“You're wearing a vest.”
Beth barely had time to react to the object he tossed across the room at her. It landed with a hard thump against her chest.
“Oh come on, Alex. Let's be realistic,” she said, lifting up the heavy thing to get a better look at it. It was thick and bulky and jet-black.
“Exactly. I am being realistic, Beth. There is a man out there who wants you dead. He's armed and he's determined. Your choices are wearing that vest or me shoving you in the back of a van and shuttling you clear across the country with me.” He didn't sound like he was joking.
Beth gave the vest a good long look. She wasn't going to lie—the last option wasn't without allure. But she had already ruled out running. The same went for hiding. She'd been doing those things most of her life, and if there was one thing that she'd learned, it was that neither really worked out. Lies had a way of catching up with you.
Of course, there wouldn't be much to catch up to if she wound up with a great big hole in her chest.
She flicked her gaze between the vest and Alex. Alex and the vest.
Damn it.
“Okay, help me get into this ridiculous thing.”
He pulled down the zipper of the dress and slid on the vest. It was hardly a flattering accessory. It flattened her chest. So much for the expensive push-up bra that she'd splurged on. To hell with the slimming effect of her smoothing undergarments. Right now she had the sexy silhouette of a hospital patient waiting for an x-ray.
The zipper just barely made it up her back. Same with Isobel's sweater. She had to stretch the material to its limit just to button it. Beth risked a look in the mirror.
Damn, she looked like a linebacker.
The only upside was there wasn't any time to think about it. Her phone buzzed and she answered.
“Where the hell are you?” Isobel practically screamed into the phone.
“I'm coming. I'm coming. I still have five minutes. I'll be there, I promise.” She kept the phone on as she ran down the hall to the elevator. Alex matched her step for step.
“You need to tell me what the hell is going on right now, Beth. I'm starting to freak out,” Isobel said on the other end.
“Nothing. Everything is fine,” she said breathlessly into the phone. Running with the vest on was almost impossible. It weighed a ton. Her lungs struggled to expand.
“Like hell it is. My parents heard you screaming on the balcony. Jordan saw you running back to your room with Charlie. I don't care about delaying the ceremony if I have to. I just want to know that you're okay.”
“I’m fine. I swear. I'll be there in one minute. Two minutes tops.”
“You need to put the phone away,” Alex said at her side.
“Is that Charlie?” Isobel demanded. “This is because of him, isn’t it? I don't know what you've gotten into with this guy, Beth, but you've got to ditch him.”
“I can't do that.”
“Of course you can. Just lean back and kick him straight in the—”
Whatever target Isobel had in mind was lost as Alex ripped the phone out of her hands and tossed it over the railing. It disappeared into a blooming azalea bush.
Beth shrieked in alarm.
“I hate that damned phone,” he said.
The wedding party was waiting by a copse of trees at the edge of the Rose Garden. Beth was totally out of breath by the time she reached them. Everyone turned and stared at her like she was crazy.
She'd made it. Just barely, but she'd made it.
Alex tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
“I'll be in the front with John,” he said. “He’s got this place well covered. You’re going to be fine. I'll come and get you the second this is over.”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard.
There were a couple of gasps, one loud cough and, after he had pulled away, a whole lot of eye rolling. For the first time since she could remember, none of it bothered her. She had bigger worries.
Isobel started toward her, glaring at Alex.
“You better go,” Beth whispered. She didn't want to be the cause of an even bigger scene before the ceremony.
He nodded, but didn’t move. He opened his mouth like he was just about to say something. Something important. But Isobel was there before he could get it out.
“You,” she said, looking straight at Alex. “You need to leave.”
“You’re right,” he said. But he didn’t look happy about it. His hand was still linked with hers. She didn't want to pull away. “I won't be far away. I promise.”
Isobel waved her hands like she was shooing away a stray dog. “Go,” she said.
Alex slowly turned and walked away. It was the first time in three days that she'd been away from him. Three days, but it felt like forever. In a good way. In a way that left her wondering how she ever got this far without him, or how miserable it was going to be to go on without him.
Fortunately, she didn't have much time to dwell on it. Isobel swiveled around, and it was Beth's turn to face her.
Beth gave her a wan smile.
“Beth, I don't know what you think you are doing, but I do know that that guy is nothing but bad news. He—” Isobel's face faded from red to white in an instant as she took in Beth’s dress. “What the hell are you wearing under there?”
“Nothing.”
