38. Wade

Tugging at the tie around my neck to give me room to breathe, I stepped across the threshold into the winery. Normally, events such as this—a fundraiser supporting various charities filled to the brim with Boulder's elite—were easy for me to handle. I'd give a speech or two, donate a large sum, and drink to my heart's content with people I couldn't care less about.

But tonight was different in more ways than one. Jackson and Mandy had tagged along and left Cassie at home with Gianna, Mandy's mother. The fundraiser itself was one specifically for Alzheimer"s and Dementia patients, funding care for further research. And the cherry on top, the reason I was so fucking stressed out was because Ray would be in attendance thanks to my two scheming best friends.

"I don't know why you're so annoyed about this," Mandy said, her eyes rolling as she clocked my nervousness in physical form. Her unruly hair was tied up neatly in a bun, little ringlets falling around her cheeks. "If I would have warned you in advance, you wouldn't have agreed to it."

"That's not true," I shot back. I fiddled with my cufflinks before mindlessly pulling at the neck of my shirt. Fuck, why did it feel so tight?

"You know it is." Jack spun around, walking backward into the main room of the winery. "I'm sorry we dropped the news on you so late. But Mandy's right. If we'd have told you, you would have gone to her house or accosted her at work to get a word in privately."

"How is that worse?" I snapped, narrowing my eyes at Jack. "Surely talking to her in private is better than the two of us blowing up at each other in front of at least a hundred people."

That was easily an underestimation. There had to be at least two hundred, maybe three. Music poured from the speakers and glasses clinked. Far too much merriment for what would inevitably turn into another bad night for me and Ray, based on our recent history.

"That's the thing, Wade," Mandy piped up. "I don't think either of you want the press taking photos and videos of you two screaming at each other and interrupting a charity event. Plus, Jack and I are here to keep you two in check."

Biting my upper lip to calm my rising irritation, I glanced around the room, not wanting to give either of them the satisfaction. I hated when they were right. "Is she here?"

Mandy's smile grew. "She's outside."

The only thing that seemed to calm my nerves in the slightest was knowing that Ray was likely as nervous as I was. Jackson and Mandy led me through the sea of people, each of us stopping to pick up a glass of wine along the way. Streamers and vines of wisteria hung from the wooden beams in the ceiling, contrasting the cheapness of the tacky banner tied up to the bar that read Fighting Dementia: One Drink At A Time.

Out the back door of the winery, marquees lined the property under the tree line and the crystal clear night above. The music was softer out there, muffled from the speakers inside, and the crisp, early spring air kept most people indoors.

I spotted an uncomfortable-looking Ray and instantly my breath caught in my throat. She looked far more beautiful than the image I'd painted of her in my mind. She stood with her arms crossed, her back to me. Her curls fell down her back in glistening ringlets, the deep brown locks catching in the flickering light of a chiminea heater. And her dress… it was the same one she'd worn the first night at the resort. The dark green one that hugged every inch of her, with the plunging V-neckline and that slit up the thigh, the one that had driven me insane all evening.

I was so fucked.

Mandy and Jackson stopped in their tracks once they'd realized I saw her. I pushed past them, every part of my body acting on its own accord, that invisible string wrapping itself around me and drawing me toward her. She toyed with her bottom lip, holding it between her thumb and middle finger as she looked at one of the paintings up for auction.

"Ray," I breathed.

Her fingers stilled as I approached. She blinked, her eyes frozen on the painting.

"Ray," I said again, forcing my voice to sound as normal as I could manage.

She turned her head slowly, giving me her profile and looking at me from the corner of her eye. "Hi, Wade."

A handful of people passed us, glasses of wine in their grip as they laughed and joked with one another. I wanted to feel like they did, wanted to enjoy myself with her. But there was tension between us, an unspoken uncertainty for us both.

"Were you out of the loop too or was I the only one they didn't tell?" I asked. It was as good an icebreaker as any.

Her body turned to me, her eyes finally meeting mine. She searched them for answers, a silence falling over us before she allowed her lips to turn upward into a grin. "They didn't tell you I'd be here?"

A chuckle crept up my throat. "No," I returned the grin. "They didn't."

"Mandy tried to tell me it would be a blind date," she said. Her eyes rolled, contrasting the slight smile that stayed on her lips. "She didn't fool me at all."

"Why am I not surprised?" I laughed. I resisted the urge to reach out and touch her, to grab her by the waist and pull her to me. There was still a part of me that wasn't sure what to believe, though, and I imagined she felt the same. "I have a proposition for you."

Her eyes narrowed. "Please don't tell me you're going to ask me to be your fake girlfriend again."

"No, I'm not," I assured her. "Why don't we just… start over? We could pretend like this really is a blind date. You don't know me, I don't know you. We're meeting for the first time."

She sighed as she crossed her arms, her gaze flicking somewhere behind me to what I could only assume was Jack and Mandy gossiping to each other like teenagers. "I… don't know if I can do that."

And there it was. Ice Bunny's walls were back up.

"We can try," I said.

Her lips pressed together into a thin line. "We can try."

————

If only things could go so smoothly every day with her.

