Two Bar Mitzvahs (15 page)

He chuckled. “You bet your ass I did—took four of them home that night. But after they saw my palatial digs, I nearly had to evict three of them.”

My brows arched. “Only three?”

Grinning like the devil, he leaned in. “The fourth’s a keeper. Maybe even a potential Mrs. Dwight.” He turned and waved his fingers at a busty redhead dancing with three scantily clad girlfriends.

“You dog. Who knew I’d be the one to hook you up for the long haul.”

On a head tilt, his eyes widened. “You should run a matchmaking service.”

I barked out a laugh. “Ohhh, no. Kristen already thought your party bordered on escort service.” I shook my head, grinning as I glanced over at Hannah. She and her team had begun to cut up the cake and spread plates along the bar. “I’m content playing businessman and advisor to Ben here at the bar and to my sisters, with Invitation Only.”

“You given any thought to consulting others?” He took a sip of what looked to be scotch.

I shifted my full attention back to him. “Actually, I have. Why, got any connections?”

He nodded. “I’ll email you next week. Two of my clients are considering startup ventures. But I know nothing about the risks involved and how they can minimize them. I’ll pass along your contact information, if you’re game.”

Dwight had minted tens of millions of dollars in the short time he’d been doing portfolio management for the upper echelon of wealth worldwide. I blinked, surprised any of his clients would be interested in getting so hands-on in business. “The two clients are unrelated?”

He nodded. “Yep. Bored with watching dollars tick up as they play golf three times a week. They’re wanting a challenge.”

“Ah, gotcha. Yeah.” I shrugged. “Why the fuck not? Give them my number. I’d love to hear what they’re entertaining and how I might help.” I glanced over his shoulder. “I think your bunny’s getting lonely.”

Dwight turned to catch the impending show. He waved his hands and charged over to her, shouting. “No, Vanessa. Keep your top on, baby. This isn’t one of those parties.”

I snorted, then made my way over to a few crew teammates from college. When I shot a quick glance back toward the bar, I froze.

Hannah was alone, Madison’s face inches from hers with a sneer curling her lips.

I rushed forward through the crowd, and thank fuck, everyone scrambled out of my way. When I approached within hearing distance over the thumping dance music, I slowed.

Madison had no idea I stood in her blind spot. “…doesn’t matter that you
think
he’s yours. Nothing’s permanent, honey. Certainly not with what you have to offer him. Look at you.” Madison swept her gaze down and up. “How could any man be satisfied with that for long?”

“Enough,” my primal growl vibrated in my ears.

Madison whirled around, eyes widening. With practiced control, she calmed. “Will it ever be enough, Cade? Will someone who doesn’t understand who you truly are, what your social standing entails, satisfy you? You need someone better than that. Better than
her
.”

Someone like you?
The harsh retort stuck hard in my throat. Instead, I spoke a greater truth. “You never understood who I truly am. You never will. You’ve overstayed your welcome tonight. Time to go—before security throws your ass into a skidding slide on the asphalt.”

An indignant expression flickered over her face. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“
I
would.” Hannah glared at Madison. “Try me. You have two seconds to vanish before you find out.”

Madison huffed but wisely turned and strode toward the doors after glaring at me, then by the way the sea of people parted before her, it seemed at everyone and everything in her way.

She was gone, but that didn’t mean damage hadn’t already been done.

“Hey.” I gathered Hannah into my arms, kissing her temple. “Don’t let her get to you. She has
no
idea what she’s talking about.” Concerned, I pulled back, gazing down at her.

Her scowl intensified. “
Selfish Bitch.
”

“Exactly.” I exhaled, relieved at Hannah’s anger. Anger we could work with. But my gut told me the emotional obstacle course we’d face in the next couple of weeks had only just begun.

The following Tuesday, like most mornings after 9:00 a.m., I sat in Ben’s office, getting as much focused work done as possible for both Invitation Only and Loading Zone. Only at the moment, I struggled to ignore the loud clanking sounds from Ed and his maintenance crew as they performed their scheduled grease trap cleanout in the kitchen. By almost 11:30 a.m., I’d dealt with all my emails, put final notes in the business plan draft, and stood to stretch. A burger and fries were in my immediate future.

My phone lit up.

Madison.

Only she wasn’t texting; a call was coming through. I debated ignoring it. Then I just answered the damned thing.

“Yeah?”

“Cade?”

“Yeah, Madison. What do you want?” I sighed. My gruffness came from the shit she pulled Saturday night. And the series of apologetic texts in the days since. Her behavior was bordering on stalkerish.

A sniff sounded on the other line. “Cade, I’m sorry. I…I don’t know what gets into me sometimes.” Her voice caught. A whimper sounded.

Fuck.
I sat back down. “Madison, are you crying?”

Silence. Another sniff. “Yes. I’m sorry. I’m trying not to. I’ve never felt like this before.”

My mind spun. Memories flooded in of a time in our pasts, before we began dating in college, when she’d come to me after a bad breakup. But even so, Madison had rarely cried. Back then, her breakdowns began happening after the same upsetting situations with guys repeated themselves.

A twinge of guilt tripped through me, from treating her so harshly, over not giving the vulnerable girl I knew existed somewhere inside of her the benefit of the doubt. “Felt like what?”

“Out of control.”

I huffed out a dry laugh. “We never have control. It’s all an illusion. You know that.” We’d talked about it many times on the lawn at Penn State, when she’d been trying to sort out her personal life with me as a sounding board.

She inhaled a shaky breath. “I just
want
so much. I want people to like me again. I want you to like me again. But all I keep doing is screwing things up.”

I leaned back in Ben’s chair, staring at the ceiling. “You’re trying too hard, Maddie.”

