Playing Pretend (21 page)

“I’m not sure I should tell you.” However candid my response, it was the only way to be when it came to Aaliyah. “You have, after all, been consorting with the enemy.”

“You can’t hold that against me when
he
called
me,”
she argued.

Fair point.

I dropped my arms with an exasperated sigh. “Fine. If I’m to give you all the dirty details, we need wine, and a lot of it.”

Aaliyah looked a little anxious. “
All
the dirty details?”

“Ha!” I burst out, turning on my heel. “You asked for it.”

I heard her mutter, “What have I gotten myself into?” from behind me and couldn’t help but wonder the same thing.

“BEAT THE FUCKER
at his own game,” said Aaliyah, sipping her wine. I giggled into my glass. We’d been sitting outside on the terrace for the last hour. Amy Winehouse crooned in the background, singing about a woman named ‘Valerie’ while I filled Aaliyah in on what had happened with Caleb.

“Screw him and then run away like a dog with his tail between his legs?”

“No,” she huffed, like I was missing the point. “Blow hot and cold, and see how his dick likes it when you leave him unsatisfied.”

“But he didn’t leave me unsatisfied,” I laughed, watching with deliberate amusement as Aaliyah’s mouth twisted.

“Okay, I know I said you can tell me what happened, but Caleb is still my boss, and I’d rather not be thinking about his sex life or how good he is with his wanger.”

I spat out my last sip of wine, and almost choked. “Wanger? What the hell is that?”

Aaliyah flicked her hand in the air. “Penis. Dick. Cock. Whatever you call it.”

“Wanger is the worst of them!”

“Actually, no. ‘Penis’ is the worst of them. There’s nothing attractive about that word.”

“There’s nothing attractive about a penis,” I snickered from behind my hand. Aaliyah gave me a side-glance. “It might not
look
attractive, but if he’s doing what he’s supposed to be doing, then honey, you shouldn’t be looking at it at all.”

My mouth formed a smirk. “Sounds like you’re speaking from experience. Are you talking about Devon’s wanger, or Landon’s?”

With a smug expression, Aaliyah drained the remainder of her wine and I decided then that as far as friends went, she wasn’t a bad one to have. I liked the person she’d become after she’d officially started dating Landon, even if I couldn’t tell her as much. I’d come to realize that Aaliyah struggled with affection of any nature. Either way, I was thrilled for her.

“Did you have a date tonight?” I asked after a while had passed. It was just past nine o’clock, and the air was warm, and a little muggy. Somewhere between my three glasses of wine, and my conversation with Aaliyah, I was able to put things into perspective.

“I rescheduled,” she replied, bending down to grab her phone. “Chicks before dicks and all that.”

I shook my head, a smile playing at my lips. “I didn’t call you, Liy. Caleb did.”

Aaliyah grinned, and righted herself, her phone in her hand. “That’s beside the point.” Her grin fell. “Oh fuck…”

Just then my phone went off, and I lifted it from the floor beside me to see a Google Alert.

“No, Kadence, don’t look…” Aaliyah’s words trailed off, and my stomach plummeted to what felt like the lobby of the Puck building. The Google Alert came with the caption
“Trouble in Paradise for New York’s hottest new couple?”
, followed by a picture of Caleb talking to a busty brunette dressed in nothing but dark shades, and a white bikini. It was dated to that afternoon, and from the location of the photograph I could tell it was taken in the Hamptons. Caleb was smiling, the woman beside him laughing, and the moment a little too intimate to be photographed intentionally.

“Kadence, I don’t think it’s what you think it is.”

“Don’t defend him, Liy. Just don’t.”

I scrolled down, and the photograph that came next made my heart stutter in the most painful way. It was another picture, this one with the brunette holding a sleeping Braelynn in her arms with Caleb looking at them with genuine affection. I wasn’t sure when I came to the impudent assumption that they belonged to me, but I had, and I couldn’t escape the unwarrantable feeling that the stranger in the photographs had taken something from me.

