Chapter 9: The Best

KADE

Oh, my God, this woman is actually going to kill me. What was she thinking, opening the door with her hair all wet and drippy? Her skin was shiny, like she was glowing.

~I only have so much self-control.~

I leave her apartment again and go back to my car. Right now, I feel trapped, confused, and most of all, stupid.

I pull out my phone and dial Sean while I drive.

“It’s early, what’s up?” he answers.

“I just need to vent.”

“What happened?”

“The girl from the party venue.”

He chuckles. “Your wife?”

“Yeah, asshole, that girl. She’s incredible, perfect, so fun, and so sweet…but sassy at the same time.”

“Okay, and the problem is?”

“She has a boyfriend and not just any boyfriend, a five-year boyfriend,” I explain.

“Ouch.”

“It gets worse.”

“How?”

“He’s an ass. He doesn’t pay attention to her and he talks down to her. I spent last night at her apartment, and he didn’t even know it because he didn’t call.”

“Kade, this sounds like a mess you should stay out of,” Sean cautions.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I could love her. She’s just…everything,” I admit.

“Wow. Okay, I mean, what’s your next move?”

“I need to go home and shower and eat something but I don’t know the rest yet.”

“Well, let me know when you figure it out.”

“Thanks for listening.” I hang up the phone and drive the rest of the way to my place. I still have no idea what I’m going to do but I do know that Sloan is incredible.

SLOAN

After I get out of the shower, I eat what feels like half of the food in my fridge, then brush my teeth, get dressed, and head to work.

When I get to the venue, there are still lots of people milling around, and when I walk into the ballroom, Jess approaches me.

“Sloan, hey, is there anything you need us to work on today?”

“The table settings you planned are good; maybe someone can work on those? I’m still figuring the rest out,” I admit.

“So, Kade Lawson, huh?” She raises her eyebrows.

My knees nearly buckle at the sound of his name. “What?”

“Sloan, he carried you out of here in his arms yesterday and posted about you on social media.”

“We’re friends.”

“Okay, stop kidding yourself.” She laughs and walks away.

~She’s right, who am I kidding?~

I shake myself back to reality and start to take stock of what I have to work with.

There is a pile of huge purple curtain panels. I start to check out some things online and an idea strikes me, so I spread out one panel on the floor and pull a felt-tipped pen from my purse.

I crawl around, freehand drawing abstract floral patterns and fractals. When I stand back, it actually looks fantastic.

~Okay, just nineteen more to go.~

I continue spreading out panels and drawing on them. Hours go by, and I hardly even notice it.

“Sloan.”

I keep crawling, drawing, and swirling my pen around until I feel a hand on my shoulder.

“Sloan.”

I look up and see Kade. “Oh, hi, sorry, I guess I was just lost in this.”

“What are you working on?” He smiles.

“These curtain panels are boring; I’m making them less boring.”

“It looks nice.”

“Thanks. I don’t know why I’m doing this to myself, I’ll be here all night,” I admit. “Why are you here today? More sound checks?”

“No, I came to see you. Figured you could use lunch.” He flashes me a dashing smile and passes me a bag of deep-fried heaven.

“Oh, my God, Kade, you’re a lifesaver.” I stand up and hug him.

“Can you spare a little time to eat with me?” he asks sweetly.

“Of course.” I grab my purse and follow him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

I laugh. “I just realized that you haven’t teased me at all yet.”

“It’s coming. Like, what do you call this?” He smiles as he pulls the pen out of my hair that I’ve been using to keep it off my face.

“Ingenuity.”

He laughs. “Uh-huh.”

“What? Hair in the face was the problem; I fixed it.”

“So, you’re like Inspector Gadget with a pen? Fixing hair and curtains, one pen at a time.”

“Yeah, and soon, I’ll save the world.”

We find a tree to sit under, away from most of the other people, then Kade passes me a burger and fries.

I smile. “Seriously, you’re the best.”

“What did Archie say?”

“Huh? Oh, shit, I haven’t even looked at my phone.”

