I watch her hold it together, but it takes every ounce of strength she has. Kade was so cold. He's never been cold around Raya.
"What's his problem?" I growl, glaring at my cousin's back as he walks away.
I should go slap the hell out of him.
Her lip trembles as she looks to me, her distress almost tangible.
"So it's not just me," she says sadly, holding back tears as she watches Kade shift through the mess of caterers and servers.
"What's going on?" I ask softly, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"I wish I knew. I thought I was overreacting, but he's been... off for over three weeks now. Gradually it's been getting worse, like he can't even stand being in the same room with me. He didn't even bother to mention my brother's early arrival to me when I left to go pick him up this morning. When I called, he muttered an
apology and made up an excuse to get off the phone. I'm trying not to read too much into it, but..."
She lets her voice trail off, but her words continue even with the silence. Is Kade really over Raya? I never thought he'd fall in love, but after seeing them together for so long, I never thought he'd let her go.
"Want to grab a drink?" I ask, feeling helpless.
"There's a face I've missed," a deep, sexy voice says from behind, interrupting Raya before she can answer.
We both turn around and she smiles warmly at the man of my dreams as he pulls her to him for a hug. Dane's arms fasten around Raya with familiarity, and I really don't like the fact that it's making me jealous. Raya loves Kade—the kind of love that makes others nauseated but so frigging envious. But if Kade... I'll kick his ass if he's done with her, and I'll kick Dane's ass if he's after her.
"How's the club doing?" she asks as she leans back, her poker face back on as she pretends all is right with the world.
"Thriving. Ember's having a party next week. She wanted me to bring her invitation to you," he says, passing her a sealed envelope.
Raya takes it, offers his hand a squeeze, and then turns to me. "I need to go find my brother, but I'll catch up with you in a minute."
She gives me a knowing wink that I really don't appreciate. How could she possibly know? No one knows about Dane and me.
She's gone before I can argue, and Dane's arm comes to rest around my shoulders. He smells so damn good. And as always, a suit makes him look like a divine creature that mere mortals should bow to.
"You feel tense," Dane says, snapping me out of my accidental thoughts.
After six years, we shouldn't be able to find the comfort level we have in just three days. And after six years, I shouldn't feel like dissolving into a puddle every time he smiles. But all I can see when I look at him is the boy I fell in love with so long ago. I don't see the rift that tore us apart; not when we can be us again.
"Um... Kade is acting weird around Raya. It just has me worried."
That's mostly true, so my eyes don't do their freaky blinking thing.
Dane laughs as though I've said something funny while he steers me toward Dale and Maverick. I didn't even know they were here yet.
"Don't worry about Raya and Kade. That boy has it bad."
If he had just witnessed what I did, he'd think differently.
Maverick grins like the Cheshire cat when we get closer. Dale turns to offer the same taunting expression, and Corbin walks up from the side, baring teeth because his smile is too frigging big for his face.
"Well, I'll be damned," Corbin says with his shit-eating grin only growing.
"We'd have gotten you two together sooner if all it took was a few days to make amends," Dale says while sipping his glass of wine before tilting his head in amusement.
Maverick comes to press a quick kiss to my lips, and he ducks just in time to miss Dane's hand. Maverick backs away, and we all laugh.
"Just like old times," Maverick chuckles.
But that steals the lightness of the moment. One piece of my life has been restored, but another piece is now missing. Kode.