Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 125257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
“It’s not fake,” Lake says, squaring his shoulders, standing up for me over and over again.
But I feel even worse now that he’s piling a lie upon a lie.
My mother lowers her hand, ignoring him, turning to me. “Why would you do this? You can just be honest.”
Sometimes, you have to stop doubling down. You have to stop lying. You have to stop pretending. No matter how much a man defends you.
I take a breath, ready to face the truth. “Because—”
“You want to know why we faked it?” Lake cuts in, letting go of me, closing the distance between him and Jameson and getting right in his face. “Because I insisted on it,” he bites out, taking all the blame once more, protecting me again. “Because you were such a dick to her. You’re such a selfish ass all the time. Who does this? Who breaks up with someone on a Jumbotron? Who tries to be friends to pitch his beer at her sister’s wedding? Who claims he wants to help make dating profiles? Then turns around and does this shit? Who shoves his stupid fucking beer in every picture? No one wants you crashing every photo. No one likes you. You’re a fake and a fraud, and guess what, buddy?”
“What?” Jameson asks, apparently unable to shut up when he’s buzzed.
“No one in the entire world wants beer at a bakery.”
Jameson lunges for Lake, headfirst into the hockey player’s chest, like he’s wrestling. With barely an ounce of effort, Lake peels him off, pushes him back, and holds him at bay easily with one hand.
It’s sexy as hell but also the exact opposite of what I wanted to happen today.
I’m the scene. I made a mess of my sister’s wedding. This is the antithesis of a preemptive strike. I struck myself and my sister and my whole family.
But when I catch a flash of peach, my stomach drops. I turn around slowly, dread curling tight inside me as I spot the videographer in the ballroom door. She must have migrated down the hallway, blending in with the flowers, as she caught the authentic behind-the-scenes moments with Caroline’s viewers’ favorite subject—me.
She caught everything. And live streamed it for Caroline’s audience.
It’s official. Nothing in my life is private, and I just ruined my sister’s wedding and, probably, my job prospects all in one short, heated minute.
Even worse? I’ve hurt Lake too. He’s trying to protect me, but now his sweet, wounded father will know he lied. The man who doesn’t leave the house. Who’s facing his own demons. The man who’s been rooting for the two of us.
In that one short, brutal minute, the tender piece of my heart that hoped a fake romance might become real breaks off. Once again, I’m the fool, but this time it’s all my doing.
50
THE WORST MAN
REMY
It’s official. Of all the worst-case outcomes I’ve ever envisioned, this one definitely takes the cake. But I’m a planner. A fixer. I’ve got to solve this problem, and that has to start with getting the half-drunk best man out of the way.
With my nerves frayed and my emotions raw, I lift my chin and say to the guy I’m so glad I’m not marrying, “Even if my romance was all fake, you need to go.”
Okay, that’s something. That’s a start. I can keep fixing things for my sister.
But as the sound of shoes clicking down the hallway grows louder, Jameson rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I’ll get out of here. I can’t wait to tell Parker what you were trying to do to me. Bro code.”
He wheels around with his stupid beer still in his hand and runs smack into…the bride.
I gasp as he wobbles, then plants his wing-tipped foot right on the train of my sister’s wedding dress. He tumbles forward, ripping the train off her dress with a loud tear, his beer bottle toppling to the floor with a splash.
My heart craters. Just when you think things can’t get worse, the universe says, Hold my beer so I can fucking spill it on a wedding dress.
“Leave,” I seethe as the commotion in the hallway grows. More footsteps.
Caroline stares down at the beer-stained dress with venom in her eyes. Then, as cool and collected as I’ve ever seen her, she looks up at him and whispers in a deadly voice, “I’m going to do something I should have done a long time ago.”
Her groom appears, pulling up at her side. Parker’s brow is furrowed; he looks pissed. I didn’t know he had any expression on his face besides worship of my sister. He points to the dress, then to Jameson, then the dress again, and he says, “Did you just spill beer on my bride’s wedding dress?”
Lake clears his throat, helpfully adding, “He also ripped the train.”
Parker licks his lips, breathes out hard, then says, “You ruined our wedding and Caroline’s dress. Also, I just watched the whole fucking live stream. What the hell is wrong with you? Get out.”