Chapter 8 #2
The answer was simple. That was exactly what he believed, probably because he never had a reason not to.
A couple of guys like him were on the show, thinking their faces and personalities could get them through when talent and perseverance couldn’t.
Sure, I knew more about him than I used to, and I understood him better, but that didn’t excuse his jackass ways or how he’d embarrassed me so much yesterday.
There I was, swallowing all of that back, pushing it deep down inside me for the sake of playing nice in front of my friend.
“How come you’re not wearing one of these white jackets?” Hadley asked, nodding toward Lucas and the line cooks he oversaw.
“I stepped down as head chef years ago,” Sebastian explained while she gazed up at him like his words contained the wisdom of the world.
Glancing my way, Lucas grinned, and I returned it without thinking first. He was a nice guy, and I could tell he liked me, but there was no spark.
At least, not on my end. He wouldn’t force me to make things uncomfortable by asking him to lay off a little, would he?
Nobody wanted to have the ‘let’s just be friends’ talk, especially when they had to deliver it to a coworker. It wasn’t like I could avoid him.
“Boss?” Lucas raised a hand to get Sebastian’s attention. He murmured a brief apology before peeling away from us to answer a question.
As soon as he did, Hadley grabbed my arm, her nails sinking in until I hissed.
“Sorry,” she whispered, a little breathless.
“He is fucking gorgeous! I mean, wow.” She fanned herself discreetly, her head swinging from side to side as she looked around.
“Is there an ice machine in here? I need to cool down.”
Oh, no. Not this too. It wasn’t enough I had to deal with his ego and habit of throwing blame all over the place? I had to stomach my best friend crushing on him? Flirting was one thing, but actively swooning?
“Girl, he’s not worth it,” I warned in a whisper, giving her a hard, serious look while she continued to overreact. “The man is a walking bundle of personality defects.”
“But I can fix him,” she joked. The problem was, I didn’t think she was completely kidding.
“Whatever happened to the sensible girl who saw through Brandon and knew what a prick he was even when I didn’t?” I whispered.
“She’s horny,” Hadley whispered back. “And she’s only in town for a few more days. What’s the harm in having a little fun?”
She had me there. I couldn’t protest much harder without making myself look like a real idiot—a jealous one too.
Pretty soon, she would start asking exactly what my reason was for being so deeply against her pursuing him, and unless I wanted to make up a story about him having a fetish for murdering women he slept with, there wasn’t really a decent excuse I could offer.
Hell, I didn’t even know why the idea disgusted me like it did.
Not only that, but it made bitterness spread through me like rot, withering my love for her and replacing it with resentment.
That was new. Never once in all the years we’d been friends, starting our first week in college when we were assigned roommates in the dorms, had I ever experienced a flash of bitterness over anything Hadley did.
We were like sisters, the sort of relationship I’d never had before we met.
She had never been anything but supportive, almost blindly so at times.
The kind of best friend any girl would be lucky to have.
Listening to her giggle mindlessly over every little thing that came out of Sebastian’s mouth once he continued the makeshift tour took me one step after another down a path I never wanted to travel.
He wasn’t worth this. So why did I find it so hard to keep from frowning and rolling my eyes, even coming close to scoffing once or twice when she made a big deal of complimenting simple things like the size of our pantry and the way it was organized? She was really stretching for praise.
I didn’t realize until I was already halfway out of the pantry that Hadley and Sebastian had stayed behind.
It was only when I heard her clear her throat that I paused, staring straight ahead while listening to what was happening behind me.
“You know…” she ventured in a soft voice I’d heard many times while operating as her wingwoman, “… there are so many other things I would love to know about this business. Claudia has taught me so much about baking, but I didn’t realize there was so much more to it until today. ”
“Did she teach you how to bake?” He was enjoying himself, the smug bastard, soaking up the attention like a dry sponge in a pool of water.
“Oh no,” she told him with a high-pitched laugh that lit a fire in my chest. She was determined not to listen to me when I warned her about him.
