Without even having to think about it, I answered, “No.”
Dean smiled. “I’m glad he did what he did. I wouldn’t have met you otherwise.” He bumped his shoulder against mine again.
Now I was smiling. I leaned my head against his shoulder, and he reached for my hand, intertwining our fingers together, and for once, I just let the comfort of his touch do exactly that. Comfort me. I didn’t have the energy to care what it meant.
“What did you say that guy’s name was?” Dean asked.
“Noah.”
Chapter 11
Dean
Shit.Ijustsohappened to have a cousin named Noah. Who lived on the East Coast. Whose mom was my mother’s sister, and therefore our families owned the same real estate development company. What were the odds that they were the same person?
“What company did you work for?” I needed to ensure we weren’t talking about the same guy.
“Frederick Developers. Why?” Addison picked her head up off my shoulder to look at me, but kept hold of my hand.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. That was my mother’s family’s company. Her ex was definitely my cousin. God, he was always such a shithead, so what he did to her tracks. Now what was I supposed to do?
“Just curious if I had heard of it, since my mother’s family owns a company in the same industry,” I lied. I felt like an asshole lying to her, but tonight was definitely not the night, and I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with this information. There was more to it than Noah simply being my cousin.
A year or so ago, Noah texted me begging me to act like a buddy named Trent on the phone when he planned to call mewith his fiancée in the car. He had me say over speakerphone that I was meeting him at the Cape for a guy’s weekend. I didn’t find out until later that I unknowingly helped him cover up the fact that he was cheating. There was no guy’s weekend. He was meeting up with another girl, which didn’t shock me, because I’d never known Noah to be a faithful guy. When I confronted him about it because it pissed me off that he used me to cheat on his fiancée, he claimed she had cheated on him before, and that their upcoming nuptials were more of a business arrangement than anything.
Now that I knew his ex-fiancée, it was abundantly clear that he lied to me too.
Noah and I weren’t close. I couldn’t stand him most of the time, but he had never done anything bad to me, so when he randomly called me asking for a quick favor, I helped him out. He was family after all.
Twenty years ago, our families moved to opposite coasts, so we rarely saw each other, if at all. I knew that Noah had a longtime girlfriend, but we never crossed paths, and Archer and I stayed far away from social media for obvious reasons. We were in the media enough, thanks to our father and his business. Noah didn’t have that issue, since our mothers’ family business wasn’t tied to the entertainment industry.
I didn’t even know he was engaged until he told me that day on the phone. I didn’t know shit about his fiancée and didn’t really care at the time. The phone call took up all of ten minutes of my day, no harm, no foul. Or so I thought.None of it was my business, so I helped my cousin out. Now my stupid mistakewas coming back to haunt me.
“Oh yeah, that’s right. You mentioned that.” Addison laid her head back against my shoulder. I should be honest and just tell her. What did it matter anyway? I didn’t know her then, and I didn’t know what Noah was up to. He lied to me too. But then again, the fact that I agreed to do something like that, I didn’t know that Addison would look at me the same or even believe me that I didn’t know what he was doing. And for whatever reason, I couldn’t lose this woman.
As if Cash were here to save me from this conversation, he stood up. Addison got up, and I stood up with her. “Do you think I should walk him around now and see if he wants some grass?” She looked over at me.
“Yeah, let’s get him out and see what he does.” Addison grabbed the lead rope and attached it to his halter, leading Cash out of his stall and into the chilly night. I walked alongside her while Coal followed closely behind.
Addison turned to me, her green eyes shining in the moonlight. “So, now it’s your turn for the hard questions. Why don’t you do relationships? Something must have happened.”
I nodded and sighed because I hated talking about it, but I made her share her tough story. It was only fair. “You’re right. Something did happen that I didn't mention on our trail ride the other day.”
She bumped me with her shoulder. “Come on, Adler, spill it. We’re friends, remember? Friends tell each other things.”
That was the thing. I didn’t want to be friends with her. I was pretty sure I wanted more, needed more. However, that was aconversation for another day. Tonight was not the night.
“Several years ago, when I was still back in California, I dated a woman named Margot for about a year. We ran in the same circles, but her family wasn’t wealthy. Her best friend’s family was, which gave her access to the world I was in. I saw her at the polo fields a few times, and we started talking, which then led to hanging out, and eventually to dating. We got pretty serious, and at one point, I thought I was in love with her.”
Addison stopped when Cash lowered his head to graze, and I could see the relief that spread across her face. She patted his neck while whispering, “Thank God.” She looked back up at me and smiled. “Sorry, continue.”
“So yeah, things were good. We went to a gala together. I was hanging out with Archer at the bar for a bit and then decided to go find her. I ended up finding her in a hallway talking to her best friend, and I heard my name, so I stayed back a bit to listen. Not the most mature thing to do, I’m aware, but I was curious what they were saying about me. She proceeded to tell her friend in so many words how she wasn’t really into me, but it was worth it to stay with me because of my money and my name. That if she stuck it out a little longer, I would for sure propose to her, and her life would be set. She could have guys on the side if she wanted because I would be so focused on running my own practice that I wouldn’t notice anyway.”
Addison placed her hand on my arm, empathy in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Dean. That is so messed up.”
I scoffed. “I’m not done. It gets worse.”
Her eyes widened. “Seriously? Shit. Continue.”
