Page 23 of Billionaire's Fake Plus One

The MC gives Brittany the mike, and she turns to the crowd with a megawatt smile. “Welcome to Zattany Week!” she shouts into the mike, and I wince a little. “Zany and I are so happy to have you here.”

Zany? Really? She’s even worse at giving nicknames than Jake, Rachel’s brother.

“We purposely set this dinner at five pm to break the ice and have some toasts before the food is served by seven.” She continues, “We have lots of games set up for tonight, and it’s going to be so much fun! That said, can the members of our wedding party please come up here?” She waves her hand to the stage, energetically.

Lucien glances at me and my lips thin at the hesitant look in his eyes. “You’re in the wedding party, aren’t you?”

“The best man,” he says, almost apologetically. Of course. He places his hand on my lower back, and we walk up to the stage with a number of people. Who even has this many people in their wedding party? People who have week-long wedding activities, that’s who.

As we get to the stage, Zane’s eyes meet mine and widen. He gapes at me. Brittany turns to glance at what’s eliciting such a reaction from her fiancé, and her brows shoot up when she sees us. They watch us approach.

“Willow? What are you doing here?” Zane asks, eyes still round as he glances from me to Lucien and back again.

“You know Lucien’s date?” Brittany asks, in shock,. the side of her pert mouth curling with derision. God, don’t let her be a bitch. That would be just too cliche. The cheating ex marrying the bitchy woman. Why, that would be a match made in hell!

“Um…she’s um…we…” Zane stumbles over his words, and I roll my eyes. “We used to date.”

Brittany gasps dramatically, then turns to face the man standing beside me with clenched jaws. “Did you know that Lucien? Of course, you didn’t. You wouldn’t bring Zane’s ex to our wedding. You wouldn’t stoop that low.” She smirks. Yup, total bitch!

“It’s Zane’s loss that he cheated on her and lost this gem, but his loss is my gain. She’s entirely mine now, and I don’t plan on repeating my little brother’s mistake,” he murmurs gruffly then places a sweet kiss on my temple. My heart does this weird jiggle and I know I’m in trouble.

It's just pretense. It’s just pretense!I chant in my head over and over.

The entire wedding party is watching this interaction, and the ladies ooh and ahh at Lucien’s words. Brittany rolls her eyes angrily and turns away from us. Some of the wedding party introduces themselves. Nora, the maid of honor. Paige, the matron of honor. June, Lana, Greer, Haley, Skylar, Mona, and Diane, the bridesmaids. Some of the groomsmen and ushers. The names and faces blur together as everyone comes over to introduce themselves. Lucien, and the promise of drama, drawing their fascination to us.

“Now that the introductions are over, some friends of the couple have toasts.” The MC says and calls a few people over to him. Waiters immediately take to the floor to serve champagne; and once everyone has a glass in hand, the ridiculous toasts begin. We toast to love, which isn’t so bad. We toast to Lauren, the groom’s mother who isn’t here yet because of some important business. What could be more important than her son? But then Lauren has always been a slave to money. At least, I won’t have to deal with her tonight, which is a plus in my books, so I gladly toast to her.

We toast to Brittany. Toast to her perfect hair. Toast to her winning smile. She smiles widely at that, and I honestly don’t see anything winning about it, but then I’m a little biased about her now.

I can’t seem to shake that nagging feeling that I know her from somewhere. As much as I want to hate her, her blue eyes leave me with a sense of familiarity and comfort, somehow.

17

Promise me you’re not going to host an elaborate week-long wedding, Rachel. As your maid of honor, I’m begging you! ??

After the toasts are over, the MC once again takes the mike. “What wonderful and fun friends the couple have!” The crowd chuckles politely, and some even clap. “Now that that’s over, we’ll go over to the next segment before we eat. A rousing game of Kiss or Confess that’s going to have you work up an appetite and not just for food.” He winks elaborately, and the crowd chuckles.

My heart starts racing, the blood singing in my veins in anticipation. With dread fighting in my system, the MC divides us into groups and explains the rules of the game. Basically, there’ll be dealers in each group with a card of questions. The dealer asks a question from the card; if you don’t want to answer, you either kiss your date or a random person in the crowd.

There are twenty people in each group, and, of course, we end up in Zane and Brittany’s group. He’s Lucien’s brother after all. The questions are intimate and invasive, and the first set of would-be confessors chose to kiss instead.

“Next up!” the dealer shouts dramatically, and the entire group seems to hold their breaths. He glances down at the list of names in his hand. “Willow! Do we have a Willow here?” Oh shit. My stomach churns and my heart pounds desperately.No.

“Willowwwww. Are you here?” the dealer sing-songs.

I swallow hard and hesitantly raise a hand up. The dealer grins and waves me over. Lucien’s hand caresses my lower back gently as I walk to the dealer. “So, your question is this: what’s your earliest childhood memory?”

Our group goes quiet as twenty pairs of eyes watch me attentively. Compared to the questions the others have gotten, it’s pretty tame, but it’s a wormhole of distressing memories for me, and my heart sinks like a lead into my stomach.

My earliest memory is scary and heartbreaking, something I never ever want to remember or talk about. Especially not to strangers. My heart pounds fiercely as I try to think of what to say. I can just lie! Would they really know if my story is true or not? None of these people know me. None.

I suddenly feel so alone. My chest heaves as my breath comes out in pants. I glance frantically around as I try to come up with a lie on the spot. Tawny gaze snags mine, and his brows furrow in concern as he watches me.

“She’s not going to answer that question.” Lucien’s gaze is still on me. Probably wondering what the big deal is. I let out a breath of relief at having to not answer but then the dealer speaks up.

“You know the rules. If you’re not going to spill the tea, then you’re going to do the kiss,” he says, and the group cheers. Time seems to stand still as Lucien strolls over to me. I’m convinced my heart will jump out of my chest with how hard and fast it’s pounding as he comes to a stop in front of me. His gaze drops to my throat, and he lifts his hand to trace my pulse point with light fingers.

The crowd around us seems to disperse as he places a long finger underneath my chin to lift my head up. My breath hitches as he stares down at me through hooded eyes, gone dark with desire. His lips hover over mine for an electrically charged moment, then he brushes his lips gently over mine, almost like I did last night.

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