Fake Boyfriend - Miley Maine Page 0,53

to suddenly mature because we were sleeping together. That obviously hadn’t happened.

I got that she didn’t want her perfect little world disrupted, and she didn’t want to be told what to do. No one did.

But she didn’t have a fucking clue about what she didn’t know.

Well fuck that. She might have thrown hissy fit like a big baby, but I wasn’t leaving this wedding. I’d rather her be safe than happy, and I was going to stay right here, and keep an eye on her. Because despite whatever she thought, she wasn’t up for the task. Not around thugs like Douglas.

It was easy to blend in here, with all the self-absorbed rich people and many servants they employed. I hadn’t seen Douglas here for sometime now.

I kept a close eye on Loren. It was easy at first, because she was taking photos on the dance floor, but then she began to pull couples out, two at a time, and take a few snapshots of them together.

Then I couldn’t see her at all.

I thought about stopping the wedding, and alerting them all. I thought about getting her mother, or her father’s security involved. But I didn’t really trust any of them, not with Loren’s safety.

I was better off working alone. The less panic in a group, the better. Before I sounded the alarm, or left the wedding to look for her, I methodically searched the crowd, looking for her shiny dress.

There was still no sign of Douglas either.

Fuck.

That was it. I was going to start searching the perimeter. There was enough daylight left for me to see the tracks on certain parts of the group, but so many people had trampled along that I wasn’t sure it would help. I walked a circle around the reception tent, and then around the inn, but Loren was nowhere to be found. I headed toward the woods where I’d found the guy lurking during the rehearsal.

Nothing.

I didn’t find a single person. And I didn’t find Loren.

I pulled out my phone. I had a buddy who did private security work in Portland, Oregon. He’d been a Ranger, but he’d retired a few years back. He was great at the private investigation side of things. He answered on the first ring.

“Jackson!” he said in greeting.

“Hey man. Sorry to be short, but I need your assistance.”

“Go.”

That’s one thing I could appreciate about him. He didn’t need his ass kissed, and he didn’t need to make small talk. He could just get down to business. “Douglas Copeland. I need everything you can find on him. Debts, unsavory habits, vices, whatever.”

“You got it,” he said, and then he hung up.

I never made it back to the reception. As soon as I put my phone in my pocket, a sharp pain shot through my neck. My hand came up to grab the spot, and found a small dart sticking out of my skin.

I yanked it out, but it was too late.

I stayed upright for a second, but my vision tunneled. My mouth went dry. My heartbeat thundered.

Fuck.

Someone had just drugged me. I fell forward. Everything went dark.

Chapter Twenty

Loren

I woke up slowly. My skin was kind of cold, in the outdoorsy way it had been the nights Jackson and I had camped. I smiled. Those had been really nice nights. I tried to push myself up,

Goosebumps rose on my arms as I realized I couldn’t move.

I looked down. My heart sped up.

I’d never been kidnapped before. There’d been a few attempts when I was young, but they’d never succeeded. And they’d all been employees of my dad’s who were looking to make some money with very little effort.

But my bodyguards had always prevented them from getting too far, and then they’d been investigated and found to have a half-baked plan to take me, and demand ransom money.

When I was twelve years old, I’d even laughed about it.

I wasn’t laughing now.

Did this have something to do with Douglas? Had Jackson been right?

Oh God, Jackson. I’d been really shitty to him. And no matter what happened to me, he’d beat himself up over it. He’d appointed himself my protector, and he took the role very seriously. Never mind that I made it impossible for him to actually watch out for me.

Outside, the sky was dark. Without my watch, I had no idea what time it was. For all I knew, Jackson would have been driving his Jeep to his grandfather’s cabin. I had kicked him out after all.

I blinked and tried to clear