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I hesitate, but Felicia says, “Go!”
All right. I’ll go. We have some time before the wedding anyway.
When we’re sufficiently far from Felicia, the guard says quietly, “Look, Felicia’s been around this club a long time, and this isn’t her first fit. She’ll get over it. Just take a walk, let her calm down, and we’ll let you return in half an hour.”
“Half an hour!” I reach for my phone, then remember it was confiscated by the wedding planner. All of ours were, so that they wouldn’t accidentally make noise during the ceremony. “The wedding is in fifteen minutes!”
“Whatever,” the guy says. “Don’t come back for fifteen minutes.”
“Fine.”
We continue down the hall. “Where are you taking me?” I ask.
“Out the back. You can walk on the golf course. Sit on a bench. I don’t care. Just stay away from here for a little while.”
I blow out a long, annoyed breath. I’m supposed to be sipping wine and hanging out with my best friend. Damn Felicia and her white dress.
A roar of male laughter bursts from an open door ahead. It must be the men’s dressing room. I plan to peek in as we pass, but before we make it there, a groomsman steps out. “I’ll make sure Ronnie hasn’t sent a spy,” he calls back into the room.
I almost smile. Ronnie did threaten surveillance if she thought they were drinking too much before the ceremony.
Based on the laughter, she was right to worry.
He glances the other way first, but when he looks toward us, my breath catches. It’s Drew Daniels, and he’s gorgeous in a tux. Like, unbelievably delicious.
I knew him well growing up. He and my older brother, Garrett, played football together, and I often sat in the window mooning over Drew as they practiced in the yard.
Seeing him dressed like this reminds me of all the fantasies twelve-year-old me used to dream up about Drew and prom and our very own wedding one day. Dashed, of course, because he was sixteen to my twelve and thought I was a twerp.
Unfortunately, today’s bridal party lineup does not have him escorting me, so we haven’t so much as shaken hands. But from the flutters in my belly, that girlhood crush is far from over.
Drew takes in the guard, then me, his face darkening. “What’s going on here?”
I hate to admit anything. I almost say I’m the spy, but end up with the truth. “Felicia kicked me out,” I say. “I have to go wander around while she cools off.”
“Where?”
Jeremy speaks up. “Just out on the green.”
“What did you do?”
I hate that he’s finally talking to me, and it’s about this. “I got wine on Felicia’s dress.”
“That would definitely get her riled.” He falls into step beside us. “But I don’t like them escorting you out of here. What if they lock you out?”
I glance up at the guard. “He assures me that I’ll be able to get back in.”
Drew’s beautiful lips press into a firm line. “I think I should come along to make sure.”
My heart swells. Drew has no idea how often I imagined him saving me whenever I got into tough spots as a kid. His family might not come from money, but they had a beautiful brick house, two parents, and the sort of home life I longed for. I always knew he would sweep me away from the dark, sad, dirty house with no mother and a father who rarely spoke to any of us after she died. My father still doesn’t.
And here he is. Drew. It’s hero time.
We enter the bowels of the club. The offices are dark on a Saturday night. At the end of the hall, we turn into a large room filled with rows of stacked chairs. There’s a huge set of double doors on the back wall, which I assume is where deliveries are made. We seem to be heading for that.
This feels weird. There should be dozens of random exits to a sprawling building like this. Alarm bells start to ring. “My punishment is only for fifteen minutes, though, right?”
“Sure,” Jeremy says.
