Chapter 3 Caden
THREE
CADEN
“I am telling you,” Sabrina whispered in my ear as she jutted her chin toward the cluster of men at the end of the bar. “I swear they didn’t go to St. Kate’s.”
“They sure as hell don’t look familiar,” I agreed, trying to focus on the group of classmates I couldn’t place for the life of me instead of on the sweet smell of Sabrina’s perfume as it wafted up my nose.
It was different from what I remembered. She’d always smelled like vanilla and roses, and whatever she’d used would permeate her bedroom when I snuck inside. I remembered getting hard from the scent alone, and whatever she was wearing now was familiar enough to almost cause the same reaction.
When I turned my head, my gaze snagged on the sexy smirk curling her red lips. I’d meant what I said. Her ex-husband was a fucking fool, and when I’d spied the hurt in her eyes earlier tonight, I’d wanted to break the asshole’s jaw, whoever he was.
“I told Emily they were probably here for an easy hookup.” Her hazel eyes fell to the half-empty glass of bourbon in her hand. “Not a terrible plan, but who knows, maybe they just aged really badly, like Gage and his crew.”
“You think crashing a reunion for a school you didn’t go to just for an easy hookup isn’t a terrible plan?” I cracked up before I took a long pull of my beer bottle.
“I don’t know how much you’ve dated since your divorce, but that would be one of the least shady things I’ve seen.
I signed up for an app and deleted it after about three months.
Men are really fucking creepy and don’t put in a whole lot of effort to hide it.
Sneaking into someone else’s reunion is pathetic, I grant you, yet creative at the same time. ”
Her shoulders shook with a chuckle, but I couldn’t laugh with her. I hated seeing her this jaded and sad, and I had to wonder if I seemed the same to her.
We weren’t the same carefree high school kids, and I felt a shit-ton older than my almost forty years lately. Happened when you got humiliated and betrayed but couldn’t really show it.
The act became very fucking taxing.
But I’d managed to forget all that for a couple of hours tonight.
Hearing Sabrina’s laugh brought me back to a time far enough in the past not to feel that new-divorce residue clinging to my skin or any other troubles that weighed on me each day.
I was just a guy acting like a fool to make a pretty woman laugh.
While I worried what Jesse and Emily were up to right now, I was happy to get the chance to go off alone with Sabrina for the rest of the night.
I didn’t know where the rest of the night would take us, although I had thoughts of where I’d like it to go. Thoughts I couldn’t or shouldn’t entertain, especially not to this point of distraction.
“So, what’s Jesse’s deal?” Sabrina asked, squinting at me as she lifted her glass to her mouth, the mouth I shouldn’t have been so damn fixated on, as she swept her tongue across her bottom lip—or so tempted to go in for a taste.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
I needed to get my act together and cut it out. I was an adult, for fuck’s sake, and I needed to think with my big head and not my growing little one.
“What do you mean, his deal?”
She lifted a brow and swiveled her stool toward me.
“When we all told our sad stories about why we didn’t bring a plus-one, he didn’t say a word. Granted, it was awkward as hell between him and Emily tonight, but if he has a wife or someone at home, I don’t get why it’s such a secret.”
“He doesn’t have a wife at home.” I leaned my elbow on the bar top. “He wouldn’t have offered to take Emily home if he did. I know you’re probably still mad at him for Emily’s sake, and rightfully so. But he’s not that kind of guy and never was.”
“No. I mean, yes, I hated how he hurt Emily, but we were all clueless kids back then.”
“Isn’t that the fucking truth,” I mumbled, mostly to myself.
“But he has something,” Sabrina said, pointing her finger at me.
“He does,” I allowed. “But it’s his story to tell, not mine.”
“That’s fair,” she said on a long sigh. “I just don’t want to see Emily get hurt all over again tonight. It was a long time ago, but…” She trailed off with a shrug, draining the rest of the brown liquid from her glass.
Of course Sabrina didn’t drink wine or beer or some fruity cocktail. I wasn’t surprised her drink of choice as an adult was bourbon. Bourbon was sweet but potent, thick enough to warm your chest and steal all your senses.
“Jesse was pretty messed up for months after he broke up with Emily. I know he was a jerk about it, but he was never the same after that.”
“Neither was Emily,” she shot back. “I never thought he’d do something like that.”
“I didn’t either,” I said, shaking my head. “I’d known that night he’d probably do something stupid, but I couldn’t stop him.”
