Page 13 of Faking the Pass
And yes, I had dated his younger brother briefly.
Very briefly.
“I’m here to help,” Wilder said. “I’m a friend. Just tell me what you need.”
“Wilder.” The word came out on a breath of relief, and my eyes instantly filled with tears. “I…”
Looking around, I tried to figure out exactlywhatI needed. It was hard to think, but at least the roar of panic was beginning to subside.
There was only one thing I knew for sure.
“I need to get out of here. I’mnotgetting married today.”
“Good choice,” he said with a slight grin. “Want me to escort you up to the bridal suite so you can change?”
“No. I can’t.She’sup there—his real fiancée. Who’s expecting his child any minute.”
“Oh. Wow.”
I shook my head and covered my face with one hand. “It’s… complicated.”
“It’s okay,” Wilder said. “I’m used to dealing with complicated situations. Don’t worry. We’ll get you out of here.”
Randy moved toward us, grabbing Wilder’s arm as he’d done mine, attempting to pull him away from me.
Attemptingbeing the key word since he didn’t manage to budge the massive man an inch.
Wilder twisted his thick neck to shoot a glare at my former fiancé in acan I help you buddy?way.
Taking a step backward, Randy cleared his throat. “Thanks for stopping her for me. I’ll take it from here. You can just go back outside.”
His tone was noticeably more respectful than the one he’d used with me. Randy might have been a jerk, but wasn’t a fool.
“I wasn’t ‘stopping her.’ I was getting her out of harm’s way,” Wilder clarified. “Which meansyou’renot getting anywhere near her.”
The fury returned to Randy’s tone and face.
“Who do you think you are? You work forme. If you think I’m still paying your company for this weekend, you’ve got another thing coming.”
Wilder gave him a cool smile. “I wouldn’t take your money now if you begged me to. I’ll pay my staff myself. Now if you’d like to discuss it further, we can step outside. But if I were you, I’d head into the ballroom and tell all those fancy guests of yours the wedding’s off. They’re probably getting pretty restless.”
Randy glanced toward the ballroom doors, and I saw real fear in his eyes. Then he looked back at Wilder’s resolute expression, and the fear grew more pronounced.
Glancing at me, he asked, “Where are you planning to go?”
“Anywhere you’re not.”
“Don’t forget you signed a non-disclosure agreement,” Randy called after us as Wilder and I walked away.
He needn’t have worried about me spilling my guts to the press about this. The last thing I wanted was to publicly discuss my stupidity for almost marrying a man who not only did not love me, he apparently didn’t even like me very much.
Which made me an idiot. Unfortunately, Randy hadn’t been my first error when it came to judging character.
When we got downstairs, Wilder stopped and gave me a sympathetic look.
“Wheredoyou want to go? You have family in the area, still? Your parents’ house?”
I shook my head, thinking wistfully of my mom. Even if she’d still been alive, she had left Eastport Bay long ago, moving to L.A. with me as soon as I’d finished high school, doing her best to help me pursue my dreams.
