Page 33 of The Bad Wedding Date

“Williamson knows me well enough to know that I’ll break his neck if my name is so much as whispered by him,” I said

“You’d better hope that’s true. You’d also better find a way to stay calm and not let all those years of bitterness get in the way of the job tonight. No rash decisions. No hurting the man on a whim.” He paused, and I knew what was coming. It’s the same question I would have asked. “You’ve used a false name with the girl, right?”

When I didn’t answer, he pushed for more.

“Fraser?”

“See you later, Wade.”

I ended the call abruptly and walked back into the room to finish what I’d started. One look at Charlotte, who had captured the attention of an old man in a dated suit, and I knew I’d made the right call.

She needed me as much as I needed to be here.

My phone pinged with a text message, and I opened it up, ignoring the million others that were waiting for me from the other guys.

Wade: Whatever you do, don’t fuck her.

That’s the only thing you can do now to make this worse.

9

Charlotte

“And I told those parents of yours, I said, there’s no way my favourite niece won’t show up for this glorious occasion.” Great Uncle Bernard leaned closer and pinched my cheek like I was eight years old again.

“Here I am,” I said with wide eyes, watching him as he fell back in Fraser’s seat and rubbed at his round belly with one hand while his other flattened down the seven hairs left on his greasy head.

“You sure are. Everyone’s talking about it.”

“Everyone needs to get a life.”

“I’ve been saying that for years but that kind of talk falls on deaf ears around here.”

I smiled because Uncle B wasn’t a bad man. I just couldn’t remember ever seeing him without rosy cheeks and a very large glass of red wine in his hands. There was little I knew of him, other than he had always been wealthy, single, and childless.

“He’s quite the dish, as your Aunt Marge would say,” he said, leaning in again. Auntie M was his sister and had been his last living relative of his generation until she’d passed away only three months prior. “All the women here are talking about that man of yours. You should hear them. I’m surprised you haven’t seen them ogling away.”

“Here I was thinking that you said they were talking about me.”

“One might say that if tongues are already wagging, why not give them something to really remember in the morning?” Uncle B winked, but before I could ask him what exactly he meant by that, Fraser returned with both hands tucked in his trouser pockets.

I looked up, slightly weirded out by how familiar he already felt.

After a small introduction of the two, Uncle B stood, dipped his head, and offered Fraser a genuine smile before he made his excuses to leave.

Fraser grinned. “If you need me to go, just say the word.”

“Oh, ha-ha. That’s my uncle, you sicko. Sit your arse down, will you? The wolves are staring, and I’m the black sheep they’re ready to bite into.”

“Anyone in particular giving you grief?”

He took his seat beside me and shuffled closer. Closer still. Oh, too close. His chair faced mine completely, and his parted legs nudged the side of my thigh as he leaned forward and pressed his hands together. “Because if you have enemies, I want to know who they are. I take my role here tonight very seriously.” He smirked just as the band flared to life behind him on the stage. Neither one of us turned around to look. The room could have been empty for all I cared. Fraser’s eyes held all the music I needed in my life.

Resting my elbow on the table, I placed my chin on the back of my hand. “How seriously?”

“Very, very seriously.”

“So, the last thing you’d want is for us to be caught lying to everyone here tonight.”

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