Forbidden Best Friend's Brother (Forbidden Small Town Bad Boys Book 5)

by Holly Jaymes

  I nodded.

  “Dane is going to kill me.”

  “Is this worse or is Lisbeth’s getting married worse?” I felt bad that our morning was being ruined by this.

  “Both are bad.”

  There was a knock on the door. Since Pax was still processing the news about our late-night chapel visit, I went to get it. We’d need the coffee to help us figure out who to call first.

  I opened the door. “Message for Pax Ryder and Victoria Ryder.”

  I frowned. I wasn’t Victoria Ryder. And if I was married to Pax, I’d be Maddox. I took the envelope from the hotel staff person. “Thank you.”

  I looked at the envelope that had our names handwritten on it.

  “Who was it?” Pax asked.

  “We have a message.” I opened the envelope and pulled out two pieces of paper. The top was a handwritten note.

  Pax and Victoria,

  Don’t be mad. Be happy. Blissfully happy like me and Ethan. We could both see that you two have a history. You also both need to live a little.

  - Lisbeth

  P.S. I’ll be back in a week or so and we’ll work on the endorsement deal. I love your products!

  I was confused by the note. I looked at the second paper. It was an official license like I’d signed when I witnessed Lisbeth and Ethan’s wedding certificate. I scanned the paper, wondering what I was missing when I noticed that it wasn’t Lisbeth and Ethan’s name on it.

  “Oh no.” My heart stalled in my chest as I jerked my gaze to Pax.

  He stared at me. “What?”

  I swallowed. “It’s a marriage certificate.” He frowned. “It’s our marriage certificate.”

  His brows shot up. “What?” He moved quickly to me and took the paper.

  “It appears that Lisbeth somehow got us a marriage license and we were married when they were.”

  “How?” He looked at me.

  “I don’t know.” The truth was the whole night was a little foggy. Except the part where I’d touched Pax and he’d touched me.

  He closed his eyes. “Fuck.”

  His phone rang and he rolled his eyes. “How much do you want to bet that’s Dane?”

  There was a knock at the door again, and I went to answer it as Pax picked up his phone. I showed the room service waiter in and told him to put the coffee on the table while Pax paced, running his fingers through his thick dark hair and sputtering something into the phone.

  I poured us both a cup of coffee.

  “Listen Dane…it was a mistake.”

  It was ridiculous to feel like the rug had been pulled out from under me by his words, but I did.

  A mistake. Again.

  I took my coffee, gathered my clothes that still lay by the window and disappeared into the bathroom.

  How could I have been so stupid to fall in bed with him again?

  I didn’t bother with a shower. I’d do that in my room to wash off the memory of Pax Ryder.

  10

  Vegas Fallout

  Pax

  It was one thing to have the media make a false assumption at seeing me and Victoria at the marriage license office and chapel, but a whole other thing to have it be true. What a fucking mess.

  “This is all your fault,” I said to Dane, wanting to get the upper hand in this conversation.

  “My fault? I didn't tell you to get married.”

  “I wouldn’t have been here at all if you hadn’t talked me into babysitting Lisbeth, who, by the way, finagled all this.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  I was about to make this whole thing worse. “Lisbeth is the one that wanted to get married.”

  “Jesus, Pax, you married Lisbeth-”

  “What? No. She married her manager, Ethan.”

  “I thought there was something going on between them.” Dane didn’t sound quite as mad about Lisbeth as I’d anticipated. “But how the hell does she get you married? Victoria Sinclair…that was the makeup lady, right? Your old friend.”

  “It’s a long story, but we’ll just have it annulled.” I wondered if I could, since technically I consummated the marriage. And it was a fucking fantastic honeymoon. I pushed away the magic of the night before to focus on the shit-storm going on now. “It can’t be legal because neither Victoria or I consented to be married. I actually can’t figure out how it happened. So…we’ll undo all this.”

  “You can’t.”