She set her glass down and bobbed her head in a slow nod.
“I don’t know if an apology after twenty years means anything, if that’s what he’s doing. But either way—” she flicked her gaze back to mine, a sad smile curving those damn lips “—I want to apologize to you.”
“What?” I reared back. “What do you have to be sorry for?”
“Sorry that because I had no idea how to act after our best friends broke up, I didn’t try harder to stay friends with you.
At first, I just thought we’d distance ourselves from each other until Jesse and Emily got back together, but then when that didn’t happen, I thought we’d just wait until it blew over—”
“And before we knew it, months went by, then years. It happens.” I tried for an easy shrug.
Like how falling for Sabrina had happened, and how my cowardly teenage self had hidden from her after he’d realized it, in a dumb effort to run away from his feelings. Jesse and Emily’s breakup had given me the perfect excuse.
“I missed you, and I thought about you over the years.”
My brows shot up. “Did you?”
“Of course.” She squinted at me. “Why is that so hard to believe?”
I pressed my hand against the bar and leaned in.
“I guess it’s not. I rocked your world back then, huh?”
She jerked her head toward me, a scowl twisting her beautiful lips.
“Not because of that,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Or…not only that.” Her voice dipped into a soft rasp that went straight to my dick.
“Tell me more.” I rested my elbow on the counter. “What did you think about most?”
It was almost too easy to pick up where we’d left off, going back and forth between serious conversation and flirting. After all the serious stuff I’d had to deal with of late, both in my family and my still-new divorced life, I didn’t hate it.
I just had to remember that I was an adult now and I shouldn’t indulge.
Or notice the blush down Sabrina’s chest after she darted her eyes from mine.
Habits from twenty years ago shouldn’t have been so damn easy to fall into.
“I missed how no one could make me feel better like you could.” She held up her hand when I quirked my brow. “Not…only like that.”
We shared a chuckle before her expression softened.
“Whether it was some stupid guy or another blowout between my parents, running to you just made it…better. I could talk to Emily, sure. But you didn’t offer any advice or solutions.
You just let me…be.” She breathed out a loud sigh and draped her hand over her eyes.
“I’m sure I’m not making any sense right now. ”
“You’re making perfect sense, Sab. You did that for me too. You let me be and just forget for a little while. I missed that. And I missed you too. Along with…the other stuff.”
She smiled, holding my gaze long enough to get lost in those damn eyes. Sweet and vulnerable Sabrina used to be my kryptonite, and twenty years hadn’t dulled the weakness.
I looped my arm around her shoulders and yanked her to me before I could help it. “We could strike up a conversation with those dudes, see if we can make them admit they’re impostors.” I tipped my beer bottle toward the cluster of guys.
“See, you always knew how to find the fun.” Her eyes lingered on mine, flicking to my mouth before she darted them away.
Maybe she was thinking of the same kind of fun I was. And all the ways I could cheer her up tonight, just like the old days. It would fuck things up right after, but “fun” with Sabrina now would be very much worth it.
“Or, there’s a table in the corner,” I said, motioning with the neck of my beer bottle. “Maybe we could have an actual conversation away from these loudmouths and the jukebox behind us.”
“Sure,” she said, reaching into her wallet to pull out a couple of bills.
“On me.” I caught her wrist, not expecting the jolt down my arm from the contact. “You can get the next one.”
“Thank you,” she said, her voice breathy enough to travel to my cock again.
When she popped off the stool and headed to the booth, my gaze fell to the sway of her hips.
An empty, out-of-the-way table had suddenly become a little dangerous.
Sabrina slid across the vinyl cushion as I took a seat across from her.
“I’ll tell you my horror story if you tell me yours.”
She flinched back as she studied me.
“What makes you think I have a horror story?”
“Just a feeling,” I said, lifting a shoulder. “The Sabrina I remember had a little more light in her eyes.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she scoffed, tilting her head. “Does that mean my eyes are dim and dull?”
“Not at all,” I said. “You’re still gorgeous. But something is weighing on you. I’m guessing it’s your douche of an ex.”
“How do you know he’s a douche?” she whispered, quirking a brow.
“To fuck things up with someone like you? No question.”
Only, twenty years ago, I’d have been asking those questions with her on my lap as I glided my hand up her thigh.
“You first,” she said, nodding her chin toward me as she rested her elbows on the edge of the table, pushing those perfect tits together and taunting me with the deepening slope of her cleavage.