Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Riley saw red.
“Is this him?” he demanded, standing over the sniveling figure, crumpled on the floor. “The guy from Chicago, your ex. Not such a big man now, are you?”
This bastard. He’d seen it on Brooke’s face the minute he walked in, the hurt and heartache in her eyes. It tore him up that anyone could make her feel that way. She didn’t deserve it, not for a second.
With a growl, the man hurled himself at Riley, sending him stumbling back into a table.
There was a smash as a vase of flowers shattered on the ground behind him, but he barely noticed as they tussled and swung.
The asshole got in a lucky blow to his face, and then Riley buried his fist into the man’s stomach, sending him reeling to the floor again.
“Riley,” Brooke hissed, tugging at his arm, but he barely noticed. Every muscle was tense and ready for action, focused on the man with a bloody nose on the floor.
“Get up,” he growled at the guy. Hell, he didn’t even know his name, but that wouldn’t stop him. He was just getting started for what this asshole had done to hurt Brooke. “Get the hell up so I can hit you again.”
“Just try!” Brooke’s ex staggered to his feet, blood dripping down his chin. “That was a sucker punch! I could take you in a fair fight, any day!”
“Like hell you could!” Riley lunged, but something dragged him back.
“Stop it!” Brooke moved in front of him, and shoved him back, hard. Her eyes were flashing with fury. “For God’s sake, calm down. You too, Archer.” she whirled around, stabbing a finger at the bastard. “Are you two trying to ruin my entire career?”
Riley paused. For the first time, he realized they were in the middle of the polished marble lobby, with people all around.
People staring at them in horror and disgrace.
What the hell was he doing?
“Brooke—” he started, but she cut him off.
“Come with me,” Brooke ground out. “Both of you.” She stalked off down a hallway without a backwards glance. Riley shot a look at Archer, who scowled back, but they both wound up shuffling into her office after her.
“Baby—” the asshole tried to plead, as Riley started apologizing, but Brooke cut them both off with a furious yell.
“No! I can’t deal with this right now!” She glared at them. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve got the wedding of the year out there!”
“You’re right,” the asshole, Archer, quickly spoke up. “I’m sorry this brute made a scene.”
“Says the cheating scumbag,” Riley shot back, blood still hot with rage. What the hell was he doing there? Did Brooke invite him? Did she want to see him again?
The thought of losing her hit harder than any right hook. He hadn’t had a chance yet, to tell her how he felt.
“Who the hell are you anyway?” Archer got up in Riley’s face, sneering. “This has nothing to do with you.”
“Both of you, stop it!” Brooke yelled. “Please, just stop. I have to get back out there and apologize for that scene, and then do a million other things so Lila can walk down the aisle without worrying someone’s going to throw another punch.
So either you kill each other here, quietly, or you get the hell out of this hotel—I really don’t care. ”
She walked out and slammed the door behind her.
Riley took a breath, chastened, then lunged for it at the same time as Archer, but he got there first.
“Brooke—” he called after her down the hallway.
“No!” She spun around, and Riley realized to his horror that she had tears in her eyes. “I can’t talk to you right now. I can’t believe you just did that, in front of everyone!”
Riley swallowed. “But he was hurting you.”
“I’m a big girl, Riley,” Brooke said. “I can tell him to get lost all on my own. I don’t need you to come rushing in and humiliate me—” Her voice broke, and Riley realized for the first time it wasn’t Archer she was mad at, and feeling betrayed by.
It was him.
Guilt slammed through him, and he opened his mouth to apologize, but she was already looking past him, wiping frantically at her eyes. “Meredith, hi!” she exclaimed, her voice loud and false. “Look, I’m sorry about what just happened. I can explain?—”
“Save it.” A brisk-looking woman hurried over. “We’ve got more important things to deal with. The bride is gone.”
“What do you mean, she’s gone?” Brooke stared. She’d thought this day couldn’t get any worse, but clearly, she was wrong.
“I mean, she’s missing!”
Brooke tried to process the news. She was still scattered, reeling from Archer’s sudden reappearance and Riley’s wild punch. Everything was crashing down on her at once, but she couldn’t fall apart.
Focus, Brooke. One thing at a time.
A couple of guests passed by, heading out to take their place for the ceremony, and Meredith plastered on a smile. “Isn’t it lovely?” she cooed. “Be right out!”
The moment they were outside, Meredith grabbed Brooke’s arm and dragged her around the corner. “I’ve looked everywhere,” Meredith said.
Brooke gulped. “You think she left?”