  “What?” I looked down at my phone receiver, wondering if there was a problem with the reception. I brought it back to my ear.

  “You can’t end this marriage. Not yet.”

  “Why the hell not?” All of a sudden, I had a flash of my sister reaming me out. Of her and Victoria’s friendship ending all because I couldn’t keep my hands off of her.

  “If it were any other rock star, it would be just another crazy antic, but you’re not any other rock star, Pax. You’ve got a reputation for being level-headed. You don’t do crazy shit like get married in Vegas in a drunken stupor.”

  “I wasn’t drunk.” At least I didn’t think I was.

  “The point is, this will hurt your reputation. No, you need to act like this was on purpose.”

  “What?” It was official. I’d entered Crazytown.

  “You need to pretend that you meant to get hitched. You need to stay married.”

  For the first time since I picked up the call from Dane, I scanned the room looking for Victoria. Where did she go? I noticed the coffee on the table and that her clothes that had been on the floor where I’d stripped her the night before were gone. Had she left?

  “Dane…you don’t understand.” The door to the bedroom was closed. Hopefully, she was in there.

  “I know that Pax Ryder doesn’t accidentally get married in Vegas.”

  “Lisbeth duped us somehow.”

  “That’s just as bad.” He paused a moment. “Listen, she’s a friend of your sister’s, right? So you can pull this off-”

  “I can’t be married, Dane. Not like this. I can’t ask that of her.”

  “I don’t know why not. I did a little research. Her Instagram, which was pretty impressive to begin with, just ballooned in followers probably waiting for pictures of your wedded bliss. I bet her business sales will go up too. For that reason alone, you’d think she’d be willing to go along until we can come up with something to get you out of it that won’t make you look like a cliché.”

  Fuck. “I don’t know if she’ll go along with it. Our lives are on opposite sides of the world.”

  “Go on a honeymoon. Hide away for a couple of weeks and we’ll try to work something out. You don’t have any performances coming up, do you?”

  “Not in the immediate future.”

  Victoria exited the bedroom looking completely gutted. It made my heart clutch in my chest.

  “I’ve got to go,” I said to Dane, ending the call. “Victoria.”

  She managed a smile. “I’m just going to go-”

  “We need to talk. We need to figure this out,” I said. I reached out to rub her arms but she stepped back.

  “We’ll just get it annulled or divorced or whatever.” She started to walk around me. “After all, it was a mistake.”

  I closed my eyes as I realized that I’d used the same words I’d used to Lily to explain my time with Victoria six years ago.

  “I meant accident.” I reached out and took her arm. “Victoria. Come on. You know what happened. We didn’t set out to get married.” She stopped but didn’t turn to me. Anger flared in me at her attitude. “We’ve got a real problem here, Victoria.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “Why are you being like this? Unless you’re a part of it. Did you conspire with Lisbeth to make this happen?” I remembered Dane saying that her Instagram had boomed and that she’d likely get more business.

  Her blue eyes flared with angry heat. “Sometimes you’re a bastard, Pax.”

  Now I felt guilt. I ran my hands through my hair.
“Stay and let’s work this out, Victoria.”

  “What’s to work out? We go to the courthouse and figure out how to prove we didn’t agree to this or get an annulment.”

  I blew out a breath. “I can’t.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Why not?”

  I was a fucking pussy to go with Dane’s advice, but my reputation was important to me. “It would be bad for my career.” She simply stared at me. “And, your being married to me, won’t hurt yours.”

  Now she gaped. “You’re saying we should stay married?”

  “Just for now. Just until we can figure out how to get out of it without looking like a fucking Vegas cliché.”

  “So, this is all about your reputation?”

  I looked down, unable to meet her eyes because I was being a selfish bastard. But then I remembered she could benefit too. “I can bring greater awareness to you and your business.”

  Her jaw ticked. “My business does fine.”

