Page 108 of The Billionaire's Fake Wife

35

Sin

"Surprised you went through with the reception, bro." Damian, the self-designated bartender for the evening, hands me a tumbler of whiskey. I grip the glass, toss back its contents.

He raises an eyebrow, but tops me up.

"You okay?"

"Peachy." I suck down the 200-year-old whiskey like it’s going out of fashion.

"How’s the bridegroom?"

I glance up to find Jace walk in, flanked by Arpad and Weston.

I scowl, "What are you doing here?”

"Wouldn’t have missed seeing you hitched for the world, bro. Besides, your friends made sure I knew the date and time."

"Sinclair." A woman shoves herself between Jace and Arpad. The men move apart, and she stalks through. "How could you?"

Bloody hell!"Sienna?" I hold out my glass, Damian shakes his head. "You’re drinking this way too fast. You need to be sober."

"Bollocks." I grab the bottle from Damian and top myself up. I’m halfway through emptying the contents of the glass before Sienna reaches me.

"Really, Sin. You thought you could get away with keeping this a secret?"

"I prefer to keep things low-key."

"Huh?" She props a hand on her hip, "You expect me to believe that?"

"Umm." Damn it, I don’t want to lie to her.

Sienna and Jace are the only two outside of the circle of the Seven that I'd count as friends. I survey the room. The fuck do I do with this bottle anyway? Damian takes it from me. I shoot him a grateful glance, as he shakes his head and walks off. "You tell him, Sienna. He hasn’t introduced his bride to us yet."

Her gaze widens. "Why, Sinclair, how could you?"

"It’s not like that." I glance past the comfortable chairs arranged on the decking. Everyone who means something to me—not necessarily in the friend space, but you know what I mean—is there. They look at me with varying expressions of curiosity. There’s a hum of anticipation in the air. They’re waiting for the bride to arrive. Well, technically so am I, though I don’t want to admit it.

A laugh breaks out from a corner, and I turn to find Amelie, engaged in animated discussion with Isla and Karma.

Weston follows my gaze. "Who’s that?"

Like I care.

"Why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself? You can find out for yourself that way."

"Maybe I'll do just that, but first..." He turns to the bar and pours out two flutes of champagne. "Can’t believe you trusted this wanker to man the bar." He jerks his chin at Damian.

"Hello to you, too." Damian raises his whiskey tumbler and takes a sip. "I do think I am livening up the environment quite nicely."

"Surely you mean bringing down the collective IQ of the place by a hundred, old chap?" Weston chuckles.

Sienna looks between them. "You guys are so delightfully British."

Jace saunters up, pulls her close. "It’s the only time I am thankful to my old man for insisting that I go to boarding school in the UK. That accent always does it." He palms her stomach.

"As long as our son or daughter speaks like you, I’m good." She peers up at him.