He grins down at me, giving me a hard kiss on the lips before patting my ass. “Go inside. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Well, well, well…” A female voice I don’t recognize floats across the air, and every muscle in Caden’s body stiffens. “Why am I not surprised?”
I jerk back, and behind Gwen is a beautiful woman with long, golden blond hair and cunning eyes.
Caden has become a statue. He glances down at me, and at his expression, my stomach turns.
He looks back at the woman standing behind a fretting Gwen and nods. “Hello, Meredith.”
She smirks and walks down the steps. “There he is, my long-lost fiancé. Did you think I was going to let you get away that easy?”
22
Caden
And here it is.
Just as I let myself believe in a future, the past comes back to haunt me.
I knew it would happen. Deep down where I didn’t want to look, I felt it in my bones. Only, after falling for Cat, I’d started to believe my luck had finally changed.
A mistake on my part—I see that now. You can never escape the past.
Cat pulls away from me, and when I look down, she has a pale face and panicked eyes.
“Cat…” I trail off, not exactly sure what to say. My brain is desperately churning to provide an explanation for what she’s witnessing.
“Fiancé?” The word is a croak.
I shake my head. “No. Wait.”
The nightmare that is Meredith Hayes stalks over to us, smiling at Cat. “He didn’t tell you?”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Tell her we are not engaged.”
“I’ll do no such thing.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “That last time you slunk your cowardly ass from my bed, were we not engaged to be married?”
I want to curse in frustration, but that’s not a good plan with Cat. Chaos makes her jumpy. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought it best that the McKays understand who they’re dealing with.” She pushes her hair over her shoulder. “I thought it only fair, considering.”
Cat’s rigid next to me. Tension radiates off her in waves. “What is going on, Caden?”
“It’s not what it looks like. Just give me a chance to explain.”
But how? Cat sees everything in black and white and is always waiting for people to leave her. On the surface it’s so similar. I know that, of course. It’s why I never told Cat the truth. I didn’t want her to think it’s the same, when it’s not.
“Please do,” Meredith says, waving. “Tell her how you came to us looking for work, seduced me, and then ran off when things got too hard.”
I grit my teeth to keep control of my temper, which is escalating and boiling beyond my control.
Cat’s hands rise in front of her chest, like she’s protecting herself from an approaching enemy, and she walks backward, shaking her head. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t want any part of it.”
Then she turns and runs up the stairs. Gwen darts her eyes between Meredith and me, her brow furrowed.
“Whatever happens, don’t let her leave until I talk to her,” I tell Gwen.
Gwen’s frown deepens, and she turns and follows Cat, disappearing into the big, white house.
Indecision wars inside me. Do I go after Cat or work on getting rid of Meredith? I turn to look at the woman before me. She’s not responsible for fucking up my life. I bear that burden all on my own. But she is a mistake that will not let go, that keeps haunting me, no matter how hard I try to shake it.
It’s a losing battle, but I hope for easy, just this once. “Are you happy? Does this satisfy you? You’ve taken your swing, and it was a direct hit. You can go home now.”
“It’s a start.” Meredith’s voice is sticky sweet. “But I’m not vindicated yet.”
“What’s it going to take for you to feel vindicated?” The knot of panic I’ve been dogging for days settles into my gut. I shouldn’t have ignored it. Those warning bells have been clamoring, but as usual, I handled it in the worst way possible. “What do you want? Whatever it takes, I’ll give it to you.”
She tilts her head toward the house. “Didn’t take you long, but then it never does, does it?”
“It’s not the same thing.” I deliver the words like bullets. It only looks the same, and I hate that it does, but there’s nothing I can do