Chapter 18
Caden
I had to get up and out of the house before Cara was awake, otherwise I might not have ever left the house, or the bed. I had laid in bed for hours, listening to her breathe and occasionally stealing a glance of her silhouette against the light from the outside. Even in the dark, she was breathtaking, and I had to remind myself of the weekend and evening I had just had.
In a mere ninety-six hours, my life had turned upside down. I had left Richmond single and somewhat content with where things were headed. I had come back after taking over my stepbrother’s company, and feeling myself falling in love with a woman.
I sat in my office at MaidenTech, sipping from my mug of coffee, hoping that caffeine might help clear my head and allow me to focus on the day. My official take-over wouldn’t actually happen until the papers were drawn up and emailed over for me to digitally sign. It was already a few hours into the workday and I was anxious. I had avoided many of the employees while I mentally prepared for my speech to explain what exactly had taken place over the weekend.
“Caden, are we still on for our ten o'clock?” Alex stuck his head around the corner of my office door and waited for my answer.
“Let’s hold off until this afternoon if that’s okay. We’ll have a quick company meeting and I’ve got a few things I need to wrap up.” The moment I finished my sentence, the email popped up on my laptop. The official documents.
“Sure thing,” Alex said and then hesitated. “Sounds like I missed a great weekend, lots of excitement.” Alex smirked and rolled his eyes. He had been with the company almost from the very start. He and I had grown close and he had become my right-hand man. I felt bad I hadn’t given him the heads up of what was happening, but I couldn’t risk saying a word to anyone else until it was official.
Clearly word had already spread about the drama Graham had created, or whatever gossip Graham had decided to spread himself. “I wouldn’t call it excitement,” I said to Alex. “Stress, yes. Either way, I can fill you in before the meeting. Just let me get these things wrapped up.”
Alex nodded and disappeared down the hall. I quickly opened up the attachments in the email, read through them, and clicked to digitally sign them. Everything appeared in order. The new shares of the company would be transferred to me and I’d be the majority stakeholder in the company.
It was done. No sooner had I sighed in relief, when I heard Graham’s voice echoing down the hallway. “Hey, hey…great weekend, right? What do they say? All play and no work…or something like that?” Graham laughed at his own stupid joke, trying to buddy up to the employees he’d flat out insulted over the weekend. His voice grew louder as he held on to the edge of the doorframe and swung into my office.
“What are you—” I began.
“Hey, big bro. Nice weekend, huh?” He laughed again, and then set the coffee he was holding on the corner of my desk. “That’s for you, picked it up at this little coffee shop down the street.”
He had a smirk on his face as he eased himself into the guest chair in my office.
“Graham, what the fuck are you doing here? You’re done here. Until we work out the details of your exit, you shouldn’t be here.” I could feel my face getting hot. “You need to go now. There’s nothing you can do or say to change things.”
I watched as Graham leaned back in the chair and kicked his feet up on my desk, right next to the coffee he had just put down.
“All of this over a girl? Seriously, Caden? Are you that hard up to get laid that you’re going to oust your brother from the company he started?” Graham crossed his feet and dangled his worn flip-flop from his foot. “Maybe you should reconsider. You know how much I’ve done for this company.”
“No Graham, I don’t, and no, this isn’t about me getting laid or about some girl. It’s about what you’ve done to this company, how I’ve felt sorry for you. But now I’m taking back what I’ve created. It’s done. The majority shares are mine. It’s as simple as that.”
Graham kicked his feet down to the floor and stood up looking down at me. “Fair enough, but I'm sure you'll reconsider. If not, I'm sure I'll have plenty of money to live off of and can use a little vacation. Just remember, I offered, especially since your mind will be elsewhere.” He chuckled as he pulled out his phone and tapped away. A moment later my phone vibrated with a new text, from Graham. “Just a little something that made me think of you while I was picking up that coffee.”
“I don't have time for your games.” I grabbed my phone and swiped to open the text. It was a picture of Cara kissing LJ. My heart sunk into my stomach as I stared at it. “What is this?”
“Don't you mean when? It was this morning.” Without saying another word, Graham left.
My entire world had just caved in on me.
* * * * *
Thank you for the note and flower. Having fun with your car. See you tonight. C.
I stared at my phone, reading the text over and over again. My thumbs hovered over the screen, prepared to type a response and then erasing it again.
“So much for giving us a shot,” I said in a strained voice to myself. The tension in my chest grew tighter as I paced quickly back and forth in the office.
“Caden?”
“What!” I snapped back without looking back at the door. I took a minute to regain my composure.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering whether I should gather everyone together for the company meeting. It’s almost time.” Jessica’s voice softened as I spun to look at her. All five feet of her tiny frame almost cowered just inside of the doorway as she waited for my answer.
“Jess, I’m sorry. No, I’m going to put it off until tomorrow. I…” I scrambled for a good excuse as I bit my lip. “I have a few things I need to finish up and I don’t want to rush them. Let’s do it tomorrow. Same time.”
