"Oh don't worry about that. You three are living your lives I know you see James and Shawn a bit but Tim has been going to the city less and less as he trains Shawn to take over the CEO position so it would make sense you haven't seen him in a bit either. And I think Shawn has a new girlfriend he's pretty serious about because they are always together and he mentioned maybe having us meet her."

He wanted his parents to meet his new girlfriend? She had no right to be jealous. Shawn had no idea she had a crush on him but it hurt her to think of him being so serious with someone. She had always thought that his flings would end and she could get him to notice her one day but now she wasn't so sure.

"Jennifer, honey are you still there?"

"Yes, sorry I'm here. That sounds great, I'll call James and coordinate with him for this weekend."

"Perfect, see you Saturday!"

"See you then, bye Grace."