“Maddie?” Her voice wavered with a mixture of surprise and hope.

I cringed. I hadn’t meant to use the nickname. But within the span of a couple of minutes, we’d fallen back into ingrained roles: Madison hurt and needing comfort, me providing it.

Not skipping a beat, I glossed over the slipup. “Stop trying so hard. You’ve done this before. You get so focused on the next thing you want, you forget how to treat other people. You forget yourself.”

“I
have
done this before.” Her amazed tone made it sound like a new revelation.

“Yeah. It’s why you had such trouble keeping friends. Why you don’t have any now. Relationships of all kinds, friends included, take acts of selflessness. Generosity. Your wants don’t figure into that equation. If all you’re focused on is what
you
want, and what you want involves people, you will never get it.”

Ed popped his head into the office. “We’re all set here.”

I gave him a nod and held the phone away from my mouth. “The bill’s covered?”

On a nod, he tore a report off a clipboard and handed it to me. “Yep. Part of the contract Ben set up. We’re square.”

“Thanks, man.” He headed out as I put the report under a stapler on the center of Ben’s desk.

“Sorry. Taking care of things at the bar.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t mean to interrupt. So do you forgive me?”

I sighed. “Look, Madison. You say you want to be my friend, yet you verbally attacked someone I care about. Don’t. Walk softer. Be kinder. No one will want to be around you unless you attract them. And that happens when you find the good in yourself and share it with others.”

I heard her shaky inhale. Then she blew out a breath. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

She sniffed again. “Yeah. I could do that. Slow down. Be nice.”

Madison was so
not nice
to Hannah. Reforming would be difficult for Madison. But she had been nice for a time. I’d helped her get there once. “Nice would be a great start.”

***

Tuesday night. Another three-day stretch without seeing Hannah had gone by and it seemed like forever. Dinners had been suspended, and we communicated by text and phone call. She’d been slammed at the bakery, though, and I had inventory at Loading Zone and planning for the next two events. Shit had to get done. Yet even with our minimal contact after Loading Zone’s party, it had become clear that although no lasting damage had been done with Madison’s meddling, superficial wounds had been inflicted. Whenever we spoke about the double bar mitzvah, or my communications with Madison, Hannah’s easygoing spirit hardened.

Sitting on Hannah’s living room floor, my laptop and electronic notepad being furiously used with all the emailing and note-taking, was another one of those tense moments. On the cusp of an upcoming ten days of crazy, we had to buckle down and deal with collateral damage as best we could.

“…but Madison called you?”

“Yeah. Crying. She apologized for screwing things up. I feel sorry for her, actually. She doesn’t know how to make friends like normal people do.”

“Because she tries too hard.” Hannah’s tone deadened. “She could begin by apologizing to me.”

“Agreed. But she may need shock therapy to make that kind of recovery.”

Her gaze drifted down to the rug under us, eyes narrowing. “Did your sisters make any progress with Madison at the club the other night? Any discoveries?”

I shook my head. “Kristen said Madison was on her best behavior before she left the VIP area. Either she has nothing to do with the sabotage, or she’s very good at deception. Speaking from personal experience, I’m going with the latter.”

“I wish you didn’t have to deal directly with her.” She lifted another piece of pizza out of the box from the pepperoni and mushroom side.

On a sigh, I stretched my legs out and crossed them. I perched my arm along the couch cushion above me, putting her within touching distance. Then I rubbed my thumb on the soft skin on her neck, bared from her ponytail. “I don’t. Suzanne is my contact, but Madison replies when in a mood, which is a lot lately. Kristen offered to step in, but the extra burden isn’t fair to her. She is point on my parents’ party, and with Mom’s demanding details, Kristen has her work cut out for her.”

Hannah took a deep breath. “A week from Saturday. Then we’re free of Selfish Bitch.”

I clinked bottle necks with her. “Here’s to a week from Saturday, when we have weeks and weeks with no plans.”

She leaned her head onto my shoulder. “Eleven more days until freedom.”

I nodded while I clicked out of the document I’d saved. “What
will
we do with all the time?”

She let out a soft laugh. “Sleep in bed for days.”

Growling low, I lowered my mouth to her ear. “Only
sleep
in bed?”

“Mmm…” She turned her head, touching my lips with a soft kiss. “Passed out for days, after wild monkey sex for days.”

“Wild monkey sex?” I snorted.

“You know.” She leaned forward, got onto all fours, and slid her arms forward across the rug as she lowered her upper body. Then she folded them before resting her chin on her forearm to glance back at me. She wiggled her ass, and those little white shorts of hers slid higher. “Where I bare my engorged sexy-time goods, and you pound on your chest, howling.”

I laughed and got onto my knees behind her. “First of all” ­—I ground against her, my jeans to her raised ass— “the only pounding that will happen is me into you.” I gripped her hips, pumping against her twice in demonstration. “Second of all, I do not, and will never, howl.”

She grinned, looking back as she rotated her hips, teasing me. “Grunt?”

I shook my head. “Growl. Roar. Snarl maybe, if I don’t get what I want when I demand it.”

Pulling away, she held my gaze. When she twisted fully around to face me, she crossed her legs. “Serious for a minute?”

“Anytime you want.” I relaxed back into my sprawled position at the foot of the couch.

“Think you’ll ever get bored with me?”

I held my sigh in check, wanting to do all those things I’d mentioned: snarl, growl, and roar. Not to mention crush one Madison Kensington for casting even a hint of doubt into Hannah’s mind.

“I don’t
think
anything. I
know
I won’t get bored with you. Not in a few weeks, not in any amount of months, and not in the years I’ll be lucky enough to spend with you.”