“Uh, what the fuck are you doing?” Vivian looks at him wildly before turning to me.
Kyle cocks the gun, safeties it, and then sticks it into the back of his jeans as he gives Vivian possibly the smoothest look of his life.
“Grab onto something, beautiful, we’re about to take the express to this wedding.”
Vivian’s face goes flush, but she nods as she quickly takes a seat by the bow.
I slowly shake my head at him as he brushes past me for the wheel. “Dude, when did you become James Bond?”
He winks. “I’ve always been James Bond, it just looks a lot cooler with a gun instead of a laptop.”
He darts a look past me at Vivian and I give him a subtle nod and a thumbs up.
“Let’s do this.”
“Might I suggest a comb and brushing your teeth before you swoop in, by the way?” I turn to see Vivian giving me a once-over, raising her shaped brows at my jeans and the t-shirt I slept in. “Maybe a change of clothes?”
“I’m sorry, am I going to a fucking wedding or stopping one?”
Her face breaks into a grin as she shakes her head. “Oh, our mother is going to love you.”
Kyle snorts. “Really?”
“My mother thinks t-shirts are for ‘poor people’ and that tattoos make you a criminal.” She smirks as she shakes her head at me again. “Oh, right, and you knocked up her daughter.”
Vivian turns back to Kyle. “My mother is going to lose her goddamn mind when we show up like this.”
There’s a buzzing in my pocket, and I yank out my phone to see Derek calling.
“Yeah, Derek, this really isn’t a good-”
“It’s not yours,” he gasps out.
I frown, holding my finger to my ear over the roar of the boat. “What?”
“It’s not yours!” Derek sounds like he’s downright giggling into the phone. “Tina’s whole thing with the pregnancy!”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, no shit, Derek.” I frown. “Wait, what about the DNA tests?”
Derek wheezes out a laugh. “Are you sitting down?”
The boat lures over a wave.
“Uh, not really-”
“It’s your dad’s.”
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
“WHAT?”
Kyle and Vivian glance at each other and then look at me with concern at what I’m sure is a full-on insane look on my face.
“Austin?”
“I’m here.”
I swallow, slowly shaking my head trying to even process what Derek’s saying.
“Yeah, some plan they hatched up together – another cash shakedown. Her lawyer just called our team - looks like she wants to drop the whole thing.” Derek makes a hissing sound. “Fuck, man, I thought I had a weird relationship with my dad.”
“Yeah, well, Harry’s the father of the fucking year isn’t he.” I close my eyes and take a deep breath as the boat pitches beneath.
Relief.
“Look, Derek, I’ve actually gotta run, but thank you, seriously.”
“What the hell is that sound? Are you in a convertible or something?”
“Boat.”
“Well, we beat this one, but try not to do anything stupid.”
I don’t say anything and I can practically hear Derek scowl through the phone.
“Austin-”
“Derek, relax. I’m with Kyle and Natalie’s sister, on my way to break up a mob wedding. Call you later?”
“Austin! You fucking-”
I put the phone in my pocket.
Kyle gives me a look and I shrug. “Harry being fucking Harry. That Tina shit?”
He wrinkles his brow when he suddenly reads the look on my face as his jaw drops.
“No fucking way. She banged Harry?”
“Will one of you kindly fill me in?”
Kyle grins. “His scumbag dad knocked up an attention-seeking tabloid skank so they could shake Austin down for phony child support.”
Vivian gives me a half-disgusted, half-grinning look as she shakes her head. “I’m beginning to have second thoughts about which horse I’m backing here.”
“Seriously,” Kyle says, nodding at her. “No amount of money could be worth that.” He grins at me. “I mean, bringing another you into the world?”
Vivian snorts as I flip him off.
“Just drive the boat, asshole. We’ve got a wedding to ruin.”
44
Natalie
Where the hell is she.
I’m pacing the floor of the dressing room for the four hundredth time, wringing my hands and cursing Vivian under my breath.
“Who cares if you left your phone at the hotel?”
She purses her lips. “I care, Natalie.”
“It’ll be there when you go back, you are NOT leaving me right now.”