Page 44 of Fly Back to Me
His palms lay on the bar top again, eyes pinching on a tiny smirk as he says, “If you measure how stubborn you are in a situation like this, multiply that by ten, and that’s how persistent I can be.”
I roll my eyes, slipping my credit card back in the wallet insert. “Thank you.”
“Let me know what you think.” He cocks his chin just as I zip my bag back up.
I bring the glass to my lips, sucking a generous taste. Notes of warm spice linger behind, and I lap the sweet scraps. Then my chin tilts up in feign deliberation. “Hmm … seven out of ten.”
“Considering you don’t drink beer, I’ll take that.”
“It’s actually a perfect score if you think about it. I usually take off three points automatically because it’s beer,” I tease, inwardly cringing before drawing another sip.
He’s smiling, but the energy behind it is vaporized. Somewhere between tasting the ale and my shitty joke, Cade’sspirit has dwindled. He’s looking at me but doesn’tseeme. His mind might as well be on another planet.
“Are you here until closing?” I ask, placing the ale on the paper coaster.
“I’ll be here for a bit,” he corrects, popping his head over his shoulder for a brief moment. “I’m usually here just to help with the madness on Saturday nights. I don’t have to stay until closing, but sometimes I do.”
I shrug, my heart pounding in my eardrums as I shovel every ounce of courage inside me. “Maybe we could go somewhere after?” I ask softly.
He shines that void smile again, bare of any character at all. “I can’t.”
His response impales my heart, a sharp piercing that threatens to remain lodged there.
“Oh.” My gaze dives down, the dejection in my voice as evident as it is humiliating for me to think this stood a chance. Whateverthisis.
A biting heat scrolls over my face, surely brightening it a faint shade of red as my fingers fold my long bangs behind my ear.
“Olivia, I have a girlfriend,” he confesses. “I should have told you that when we were at the coffee shop this morning. I’m sorry that I didn’t.”
A bucket of ice water collapses on the fire that’s been burning inside me. All the flames that have danced higher and higher ever since I held those metal wings.
His admission strangles my heart, and all that’s left for me to do is absorb the pain. How could I be this stupid? This blind?
My throat clogs, the appropriate words failing to leave my mouth. “How long have you been with her?” I ingest a breath, sitting straighter to reach for my drink.
“Three years.”
Three years.
I feel mugged.
Like the core of my soul has been gouged out with no good rhyme or reason.
Visions of her beauty harshly strike my mind, knowing she has to be absolutely breathtaking.
When my eyes bounce around, my stare catches a raised white line that runs the length of Cade’s left forearm. A mark I haven’t noticed at all—probably because it blends behind his sprinkled hair, or because I’ve been preoccupied with fighting or flirting with him.
I swallow, my stomach tenting when I’m uncertain if he wears that scar for me. But I’ve traveled too far down this road to never get an answer, and there’s no way I’m turning back now.
“Are you in love with her?” I blurt out the question, my pulse raging in my neck as I anticipate his response.
“That’s a little inappropriate to ask.”
“It’s a simple question,” I cautiously counter, finally meeting his eyes.
“And you don’t need an answer.” His rugged jaw tightens, chest inhaling a breath as he peels himself off the bar. Those crystal-blue eyes drift further away as he prepares to say goodbye, when all I want to do is shout for them to stay.
Then I realize … they’re already gone.
