In a friendly way.
She'd given him an inch and he'd tried to take a mile, getting handsy with her until she'd had to knee him in the balls. Brad had yelled, causing everyone to run into the kitchen to see what was going on. Mariah looked pissed. Brad was yelling and saying that she'd lost her mind. She'd told Ryan what had happened and then she told Brad that she wasn't sorry. He needed to learn to keep his hands to himself.
And he had. Brad had never tried anything with Mariah again, although he'd pulled that crap with most of the other females in their group more than once.
As for Ryan, his close friendship with Brad had never been the same. At one point, they'd been more like brothers, but after Brad's actions with Mariah, Ryan had put some distance between them. He simply couldn't trust him the same way.
I should have punched him that night. He'd deserved it.
"But I did handle it," Mariah said, breaking into his thoughts. "He was always that way, pushing at every boundary he came across. Sometimes, I wonder if that's what happened to him. Did he run into the wrong person that night? Did someone take offense to something that he did?"
She spoke the last part so softly Ryan almost didn't hear the words.
"I've often wondered about that myself," he confessed. "Brad could be so naive about the world at times. He thought everyone was just like him. Just out for a good time."
"Everything was a game," she whispered into her glass, taking another sip. "It was all fun."
"Until he disappeared."
She set the glass down and pushed it away slightly. "When was the last time you saw him? What did he say?"
"He was at the pool table with Theo and Carl. Caroline and Daphne were there, too. I told him that you and I were going to leave. He said that he was going to stay and have some more fun. He wanted to win back some money from Carl at pool after he took a leak. He headed to the bathroom and that's the last time I saw him."
Mariah nodded. "I saw him in the hallway. I was coming out the ladies' room so we could leave and he was going into the men's room. He didn't see me, I don't think, but that's the last time I saw him. Do you think that he walked out of the back door? Cameras never saw him walk out the front."
Ryan had already thought about that. "It was an emergency door and had an alarm on it. We've both heard it go off and there's no way someone wouldn't have heard it. It was loud as hell. I don't see how he could have walked out of it without everyone knowing."
"Then how could he get outside and into the construction site next door?"
"That's what I need to find out."
"Can you? Really? After all these years?"
"I'm going to do my best. It's what Brad and his family deserves." Ryan paused but his mouth didn't. "I'm not that thrilled to be here, if I'm honest. I just want to do my job and get back to my life."
Now why did I say that out loud?
Her expression changed from sad to angry in an instant.
"I feel sorry for your parents and Liza. They love you, you know, but you act like they're the worst people on earth."
"I don't," he replied reflexively. "I love Liza. I adore her. But you know I have a difficult relationship with Jack and Pat."
Crossing her arms over her chest, she shook her head. "I noticed that you didn't say that you loved them. They're your parents, Ryan. They raised you and gave you everything."
"Yes, everything that money could buy."
She rolled her eyes and groaned. "You're upset because you didn't have the parents of your dreams. But your parents were fine. Give me a break."
She didn't get it and she never had.
"You wouldn't understand. Your parents are all touchy-feely hippies that said I love you every day of your life. I bet you got a hug and praise when you graduated high school. In fact, I know you did. My dad told me that I needed to buckle down for college."
"Your mom and dad bought you a BMW for high school graduation. I think that's praise. I'm sorry that you didn't get a hug as well. I know what that would have meant for you but Jack and Pat just aren't huggers. It doesn't make them bad parents, it just makes them emotionally closed off. But if you think they don't love you, you're delusional. They love you. They just don't know how to say it. So they show it. With stuff."
"Maybe I didn't want stuff."
Sighing, Mariah reached across the counter and placed her hand on his. The skin burned where she touched it as if it was 2008 again.
You can't go back in time.
"You're one of the smartest people I've ever known, but the one thing you don't get is that people aren't always what you want them to be, Ryan. Your life would be a lot easier if you stopped expecting people to change for you, and then being upset when they don't or can't. The fact is some people can easily say I love you without actually feeling it. Your parents can feel it but they can't say it. I know which one I'd rather have but you have to make your own decisions." She leaned forward so they were nose to nose. "By the way, you're not exactly Mr. Eloquent. You rarely told me you loved me when we were together. You rarely let me in any of your emotions, for that matter, so basically you're the pot in this scenario and your parents are the kettle."
He could feel the heat of anger on the back of his neck. She was twisting the past into something that it wasn't.
"I think you and I don't remember the past the same."
She shrugged. "Maybe we don't."
He stepped back, trying to get some breathing room. It was always like this with Mariah.
She was intense and she challenged him at every turn. He didn't want tonight to turn into a battle. Or a war.
"This is why I'm not sure we can be friends."
Brushing by him, she marched over to the door and opened it. For a split second, he'd felt the heat of her body and smelled her distinct perfume. It was sultry and spicy and at one point in his life it had made him crazy with lust.
But no more. I'm immune.
Fuck that, who am I kidding? One hour in her company and I'm like a teenage kid again.
"Then you should probably go," she said, still holding the door open. "I'll try and avoid you as much as possible. Good luck with the investigation."
He hesitated for a moment but her expression was clear - he was an asshole. She was done with him...at least for now. This was why he'd ended their relationship. They didn't see things the same way.
"Thank you for dinner," he said, moving toward the door. "I really don't want us to be at each other's throats. I just–"
"Don't want to be friends," she said, finishing his sentence before he could. "Got it. I think you're right. You haven't changed a bit, Ryan, and that's not a good thing. So good night."
He didn't argue. There was no point. Instead he exited her apartment and entered his own, shutting the door behind him. Blowing out a long breath, he leaned back against the door.
The woman made him insane. He couldn't think straight when they were breathing the same air, so close together. His mind got all muddled up and the next thing he knew he was saying shit he never would have if he'd had his head on straight. He hadn't meant to hurt her and he realized that he had. She'd taken his statement about being friends personally when it wasn't about her. It was about him.