I pull it out of my bag and see the battery is nearly dead and there is only one more text from Archie last night.

Archie

Sloan. Come on.

“Ugh,” I groan out loud.

“What?”

“He just said, ‘Come on.’ What does he want from me?”

“Forgiveness.”

“I don’t forgive him, not yet,” I admit, then I get an idea; I snap a picture of my tattoo and send it to Archie.

“Sloan!” Kade gasps.

I smile. “You said you wanted to watch; let’s see what he says.”

It only takes like five seconds for Archie to text back.

Archie

What the fuck?

Sloan

Archie, you shouldn’t talk like that.

“Sloan, are you sure?” Kade asks with a worried expression on his face.

“Yeah, I am. We’re fighting, and he can deal with it,” I say and I feel pretty proud of myself.

~No more excuses for Archie~.

Archie

Where are you? We need to talk.

Sloan

Working.

Archie

Where?

Sloan

At the party venue, you’d know if you paid attention.

When I’m done texting, I turn my phone off.

“I mean, I’m proud of you, but he seems pretty pissed.” Kade gives me a nervous grin.

“It’s like you said last night—I’m pissed too. He can get off his high horse and realize he’s messed up or he can suck eggs.”

“Suck eggs, huh? Bringing out the big guns?” he chuckles.

“Yeah, the more I think about the whole thing, the more pissed I get,” I admit.

“I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”

“For Archie? Bad. For me? Probably good. I’ve been letting him get away with this stuff for too long.”

“I agree. How is your food?”

“Heavenly. If you keep feeding me all this good food, I won’t leave you alone. I’m like a stray cat.”

“Maybe it’s all part of my evil plan.” He raises his eyebrows up and down.

I burst into laughter and snort accidentally.

“Holy hell, you did not just snort?” He laughs.

I cover my face in embarrassment.

“It was cute.”

“Maybe you’re hearing things?” I smile sweetly.

“Like your nose growing?”

“Would that make a sound?”

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” he says thoughtfully.

“What?”

He laughs. “Just saying.”

I crack into laughter. “You’re actually insane.”

“Thank you.” He smiles, so I throw a french fry at him.

He smiles. “What are you doing tonight?”

“Drawing flowers, probably.”

“Really?”

“I mean, now that I’ve started, I kind of have to finish. The party is in two days.”

“Maybe I can help?”

I giggle. “Can you draw flowers?”

“I think so, I’m not a total idiot.”

“Why?”

“So that you can hang out with me when we’re done.” He smiles sweetly.

“What are we going to do?”

“We’re playing at the Blue Ocean tonight. It’s a small private show that isn’t publicized. We’re just doing it because they helped us get our start.”

“That actually does sound like fun.”

“Of course! Would your best friend take you anywhere boring?” He grins.

“I guess not.”

“So, let’s go draw some flowers.”

“If you insist.”

Kade follows me inside, and I help him spread out another panel and give him a felt-tipped pen. He watches me for a while, then tries on his own and does a pretty good job mirroring my images.

“Kade, you’re seriously the best. I don’t think I could have gotten this done without you.”

“It’s actually kind of fun,” he admits.

Kade and I spend the next few hours drawing on all the panels, talking and laughing along the way. Before I know it, we’re finished.

“Kade, thank you, seriously. You’re saving me.”

“Maybe I just wanted to spend more time with you. Maybe I enjoyed it.” He smiles.

“Maybe I had fun too.”

“Good!”

“I’m not about to try to hang these up. I learned my lesson. Let me go find Jess and see if they can handle this. I’ll be right back.”

After talking to Jess and showing her where the team should hang the panels, I walk outside with Kade.

“What time tonight? I just want to go home and wash this marker off my hands and clean up.”

“I’ll pick you up. I don’t know, like, seven?”

“Okay. Thank you again.” I smile, then lean in to give him a hug. He smells so good, but I do my best to ignore it.

He smiles and heads toward his car, and I can’t help but watch him walk away.