“No, security are stationed at every exit, and they haven’t seen her. The paparazzi is camped out front, and you’d think a Hollywood star in a big white dress would make an impression!”
“OK, so she’s still on the property somewhere.” Brooke thought fast. “Maybe she just needed a moment. It can all be overwhelming.”
“The Oscars are overwhelming!” Meredith exclaimed, her voice rising. “Having your naked photos leak to the press is overwhelming. Getting married is a freaking walk in the park to her!”
“You need to calm down,” Brooke said, wishing she could take her own advice. “There are two hundred people out there expecting a blushing bride, and we don’t want them to know anything’s wrong right now, not until we figure this out. I’ll look for Lila, you keep the crowd distracted, OK?”
“OK.” Meredith grabbed a bottle of champagne from the closest table and gulped. “Good luck!”
Brooke took off at the fastest walk she could manage without turning any heads. She quickly checked the salon, the dining hall, the honeymoon suite upstairs . . .
But there was no sign of Lila.
As she searched, her mind kept going back to what had just happened.
She couldn’t believe Riley had laid into Archer like that.
Any other time, maybe she could have enjoyed the look on Archer’s face, just a little, but today, it felt like even more proof she was screwing up beyond repair.
A public brawl in the middle of the wedding?
She could just imagine what Bitsy would have to say about that—if she wasn’t already on speed-dial to Brooke’s boss, demanding her head on a (perfectly polished) platter.
Brooke’s stomach twisted with shame. First she’d ruined everything back in Chicago, now her mistakes were haunting her all the way across the country. She couldn’t even keep her personal life from blowing up and ruining someone else’s big day.
She’d been right from the start: she was dating kryptonite, and she had no business following her heart, not while it was still radioactive enough to level a small city.
Or, in this case, a whole wedding.
She detoured past the lobby, her panic rising. Riley was waiting in the corner with a remorseful expression. “Brooke,” he started.
“Not now!” Brooke couldn’t wait around, not with this wedding hanging by a thread. She’d made Lila a promise, the day of her dreams, and she’d already jeopardized it enough with her own romantic drama. She wasn’t about to let the whole event go down in flames.
She charged onwards, leaving him behind. She must have checked every supply closet and office on the staff level, before finally, a waiter waved her over.
“I think I’ve found your missing package,” he said meaningfully, nodding towards the kitchen.
Brooke stepped inside. It was a bustle of activity—chefs working, the burners on full, but in the back, she found Lila sitting on a stool, her gorgeous dress bunched around her as she dug into the five-tier wedding cake with a spoon.
Brooke could have cheered in relief.
“Lila!” She hurried over. “There you are! Everyone’s looking for you. Come on, the ceremony is about to begin.”
Lila didn’t get up. “I found his campaign slogan,” she said sadly. “On his laptop. The slogan, the campaign pitch, the whole thing. He’s running for Congress.”
Brooke exhaled in a whoosh. “Maybe it was just a proposal?” she said hopefully. “Brainstorming, what ifs!”
Lila shook her head. “He’d made notes. Edited the speeches. They’re going to announce next month.”
“I’m so sorry.” Brooke gulped. There were two hundred people waiting upstairs, the string quartet poised to begin the wedding march, and her bride was hiding out here, with frosting smeared all over her face.
As wedding emergencies went, this was DEFCON 1.
“He promised me,” Lila whispered, digging her spoon deep into another layer of pristine peach cake. “He promised, so many times. And all along, he knew!”
“Did you talk to him about it?”
Lila shook her head. “What can he say? He lied.”
“But maybe there’s an explanation!”
“Like what?” Lila asked, a new spark of anger in her eyes. “Whoops, forgot to mention, I’m signing us up for life in the spotlight, I know it’s the opposite of everything I promised you, but hey, it’s only four years. And then the governor’s race. And then a presidential run. No big deal at all.”
Brooke opened her mouth to argue, then stopped. Who was she kidding? This was the Cartwright family. The new Kennedys. With that pedigree, Justin had President written all over his handsome face.
She took a seat beside Lila and reached for a fork instead. If the wedding was about to go down in flames, she needed a sugar hit to get through it.
“This is really good cake,” she said, through a mouthful. Summer had outdone herself.
Lila nodded. “It’s beautiful. At least, it was. The whole wedding is gorgeous. You did a great job.”
“Thank you.”
They ate in silence for a moment.
“I really thought he was different,” Lila said quietly. “He’s so smart, and funny, and sweet. I wasn’t even looking for a relationship, but he came along, and I just . . . couldn’t help falling for him, you know?”