Page 88 of Nothing to the Wedding
“A skit?”she asked.
“A musical number.”
Ah, her birthday.Good times.
“Come to the club and maybe you’ll get a front row seat.”
No, there weren’t really seats.Maybe she should pull him up on stage, just to guarantee his excellent view.Funny that while she’d be performing, being ridiculous for hundreds of viewers, Sam would be the more mortified one up there.Had never been his thing, being the center of attention.Probably why she and Sonia excelled at it.
“Hmm,” he pondered.“Not sure that’s a good deal.I’ve heard you sing.”
“By the time I get up there, you’ll be too drunk to care.Besides, what do you think autotune is for?”she asked and snagged his hand again.“We’ll find Ballard, you can buddy up, and maybe you’ll have a good time.”
“Maybe.”
“It’s a risk you have to take,” she said, beaming.“It’s my wedding day.You can’t say no.”
TWENTY-FIVE
MOST EVERYONE HAD been transported to the club.Two thirds of people at least, she’d guess.Jane and Knox went on ahead to settle their guests at Crimson while she and Zairn stayed behind to balance out festivities.After checking with them, staff shut three of the quadrants to begin cleaning up.A task she didn’t envy them.
Zairn was somewhere, could be at the club already, or upstairs sleeping it off, no idea.Okay, he wouldn’t be sleeping it off because this was Zairn Lomond.He could be upstairs taking the edge off, but if that was the case why was she down there?
She smiled.Nodded at this person and that.Maybe she should go upstairs and text her guy to follow.Wouldn’t be the first time they’d ditched a party at their club being thrown in their honor… with a free bar, however that worked out.Shame this was a no phone day.Could end up being a no phone month because she had no idea where hers had landed.
Mieux emerged from the guests, making a beeline for her.Ah, a friend.
“Hey, honey,” she said, raising an arm as Mieux rushed over.“I haven’t seen you yet.I haven’t seen anyone, I don’t even know if Zairn’s still here.Do you know if Zairn’s still here?”
Hmm, losing her husband so soon after the ceremony was sort of careless.
“We have a problem,” Mieux said, ignoring the invitation to hug.
“Okay.”In the subtle, sexy cocktail dress, Mieux was positively delicious.Something she’d always known about the beauty.It wasn’t much like the usually work focused Mieux to let loose and she liked it.“You know you’re not working, right?You shouldn’t be working.”
A lot of people were working.What fabulous employers they were turning out to be.“Please come to our wedding and work for no pay.”They wouldn’t get away with doing this more than once.No one would show up a second time.
“Uh huh.”Mieux took her arm to pull her through people to the side of the room.“We have a problem.Tripp is trying to contain that problem but…”
“A problem?”
One that required her and not her husband?Many preferred coming to her about non-businessy things.Because she was more approachable?Because Zairn had better things to do?Because she wasn’t a defer kind of woman?
More than likely it was because Zairn didn’t always care that much about “problems.”They never raised his blood pressure.Some of that nonchalance rubbed off on her too, but she at least let people be heard.
“Definitely a problem.”
“Where are we—”
In a shadowy corner, behind the pillar that had been Sam’s, Mieux put her back to the wall and held up a device.A video or live feed of the woman who’d stunk out press not so long ago claiming to be Zairn’s mistress: Anjelica.
“It’s only right I be allowed in there,” the beauty claimed on-screen.“Crimson is as much mine as it is hers.”
Crimson… There were so many people crowded around in the background, there wasn’t much view of the street.
“Where is she?”
“Outside the club.Crimson, LA,” Mieux murmured.“Right now.This is happening as we speak.”
