Chapter 27
“I owe you much more than a drink for everything you’ve done to make this show happen,” I tell Elle, who managed to pull strings I didn’t even know needed pulling. Turns out, last minute events are not wise, even when equipped with money, contacts and clout.
She waves me off. “You know I’d do anything for you, Ford,” she says, looping her arm through mine as I navigate us toward the bar.
My eyes land on the back of a very familiar head.
“Cade’s here,” I tell Elle, who’s perusing the drink menu with her readers on the tip of her nose.
“I’m going to go say–” my sentence drops off a cliff when the man next to my son slides his hand over Cade’s thigh, beneath the privacy of the bartop.
The man turns, and that’s when I see his profile.
“Noah,” I say his name, because I don’t know what else to say.
I’m about to warn him that Cade will blow a gasket because Cade is not necessarily a playful guy–when Cade drops his hand onto Noah’s, and they share what looks to be an intimate squeeze.
Elle thanks the waitress whose menu she took, and hooks the arm of her glasses on her sweater. “Oh,” she says, clearly seeing what I’ve seen. “I didn’t know.”
I shake my head. “I didn’t either.” I hand her my coat, and ask her for a moment so I can go say hello.
I don’t know what to say, or what not to say, but it doesn’t matter because I’ve always liked Noah, and I want Cade to be happy.
If Noah is the one who tolerates his grouchiness and softens his edges, I’ll write him in the damn will.
I drop a hand on Noah’s shoulder, and both men startle. My son stammers a moment but very quickly, the focus shifts to me. “You’re truly something else,” Cade grumbles, sliding his glasses off, using the end of his cable knit sweater to clean them.
The back of my neck tingles. “Me? Why?”
“For a man that’s been celibate for a lot of years, you did a great job making your girlfriend think you’re cheating.
” He sips his drink and Noah studies him, and I don’t know why I never saw it before.
Probably because I was focused on not paying attention to Juliette, but it’s clear, as clear as Kat and Zen, Noah and Cade are more than friends.
Noah faces me, startling me from the dueling events in my mind.
“We were having some drinks while we waited for our table. Cade was in line for the restroom,” he says as Cade crunches a piece of ice next to him.
“Juliette came in.” He scratches at the side of his jaw, then moves his glass around on the napkin, and clears his throat.
“She was drunk, and started to order shots. She didn’t recognize me.
” He blinks at me nervously as my pulse spikes and my heart leaps, a knot of unease blooming at the base of my throat. “I reminded her who I am, though.”
I look at Cade, who shoots Noah a look, a look so well-known to Noah that he immediately begins to spill the rest of the story.
“Juliette said she saw you with another woman, at your house. She went there, to surprise you. Anyway, she was pretty upset. Then you came in with Elle,” he says, as Elle sidles up next to us, resting her hand on Cade’s shoulder with familiarity.
“Wait–she came to the house? Tonight?” I scrub a hand over my face, trying to understand what he’s saying. “Juliette came to my house, tonight?”
Noah nods. “Yeah. She said she showed up at your place to surprise you,” he says, glancing down at his drink again. Cade kicks him in the foot. “She’s pretty drunk, Mr. Mercer.”
Elle sighs at my side, likely concerned for Juliette. She adores Juliette and more than that, she knows how much I adore Juliette. Cade looks between us as I dig out my phone, checking for missed messages, anything. But nothing.
“She thinks you two fuck,” Cade says flippantly, perhaps perturbed by us discovering him here with Noah, unsure of what we saw. “Which you both already knew,” he adds, plucking the cherry from his drink. He drops it into his mouth and focuses on Noah, so I do, too.
“She’s convinced you cheated, Mr. Mercer.”
Cade sighs. “We know you didn’t really cheat on Juliette, but…
what the fuck did she walk in on?” my son asks, twisting in the barstool to face me.
His eyes are red-rimmed, but I know my son well–it’s not from the drinks.
Something transpired between the two of them tonight, but until he’s ready, I won’t pry.
I let out a sigh that relieves none of the angst and tension brewing in my stomach. “I’m surprising Juliette with a fashion show for her to be lead photographer on. The models were at the house with the designers. I don’t even know who she saw but–” I shake my head, suddenly sick.
“What happened to Juliette?” Elle asks Noah. “Where did she go?”
Noah nods his head. “Right, well, she took off. That way,” he says, pointing to the back hallway. “About… one minute ago.”
“One minute, Jesus Christ, why didn’t you fucking–” I don’t bother with the end of the sentence, and I don’t waste time telling Cade he was lacking manners, or asking him why he didn’t tell me about he and Noah.
Those are all things to come later. The manners I’ll call him out on soon.
The rest is on his time. And I’ll give him that time.
But now– “I’m… I don’t know,” I admit, treading through the restaurant with Elle on my heels.
When we reach the hall, the bathroom door swings open as a woman in red high heels clicks her way inside.
There’s a swish of honey hair, and the familiar, melodic voice that I love so much saying excuse me as the woman enters past her.
I face my friend and she tips her head to the side, sliding her hand in mine. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”
I do worry.
I want to explain to her what she saw, or, thinks she saw.
But Elle slips into the bathroom, and I reach up, gripping the wall. Cade appears behind me through the bustle, and tips his head to the door. “Figure this out. Then call me. We should have dinner soon… to talk.”
He extends his hand to me, and we shake, and hug. He pats my back consolingly, and I tell him that I love him. When Cade leaves, I watch him go back to Noah, who is clearly concerned for the situation unfolding.
Me too, Noah. Me fucking too.