“Well, if you want to be crass about it.” Devlin was still grinning, the bastard.
The dishwasher poked his head around the corner. “Finished, boss.”
“Thanks, Juan. Have a good night.” Once he left, Devlin turned back to me and explained, “Baron told Roy. Roy told Rena’s mom.”
“Rena’s mom knows?” I dragged the letter M out a little, my frustration bleeding through.
“What, you care about your reputation suddenly? That doesn’t sound like you. The only thing Rena’s mom mentioned was that you and Tasha were in the park after-hours. Roy must have spared her the details. I, however, have a good guess that you and Tasha were up to more than therapy out there.” He assessed me with a head tilt that sent his longish black hair over his forehead. “Guess it worked, though. Who knew the way to untangle your tongue was through your dick?”
I muttered a surly, “Fuck off,” but I felt my smile emerge the second I turned my back. I couldn’t help it. Tasha made me happy. Happy was a new emotion for me. I could get used to it.
His phone chimed behind me as he was shutting off the lights. “Rena’s here. Will you pop that door open for her?”
I pushed open the back door. Then my heart stopped.
Rena was there, but so was Tash. I hadn’t seen her since yesterday morning. We waited for Paul to leave for work before we came out of the bedroom (her request), and then I drove her to her apartment. I didn’t realize how much I missed her until I saw her standing there. Until warmth spread over my chest.
She’d spent the day at class and at work, and I’d been here for a double shift. Rena must have caught my gobsmacked expression. She grinned knowingly at me.
“I know that you know,” I grumbled.
“Oh, but I know so much more than you think I know.” She patted my cheek sweetly before going to Devlin. In the darkened distance of the kitchen, I heard telltale slurping sounds as they kissed each other hello.
“Hi.” Tasha shuffled on her feet. “How was your—”
I kissed her, gentle but deep. I didn’t care if Devlin walked in on us and gave me hell about it for weeks to come. I only cared about reacquainting myself with Tasha’s flavor.
“Mm,” I hummed when I pulled away. As delicious as I remembered.
Her lips pulled into a smile. I liked being the one who made her smile. I liked her, period.
“How was your day?” she asked, her hands resting over my heart.
“Good and getting better,” I answered. I’d even spoken a few times to the kitchen staff. I’d turned to the salad guy and said, “Hand me that bus tub, Slick.”
The look on Hamilton’s face had been priceless.
“Who wants a drink?” Devlin interrupted. “Bar’s open for a private party of four.”
Chapter Seventeen
Tasha
Since the rehab center had called to tell me I had the evening off, I texted my best friend and asked if she wanted to hang out. As luck would have it, she hadn’t had to work tonight either. And, okay, you guessed it. I told her absolutely everything. And I don’t mean almost everything. I mean I told her everything.
Who better to ask for relationship advice than my head-over-heels best friend? I trusted Rena. She was my ultimate safe space.
When she’d finally stopped rejoicing over how happy she was for me, she dedicated a few minutes to badmouthing Tony, which was nice to hear. Then we went shopping. Well, I went shopping. Rena endured it. She was a jeans-and-T-shirt kind of girl. Me, I couldn’t leave without the black-and-white striped dress I wore now. Cade’s eyes had sparkled when he saw me, so I considered it worth every dollar.
At Oak & Sage’s swanky bar, Devlin served drinks like a pro. Rena and I chose wine while our guys drank draft beers. There was something decadent about being in an empty, dimly lit restaurant. It felt naughty, and like everything else I’d done lately that felt naughty, it also felt really good.
Cade drank down a few inches of his pint and licked the foam off his top lip. He noticed me staring and winked. Was I exorcising my bad-girl demons with him, or were my feelings for him deeper than that? Too soon to tell.
“You look incredible,” he told me.
“Thank you.” I fingered the hem of the dress, which stopped way, way above my knees. He watched hungrily as I flashed a bit of thigh.
“If you two can manage to stop gazing adoringly into each other’s eyes,” Devlin interjected, “Cade promised me a round of quarters.”
“He likes losing,” Cade said, the idea of a challenge straightening his back.
Sexy.
“We’ll see.” Dev flipped a quarter in the direction of a beer glass a few feet away. It landed in the bottom with a plink.
“Go.” I nudged Cade. “Kick his ass.” He grinned before leaning in and kissing me long and slow.
While Cade and Devlin set up their game at a corner booth, Rena picked up her wineglass and moved to the seat next to me.
“Has it graduated to the boyfriend stage yet?” She stole a glance across the room.
“I’m not sure. We’re friends. And the sex is…” I motioned with my wineglass. “Well, I told you about it.”
“If memory serves, you used the words ‘mind-blowing,’ ‘tooth-tingling,’ and ‘knee-numbing.’”
“I never said ‘knee-numbing.’” Though that was another good descriptor for it. But that wasn’t all that sex with Cade was. I felt indescribably safe with him. I’d never been as close to anyone as I was the night I’d spent in his bed.
The sound of a quarter pinging off glass and hitting the floor was followed by Devlin’s shout of defeat. I smiled when a smug grin lit Cade’s face.
“He’s different from before,” Rena said, her tone thoughtful. “I think you had a lot to do with that.”
I hoped so. Was that selfish?
She was right, though. Cade had changed. He’d gone from a cocky, smart-mouthed jerk to a cocky, silver-tongued hunk. Almost silver-tongued. He wasn’t totally out of the woods, yet.
“Devlin told me about the girlfriend Cade had during freshman year.” Rena kept her voice low. “It makes sense why he was so bitter after she left. I can’t imagine what it was like to…” She trailed off, probably noticing my crestfallen expression. “You didn’t know.”
I shook my head, embarrassed. We didn’t talk much when we were together. Even though that was the original reason I had started hanging around with him.
“I’m sorry I brought it up.” She grimaced.
“It’s okay.” I forced a smile I hoped conveyed I didn’t care about Cade’s ex-girlfriends. “We just started…”
I didn’t finish my thought since I wasn’t sure what else to say. What had we “just started” anyway? Sleeping together? Communicating like civilized human beings? Exercising independence from our parents? I didn’t know how to fill in that blank, and I wasn’t sure if it was too soon or too late to have that conversation with Cade.
“Anyway. It doesn’t matter!” she concluded. “You two are happy together. Enjoy it.”