  I blew out a breath. “All I’m asking is that we don’t be rash. Let's think this thing through. It can’t be good for your business either to be seen as a woman that would get drunk married-”

  “I wasn’t drunk.”

  “That’s not how it will be seen if we end this marriage less than twelve hours into it.”

  She looked away but I could see she was seeing my point. When she looked back, she said, “So what’s the plan? Am I supposed to abandon my life here and go to England with you?”

  “No. If we were newly married for real, we’d go on a honeymoon. We can do that.”

  “Honeymoon?” She quirked a brow. Her expression told me I’d never be able to touch her again.

  “It gives us time to figure out what to do. I’ll stay in the U.S. I don’t have any performances for several weeks, so I have the time. What about you? Can you make time?”

  “Not really. But I could probably take care of what I needed remotely. Where would we go?”

  Since she sounded like she was on board with our marriage, I walked over to the table and picked up my coffee. I nearly went to the mini-bar instead. “I don’t know. Where would Pax Ryder and Victoria Sinclair go on a honeymoon?”

  “This time of year? The Caribbean or somewhere tropical.”

  “We should probably remain close to your work though. And Dane.”

  “There’s Eden Lake.”

  I looked over at her.

  She shrugged. “The resort out at the lake is quiet and out of the way. If Tucker McLean can have privacy out there, we can probably too.”

  I nodded. “Okay. We’ll go there.”

  “What about Lily, Pax? She’s going to flip out when she hears this.”

  I let out a breath. “Let’s hope she’s off the grid, too focused on her new husband right now. And if she does get in touch, we’ll just tell her the truth. We were hanging with Lisbeth who somehow duped us. We can avoid the part about last night.”

  She flinched but nodded.

  I wanted to go to her and hold her. To tell her how much I loved last night. How I wished we could do it again. But last night was now relegated to the past, just as our time six years ago was. Now we had to figure out how to navigate through a marriage and come out the other side with our reputations intact.

  “First things first, we need to find Lisbeth. What the fuck was she thinking?”

  “She’s young and in love. She seemed to think we were too.” Victoria sighed and sat in the chair at the table. She looked like all the life in her had left. I wished I could say or do something to bring back her smile.

  Instead, I picked up the room phone and asked for Lisbeth’s room.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Ryder, Mrs. Garner and her husband checked out this morning.”

  I hung up and swore. “She left.” Victoria rubbed her temples. “I’m sorry about your business deal.”

  She looked at me. “The note said she’d be back to work on the endorsement deal.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s good.” I shook my head and looked out over the fountain, wondering how we ended up here. Then a new problem came to me. “We’ll probably have trouble getting out of here.” I tried to look down toward the front of the hotel, to see if paparazzi were camped out for a glimpse of me and Victoria.

  “You might. I’m not a celebrity like you.”

  “You too, Victoria. Dane says your Instagram account is blowing up.”

  “So, what do we do?”

  “Let me make a few calls. We should probably drive back to Eden Lake. Flying will make it too easy to be seen and tracked.”

  “My car is here.” She sounded completely defeated.

  I walked over to her and squatted down. “I’m sorry, Victoria.”

  She managed a smile. “I suppose as fake husbands go, you’re not so bad.”

  I laughed. “Gee, thanks.” I wanted to kiss her, but refrained. Every problem we ever had started because I kissed her. “Let’s pack up and I’ll make arrangements to get us out of here.”

  An hour later, we were in the car heading west to California and Eden Lake.

  11

  Dismally Ever After

  Victoria

  I was probably overreacting and being a bitch to be so hurt by Pax’s behavior. After all, I was shocked to find myself married to him too. I’d probably describe the situation as a mistake, as well. And he was right, my Instagram following had grown overnight by tens of thousands. Perhaps I could veer this mistake into a benefit for my business. Of course, it could hurt me when the marriage ended, but I decided not to think about that. I needed to focus on the here and now.

