Page 5 of Hooked On Him

“Give me that!” I snatch Austin’s cell phone from his hand and bring it up to my ear. “Cole, is that you?”

There’s silence on the phone as I glare at Austin, who looks way too guilty for this to be a coincidence.

“Cole!” I bark.

“Sorry. I don’t speak English.”

“Really?” I deadpan. “You wanna play this game?”

“Wrong number?”

“Cole. I swear to god, if you don’t start talking right now, I’m going to kill you. You said his name was Cade.”

“Well, it is. Kinda. It’s his last name. I’m sorry. I’m so used to calling him that, I didn’t even think to mention his first name.”

“I hate you,” I groan.

“No, you love me. Please don’t kill me. Talk later. Enjoy the wedding. Love you, byeeeee.” And then the fucker hangs up.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I mutter.

“Everything okay?” Austin asks.

“Really?” I glare at him. “You wanna play dumb too?”

He cocks his head to the side. “I’m going to have to assume by your reaction, you had no idea Cole set you up with me,” Austin says slowly. “That would make sense why you didn’t seem toohappy to be talking to me outside.” He huffs out a laugh, rubbing the back of his head. “Well, this is awkward.”

The anger starts to drain. “Did you know I was the guy he tried to set you up with?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “He just told me he had a buddy looking for a date to a wedding. At first, I turned him down because I already had a wedding to attend myself. Then when Cole told me it was for the same wedding, I agreed. When I asked who my date would be, he said not to worry about it and that he would find me, and to wear this.” He points to the red rose pinned to his shirt. “I should have known. The whole thing was suspicious. But I thought fuck it, why not? What's the worst that could happen? If I got stood up, at least it would be at an event I was already planning to go to.”

“Oh.” I blink at him, feeling bad. I was angry at the wrong guy. I will be kicking Cole’s ass when I get home tonight. Fucker forgot we share a damn apartment together, apparently.

“Look, if you don’t want to do this, I understand.”

Music starts to play, catching my attention. “Fuck,” I hiss, eyes snapping towards the door to the church sanctuary just in time to see my sister standing there with my dad, ready to walk down the aisle.

“Let's put this on hold,” I tell him before taking off through the open doors behind me. Everyone in the room rises to their feet, their attention on the door.

Perfect.

I might be able to slip into a spot in the front row and no one will notice.

Creeping down the side aisle, I make it to the front, taking a spot at the empty space at the end of the bench.

“Thought you were going to miss it.” I nearly jump out of my damn pants when my brother leans over and whispers in my ear before slipping into the spot next to me.

“Fucking hell,” I breathe out, hand on my racing heart. My brows furrow. “Looks like I’m not the only one sneaking into the wedding.”

“Not sneaking, brother.” He smirks. “Just needed to piss. I’ve been here for two hours.”

Guilt fills me. “I got here as fast as I could,” I defend.

“Mhhmm,” he hums.

“I did!”

“Shhh.” My mother spins around and hisses. “You boys better shut up before you ruin your sister's wedding.”