He’s built like me, only I’m slightly taller by about two inches. His complexion is significantly paler than mine, with bright blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair.
"It was weird, man. Bumped into an old friend from school, which is always a good time, but we had a bride who was interested in having her wedding here." My stomach drops as I recall the look on Cassandra’s face when she recognized who I was talking to.
Her usually tan skin suddenly pale, as if she’d seen a ghost. How I so badly wished I was a fly on the wall at the café.
"Isn’t that a good thing?" He raised a brow, expression blank.
"In usual circumstances, yes. But this bride wasn’t just a random bride off the street," I say. Robbie knows all about my past with Austin and all about my present with Cassandra, along with everything in between. But he doesn’t know about their history, because it’s not my story to tell.
It’s not my place to be talking about her private life, so when the conversation ever came up, I changed the subject and Robbie had respected that.
"The heavily pregnant bride," I pause for effect, adding in the important detail. "Is Austin Anderson’s fiancé."
Silence fills the room as I watch my friend in front of me, mouth gaped open while the wheels in his head turn, putting all the pieces together.
"Wait," he says, eyes bulging out of their sockets as he watches me in disbelief. "That mother fucker cheated on Cassandra?"While Robbie and Cassandra had only met briefly, he had nothing but good things to say about her.
Hell, if she and I weren’t a thing, he probably would have tried to shoot his shot.
"He cheated on her for three years and knocked up his new girlfriend, now fiancé." I laugh out loud at his absolute stupidity. I’ve always stood by the fact that if you’re unhappy in your relationship, end it. Don’t cheat on them and make them suffer.
It makes you selfish and a coward.
Two words that perfectly describe Austin Anderson.
But that’s just my opinion.
"What a fucking asshole," he finally says, running his hand across his face, staring at me wide-eyed.
"I would have chosen a different word, but that’s only because I’ve known the fucker my whole life," I say, sinking back into my desk chair.
"Did you tell his new fiancé 'fuck no'?" He mimics my actions.
"No, I didn’t. Actually, Cassandra took her for a coffee."
"She’s a better person than I am," he replies, pinching the bridge of his nose before taking one last swig and slamming his now-empty wine glass onto the desk. "Hell, you both are. I would have dropped that mother fucker years ago, ran away with the girl, the football career he wasn’t good enough for, and the superstar rich daddy he couldn’t impress."
"How many glasses have you had?" I joke.
"Seriously, man. It just shows all good things take time. His lies caught up with him and now he has to suffer the consequences," he says, straightening himself in his chair.
"I don’t know about that. Something happened after Cassandra’s chat with his new fiancé that caused her to want to see him afterward." A weird pang fills my chest. Even though she never told me she saw him, she didn’t have to.
She had guilt written all over her face and she wouldn’t feel guilty over just anything. But she assured mewewere good,and I had to trust her.
"She hasn’t told you what happened?" he asks, pouring himself another glass.
"No, she said she needed to talk to Jenna about it. Jenna knew them both together and separately, so she knew their relationship well. But her best friend is as brutally honest as they come. I know she’ll tell her what she needs to hear, even if she doesn’t want to hear it."
The thought of it even coming to that makes me feel squeamish, but I trust her.
I’ve got no choice.
"Is Jenna single?" he asks, giving me a lopsided smirk, trying to hide it behind his glass of red wine.
"Don’t even think about it, asshole. Plus, she would eat you alive," I reply, shutting that shit down real quick. "Stay away from her sisters, too."
Prick.
