Hotter Than Ever (Out of Uniform 9)

“As your best man, I’m in charge of holding on to the rings and standing next to you at the altar. As your brother, I’m responsible for supporting you and clapping politely when you kiss the bride. Neither of those roles requires me to call off your f**king wedding!”

“Please, Dyl. I can’t do it. I don’t want to hurt her.”

Dylan’s jaw fell open. “Dumping her five minutes before your wedding is going to hurt her. You realize that, right?”

“I know. But…goddammit! If that friend of hers was here, she could be the one to talk to Claire, but Dr. Dyke couldn’t be bothered to fly in, so—”

“Whoa,” Dylan interrupted, an edge to his voice. “Uncool, dude.”

Chris’s expression conveyed a flicker of remorse. “Shit. I’m sorry. That was rude. I’m just so irritated that her so-called best friend skipped the wedding.”

Maybe she knew there’d never be a wedding.

Dylan bit back the snippy remark. “Well, Claire’s BFF isn’t here to do your dirty work, and I won’t do it either. You have to talk to her, bro. You have to clean up your own mess.”

The panic that erupted in Chris’s eyes would have been comical if it weren’t so infuriating. “Dylan—”

“I mean it. You can’t dump this on anyone else, no matter how painful and uncomfortable it’s going to be. You’re a thirty-two-year-old man, Chris. You can’t ask me to break up with Claire for you.”

After a long moment of silence, Chris’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “I know. You’re right.”

An enormous weight lifted off Dylan’s chest. Finally, his brother was seeing reason.

“Talk to her,” he said gently. “Tell her everything you’re feeling, man. Maybe you two can work through it and the wedding will go on as scheduled.”

“It won’t.” Chris drew a deep breath, then smoothed out the front of his black suit jacket. “The partners will understand, right?” he said, sounding desperate.

Disapproval stiffened Dylan’s muscles. Was Chris seriously concerned about how his law firm’s partners would react instead of worrying about how his jilted bride was going to feel? Wow. His brother had always been a tad self-absorbed and slightly pretentious, but at the moment, Dylan didn’t recognize the man in front of him.

“Forget about the partners,” he ordered. “Focus on your fiancée. Go find Claire. Now.”

With a quick nod, Chris turned around and left the room.

Battling his disbelief, Dylan took a moment to collect his composure. Shit. This was a complete clusterfuck. Should he find his mother and fill her in? Or should he wait until he knew for certain whether the wedding was off?

No, he ought to get his mom. If anything, she could at least be there to offer Claire some comfort after Chris dropped his bomb.

He was still stressed as hell as he marched out the door and down the pristine white-marble floor in the hallway. He’d just rounded the corner when he heard the click of high heels.

Speak of the devil—his mother was bounding toward him, her teal dress fluttering around her ankles with each quick step she took.

Dylan met her halfway, shaking his head in aggravation. “Thank God you’re here. We’ve got a bit of a situation.”

Shanna Wade’s green eyes were the same pale shade as her sons’ and swimming with the same shock Dylan was currently feeling.

“Dylan,” she said in a grim voice, “can you please explain why your brother just asked me to tell all the guests to go home?”

His heart dropped to the pit of his stomach like a sinking rock. “He did what?”

“He told me to make an announcement that there won’t be a wedding.” She hesitated. “He said you were responsible for telling Claire.”

Dylan’s shoulders tensed. “What? Where is he now?”

His mom’s voice trembled. “He left.”

“Are you f**king kidding me?”

For once, Shanna didn’t reprimand him for dropping an F-bomb. “He went out the back. I was too flustered and confused to stop him, and then when I finally snapped out of it and ran outside, he was already driving away.”

Chris, you f**king ass**le.

Fury whipped through him, along with a wad of disgust that knotted around his insides. He couldn’t believe this. Chris had actually fled without telling Claire McKinley it was over. His brother had actually pulled an Elvis and left the f**king building.

“What do we do?”

His mom’s frantic demand penetrated his enraged thoughts. Taking a calming breath, Dylan reached for her hand and found that it was icy cold. He squeezed her delicate fingers and met her confused expression.

“You’re going to have to make the announcement,” he said softly. “Tell everyone there won’t be a wedding today.”

She looked panicked. “And say what? That my son got cold feet?”

“No. Don’t give any details. Just say the bride and groom had a change of heart, and the decision was mutual.”

Tears filled Shanna’s eyes. “Oh my God. How is this happening? Will you come with me?”

“I can’t. I have something else to take care of.”

“What are you doing?”

“What Chris was too much of a coward to do.” Dylan’s jaw tightened with anger. “I’m going to break up with his bride.”