Page 22 of Let Me
And he was already dealing with shit. She knew that. She had taken the brunt of it for over a year. It’s what brought the three of us together. Me trying to defend her like a dumbass, thinking she wasn’t capable of fighting her own battles. It’s what got us into this mess in the first place.
I roll my shoulders back, shaking my head.
I’m not in this mess anymore. She’ll be going back to the States in a few days, and either by then I’ll have fucked with her heart a little, or I can go back to pretending she doesn’t exist. Or I’ll think of something worse.
Benji grabs my arm, jerking me to a halt, bringing my mind back to the present.
“What the hell—”
“She went in there,” he says, nodding to a door to my left.
It’s a bar that opens up their dance floor in a few hours, and it’s already jam packed. This is so not her scene. The Riley I knew would beg Jack to stay home from his team events, or else hide out in his room while he went out. It’s not that she didn’t like to share him; she didn’t really seem to care about that shit. She just didn’t want to be around loud crowds. It’s what had shocked the shit out of me that night. The night of the phone call. I left with her that night, knowing I had shit to do. Law school. Finals. Studying. But I left for her. Goddammit, I would have done anything for her then.
But clearly, I don’t know her at all anymore. I apparently didn’t then, either.
“Wow,” I say, more to myself than to Benji. But he catches it.
“Riley grew up,” he says, smiling. And I want to wipe that shitty grin off his face, but instead, I nod at the bouncer at the door and we go in, enveloped in noise and the smell of marijuana which is illegal to smoke indoors but obviously no one gives a shit here.
The music is loud, the bass shaking under my feet.
I see Riley slide up to the bar, and I see the bartender flash her a genuine smile, ignoring everyone else waiting for drinks, and making his way to her.
My fists clench at my sides, but Benji steers me past what will serve as the dance floor and to a booth tucked in a back corner. He pushes me into the booth, sits across from me.
I glare at him.
He holds up his hands, all innocence, and he’s probably about to say something stupid when our waitress flounces over.
She’s got huge tits that are spilling out of her unbuttoned shirt, and she’s wearing a short leather skirt. Her hair is the color of mud and she flashes me a too-friendly smile.
Her eyes suddenly widen.
“Are you Caden Virani?” She pronounces it wrong, likeV-eye-rani, but I’m too used to it to care.
I arch a brow. “Do I know you?”
I see, out of the corner of my eye, Benji shoot me a glare. He wants his own piece of ass, but I don’t care. He doesn’t need me to help him find it.
The girl blushes and wrings her hands. “You own Scott Virani Enterprise?”
I nod, once. “Are you interested in tech?” I ask. Although I don’t give a shit.
The truth is, I’m notallthat interested in it. SVE started as a side project when I was in law school. A way to connect businesses with cleaner energy sources and tech products. A sort of recycling system for technology geeks and companies, because God knows the planet is trashed enough as it is. Now we’ve all got smart phones and smart homes and those products will need to be properly disposed of eventually, too.
The girl nods. “Yeah,” she says, tugging down her shirt, as if it isn’t far enough down already. I can see the top of one brown nipple. “I’m at U of T for IT.”
I give her a half-smile. “Good for you,” I say absentmindedly. “If you need a job when you graduate, look me up.” She won’t be able to find my information anywhere on the internet. I made sure of that long ago.
She looks like she might faint but then she seems to remember that no matter her dreams, she’s our waitress right now. She coughs, her eyes sliding to Benji. He smiles coldly at her, impatient.
“What can I get you two to drink?” she finally asks.
“Vodka, on the rocks,” I order.
Benji gets water.
I notice he doesn’t drink nearly as much as he used to. And he used to drink a lot. Comes with being a club owner, I guess. When she walks away, Benji checks out her ass and I shake my head.