For a few hours, we managed to jive fairly well. We sat around the table, chatting lazily with Mandy and Jack, and enjoying dinner. Sure, there'd been a few hiccups, a few winces, a few derogatory words tossed around. But for the most part, we'd gotten along.

"I don't like this guy," Ray whispered to me, a scowl on her face as she listened to the man at the front speak. He was giving a speech about the state of Alzheimer's and dementia patients under the state"s care. "He's talking about them like they're children. They're still people."

"That tends to be the norm with most of these events, unfortunately," I whispered back. "Most of the speakers have zero experience with the people they're claiming to support."

"Oh, shit," Mandy suddenly mumbled from beside me, her gaze snagging on something—someone—entering through the main entrance. I turned my head to look.

Oh, shit, was right.

Ray followed our gaze and stood, heading toward him. Had this been weeks ago, I wouldn't have thought much about it. Sure, jealousy would have bloomed like it did at the wedding, but not like this. Not the fire that ignited within a second of my eyes landing on Hunter Harris.

Ray's body pushed through the sea of people. One by one, they moved for her, allowing my Raven to go toward the one person who'd caused so much damage between Ray and me.

I followed her.

The closer I got, the more I could hear them chatting as they moved toward the back doors. Ray laughed at a joke I couldn't quite make out, her smile beaming more than it had with me in the last hour.

"This is why we need to petition for free home medical supplies for the patients affected by these horrible diseases," the man on the stage droned. The crowd clapped for him.

I pushed my way through the back doors, stumbling forward as I came face-to-face with Ray and Hunter.

"Wade," Ray hissed.

"Why are you here?" I snapped at him. "Who the fuck invited you?"

Hunter took a step back, his hands coming up on either side of his chest, palms facing me. "Calm down, man. My secretary got an invitation for me so I came to support and show my face."

Mandy and Jackson came through the doors behind me, stepping up beside us. "Wade," Mandy warned.

"It seems a lot more like you're here for her," I snarled.

"I'm not," Hunter insisted. "I didn't even know Ray would be here."

"And I didn't know he was invited," Ray added. Her eyes were locked on me, irritation coating every single muscle in her face. "You can't tell me you're still hung up on this."

I took another step toward Hunter as another burst of anger flared. Of course I'm still hung up on this.

Ray sandwiched herself between us, stopping me with her hands on my chest. There wasn't a hint of amusement in her gaze. "Wade. Stop. You're acting insane."

"I'm acting insane?" I scoffed. "You expect me to believe that none of what I was told was true when you're this fucking chummy with him? I mean, you came outside with him. Out of eyeshot. Out of earshot. What the fuck are you hiding?"

"He's my friend," she fumed, pushing me back a step with her hands on my chest. "God forbid I be nice to him after he found me on the side of the road."

"Seems like someone's lost his temper."

I spun on the ball of my foot toward the far too familiar, far too unwelcome voice. The smirk that spread across Zane's lips as we locked eyes was enough to send me spiraling even further. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Hunter mumbled something under his breath behind me.

"I heard some of my favorite people would be here tonight," Zane chuckled as he came down the stairs, his hands shoved in his pockets as if nothing in the world was wrong. Each step he took toward us was like a match to a fire. "I came to see the inevitable show."

Ray stepped out from behind me, the wind rustling her curls. "You're a menace," Ray snapped at him. "You fed Wade lies. You crafted all of this."

Zane's shoulders rose and fell, an easy shrug as he bared his teeth. "I conveyed what I believed to be the case."

"Liar," Ray scoffed. "You knew exactly what you were doing."

Zane leaned forward, every lanky part of his upper body coming close to her as he tipped to her eye level. "Did I?" he grinned. "Because I heard many things about that night. And one of those was your inability to call him anything other than baby."

I winced at the reminder. Out of everything, that had upset me the most. That had been the one thing that sent me over the edge when Zane had called to tell me about the accident.

"I wasn't fucking calling him baby!" Ray shouted.

Hunter stepped up between me and Mandy. "She was confused. She had just been thrown from her car and was knocked out. She likely thought I was Wade?—"

Ray shook her head, her lips pressing together. "It's okay. You don't have to lie for me, Hunter," she said.

"Wait, so you did call him baby?" Jackson piped up, his brows furrowing as he looked between all of us.

Ray's breath was sharp as she looked up at me. "I can explain," she whispered. "But can we talk in private?"

My hands shook as I balled them into fists. I didn't know what to make of any of this. Apparently she had called him baby. So, did that mean that she was going out there to see him? Was she burying everything we had in the sand so she could pull it out at a later date when she needed it most?

"We don't need to talk," I snapped.

"We do," she insisted.

"No," I rasped. "I need to beat the shit out of my stepbrother, and then I need you to get the fuck out of my life."

I took a step toward Zane, every ounce of my anger desperately needing to collide with his face. He didn't even back away. He stood tall on the bottom step, an inch above me, skinny arms behind his back.

"Go on, brother," Zane drawled, his smile still plastered to his face. "Show me how mad you are."

I pulled my arm back, fist clenched, and?—

"For fuck's sake, stop!" Ray shrieked. "I'm pregnant, okay? I'm pregnant."