He huffs, pulling his phone back as he types at the screen. “Takeout will be here in twenty minutes. Have dinner with me.”
I rub my hands over my face, wishing the ground would swallow me whole at this point. “I can’t believe…”
“It’s a lot,” he shrugs. “There’s still one more thing…”
I blanch. “There’smore?!”
Kaden rolls his lips in. “Can you guess his daughter’s name?”
The color drains from my face. “No…” I whisper.
He nods. “He named her Melody in case he slipped up.”
I fist my hair. “I need afuckingdrink.”
He sits back in his chair, smirking. “I have something better.”
I’ve never been high before, but for the first time in months, I’m so light that I don’t even care that I’m sitting in Kaden’s office, eating Chinese food with him. Everything is slowed, and my body tingles, but it’s nice.
“Food tastes so good when you’re high,” I say as I chew on some sweet and sour chicken. Kaden’s fork invades my container, and I smack him away. “Stop trying to eat mine.”
He chuckles, his eyes bloodshot. “I didn’t get any Lo Mein.”
“Sucks to suck,” I quip as I take another hearty bite.
“You have sauce…” Kaden trails before his thumb swipes at the corner of my lips, and he licks it clean. “There.”
“You’re a freak,” I giggle.
“No, Dylan is a freak. Did you see the way he was fucking? He looked like a virgin.”
I guffaw, throwing my head back. “Oh, my god! The two pump chump.”
“That’s just sad,” Kaden laughs.
I sigh as I stare down at my food. “I need to end things. I’ve been ignoring him.”
“Good,” he praises. “He deserves to be ignored.”
“Thank you for this,” I say thoughtfully.
Kaden brushes my hair out of my face, staring at me softly. “I’m sorry, Melody.”
I blink at him, my brain still slow to process. “Sorry? About what?”
His face remains kind and not at all as cruel as it was the other day. It’s almost off-putting. “Nothing. Go home and get some sleep.”
That’s it?
Huh.
Maybe I have misjudged this whole situation. Regardless, I’m glad he’s being a shoulder to cry on when I need one. This has been…nice.
He walks me out to my car, making sure I get there safely. As I drive away, I almost miss the way his face hardens. It’s subtle in my rearview, and I think I imagined it.
Chapter fifty-nine
Kaden
