I’ll show them crazy.
Turning away from them, I look up at Dean. “Do youwant to come with me?”
For a second, he doesn’t say a word. He just looks at me, almost long enough for me to come to my senses. To saynever mindorjust kiddingbefore I step around him and bolt through the door the way I’d planned.
Alone.
“Melisandre!”
My father bellows my name and everything stops. Turning, I see everyone—all three hundred of them—staring at me. Even Allister and Paige have stopped their whispering to look at where I’m standing, frozen solid in the middle of the church. I feel my chest tighten and my knees start to shake, all the emotions I’ve been suppressing for the last three days beginning to barrel down on me with the force of a tidal wave because I didn’t move fast enough. I let myself get distracted. Didn’t stick to the plan.
And now I’m caught.
Looking away from my father, I aim my gaze up at the man standing in front of me. “Dean…”
“Shit.” Muttering it under his breath, Dean lifts his gaze to my father. Pauses for just a second before he seems to make up his mind. “Sorry, sir.” Giving him a tight head shake, Dean takes my hand and drags me down the aisle and into the vestibule.
“Wait.” Stopping in front of the huge set of double doors that lead to the busy sidewalk and the limo I ordered, idling in front of the church, I pull my hand from Dean’s grasp.
“What—” Looking down at me, Dean’s forehead crumples into a frown before he aims a quick look at the sanctuary like he’s worried someone is coming after us. Before he can finish, I yank off my engagement ring and jam it into the collection box. It barely fits through the slot. When I finally manage to force it in, Dean lets out a laugh. “You’re a fuckin’ savage, Mint Julup,” he tells me before he takes my hand again and we run.
EIGHTEEN
Iassumed when Millie saiddo you wanttocomewith me,we were going back to the Hawthorne. It didn’t take long for me to realize I was wrong.
Streaking past the pair of Stormtroopers posted up outside the church, we rush down the stairs and into a limo with the hotel’s crest stenciled on its door. Diving into the back of it, the door is slammed behind us. Seconds later, we’re practically catapulted into mid-town traffic. Looking out the rear window, I see her parents standing on the steps of the church, watching us drive away.
“Help me.”
Turning away from the window, I find Millie sitting on the bench seat across from me, back turned to offer me thecomplicated row of hooks and laces, running down the length of her back. Sitting next to her is a small, overnight bag.
She had this whole thing planned—down to the smallest detail—but I’d bet my left nut asking me to come with her wasn’t a part of it.
Moving seats to sit beside her, I reach for the laces holding her dress together and start to pull, her dress falling open, inch by inch. “That was some exit, Megatron.”
When I say it, Millie lets out a shaky laugh. “Who would’ve thought I have a flair for the dramatics?” While I work on her dress, she reaches for the overnight bag next to her and zippers it open with a sigh. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this. It wasn’t intentional. I just?—”
“Wanted to deliver a finalfuck youon your way out?” I say, trying to sound flippant, like I think it’s funny.
“What?” Her shoulders tense up and she stops digging through her bag to look at me over her shoulder. “No. I?—”
“Look—I get it.” Avoiding her gaze, I keep pulling, my fingers flying down the length of her spine. “It’s fine. Guys like me are pretty useful in thefuck youdepartment.” Giving the laces in my hands a final tug, I drop my hands away from her back. “Done.”
“Done?” Apology and explanation for why I’m sitting here, forgotten, Millie angles her head over her shoulder to see for herself. Looking up at me, she frowns. “That was quick.”
Sitting back on a shitty laugh, I shift myself across the bench seat before looking out the window. “Believe it or not, Princess, you’re not the first woman I’ve undressed in the back of a limo.”
“I believe it,” she says quietly, her wide hazel eyes brushing against the side of my face before she turns away from me completely. Gaze aimed at the traffic outside the window, I watchin its reflection while Millie shrugs herself out of the top half of her dress, giving me a brief glimpse of soft, lace-covered skin before she drops something over her head, covering herself completely.
Neither of us say anything while she finishes getting dressed. Me, pretending not to watch her while she pretends I’m not even here.
You really fucked up this time, Mercer. Jesus Christ—do you realize what you just did? You dragged Millie Blackwell away from her own wedding,in front of her father. A man who can and will absolutely destroy you. By this time tomorrow, everything you’ve spent the last two years building will be completely ruined.
Deciding I’ll hop the subway or hail a cab as soon as we get to the Hawthorne so I can get the hell away from her and maybe start thinking clearly enough to figure out a way out of the mess I just swan dived into, I watch as we sail right past it. The driver doesn’t even tap the breaks.
What the hell?
Sitting up, I turn in my seat to look at Millie. She’s completely changed into a pair of soft-knit pants and a matching, loose-fitting top, fifty-thousand-dollar dress kicked into the corner of the limo while she pulls a seemingly endless supply of jewel-encrusted gold pins from her hair. I’d bet myothernut that they’re real.
