More cheers as he clumsily slapped her bare shoulder.
“She’s hot as fuck, right?”
I caught scandalized gasps that were quickly drowned out by bro-cheering. Kristen tried to hold on to her smile, but it wasn’t really working. Dorian was hovering behind a camera operator wearing a maniacal grin.
“And she knows how to make me really happy.”
A wave of ‘awws’ bounced around the room.
“Because my girl’s gotskills!” Carter crowed. “
I cringed, watching the older folks glance around at the other guests wearing confused expressions while the guys cheered and the bridesmaids looked scandalized.
This was bad. As in, the event could be headed for total breakdown if someone didn’t stop Carter. Kristen was looking up at him like she couldn’t believe this was the man she’d be marrying in less than twenty-four hours.
Like she might be reconsidering.
I had to act.
Our AV guy was standing behind the sound board, pretending like he was more focused on the buttons and knobs in front of him than the trainwreck doing a toast.
“Raj,” I said in a low voice. “Please tell me you have a microphone.”
He reached down and held one out to me without saying a word, his expression telegraphing just how dismal things were.
“You’re a lifesaver,” I muttered.
I fumbled for the toggle switch I knew would be there. “Push, then slide,” Raj said and I managed to turn it on before striding to where Carter was weaving in place.
“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s have a big round of applause for our groom!” I said it like he’d just recited a soliloquy to Kristen.
My voice sliced through the murmuring noises of the crowd. Everyone seemed relieved that Carter was no longer talking.
“We’re about to begin dinner service,” I continued in a buttery voice. “You’re in for a spectacular meal, specially selected by our wonderful couple. I hope you enjoy.”
I grabbed onto Carter’s shoulder like I was giving him a congratulatory back slap but instead tightened my grip and forced him to walk beside me. It probably looked like we were about to discuss plans for the evening when in fact I was going to quarantine the fucker and talk some sense into him.
“Yo, wazzur problem, man?” Carter demanded as we walked away, trying to twist out of my grip.
I held him even tighter and led him through the glass doors inside.
I heard someone following us. I turned expecting to see Kristen following us, but it was a damn cameraman. He tried to follow, but I shoved the door shut before he could step inside.
Fuck.
I was in a nightmare.
24
DREW
This wasnotwhat I’d signed up for.
I was supposed to be a silent background presence, on site only to make sure that everything went smoothly. Why I was now eye-to-eye with a very angry Carter in a crowded storeroom was beyond me.
Actually, it wasn’t. No one else had stepped up to stop the trainwreck that was a drunk Carter, so I’d had to do it myself.
The space was packed with materials for the wedding the following day, but of course it wasn’t the only storage space currently being commandeered for the wedding because Carter had been successful in his bid to bring roller-skating to his after-party, and all of that nonsense took up a room of its own.