Isobel pulled back the sweater. Her eyes went wide. “Is that a bulletproof vest?”
Beth pressed a finger to her lips. “We'll talk about it later,” she said.
“Why on earth are you wearing a bulletproof vest?”
“Later,” Beth repeated. “I promise I will explain everything later.”
Isobel didn’t look convinced, but Beth was saved when the music started up. Everyone in the wedding procession took their places. Beth found her spot next to Spencer. He looked her up and down and laughed.
“You look like a hot mess, Beth,” he said.
Beth smiled as she took his arm. “Go fuck yourself, Spencer.”
There wasn’t time for any more pleasantries as they made their way down the aisle. She earned a few odd looks and whispers, but Beth didn’t pay them any mind. She kept her eyes open for the man that she'd seen from the balcony. But he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Neither was Salvatore Munoz.
Alex was there, sitting in the second row. John stood at the edge of the roses, not doing anything to hide his presence. His team was easy enough to spot. They were the ones scattered around the perimeter of the garden looking away from the ceremony.
Beth’s attention was pulled away from the crowd as Isobel started her march toward the altar. Her best friend looked more beautiful than ever. Every trace of worry and anger was swept from Isobel’s face the second that her eyes locked on Jordan.
Beth smiled as the strings stopped playing and Isobel's father placed her hand in Jordan's. She felt the tears start to well up in her eyes. Isobel walked up the three gazebo steps to her place in front of the priest. Beth dabbed at her eyes with the sleeve of the sweater.
Everything was right. Just as it should be.
“Dearly beloved,” the priest began. Everyone sat.
And Beth was hit.
It came out of nowhere. There was no sound. No slow motion shot of the bullet ripping through the air at her heart. One moment she was fine, ready to bawl her eyes out as her best friend got married, and the next it felt as though someone was bashing her square in the chest with an iron hammer.
Beth crumpled to the ground. She couldn't breathe. She opened her mouth, desperate for air, but nothing happened. No sounds, no screams. Panic took over. She opened her eyes wide, but all she saw was the bright blue blanket of sky above her.
A few blinks later, Alex's face came into view.
She saw him mouth her name, but she couldn’t hear his voice.
Shock, she realized. She was in shock.
There wasn't any comfort to be found in Alex’s face. He looked every bit as panicked as she felt. His fing
ers ripped at the bodice of her dress, searching for a wound, feeling for blood. He loosened the sides of the vest, and shoved it aside. Some of the pressure left her chest. His hands pulled away clean.
“Look at me, Beth,” he said. His voice sounded tinny and far away, but at least she could hear him now.
Her eyes went to his. He cupped his hand around the back of her neck.
“Try to breathe,” he said, his voice shaking.
She opened her mouth again, but nothing happened.
“Again,” he said.
Nothing.
“You just got the wind knocked out of you,” he said. “You're going to be okay.”
This time when she tried, the air rushed in. And everything else came with it.
She heard the pandemonium that had erupted—shouting and running and chairs being knocked over. She managed to turn her head as Isobel came into view.
“Beth, what happened?” When Beth couldn't answer, she looked at Alex. “Dear God, somebody shot her.”
“Everything is under control,” Alex said.
“Like hell it is. What is going on?” Isobel screeched. Alex waved his hand and suddenly Jordan was there, wrapping his arms around Isobel's waist.
“We have to get everyone out of here,” Alex said to him. Jordan was as white as a sheet, but he nodded. People might not know who Alex was, but they knew to listen to him.
Alex hooked his arms under Beth's back and legs and lifted her up. He started toward the hotel. Most of the crowd had already scattered…except her parents. They were running toward her, tears in her mother's eyes.
“Is she all right?” her mother shouted from a good twenty feet away.
Alex nodded. Her mother rushed over and took her hand, crushing it with a ferocity that surprised her.
“Oh, my baby girl,” she said, pushing back her hair. “Who would want to do such a thing to you?”
“I'm going to be okay, Mom.” Beth forced the words out. It hurt to talk. Hell, it hurt to breathe.
“I have to get her inside,” Alex said, without breaking his stride. “We need to get somewhere secure.”
Her mother nodded. “Of course.”
“I can walk,” Beth said.
“No, you can't,” Alex said, his voice like steel. “You're in shock, Beth. It's going to be a while before you can do anything.”
His arms tightened around her as he carried her the rest of the way through the garden.
Her mother never let go of her hand. If she was going to die today, at least she wouldn’t be alone.
***