Cara comes over to us, and Rhett heads back into the club, lifting his arms behind his head in obvious frustration. Her eyes look a little red, from anger or tears I’m not sure, but she puts on a brave face.
“Come on, let’s get out of here. You need a drink. Or ten,” Clover says, wrapping her arm around her.
Cara sighs and nods. She then glances between us, blinking slowly. “This world is way too small.”
“You’re telling me.”
I want to hug her, and tell her life is only going to get better for her after getting rid of the dead weight that is her, hopefully, soon to be ex-boyfriend.
She needs someone who is going to make her a wife, not a part-time girlfriend.
Becca takes the inopportune moment to come up to me and grab my arm. Felix looks on in amusement. “You’re here for how long? Two nights?”
I flash him a look that begs him to shut up. Being my ex-partner, let’s just say the man knows me quite well. Right now he doesn’t need to be saying anything in front of Cara, because she doesn’t need to know that side of me, and fuck, she just found her man with another woman. I doubt she wants another womanizer.
“Sorry, going to head off with my friends,” I say to Becca, forcing a smile and gently removing her arm. “Maybe next time.”
She scowls but leaves, and I turn to find Cara’s eyes on me, watching my interaction.
Dammit.
Felix looks at Clover and comments in an amused tone, “Nice to see some things never change.”
“Oh, things are changing, all right,” she comments, glancing at her best friend, who still has her eyes on me. Great, now she’s going to think I’m some fuck boy.
Hell, maybe I am.
I don’t know why I care what she thinks. I mean, she is clearly in a messy situation of her own and I don’t need to be worrying about anything to do with her.
“You drove here?” Felix asks me.
I nod. “Yeah, I’ll taxi it back to the hotel and come get my car in the morning.”
“We’ll give you a ride,” he offers, nodding to his car across the road. “Do you want to come and hang out with us first? I haven’t seen you in a few weeks now.”
“Sounds good.”
And that’s how I ended up back at the Wind Dragons clubhouse.
* * *
I came here on a good night, or a bad one, depending on how you look at it. It’s someone’s birthday, which is why Clover and Felix came to visit in the first place, so there’s a pretty cool party happening at the clubhouse, and everyone is drinking. Coming in as a stranger, I get quite a few looks, but Clover and Felix are quick to tell everyone that I’m with them and that I’m a trusted friend.
“Don’t tell them about Constance,” Cara whispers to me. “Now is not the time.”
“Okay, that’s your business. I’m not going to say a thing.”
“Sorry you got dragged into my drama before,” she says, smiling sadly. “I’m so embarrassed. And to be honest, I’m feeling a little numb right now.”
“You don’t need to apologize, and you have nothing to be embarrassed about. No one dragged me. I walked right up there and brought myself into it. Something I’m used to doing as an ex-police officer.”
“I just don’t even know what to think right now,” she admits.
“Don’t think, just distract,” I suggest, giving her the terrible advice I would give myself.
She looks down and smiles. “It’s such a small world. I know you told me you knew Felix, but seeing you two together on my home turf? That’s wild.”
“Yep, I know.”
I feel like I’ve wandered right into the other side of Felix’s life. One I had briefly heard about—I knew that his wife had MC ties and that it was a very complicated situation for them, but it seems to have all worked out for him.
I mean, he’s still a cop, and right now he’s in a biker clubhouse having a drink with Clover’s dad, who I find out is a former president of the Wind Dragons MC. Weird. I’ve known her for years now and I never knew how connected she was to the Wind Dragons.
“Bet you never thought you’d end up here.” Cara smirks, crossing her arms over her chest and looking out at all of her friends and family. She points to a man in the corner, one who is currently watching her through a narrowed gaze. “That’s my dad.”
The man in question brings his eyes to me. “He looks just as happy to see me as your boyfriend was.”
She laughs. “You’re probably used to that welcome, right?”
I turn to her with a grin. “You might be surprised to know that lots of people find me charming.”
She smiles again, and even with her eyes red from crying, she looks beautiful. It’s like she radiates warmth, and I don’t know how any man could be okay to make her feel the way that Rhett did.
“I don’t doubt it. I’m going to get a drink, or ten, as Clover suggested. Do you want one?”
“I’d love one,” I reply, watching her disappear back into the kitchen and leaving me standing against a wall alone.
“Who are you?” a woman asks, leaning against the wall next to me. Just by looking at her, I know that she’s Cara’s mother. She looks just like her. And let’s just say that Cara is going to be an attractive woman at any age, because her mother is beautiful.
Cara quickly approaches, two beers in hand, saving me from the inquisition. “Mom, this is Decker. Decker, meet my mom.”
“Lovely to meet you, Mrs. Ward,” I say, offering her my hand.
“Please call me Bailey.”
“Bailey,” I correct.
“Where’s Rhett?” she asks next, arching her brow at her daughter.
Straight to the point. I like her.
“He’s around. I doubt he’s coming tonight. He got a bit distracted,” Cara says, shrugging. She gives nothing away. It’s just like she has flicked a switch and turned all of the pain off. I both admire her for it and worry about her.
“How do you two know each other?” Bailey presses, glancing between us, trying to figure out why the hell I’m standing here right now with her daughter while her boyfriend is nowhere to be seen.
“He’s a friend of Felix and Clover’s,” Cara explains as she hands me a beer.
I thank her and then respond to Bailey, “Apparently that means a friend of Cara’s, too.”