Page 26 of Unofficial

Kade stares at the beer in his hand and sighs. He hasn't gone home with anyone since the night Jess caught him with Lena, and he can't figure out why. Something keeps stopping him, and if he's honest, it's starting to piss him off.

Tim's frostiness has thawed a bit, but Kade knows his feelings remain the same. At night, when he's lying alone in his bed and staring at his ceiling, he agrees. But relationships aren't his thing. Not since he got ran over by a truck with the last one. Nope, that's never happening again.

He glances down the bar and sees the guy he saw Jess leave with a few weeks before. Picking up his glass, he walks over and sits down next to him before he can talk himself out of it.

"Hey, man. You were here with Jess a few weeks ago. I'm Kade."

The man looks up from his beer and nods. "I know who you are."

"Not gonna tell me your name?"

"Landry Knight."

"Knight. That sounds familiar. What do you do?"

He laughs dryly, and he avoids looking at Kade aside from sideways glances. "Concrete."

That's where he knows him from. He's worked with him. And he's kind of a douche. "That's right. We worked with your company on that project over on Walker."

"Yep."

"Hanging out alone?"

Landry turns and finally looks him in the eye. "Man, we're not friends. And we're not gonna be friends."

"I'm just trying to be friendly. We have someone in common-"

"No, we don't. You never had her because you're blind."

The urge to pop Landry right in the face becomes overwhelming, but he just grips his beer instead. "Is that right?"

"And, to be perfectly honest, I don't like you. I'm paying for your mistakes."

"Excuse me?"

Nostrils flaring, he looks towards Tim. "She thinks she has to guard her heart from me because you ripped it from her chest and stomped on it after shredding it to pieces."

Kade immediately deflates. He never wanted to hurt Jess, and to hear what another man believes he did to her makes his stomach roll. "That was never my intention."

"What was your intention?" Landry asks. "Because from what I hear, you had everything most men want. What, did you decide she just wasn’t enough for you?"

"Look, I get you're pissed because you feel like I made your relationship harder than it should be, but you don't know the first thing about me. Or about what Jess and I had."

"You're wrong. I've seen men like you screwing up relationships for the rest of us all my life. You're a dime a dozen, and we're the ones who end up paying for it. I'm pretty sure I know you."

No, this asshole knows nothing about him. Absolutely nothing, and he needs to change the subject before he gets himself tossed out of his bar. "Where's Jess tonight?"

Landry chuckles and shakes his head. "Hoping to get her back like the last time you saw her here?"

"What makes you think she hasn't been here since that night?"

Kade knows it's a stupid comment, but he wants to say something to get under this guy's skin like he's gotten under Kade's.

"Because she's too protective of herself now. Thanks to you. She wouldn't set foot in here unless she absolutely had to."

"I was just asking where she was," he says and stands.

"She had to work late and canceled our plans. I was on my way to her place when she called."

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