The Wedding Trap (Second Service #1)(23)
Author: Adrienne Bell

If only.

"You doing all right?" he asked.

"I’m fine."

"No, you’re not. You’re stiff as a board, and you don’t want to talk to your friends."

"I’m—I’m fine," she insisted.

"I’m right here, Beth. I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. I’ll be right behind you. All night."

"It’s not me that I’m worried about.”

"I promise you, I can take care of myself."

She rolled her eyes. "It’s not you either…well, it’s not entirely you. It’s them." Beth gestured around the room. "What if someone tries to hurt them to get to me? What if Isobel or my mom or—hell, even Spencer gets caught in the crossfire?"

"There’s not going to be any crossfire.”

"How can you be sure?"

"Because they can’t make this messy, Beth. The man who wants you dead needs it to look like an accident. He’s hoping—no, he’s counting on no one looking too deep into what happens to you. Taking out a ballroom full of people isn’t in his playbook."

Alex leaned in close and pressed a small kiss against her cheek. It was a sweet gesture, one that did more to calm her nerves than he might ever know. And one that was totally ruined the second that she heard Spencer’s voice behind her.

"It looks like you two had a good day,” he said, slurring his words. Beth looked at the drink in his hand. Indistinguishable brown liquid—the favorite drink of ass**les everywhere—sloshed over the side of the tumbler. She was guessing it wasn’t his first. Not by a long shot.

Alex slowly pulled away and looked Spencer up and down.

"Yeah, we did," he said, wrapping his arm around Beth.

“That’s good,” Spencer said. He leaned in close enough for Beth to catch the wave of alcohol-soaked breath that rolled out of his mouth. “I had a good day, too. I had some time on my hands, so I thought I’d make a phone call over to Bastion Records.”

Oh, no.

“Is that right?” Alex asked, his voice as relaxed as ever.

Beth swallowed past the lump that was rapidly forming in her throat. This wasn’t good.

“Turns out they don’t have a Charlie Parker who works for them,” Spencer said, obviously pleased with himself. He smiled wide enough for Beth to see his back teeth.

“Spencer—“

“Shut up, Beth. I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to Charlie,” he said, poking his finger into the center of Alex’s chest. “What do you have to say about that, tough guy?”

Bad move.

Alex pushed off the wall and stepped toe to toe with Spencer. His body was still relaxed, but Beth spied the twitch at his jaw that signaled the anger running through him.

“I think little boys shouldn’t go poking their noses into things they don’t understand,” Alex said, his voice a low warning. “And I think that if you know what’s good for you, you’ll apologize to Beth for talking to her like that.”

“Is that a threat?”

Alex shrugged. “I’m just spelling out your options.”

Spencer took another swig of his drink. And then another. If he was looking for courage, he was going to need a few more glasses.

No matter how satisfying it would be to watch Alex clock Spencer, she probably shouldn’t let it happen. There would be a big commotion. Someone would have to clean up the blood. She’d end up having to drive Isobel to the hospital to see her brother-in-law. It just wasn’t worth it.

She grasped Alex’s arm and pulled, but he didn’t budge.

“Gentlemen,” Beth said. “Maybe we should finish this conversation some other time.”

“You’d like that wouldn’t you, Beth?” Spencer said, raising his voice. “Are you scared that everyone will find out the truth about you and your boyfriend here?”

Beth froze. There was no way he could know the truth.

Fortunately, only a few people had turned to see what the fuss was about. The music was loud, and in his drunken state, Spencer wasn’t as loud as he could be. But Beth had the feeling that he was just getting warmed up. If Spencer had the chance to be center stage, he’d take it, regardless of the humiliation that followed.

“You’re embarrassing yourself, Spencer,” she said in a low whisper.

“Me? I’m an embarrassment?” he shouted. She should have known better than to appeal to his sense of shame—the little weasel didn’t have any. "That’s real funny coming from a woman so hard up she had pay a f**king gigolo to be her date."

More heads turned. Beth put her hands up in front of her.

“Spencer,” she pleaded.

Spencer’s grin only grew at her distress.

“Careful,” Alex warned him.

“Or what?” Spencer said. His voice was less confident now that he’d shifted his eyes back to Alex.

"Do you really want find out the answer to that?" Alex asked. His voice held a sharp and lethal edge.

Spencer’s mouth fell open, and he stood gasping for air like a gutted fish. Alex leaned in so he towered over Spencer.

"Al—Charlie," Beth begged. She pulled on his arm a little harder, but it was futile.

"Because I would love to show you," he said.

There was a world of warning in those words, and, to give him credit, Spencer managed to hear it through the haze of his alcohol-soaked mind. He turned and walked away without another word.

Alex turned back toward Beth, a satisfied smile on his face. "You didn’t really think I was going to hit him, did you?"

Beth blinked. "A girl can dream."

"You were right about one thing."

"Yeah?"

"I should have stolen his car when I had the chance."

"Like you’d be seen in that thing," she said.

He shrugged. "I could have crashed it."

Beth’s laughter was cut short when she spied her mother coming towards them, looking annoyed. More than usual.

"Where have you been all day?" her mother demanded.

"Hi, Mom."

"Isobel has been looking for you."

"Has she?" Alex asked with a little too much interest.

"It’s nothing. I was just supposed to tell her how things went at the florist’s," Beth said. Alex didn’t look convinced.

"Your father and I have been looking for you too, but you weren’t answering your phone."

Beth suddenly wished that she had accepted the offer of a drink. "I turned it off," she said.

"Why on earth would you do that?"