As if on cue, my phone rang, but when I saw Caleb’s name flashing on the screen I declined without hesitating. Seconds later, Aaliyah’s phone also rang, and the plea in my eyes to decline his call went ignored.

“Hello?”

I blew out an incensed breath, wondering why Caleb felt the need to ruin everything. It’s as if he knew the exact moment I thought I had everything figured out, and decided to prove how ‘unfigured’ out I really had it.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Aaliyah cast her glance in my direction, her black brows furrowed. “Because you were an asshole, Caleb.”

I heard a rumble from the other end of the line, and then Aaliyah’s phone was in front of me.

“He wants to talk to you. He’s being pissy, so I don’t think he’ll take ‘no’ for an answer.”

Again with the trampling.

All because Caleb wasn’t getting his way.

With renewed chagrin, I snatched the phone from Aaliyah’s hand and pressed it to my ear.

“What?” I snapped, louder than expected.

“Kadence. Let me explain.”

I was caught off guard by the ruefulness in Caleb’s voice.

I rose to my feet, and wrapped my free arm around my waist. “Explain what, Caleb?”

“The photographs. I know you’ve seen them.”

The laugh that flew from my mouth was dry, and empty. “Is that all you’re calling to explain? Some meaningless photographs of you and a nameless brunette? How thoughtful of you.”

“It’s not what it looks like, so just listen-”

“I don’t care, Caleb. You can be photographed with whoever the fuck you want, but remember that you’re the one who looks like the asshole here, not me.”

“Look, Kadence, I’m sorry, okay? I have been feeling like crap all day, and then I got angry because you were wandering around the city without any regard for your own safety…”

I gasped when Caleb trailed off and realized his mistake.

“How did you know what I was doing today?”

Silence.

“Caleb,” I hedged. “Tell me how you knew.”

He sighed. “I told you Alfie would be around if you needed anything, but then he called to let me know you’d left, and I told him to follow you.”

I turned around, and found Alfie standing between the atrium and the living room, his hands folded in front of his parted legs. Where the hell had he come from? I’d completely forgotten about him.

“Do you know how ridiculous you sound? Having me followed is an invasion of my privacy, and my whereabouts are none of your concern.”

“Your safety is my concern, and wandering around without Alfie is reckless, Kadence.”

I couldn’t…

“How dare you.” My voice cracked, just a little. “You have no right to have me followed.”

“I know you’re upset about this morning,” started Caleb, but I cut him off.

“Upset? You mean before or after you fucked me and then left?”

“Will you just give me chance to explain?” Caleb sounded exasperated.

“No. You don’t deserve it. We’re done. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.”

I ended the call, and returned the phone to Aaliyah.

“That was badass,” she said, lifting an unopened bottle of wine. “We should celebrate your induction into the Bad Ass Hall of Fame.”

Her words registered, and I knew that all she wanted was to make me feel better, but right then I wanted nothing more than to leave.

“I have a better idea,” I told her. It was only 9:30 p.m. and the night was still far too young for it to be over. “Let’s go out.”

Aaliyah’s face lit up. “Impromptu Girls Night Out?”

I nodded. “Think Annabelle would be game?”

“Oh hell yes. I’ll call her while you get ready.”

With a single dip of my head, I walked through the living room and glowered at Alfie. His expression remained stoic.

“We’re going out, in case you want to call Caleb and let him know.”

I huffed when he didn’t reply, and continued on to the guest bedroom. I found my bordering-on-indecent little black dress, a necessity in any modern woman’s arsenal, and my highest pair of heels. Caleb had the audacity to assume he had some right to be concerned, and even go so far as to have me followed, but I was going to prove to him that he was wrong. I might have agreed to help him, but that in no way meant I answered to him. In fact, I hadn’t answered to
anyone
in a really long time, and I wasn’t about to start now.

