I watched every one of them file past me with hostile looks and I wanted to disappear. They were all prettier than me, wore more expensive outfits, had their nails done and their hair was perfect. I was just me—boring, not wealthy, no makeup. I felt ashamed as Gavin walked past me alongside them and gave me a look that almost seemed to be a warning.
I felt bad. It seemed like Gavin was standing up for Kade, as if maybe they were friends and he knew that Kade and I had been at each other's throats.
"Lainey." He stood and swayed. "What are you doing here?"
I walked toward him and held out the card toward him. Every bit of my practiced speech seemed to evade my conscious thought. "Your card was declined. I, uh… I came to return it."
He stared at the card in my hand. "You drove all the way here for that?"
"I didn't want your parents thinking I was still using it." I set it on the table. "They already think I'm a gold digger."
"My dad locked it." He laughed but it sounded wrong. Then he licked his lips and sighed hard. The silence between us was really awkward now. It'd never been this way before. Even when it was mildly awkward, there was still a comfortable feeling to it. This time I couldn't make eye contact because the little girl inside of me was screaming for him to somehow wave a magic wand and make every obstacle that stood in our way vanish.
"Well, now you have it back," I said plainly, "and I should, uh... I should go. Thank you for helping with the bakery." I turned to leave but his hand caught my wrist. I stood facing away from him, trying to hold myself together. I was pregnant with this guy's baby and he was a gazillionaire. I couldn’t keep pretending I had any right to be with him, no matter how much of a fairy tale dream come true I prayed for.
My head dropped but he gave me a tug.
"Don't go," he said, pulling me gently until I was facing him. "Please."
"Kade, you're drunk."
"I know." He sat back down and patted the couch beside him. "Sit with me."
I stared at him for a second knowing the right thing to do would be to leave, but after everything that had happened, I didn't want to. My heart still lived in a fantasy where things could work out despite all factual knowledge that it would not. So I sat down next to him, but I kept my distance.
"I'm sorry," I said. "For yelling at you. You didn't deserve that."
"Yes, I did." He rubbed his face. "I was jealous and stupid and I didn't listen to anything you said."
"I shouldn't have brought your parents into it." I sighed. "That was a private conversation I had no right to throw in your face."
"Everything you said was true." He leaned back and closed his eyes. "I don't stand up to them. I let them control everything and I didn't defend you."
We sat in silence. Music thumped through the floor. What was I even doing? It didn't matter if Kade Kingston, celebrity playboy, wanted me or fell in love with me, or stood up to his parents to defend me. We were fundamentally different. Kade had everything in life handed to him on a silver platter. I had to work for everything I wanted, and I wanted to work. I wanted a normal life. Not the posh luxury handouts men like him could give me.
Kade would never fit in my world. And I would never want to be boxed into his.
"I've been thinking about what you said," he continued. "Every day since you said it. You were right about all of it."
My throat felt tight. "It doesn't matter now."
"It matters to me." He opened his eyes and looked at me. "And God… those women are no one, okay? I didn't do a thing with any of them and I would never. Gavin just parked them up here to distract me. He was worried about?—"
"You don't owe me an explanation." So this explained a lot. I was right. Gavin was trying to help Kade out of a slump. If he was to be believed, our argument really had affected him enough that his friend had thrown a gaggle of women at him. I didn't know why I found that comforting—probably for the same reason he'd found it infuriating that I could hug my ex to say goodbye.
"Yes, I do," he grumbled, reaching into his pocket to pull out another card. "This is my debit card, my private account. Take it."
I shook my head and pushed his hand away. "I can't."
"Why not?"
"Look, I have enough to finish the order now. I don't need you to give me anything else." I pushed his hand gently until he finally withdrew, but his face fell and he blinked slowly. So he wasn’t wasted, but he definitely wasn’t sober.
He put the debit card back into his wallet and frowned. "How's the bakery?"
"Good. We're on track for the fundraiser." Now it was stiff again, a sad tension wrapping around me. He cared enough to ask about the thing I was facing on my own now. It made me sad that he was that sort of caring guy and the world didn't know. Those women were probably here after his money, just the way he told me. That was the way his life was, and it made me feel sorry for him that he didn't have true friends.
"Good, well I'm gonna tell everyone I know. Push it to all my contacts in my black book. I'll make sure that place is packed and they make a lot of money. You'll be feeding the stars and they'll remember the name of your bakery." Kade's offer was very generous, something Brandon himself would never have been able to do to help.
