Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Dylan
“I’m all for helping out an old friend, but this is bullshit.” Barrett slaps my shoulder. “My flight was delayed for two hours. Do you have any idea what time it is?”
It’s just past one in the morning.
I’ve been pacing the floors of my apartment since he texted me from O’Hare International to tell me that he was hand delivering our senior yearbook.
“I owe you.” I take a step back and look him over.
I make it a point to see Barrett at least a few times a year. That typically happens when I venture back to my hometown to visit my parents and their significant others.
I time those visits so they don’t coincide with any major holidays or events.
My family is manageable in small doses. I don’t need the pressure of being thrown headfirst into a reunion with cousins, aunts, and uncles I haven’t seen in more than a decade.
Beers with Barrett make my time back in Chicago more bearable.
“You can start paying me back by inviting me in.” His blue eyes survey the room behind me. “I see you’ve done nothing with the place since the last time I was here.”
I step to the side to let him pass.
He slides the handle of the duffel bag that’s slung over his shoulder down before he drops it at my feet.
“I’m taking the bedroom without the view.” He stretches both arms. “I’m beat. If I give you the goods, can I hit the sack?”
Judging by the way he’s dressed, he didn’t make time for a change of clothes before he went to the airport. He’s still dressed in a tailored gray suit, a button-down shirt, and a tie.
Jeans and T-shirts are his usual attire when he shows up here for a rare weekend trip.
I’m wearing the Yankees T-shirt and dark sweatpants I put on after my second shower. I took the first when I got home from work, but restlessness set in while I waited for him, so I went for a run.
The evening heat bore down on me, so another shower was in order.
“Where’s the yearbook?” I eye the bag on the floor.
“It’s on top.” He points to the zipper. “Now is as good as time as any to explain why the fuck you wanted it, Colt.”
My hands are on the duffel bag before the words leave his mouth. I tug the zipper open and wrench out the yearbook.
I flip through the pages as Barrett crosses the room to my home bar.
I took a small shot of scotch over an hour ago in an effort to calm the hell down.
It didn’t work.
Barrett pours himself two fingers, not bothering to ask if I want the same. He sees my empty glass. He knows I’ve had my fill.
“You mentioned Eden on the phone.” He turns to look at me. “You sounded shook up. That’s why I’m here.”
I don’t glance up at him because I’m still trying to locate the page in the yearbook that holds the answer to at least one of the questions that’s been nagging at me all fucking day.
“She’s in New York.” Looking up, I try to keep my voice at an even tone. “I saw her yesterday and again today.”
That brings the glass to his lips again. The scotch disappears in one gulp. “Eden Conrad is here? What the hell is she doing in New York?”
“She’s a lawyer.”
“A lawyer? You’re not serious, are you?”
My gaze skims the open page in front of me. I scan the pictures of the seniors finally landing on the face of the woman I thought I’d never forget.
I see it now.
Christ, why didn’t I see it in the club or when I had her in my bed?
She’s changed, but it’s her.
I slam the yearbook shut. “Jesus, what the fuck is wrong with me?”
I stalk to the bar and half fill the glass I used earlier. I take a mouthful of scotch and swallow.
“Is that rhetorical or are you waiting for me to answer that?” Barrett sets his glass down. “You’re torn up from seeing her after all these years. Is that what’s happening here or is this emotional shit storm I’m witnessing something else?”
I finish off the scotch, slam the glass down so hard it shatters, and I turn to face him. “I fucked her. I fucked Eden Conrad last night, and I didn’t have a goddamn clue it was her.”
Barrett hands me a mug of coffee.
I needed the coffee as much as he needed the time it took to brew it to process what I said.
He stared at me after I confessed that I took Eden to bed without realizing who she was.
Fuck.
All these years. All the want and I treat her like every other woman I’ve screwed.
Jesus, I’m an asshole. I’m nothing but a selfish asshole.
I’ve used women for years in search of a connection I could never find until last night.
Even if I wanted to make amends to the hundreds of women I’ve bedded in the past fifteen years, I wouldn’t know where to start. I only remember the names of a handful of them.
“So you didn’t know she was Eden.” Barrett shrugs out of his suit jacket. “Let’s start there.”
“No, let’s get to the part where she shows up in court to defend my client’s asshole of a husband.” I put the mug on the coffee table in front of me, so it doesn’t fall victim to the same fate as the glass tumbler.
“Back up the bus.” He settles into a chair across from me. “Lay out what happened here, Colt, because you’re all over the place and without a roadmap, I’m lost.”
I scrub the back of my neck with my hand. “I went to Veil East last night to blow off some steam before my court date this morning.”
“You went to the club you always go to so you could find a woman to fuck who looks like Eden.” He cocks a brow. “Don’t deny it. Every woman you’ve been with since high school looks like her.”
“I have a type,” I spit back.
“You brought her home and what?”
I raise both brows. “What the hell do you think happened?”
“I think that she didn’t tell you that she was Eden and you’re pissed.”
I am pissed. I’m confused. I’m fucking embarrassed that I didn’t see it in her face, or hear it in her voice.
Both have changed since high school, but the pressing need inside of me to have her was different than the other women I’ve been with.
Kissing her was different.
Fucking her was so different.
I should have known.
“I fell asleep, she left, and I saw her in court this morning. That’s when she announced to everyone there that she was Eden Conrad.” I rake both hands through my hair. “I damn near passed out.”
Barrett lets out a deep laugh. “I would have paid money to see the look on your face.”
“Is there a chance in hell that she didn’t know who I was?” The question may sound arrogant, but I’m grasping for understanding here and I’m willing to consider every possibility.
“Maybe you weren’t worth remembering.” He loosens his tie. “Who the hell knows why she didn’t tell you her name.”
“Why didn’t I know it was her?” I ask the question, as much to myself as to him.
“You’ve been looking for her in so many faces over so many years, that you lost sight of her.” He takes a sip from the coffee mug in his hand. “Besides, how the hell could you have known she was in New York? The last we heard she was in Ohio. That’s the last we heard, right?”
He’s asking if I’ve tracked her since high school.
I have.
I Googled her name for years hoping to find a social media profile or a recent image, but I always came up empty.
The last time either of us saw Eden was at the house of one of our classmates.
His parents gave him the green light for a graduation celebration for the entire senior class.
We left for the airport just as the party was winding down.
Exploring Europe ate up the next two months of our lives before we landed back in Chicago to go our separate ways for college.
Barrett headed west to the University of Southern California. NYU brought me east. Once I had a taste of the city, I knew it was home.
“That’s the last we heard,” I confirm with a nod.
“Let’s look at the bright side here, Colt. I know you’re thinking the same thing I am.”
I study his face. “What the fuck am I thinking, Barrett?”
“You’re thinking that Eden Conrad doesn’t blame you for what happened fifteen years ago. If she did, she sure as hell wouldn’t have come home with you.”
I don’t know what the hell I’m thinking.
He stands. “I’m beat. We’ll pick this up tomorrow but one last thing.”
I follow suit and slide up to my feet. “What?”
“Forgive yourself.” He pats the center of my chest. “She’s obviously thriving if she’s set to beat your ass in court. Let the past go. It’s time.”
I manage a smile. “Who said she was going to beat my ass in court?”
“You couldn’t keep it together after sleeping with her, so you’ve got no chance of coming out of this with a win for your client.”
“I’ll win.”
He laughs. “Eden’s still got you wrapped around her pretty little finger, maybe now she’ll finally realize it.”