GIRLS NIGHT OUT was a disaster, and my Friday night was officially a bust. I stared at my two love-struck friends, and wondered why I thought they were the best choice for the plan I’d had in mind. I guess it no longer mattered though, because shortly after we’d arrived, Brian and Landon had shown up, and that shot my plan to shit. While Aaliyah and Landon flirted without shame, and Annabelle looked about ready to bang Brian right there amidst the crowd, I got stuck talking to some investment banker named Eugene. He was thirty-three years old but already had a widows peak and had gone grey prematurely when he was twenty-six. That was after he married and divorced his high school sweetheart, and had an affair with a woman fifteen years his senior. The guy wasn’t even drunk and he’d told me his whole life story, making me wish that I was drunk just so that I wouldn’t have to listen.

“So, what is it that you do?” he asked, sipping his cheap whiskey and soda (seriously?).

I stared at him, and tried to recall what he’d just asked me. When I looked over his shoulder, I saw that Alfie was still standing by the door watching us. He’d stopped trying to be unimposing an hour ago. I sighed, accepting defeat.

“I’m sorry,” I said, looking back at Eugene. “But my friend over there is calling me, and I have to go, but it was nice meeting you.”

I was up and out of my seat before he could reply, and walked towards Aaliyah and Annabelle.

“I’m off,” I told them, pulling at the hem of my dress. I suddenly felt a little underdressed and uncomfortable. “I’ll see you girls at the office on Monday.”

“You can’t go,” said Aaliyah. She barely separated herself from Landon, and from the glassy look in her eyes it was clear that she’d had a little too much to drink.

“It’s fine, I’m just going to have Alfie take me back to Caleb’s.”

“Are you sure?” asked Annabelle, smiling from her spot on Brian’s lap. “The party’s just started.”

Uh, no, it hadn’t, but I wasn’t about to deny my friends a good night out, even if mine had been an epic fail. In fact, I’m pretty sure it broke the “failure” scale.

“You girls have fun,” I hugged Aaliyah, and blew Annabelle a kiss over the table. “I’m wiped anyway.”

I waved goodbye, watching as they went back to their men, and stopped when I came face-to-face with Alfie.

“Okay, big guy,” I acquiesced. “Take me home.”

He grunted (I think) and then followed me outside. The bar had a ‘no paparazzi’ policy so I was grateful that I didn’t have to worry about being accosted. After the day, and subsequent evening I’d had, there was no telling what I’d do if some random guy shoved a camera in my face.

The drive back to the penthouse was quick, and I took my shoes off on the elevator ride up. The doors opened, and after I’d bid goodnight to my shadow, a.k.a Alfie, I started down the hallway to the guest bedroom.

“Did you have fun?”

I shrieked, and spun around, my hand on my chest. Caleb was standing in the hallway just outside his bedroom doors, his ink-covered arms folded across his chest. Dressed in cargo shorts, and a navy polo shirt, he looked more country club than he did C.E.O, and I had to admit that it suited him.

“Don’t do that!” I hissed. “Do you want me to die of a heart attack at twenty-three?”

He didn’t reply.

“I thought you were in the Hamptons.”

“I was.” He stepped closer. His expression was both guarded, and a little amused. God, this man drove me crazy like no one else could, and he got under my skin without even trying.

My brows dipped, and I checked the time on my phone.

1 a.m.

“You left there at 11 p.m.?”

“Midnight, actually. Alfie told me you went out, tried to pick up a guy, and I figured I could resolve your little rebellion if I apologized in person.”

“I danced with
one
guy, and you felt the need to come back to the city because of
that
?”

He shrugged. “You were trying to get my attention, and now you have it.”

My mouth popped open. “Are you shitting me?”

Nothing.

“You arrogant son of a bitch,” I said. “What made you think it was about
you
? What if I just wanted to have a night out with friends?”

Caleb tilted his head. “Did you go out just to have a good time?”

I lifted my chin. “Yes, I did, so you wasted your time coming all the way here.”

With a heavy exhalation, Caleb pinched his bottom lip between his thumb and his forefinger, and then said, “It would have been a waste of time if you were telling the truth, but you’re not, so…”