  “I’m sorry I was out of sorts before,” I said as I sat on the passenger side and let him drive my car back to Eden Lake.

  “It’s an unusual situation. I’m sorry we’re in it.”

  “We seem to be good at getting into trouble.”

  He glanced at me and then back out at the road. Finally, he said, “I don’t regret last night, Victoria. It wasn’t a mistake. The sex, not the getting married part.”

  I managed a smile. “Even so, we can’t seem to have sex without causing problems.”

  He nodded. “For that reason, it’s probably best if we keep our hands to ourselves from now on.”

  “Probably.” Although it seems like having sex would be a silver lining to this mess. But he was right. We needed to go back to being friends. “I’m going to call my sister and let her know what’s up. She’ll be able to help us in Eden Lake.”

  “How does your sister feel about us?” he asked.

  “She’s fine with it. She thinks Lily is unreasonable.”

  He glanced at me again. “What about you? Do you think she’s unreasonable?”

  I shrugged. “She feels how she feels. It’s weird for her.”

  His jaw clenched. “Eventually, we’ll need to talk to her. Hopefully, Wyatt is keeping her otherwise engaged.”

  “You’re a worldwide star, Pax. This will likely be on the news everywhere.”

  He nodded. “Well, if I were on my honeymoon, I’d turn all that shit off and focus on my spouse.”

  “You are on your honeymoon.”

  His lips quirked up. “It was nice, wasn’t it?” He grinned and waggled his brows.

  My body lit up at the memory. I shifted in my seat to make it go away. Now, I needed to focus on getting us a place to hide away for a fake honeymoon.

  I poked the autodial for Allie.

  “Finally! What is going on, Victoria?” Allie said by way of answering her phone.

  “Funny you should ask.”

  “Oh my God, it’s true?”

  “It’s…complicated. I ran into Pax in Vegas and we spent the evening with Lisbeth Garner and her manager slash boyfriend.”

  “Skip to the part where you married Pax.”

  I blew out a breath. “Lisbeth and Ethan got married, but apparently, she thought she saw something between me and Pax, and somehow, when they got married, we did too.”

  There was silence for a
moment. “How is that even possible? Don’t you have to get a license or sign something?”

  “I don’t know exactly how it was done. Maybe she said she was Pax’s assistant and got the license. We did sign something but I thought it was to witness her marriage.” I looked over at Pax who nodded, suggesting he thought the same thing.

  “God, Victoria.”

  “I know.”

  “So, what are you doing now?” Allie asked.

  “We’re driving back to Eden Lake.”

  “You’re not getting it annulled?”

  “Not right away. Pax’s record label is afraid an accidental marriage in Vegas will hurt his reputation.”

  “So, you’re staying married?”

  “Until we can come up with a plan that doesn’t hurt his career.” I looked over at him, hoping he didn’t mind how forthcoming I was with my sister. If he did, oh well.

  “Pax, Pax, Pax… What about you?” Allie sounded annoyed that he was the focus of all our decisions so far.

  “My Instagram following is growing,” I said.

  “What about Lily?”

  I felt a little sick about that. “We’re hoping that for the time being, she and Wyatt aren’t following the news. Can you and Josh not say anything if they call? Not until we have a plan?”

  “I doubt we’ll hear from them until they return,” she said.

  “Listen, can you find out about places at Pine Rest? That seems like the best place for us to find privacy and look like we’re on a honeymoon.”

  “I’ll set it up. What do you want me to tell Mom?”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. Chances were my mother would think I’d gotten married in Vegas on a whim to annoy her. I’d done a lot of things in the past to push her buttons, but this situation was even too much for me. “Tell her I’ll call her later.”

  There was another pause. “Did you and Pax get together or just get married?”

  I glanced at him again and for a moment simply watched him. He really was so handsome. Strong jaw. High cheekbones. And those amazing blue-violet eyes.

  “That’s for another time,” I said.

  “I see. Well, I hope it was worth it.”