“Sure thing,” she said as she scurried out of my office.
I quickly looked back at my phone and hovered my thumbs over the phone again. I wasn’t sure I was up for seeing Cara, especially after I knew what she had been up to that morning. I closed my eyes and imagined the conversation, him begging her back. I clenched my jaw, wanting to text back how I felt. Instead, I took a deep breath, held it and exhaled.
How could I have been such a fool to believe she wouldn’t run back to him? I wanted to believe there was a good explanation, but then again, there couldn’t be a good enough explanation as to why her lips were on his.
Change of plans. Meet me at 3pm at Fire & Water.
I hit send, not really caring whether she was going to be there or not. I had already forgotten she had my car, might be at my house or whatever it was she had been doing. I wondered what happened beyond the kiss. The more my mind wandered, the madder I became.
See you there! <3
I rolled my eyes at the heart, stuffed the phone in my pocket, and headed to Fire & Water to start drinking. It didn’t matter that I was an hour early—I needed a drink.
A short Uber ride later, and I sat on the far end of the bar at Fire & Water. The large garage doors to the patio were open, allowing the summer breeze to blow in the humidity and bugs. Luckily the dress code I had created at MaidenTech was casual. I was happy I had settled on a pair of jeans and light-colored t-shirt for the day. The stickiness of the day had already set in and I was mildly regretting picking this location for our meeting. I kept the stool next to me open for when Cara finally arrived.
I had replayed the conversation I was about to have with Cara in my head a million times. I knew exactly what I was going to say and how I was going to say it. By the second cold IPA, I had revised my speech, and I was midway into my third beer when Cara showed up.
The moment she walked through the door, my head spun. She was gorgeous and exactly like I remembered a few hours earlier. Then the wave of reality hit as she approached and smiled. Those lips had been on another man not long ago. It made me cringe.
“Hey you,” she said as she smiled and leaned in to kiss me. I briefly turned, giving her my cheek.
“Hey to you, too.” I could feel the coldness come over me. My nerves were on edge as every word I had practiced vanished from my head as I stared at her beautiful face.
“How was your day? I’m guessing good since you skipped out of work early.” She eyed the half glass of beer, looked back at me and then toward the bartender. “I’ll have what he’s having,” she said as she nodded at the beer.
“Actually, it was pretty shitty.” I took another big gulp of my beer and put the glass down. “How about you? Anything interesting happen?”
“Well, I did get to drive around in your car. I checked on a few things at work, but mostly played hooky today. I was looking forward to seeing you tonight.” The bartender slid the beer in front of Cara. She immediately grabbed it and raised it to me. “Cheers,” she said, waiting for me to raise my glass. Begrudgingly I did, and then took another big sip.
“Sounds like fun.” Small talk never had been my strongest skill, and I was already trying to figure out when to bring our conversation to the point I wanted to discuss: the kiss.
“Not really,” she said. “Caden, there’s something you need to know. I went home, and LJ had left me a letter at my house.” She looked into my eyes and for a moment, I could see the sadness. “It was both sweet and sad. I didn’t know what to do or think. I met LJ for coffee. I know, I promised to give us a chance, but…”
Hearing the words leave her mouth made it all so much more real. The tables had turned and everything she was saying was just noise. My mind raced as I imagined her coming here to break it off with me instead of the other way around. Again, my chest tightened and I could feel the alcohol setting into my system.
“... he kissed me.”
I snapped back to the present as the words burned my ears. “He what?” I clenched my jaw and fists at the same time. I had already known that it happened, but I was reliving the moment I saw the picture on my phone all over again. “How could you put yourself in that situation? Why would you? After last night? After what we both experienced?”
Cara extended her hand toward mine, and instinctively I pulled away. “It wasn’t like that Caden, I promise. We broke it off.”
“Yeah, after you kissed him.” The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them. I immediately took another sip of my beer to stop myself from saying anything else. I wanted to run. I wanted to walk out, but I wanted to be there because I wanted her so, so much.
I felt betrayed and lied to. I felt used. I felt like an idiot.
This was the exact reason I didn’t get involved in relationships.
Cara reached for my hand again, this time I allowed her to grab it. “Caden, it hurt hearing him say goodbye. I cried. I cried for a long time in the corner of that coffee shop.” She squeezed my hand hard as she looked me directly in the eyes. “Then I stopped crying when I thought about you. I stopped when I realized that he’d left me in that coffee shop alone. He walked away from me once again, but this time, I knew where I was going. To you.”
Her words felt good, but they didn’t take away the sting that another man had been kissing her just hours before.
I wasn’t sure how I felt or what I wanted at that very moment, other than for her to feel how betrayed I felt. I could feel my body shaking. I stood up, looked down at her, and pulled some twenty dollar bills out of my pocket, throwing them down on the bar. I didn’t care how much my tab was, and I knew I had put enough down to cover mine and hers, even if she stayed a while. Without another word, my eyes moved to the door and my body unwillingly followed them out.