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“If you don’t do it for me, Jared, I’m going to tell her how you feel,” Cade says, giving me a look.
I sigh and reply, “It’s not right, Cade. She thinks she loves you! How can you cheat on her like you do?”
“It’s not really cheating, Jared, if she doesn’t know,” he sneers.
“It’s cheating if she thinks you’re only dating her,” I fire back. He glares at me, and I cave. “Fine. But someday, she’s going to realize what an asshole you really are, and you’ll be left watching her walk away.”
He chuckles. “As if she’d ever do that. I’ve got her right where I want her, Jared, and you better not say a fucking word.”
God, I hate my older brother right now. He’s such a jerk and reminds me a little too much of my uncle. I have no clue why he doesn’t take after our dad, who is as down to earth as anyone I’ve ever met. Hell, Dad still takes Mom’s car out once a week, gets it gassed up and detailed, for fuck’s sake.
“Jared?” She touches my arm and I hear the concern in her voice. I glance at her, and guilt eats at me when I see how worried she now looks.
“Sorry, Cass. Just got lost in my own head for a few. To answer your question, no, there’s no one who’s ever come close to becoming Mrs. Jared Knox.”
Except you. If you told me that you wanted the position, I’d call Judge Drake and have him marry us tonight, I muse.
“I’m kind of glad, Jared, because you deserve someone who’ll treat you the way you deserve,” she says before she tries to pull her hand away. I stop her and lace our fingers together then lay them on my thigh.
“You deserve the same, Cassidy.”
My voice is low and filled with emotions that I thought I had locked down years ago. Apparently, where she’s concerned, they managed to escape anyhow.
“Thinking that’s not on my horizon,” she admits. “I mean, I work at the damn grocery store and while there’s nothing wrong with that at all, not many eligible men come through my line. Unless you count Mr. Ackerman.”
I can’t help it; I start laughing because Josiah Ackerman is at least sixty-five if he’s a day. Not to mention, he’s a curmudgeon, the type of person who scares small children who dare to play too close to his yard.
“Aw, you don’t want to marry an old man and end up with his fortune?” I tease.
“Now you sound like Mags,” she grumbles, even though I see her fighting back a smile.
“How’s she doing?” I ask. I always liked her; she’s loyal to a fault and always had Cassidy’s back, especially when shit hit the fan.
“I miss her. In fact, I have no clue how she manages to hear the gossip from here when she’s nearly a thousand miles away!”
“What do you mean?” I question.
“She’s the one who told me that Cade was back in town. How the heck did she find out?”
“No clue, honey. But I’m sure someone passed it on to her.” I see her shiver at my endearment. Once again, I hope to see her shiver for an entirely different reason.
“Probably so. Where are we going?” she asks.
“Thought we’d go out to McGee’s,” I reply. It was one of our favorite places when we were teens and I’m banking on the fact that our memories there will aid my cause, which is to tie her to me in every possible way. I have no problem using those former ties to bind her to me, building on the friendship we once shared.
“I haven’t been there since I came back!” she exclaims. “Do you think they still have the trashcan nachos we used to eat?”
I start laughing because that’s not what they’re called on the menu; it’s what we started calling them when we realized that they had multiple layers of meat, as well as refried beans, pico, guacamole, sour cream, and of course, cheese. Lots and lots of cheese.
“I’m sure they do and if they don’t, we’ll see if they can recreate them for us.”
“I’m glad you asked me to come out tonight, Jared. I-I’m sorry that I pushed you away after, you know,” she murmurs. “You were one of my best friends but despite that, I bailed on you when I left town.”
I take a deep breath at her words, hearing the regret in her tone. Once we graduated, she left town to go to college, and never responded to any of my calls, letters, or texts.
“Cassidy, believe it or not, I totally understood why you didn’t keep in contact with me. I am, after all, his brother.”
“But the two of you are nothing alike!” she cries out. “Only, I was so hurt, I forgot that fact.”