What did I have to say to get through to her?
He was a bad idea, period.
End of story.
Only out for himself, which included whatever he wanted at the moment.
After all, he had gone from almost kissing me to bitching me out in front of the rest of the kitchen.
There was no such thing as loyalty, appreciation, any of it.
Why would she want to be with someone like that, even as a one-night stand?
He would probably be incredible in bed.
As much as it boiled my insides to walk away, I had no choice. The alternative was listening to this awkward, extremely obvious mating dance while my brain turned to pudding and ran out of my ears.
Would he look at her the same way he had looked at me? Would he have the same light in his steel-gray eyes? Would her heart skip a beat the way mine had?
Would he remember her this time next week?
He had so easily forgotten the moment we shared, after all.
Something disturbingly close to disappointment made my heart sink and left me wondering if I should’ve let the moment carry us both away instead of doing the so-called smart thing and denying how much I wanted him.
“Your friend seems nice.” Of course, Lucas was unaware of all this, slowing his speed as he came my way with a tablet in hand, where he’d listed everything that needed to be done before tonight.
I was starting to think he went to bed with that thing balanced on his palm, the stylus in his other hand.
“Oh, she’s the best,” I replied. “I’ve known her for years. She’s like my sister. I’ve really missed her.” Even if I currently questioned her sanity.
“That’s nice.” It seemed like he had a thing for that word today. “What are you girls planning on doing tonight?”
Why hadn’t they come back from the pantry yet? “Oh, I’m not sure,” I replied, distracted. “There are tickets open for a few shows in town, and she keeps trying to convince me to go on that damn Strat ride that dangles you off the edge of the roof.”
His face lit up. “Aww, do it! That’s so fun!”
“Oh, please! Not you too!” We were still laughing when Hadley and Sebastian joined us, but suddenly, my heart wasn’t in it anymore.
Maybe it had something to do with how she winked, telling me she was feeling victorious, or how my core insisted on heating dangerously at the sight of him when he was acting all charming and witty.
What was wrong with me? I had never, ever begrudged her a flirtation or a hookup. Granted, we had generally gotten lucky because our taste in men usually ran along different lines.
But I wasn’t interested in Sebastian. That wasn’t the problem.
I wanted to protect her from him.
Right?
“I have an idea.” Sebastian looked at Hadley, grinning, then turned to Lucas and me. What was he thinking? The gears were definitely turning inside that infuriatingly handsome head. “Hadley and I were planning on having dinner together tomorrow night. Why don’t we make it a double date?”
Oh.
What the fuck?
It wasn’t enough for him to dictate every move I made in the kitchen, he had to ask me out on Lucas’ behalf now too. And he accused me of putting him on the spot? The idea of tearing his infuriatingly handsome head off and tossing it in the fryer was beginning to look a little too appealing.
Before I could even draw a breath, he added, “Claudia, you’re rarely out of the kitchen for long enough to enjoy some of the city’s nightlife. And Lucas, it’s your night off too. Do you have plans? I would love to take everyone out to dinner.”
The son of a bitch.
Hadley couldn’t hide her disappointment, though she tried. “Oh, that would be fun. I don’t know, Claud, are you free?” I didn’t need her to spell it out. She gave me a pleading look. Say no. Please say no.
Before I could, Lucas spoke up, “That sounds good. It’s a really generous offer. Thank you,” he told Sebastian, who waved it off like it was no big deal.
He knew exactly what he was doing. The snide grin he wore when our eyes met told me so.
It was obvious he noticed the attention Lucas paid me.
He could pretend all he wanted to extend an olive branch, but he was really putting me on the spot, making an already awkward situation infinitely worse by using the word ‘date.’
“Sure,” I decided, shrugging slightly when Hadley scowled at me. “That sounds like a good time.” I could only hope Lucas didn’t get the wrong idea.
Though, if he did, I would only have myself to blame. And I knew it. But that didn’t stop me from rising to the challenge and taking the bait Sebastian dangled in front of me.