Dammit.
He was greeted with silence when he pushed opened the door leading to the foyer. Based on the rehearsal the night before, they probably hadn’t reached the wedding vows yet, but what if it was running fast? The double doors to the sanctuary were straight ahead.
Garrett sucked in a deep breath, wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, and pushed the sanctuary door open.
Blair stood at the altar next to Neil. She looked beautiful in her close-fitting lace dress, but her veil was crooked, and she wasn’t holding a bouquet. Neil stood next to her wearing his black tux and an arrogant smile that nauseated Garrett. Or that could have been the full bottle of water he’d gulped down as he ran. Probably both.
No one seemed to notice him except for Blair’s assistant, who was sitting in the back row. Her head turned, and her mouth dropped into an O, but otherwise she remained motionless.
Given all his recent bad luck, something must have finally turned his way. The minister turned to look around the church, his head jutting back in shock, and his eyes widening when he saw Garrett standing in the back of the aisle. His look of surprise quickly turned to concern as he uttered the line that every minister in every wedding had to be terrified to say.
“If any of you has a reason for why these two should not be married, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
A loud, vehement chorus of “I object” rang out through the church, but the one that shocked him most was from the bride. And from the look of fury on her face, Neil had to be shitting his pants.
Chapter Thirty-One
Garrett took several steps down the aisle, but he stopped in his tracks when he realized Blair hadn’t noticed him yet. She’d turned her cold fury on Neil, and he wasn’t about to interrupt her. He wanted to see this. He slid into a pew to watch the show.
“Neil, I’ve dealt with many cheating, lying men over the past four years, but you are hands down the most despicable, pathetic excuse of a human being I’ve had the misfortune to meet.”
“Blair.” He reached toward her. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”
She slapped his hand away. “I embarrassed myself by staying with you for the past two years. I embarrassed myself by agreeing to marry you. But I am not embarrassing myself right now. I’m finally taking control of a situation I’ve allowed to coast along for far too long.”
“Blair!” he grunted in a low voice. “Now is not the time to air our dirty laundry.”
She tilted her head, her eyes icy blue. “So when exactly is the best time, Neil? After the wedding? Should we have Reverend Baker speed this up so we can go to a private room and discuss in private how you’re cheating on me and have been since we met?”
The arrogance bled from his face.
“Oh, yeah. I know about Layla.” She turned, and her gaze scanned the crowd. “And isn’t that a surprise. She didn’t come to the wedding, even though Neil added his girlfriend’s name to the guest list to our wedding along with all his other co-workers.” She turned her attention to the groom. “That took a lot of fucking balls. Where’d you dig those up? Off a corpse in the hospital?”
The rattle of coins interrupted the silence. Debra stood, holding out the battered cat jar. “That’s five dollars, Blair.”
Blair slowly turned her cold gaze to Neil’s mother, the look in her eyes terrifying. The woman sank back onto the pew without uttering a word.
“I’m surprised Layla’s not here.” Her eyebrows rose in mock surprise. “You and I know it’s not because she’s shy,” Blair said in a coy voice. “She had no problem stripping to her underwear in Neil’s cousin’s hotel room this morning.”
Several people gasped, including Garrett’s own mother. He would have some explaining to do later.
“Little Layla must get around, because she was busy screwing Neil earlier in the week. I’m pretty damn sure you were too busy banging the nurse you worked with that you couldn’t be bothered to wonder why I didn’t come home Monday night.”
“Blair,” Neil pleaded.
She pointed her finger at him. “I’m just getting started with you.” She took a breath. “But I’m not here to talk about Layla. I’m here to honor Neil.”
“Blair. Stop this.”
She snatched the bouquet out of Megan’s hand and hit him in the chest, sending several roses flying. “You will be quiet. I’m talking right now.” He made a move toward the steps, and she whacked him again. “Don’t even think about it, asshole. I’m not done with you yet.”
His jaw set, and he looked furious.
“One would expect a man who has a girlfriend and a fiancée to be a man of confidence, and why not? He had the world by the tail, right? Yet he was so worried about his cousin coming to the wedding and stealing me away from him that he convinced his friend, a junior partner in my firm, to lie to me and tell me that my job at the firm was dependent on my wedding. If my wedding went perfectly, I’d make partner. But if I didn’t go through with the wedding, I would be fired.” She scanned the crowd until her gaze landed on the guilty man. “And Ben Stuart was so convincing I fell for it.” She began a slow clap, the stems of the bouquet muffling the sound. “Bravo, Ben. You deserve a Tony nomination for that performance.”
“Blair,” Neil pleaded. “I didn’t know that Ben—”
“Don’t you even.” She hit him in the chest with the bouquet again, a shower of roses flying every direction. “Yeah, I figured it out, even if I admit to missing it last night when you mentioned my ultimatum from work without me having told you about it.”